"I fell flat on my arse trying to take one of these pictures". Alternative caption; "Anthropologie, King's Road, Chelsea, London"

These were actually taken during a trip to London in November, when it was all lit up and Christmassy. I wasn't going to post these because I know the quality isn't great (camera phone= not cool, I know). I was actually only taking these for my own nifty little inspiration file, but it felt selfish not to share. I know Anthropologie is hot with design bloggers and I figured since most of my traffic comes from outside of Europe, a lot of you won't have seen one of the London Anthropologie stores. So please, enjoy! PS, When I was taking one of these, I tripped and, in my usual embarrassing fashion, fell down like a rag doll. I thought being the creep taking pictures in a public place was bad enough..? Story of my life.

"Outside, the frost has cast a magical spell..."

The whole Urban Outfitters corporation (which includes Anthropologie, Free People, Terrain and BHLDN) has always been very suited to my own arty, vintage-loving, bohemian, "found" style for both clothing and homeware. I know people think it's overpriced flea-market-looking junk, but honestly, I don't care, I love it all! I mean, I'm 23 and broke so I don't frequent their stores often but really, I think if I had some dough, this is where it would most certainly get dropped. Fortunately for my bank balance, we only have Urban Outfitters in Ireland. Unfortunately for it, there's always online shopping.

Having said that, even going into one of their stores is so exciting. They're noted for their quirky visual merchandising and store displays, which is an area of the design world I've always been really interested in. A lot of their display units encompass a lot of 'everyday' items such as wooden pallates and crates, chicken wire, chalkboards and old baking equipment. And for their artistic installations? Millions of teabags, lollipop sticks and wine corks. Anything and everything. So really, the main ingredient is creativity. It's amazing what you can do with a little bit of creativity.

My first ever post on this blog was actually another Anthropologie fan-girl extravaganza featuring pictures from, coincidentally, the other Chelsea Anthropologie store I visited! That time was at Holly Becker's New York book-signing for her first book Decorate. I actually wrote that post a year after the signing, but it felt appropriate that my first blog post would be written about the founding father of interior design blogging. Wanna check it out here?

Friday Favourites 15/11/13

Favourite plan;

I shouldn't be writing this so late- I need to be up early for a flight to London, but I'm kinda excited so I can't sleep (mind you, I can be a bit overly-excitable, and sometimes I can't sleep knowing I'm gonna have nice cereal the next morning). I'm actually only going for a few days but my itinerary is about 5 pages long. I'm also hoping to befriend a dutchess and I'm planning to develop an accent like Keira Knightley's. I'll let you know how I get on with that...

 

Favourite lyrics;

"'Cause that was the real you running through the fields of gold wide open
Standing in places no picture contains
That was the real you, windows down, we could smell the mint fields crying
Sing with the radio to song we can't name
That was the real you saying, "Maybe I'm not too young to be a cowboy?"
Hey brother, we're all learning to love again."
- Mat Kearney's "Learning to Love Again"

 

 

Favourite TV show;

With the exception of my beloved Downton Abbey, there really aren't many tv series I follow. Having said that, I'm surprised it took me so long to catch onto ABC's Nashville. As a music fan, it's so interesting/ sad, annoying and cynical to see what the business side of the industry is like.

 

Favourite life lesson;

The way I like drinking tea and things that are floral, that's how some people just like to hate. Haters Gonna Hate.

 

Favourite room;

I came across this shot of Nicole Richie's living room on elledecor.com, promoting a collection she curated for Joss and Main and really liked its electic look: laid-back and just fancy enough. Check out my post on Nicole's garden area here.