The Beat That My Heart Skipped – A blog dedicated to daily design inspirations. By Rohini Wahi.

Ooooh! Whotells in Barcelona offers three distinct lodging options in different neighborhoods of the city, all furnished with utilitarian and chic Muji products – in three colour palettes: blue, green and orange.

I’m really fascinated by the emerging trend of budget hotels to take on budget furnishings in a style sensitive way – remember the The Michelberger Hotel in Berlin that was decorated with Ikea furniture and flea market finds?

Dan Hillier is one of my favourite London artists so I am so excited to share this very cool music video he sent through, which animates his fantastical drawings! His artwork accompanies the music of new band, Losers,  comprised of Eddy and Tom Bellamy from the Cooper Temple Clause and is animated by Tom Werber.

To those of you who don’t know – Dan creates ‘altered engravings’ which incorporate found Victorian imagery into his illustrations resulting in wonderful madness! Any Hillier fan will be smitten with this video, as it completely brings to life his characters from his now famous illustrations while they create havoc around a Victorian London. See for yourself.

The contemporary music coupled with the dark work by Dan is just fantastic, and the rapping Victorian lovers are just too hilarious for words. I love it, I love it!!!

Delicate and industrial springtime offerings for your kitchen from French vintage website Adeodata – from what I gather you can buy anything you see online – which is a listing of all of their findings [which are aplenty!].

I just love the vintage Madeline baking tray, pretty, pretty, and the lovely ceramic crosses for a spiritual kitchen!

The painterly and folkloric work of Argentinean artist Ana Laura Perez makes me feel languid and spirited all at once. You can tell at once she has a degree in Fashion with her attention to textures and prints and capturing the way hair and fabric moves.

Her inspirations are stated as including ‘color palettes and scales, shadows and light, crystal, old nature, encyclopedias, white and gold, sea creatures, textures and shine, moss, draping, darkness and femininity, and hidden treasures…’

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I’m really excited to introduce a very special guest contributor this week – Ashley Campbell, creator of the blog Under the Sycamore. Ashley is an incredible photographer and is also a photography teacher, and crafter, to name just a few of her talents.

If you are wondering where blog’s whimsical name comes from, in Ashley’s own words:

‘Under its large leaves is where we laugh, play, create, eat, rest, dream and live. It is where I watch little ones go from being swaddled on a blanket to wrestling in the grass. Under its shade is where I find time to get my hands messy making something and feeling the most me. It is also where we rest on blankets and stare into the clouds while learning a bit more about each other. In decades to come my mind will travel back to the lives we lived under its branches and I will be grateful for all the memories captured.’

Ashley has agreed to share with us a really neat project with which you can make your own wire frame lampshade out of little more than a basket… Over to you Ashley. – Cat

Ashley Campbell’s DIY Basket Lampshade

I love the wire look light fittings that are popular in shops like Anthropologie at the moment, and decided to buy a spool of wire and have a go at forming one for my kitchen…which didn’t end up working so well for me. In the midst of trying to decide how to get the wire to work I found myself rocking my daughter in her room. As we rocked I looked down and noticed the black wire basket holding her toys.  Bingo!
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