Monday inspiration - Artist Leslie Oschmann. wow her work is beautiful, after I discovered her work through Pinterest I felt the urge to immediately check out her website and see more. Leslie's work has had me thinking about new possibilities for vintage furniture... maybe learning a new skill in decoupage, could be interesting using old maps or newspaper illustrations, but I cant imagine them coming out look as amazing as these though, but worth a try.

 Leslie relocated from the states to Holland where she set up her studio in Amsterdam, she finds old furniture and paintings at the local flea markets and revamps them, giving them a unique twist.

I love the way she has used full size images on these chairs and used different angles for the top, to make them current and fun. hope you guys feel inspired and give you a creative boost. Happy Monday!

French Connection Home Spring 14 Collection

 

Yay it's the first day of spring and what a lovely way to start the day by waking up to the postman delivering my monthly Country Living mag and discovering the all new French Connection Home Spring 14 Collection it's all completely yummy and to die for, My fav has to the vintage inspired copper light pendant and the bistro table, I'm loving the tie dye textiles too, maybe this could be a easy DIY future project for when I'm feeling crafty.

 

French Connections Home Spring 14 look book via www.frenchconnection.com

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Bring on the sunshine and the need to spring clean my way to a lighter breezy home.  

Upholstery Update :: Champagne And Gold

 

When I first picked up this armchair from my client I already new it was going to be beautiful as the shape of the frame is so elegant and when she asked if I would paint the chair in a shimming cream with flecks of gold, I couldn't stop smiling at the thought of painting with gold and couldn't wait to get stuck into this one!

 

This was my first ever armchair, probably the biggest challenge so far, learning to make the cushion seat was probably one of the hardest things I have had to face in upholstery as sewing machines aren't exactly my best friends and having spent 10 hours in total, by the time this baby was done I did start to get the hang of things, but only just...

 

 

Post Cards From Stockholm

Earlier in the year I posted a dream destination for my wish list, a weekend treat to Stockholm a place that is known for its creativity, world known interior designers and if that doesn’t tempt you then being surrounded by 17th century architecture of Gamla Stan and running river cannels might just be your fancy.

 

My darling fella is my number one fan and always has a sneaky peak reading my blog and decided for my birthday he would surprise me with a weekend tooo.... yes you guessed it STOCKHOLM and made my dream come true, I literally couldn’t believe how lucky I am, and I couldn’t stop day dreaming about what we would be doing when we got there, getting lost and wondering through the old streets, taking inspiration from the stylish Swedish interior designers and eating all those look-to-good-to-eat pastries.

 

So I thought I would share a few snaps from my weekend. Enjoy!

 

                               

 

  



 

  

 

Upholstery Update : Keeping Floral Contemporary

 

Do you feel that classic floral's maybe to cutesy for you ? well this week I have upholstered a chair and a matching stool for a friend of mine by using floral print fabric and picking the boldest colour for the double pipping to enhance the floral print, this gives these pieces of upholstered furniture a wow factor and keeps them up to date and contemporary.

The chair and stool is hand painted in Annie Sloan French Grey and finished in Annie Sloan clear wax. The fabric is by Clarke & Clarke.

 

This is a great way to mix classic floral's and contemporary colours to give your interiors a modern twist. Use the brightest colours within your classic fabric to use as the main colour scheme for your room, here I applied this to the double pipping but you could apply this with accessories and other textiles in bright shades to develop a contemporary feel to your home.

 

 



Summer Is Ending And Yellow Is Trending

September is one of my favourite times of year; you can't beat mild sunny days, leaves turning golden and long walks that involve wild blackberry picking. Yes autumn is a lovely time of year with the best colour palette.

Over at Pinterest I have been obsessing over yellow interiors, does bright colour's scare you? Well here I have picked some of my fav's to show you that yellow can look tasteful and not at all over powering or too contemporary.

I think vintage furniture painted in yellow with a heavy distressed finish looks amazing, use them as a focal point in the room, keeping your colour scheme natural and muted, if a big piece of furniture painted in yellow is still a little daring for you then why not try updating your bedroom with yellow textiles mixed with earth tones and natural wood furniture for an instant autumn update.

 

 If you are completely digging these yellow interiors as much as I am right now, then my not head over to my ' hint of yellow' board to check out some more beautiful yellow interiors to inspire you.

 

Link:

http://www.pinterest.com/yardofbleu1/hint-of-yellow/

 

All pictures in this post have been sourced from Pinterest.

 

 

Upholstery Update :: First Client

A couple of weeks ago I got my first ever upholstery client, I was really excited that someone would want me to upholster their chair. When I first saw the chair I knew it was going to look amazing, a dainty antique Louis 14th, already painted in Annie Sloan old white and upholstered in a emerald green velvet which sagged in the middle, probably from years of  someone sitting reading in a corner somewhere ( it looked like that kind of a chair...cosy).

 

 

As this was the first chair I have attempted to upholster outside of college I thought it would be nice to show (my right arm) Jamie, what I have been getting up to, as I was working through the process it was lovely to get an extra pair of hands and work together to make this chair perfect, and I believe I may have passed on the upholstery bug (Jamie didn't want to come up for air) as it's quite catching once you see one through you want to start another.

 

My client chose a beautiful wide striped linen fabric, which had tones of charcoal greys and natural linens, yes it was gorgeous .

 

fabric by Annie Sloan.

 

 

 

 

 

The transformation of the chair was breath taking, I love upholstering antique chairs that no one would look twice at, and after a bit of love the finished results are so worth it. 

 

Oh and one more thing the little heart was made with some leftover material from the chair as a little thank you gift to my client for picking me to upholster their chair. A great way to use any scrapes of material you have leftover and looks cute hanging on a handle to, and the best thing is there easy peasy to make.

 



A summers evening

A shop update :: A summers evening

 

 

Today at Yard of Bleu were having a 'summers evening' with our new stock that will be available to shop at Etsy by the end of the week.... Imagine a summers evening spent wearing a sheer lace slip, relaxing in our Ercol collection sipping a cup of chamomile tea.

 It's all looking so peaceful here.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Available to shop at www.yardofbleu.etsy.com

 

crochet lace tablecloth

Coffee and cream crochet lace tablecloth

Ercol white painted Chairs

Vintage lace slip

White heritage lidded sugar bowl

Hand painted children's rocking horse

 

Hope you enjoyed this weeks new stock our summers evening look with light lace, white barn painted furniture and touches of natural linen.

 

 



Provence Roses and Feminine Poses.

 

 

Yard of Bleu  ::  Shop update

 

This week were having a 'Provence roses and feminine poses' moment here at yard of bleu, our Cath Kidston Provence rose chairs and table collection will be available to shop by the end of the week, and our gorgeous eye candy home wares are also available too!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Create the feel of a Provence rose garden in your home by adding soft pink linens mixed with rose florals, a wild green bouquet and to finish off with a feminine antique illustration, this will add some vintage charm.

 

 

You can shop the look here at www.yardofbleu.etsy.com

 

available to shop at Yard of Bleu:

 

Pink linen scolloped tablecloth

Antique rose straw hat

Cath Kidston two chairs and table collection.

Vintage white girls pinny

Bavarian white cups

18th century 'lavinia' illustration

Decagon glass vase

 



Giving your books the perfect ending ...

 

pic was sourced from www.bookabookshop.co.uk

Inspiring hand crafted hare bookends by Carol Ridler painted in Farrow and Ball with two beautiful shades to choose from - Charleston Grey and Downpipe.I do think this pair of little hare's are stunning and any shelve would look super chic with this style bookends sitting nicely against your beloved collection , so today I got excited when I came across these vintage nautical bookends, I decided to take some inspiration and create a chic rustic look, painting them in Annie Sloan - Paris Grey and giving them a distressed finish and adding natural twine bows to give some charm... tadaah!

Dreamy Greys & Pale Shades

 

 

Living with light and natural shades, adding a relaxed feel to your home is the key to beautiful interiors and I feel that chalky shades of grey and pastel touches are the way to go.

 

This week I have been looking into grey interiors, and to be honest with you I can’t get enough.... I love absolutely anything and everything in grey and it’s amazing how calm and dreamy it can make a room look. I’ve search the web high and low for some inspiration for my up and coming projects. Enjoy!

 

 



I love these charcoal walls with  stone painted furniture, odd chairs and cage lighting, to me this is perfect. Also some of my favourite things are the little touches that seem to make all the difference, silver antique finds like this adorable jug is simply stunning.
Photos are sources mainly from Pinterest

 

 

A girl can only dream of having a lining canapé draped over the bed....this is magic and I love the chipped painted furniture against the soft knitted blankets and natural linen.
Photos are sources mainly from Pinterest