Summer 2010 was good fun, family and I went to visit my brother Jose who lives in Prague. What an amazing city, it is like a walking museum, where ever you look at, there is something beautiful and interesting. One of my fav places was the Toys museum, I spent hours in there, taking inspiration and simply admiring the toys, I have never seen anything quite like this, I am hoping to go back next Summer and take more photos, my camera decided to die on me just as I was taken these photos...

The photo below, shows a very retro style bathroom, well the metro tiles are back, and square basins are a must. I am doing the bathroom in my house and are thinking of using the same tiles in my new bathroom,  will post soon my mood board, I need some advice...  

GOING BACK IN TIME

Sunny good morning from London, we are expecting 28 degrees today, so I am planning to work all morning and take the afternoon off to go for long walks and do some gardening, and yeap a Summer nap. Photos I took in a Museum back home, la Aldea villague have several museums, each of them shows how things were many many years back in the island. The old school, the doctor's house, the barbers, etc...Needless to say I could have taken home most of the things I saw on display. Life was so much simpler and interesting at the time, maybe we could learn a few things from our past and ways of living?

Restoring old furniture

I am currently bidding on a Danish side board on Ebay, and trying to get al old chest of drawers from a local second hand shop, not that my house needs more furniture, but I can't help but start thinking when I see an old piece of furniture what I could with it, and how it is going to look in my small rather crowed house. The white table and 4 black chairs in my living room, cost me hardly anything, I painted them in my garden and gave them a new look and use. The table was quite ugly and the school chairs needed in new coat of paint. I love the lamp, it is an old original glass shade, that I had wondering around the house, so I bought some red cable and made it the new dining area lamp! 

I find restoring old furniture relaxing and exciting, not only I am recycling, but never know how and old piece is going to look like after many many hours of hard work. I needed a small piece to play with the knobs and take to the shows, so decided to transform the 2 old small side tables into something more neutral and modern to show off the new knobs.

(photos chocolate creative)

Going back in time

I found this unique Portuguese shop, A Vida Portuguesa browsing this blog, and instantly fall in love with it and its products. I can not resist, traditional old packaging, products, paper goods and toys. So looking at their online version of the shop I found myself wanted to go back in time, so I could pop in to this old shops and get a full basket of goodies.

Great Britain Railway Travel Posters

I have been in love for quite sometimes with these vintage posters that the British railway company used to promote the traveling by train in the country. Needless to say that my favorite is the deer in the Scottish highlands. I spent a week traveling around this landmarks and find them one of the most amazing places I have been so far, plus I have a fascination with deers that is often present in my designs, so I will get this one for my living room, ideally I would like to get an original, but I guess they are very rare and expensive, so here is the link to an online shop that sells reproductions.

I love this last ones, they look like they belong to a sunny mediterranean or caribbean destination, and the slogans on the posters. I would like to travel back in time and see these places as they were...

Vintage craft magazines

Hello from another beautiful morning in South London, Sun is out and it is not very cold, no rain coming our way for a couple of days, juts the right temperature for a nice walk in the park, it is so beautiful at this time of the year...

I have started collecting vintage paper products, such as posters, leaflet, brochures, etc...I found this gorgeous French craft magazines in a vintage fair outside London, they are gorgeous. I am thinking of framing one of them. They talk about craft projects, interiors, and have wonderful illustrations, I like the quality of old paper, that have been used and old fashion typography and layout styles!!

Vintage cushions by Karin Lindström

If I keep finding things I want to buy I am going to go broke!! Beautiful cushions by Karin made up of vintage embroidery. I really like the mix and match of themes in each cushion, flowers, sceneries, animals...I find this look very fresh and unique.

Si sigo encontrando cosas que quiero comprar me voy a arruinar!! Adoro estos cojines, hechos de bordados vintage, y la forma en la que cada cojín está hecho de diferentes trozos, uno con flores, otros con escenas cotidianas y otros con animales, un look muy fesco y único.

Second hand plates Karen Ryan

Karen Ryan's 'Second Hand Plates' series is a good example of how we can bring new life into an old tired product by upcycling, obviously you need to have great skills and talent to come up with something as stunning as this plates!!. Her work is remarkable, now I only need some money to get one of this designs...I damage second hand old plates. I remove the decorative patterns that camouflage our everyday lies and in its place I leave words that prick our conscience and create portraits of hidden domestics left open for others to interpret.

Me acabo de enamorar de estos platos de la diseñadora Karen Ryan, son de la serie 'Second Hand Plates', me parece un buen uso de la palabra 'upcyling', como dar vida nueva a un algo viejo y convertirlo en un objeto de deseo. Ahora solo necesito dinero para comprar uno de estos!!

{Lyn Gardener's house} Rural inspiration from Australia

The current issue of Living Etc magazine is showing this cute rustic cottage, home of stylist Lyn Gardener and owner of the australian Empire Vintage shop. I have been a fan of her style and houses for quite a while...so was very happy to see this article of her new house in the magazine. Photographer Tim James, has captured very well in this photos the romantic feel and abundance of light of this space. By the way there is a very good article about him and his work on thedesignfiles blog.

I really like the different tones of grey, mixed with touches of red, black and green, and of course the very nice selection of vintage lamps, furniture and linens…

Photos via blog: dailyimprint

{Manos} beautiful curated objects for the house

I have known about Manos shop for quite a while, and just found them again browsing the Bigcartel site, and couldn’t resist to make a post about this beautiful curated shop in Sweden, not far from Stockholm. If you are lucky enough to live near by, I am sure you won’t miss the opportunity to pay a visit to the shop, otherwise they have an online shop where you can find beautiful objects such as old blankets bags, delicate ceramics, linen tea towels, etc…I love the way Karin Eriksson have styled the space and the photos…

In love with this eclectic interiors...

I always feel very inspired every time I see this kind of spaces, full of interesting finds, displayed in a very personal, cosy and unfussy way. This home belongs to Helena Christensen, (the model), see more at The Selby, unique source of inspiration and talent!!

Siempre que veo esta clase de interiores me siento muy inspirada, me fascinan los lugares llenos de objetos interesantes, colocados de una manera muy personal, acogedora y sin complicaciones. Esta casa en Nueva York pertenece a la modelo Helena Christensen, las fotos son via The Seby, una página única y llena de inpiración y talento!!