Spiral book-lined staircase

This sort of looks magical to me. It almost makes me want to get rid of bookcases everywhere and only have a magnificent staircase. Whaddayathink?!

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Shop Update

Yes, yes, it's been a while, but I've finally updated le shop with some more lovely map butterflies. These little guys are very fragile but look kind of awesome on a big wall. One day I'll get the light right in our study to show you how cute they look, but for now, you can admire a slightly blurry photo right here.

Tray Bien

Image via here.

These beautiful trays make me wonder: how many trays is too much? This 3D one is spectacular...

Bow Shoes

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Sometimes I wish you couldn't find things on the interweb that aren't in your size. That way any mean temptation would be out of reach. (If these shoes are in your size, then godspeed and good luck!).

Box Storage

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Some year's ago my sister made a very similar construction to this - it appeals very much to my love of boxes. Love the pastels here.

Send More Mail

Have you seen this lovely blog called Send More Mail? It has made me want to trawl through and find all my old stamps and buy more and, perhaps intuitively, send more mail. Send letters, my blogging friends! Buy old fashioned stamps and stick them to paper and post away!

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Henna

Photo by our friend Mark

When we were in Dubai, we attended one of my bestie's wedding. He married a lovely British-Indian woman and we all wore saris and had hennaed hands. (I'm the one with the red bangles). It was a most wonderful three days of celebration.

Dubai Mall

Yes, I snuck out to Dubai for a week. And pre-posted pretty things to distract you! It was for a very good friend's wedding and we had an amazing time. We came across these amazing paper butterflies in Dubai Mall, of all places. In the city of malls, it turns out that the installations are pretty cool, including a ski place and crazy aquarium!

All photos by Alice, posted with permission.

The Beauty of Maps

A long time map lover, I am enjoying this exceptional series called The Beauty of Maps on the BBC. You can watch them here, and they really are extraordinary.

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Parchment Post

I've just bought a subscription to Parchment Post - a service that sends you six new cards every three months: what a genius idea! I love letter writing, and always make a big effort to try to write at least a letter a week, but I've been falling a bit behind of late. I'm hoping these card work as inspiration and motivation.

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Comfort Station

Image via here

This barometer necklace is such a gorgeous idea. 'Stormy', 'fair' and 'excellent' (and all the areas between!) seem like a perfect way of measuring the day.

Marimekko Win

I was incredibly lucky to win a competition from the lovely Captain KK - this beautiful Marimekko plate. Even my lone truss tomato looks thrilled to be there. Thank you Captain - it is absolutely magnificent and I smile every time we pass in the kitchen.

Bacash's Emporium

I've been meaning to show these photos for ages. Over the New Year, I went to visit a good friend's house down in country Victoria, and visited her favourite local vintage shop, Bacash's Emporium. It used to be a haberdashery store, but upstairs is now a large selection of furniture, bric-a-brac and crockery -it's delicious.

I could have bought lots and lots in there: these bottles were amazing, and only a few dollars each.

What I did buy was the trunk below (apologies for the bad light: it's in an awkward-to-photograph spot.) I'm using it as a side table - you can see it's a sort of duck egg blue colour, with lots of scratches, which I like. Oh, and it is made of lead or steel: it is the heaviest piece I've ever lifted and the Pal cursed me as we lifted it up flights of stairs.

Now questions for you, dear Internet. What do you think it was used for? There are no holes inside and it has about three layers of insulation. It is steel (or whatever it's made from) on the inside, too. Any suggestions would be most welcome!

All photos by me

Ephemera Packs - back in the shop!

After a very long hiatus, I've opened up my little Etsy shop. Yes, I know it's been months and months, but here they are: colour-coded backs of stationery, cards, papers, stickers, stamps - these are great if you like writing mail or decorating presents or little cards and labels. They are a paper-lover's dream. (And they ship free in Australia!)

All images by me

Oh Wow!

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Just perfect! Have a brilliant weekend my friends - see you next week!

Wardrobe Room

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Obviously I don't have a spare room to devote to a wardrobe, but if I did, I'd like to hope it might look like this. I love the way you can see everything at once: it seems like it could be easier to get dressed in here!

Wall of suitcases

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My goodness me. Vintage trunks as accessible storage? Well now, this is just excellent. Beautifully done.

Succu-saurs

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Well these are just adorable! Succulents and dinosaurs could be my new favourite thing. Ever.

Hedgehog

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Lately I have been thinking a lot about having a pet hedgehog. There are a lot of reasons why that is not a viable idea (not least I am rarely at home these days and it seems mean to neglect anything, let alone a hedeghog as cute as this one). Also you have to feed them live worms, which is a bit icky. But LOOK at the cuteness of this hedgehog. SERIOUSLY.