The Beat That My Heart Skipped.

For anyone that follows me on Instagram, you will have noticed that I have been a little preoccupied with arranging succulents of late. It all began when I visited the new Ace Hotel in Shoreditch and spotted beautiful arrangements of cacti and succulents of all varieties potted in single vessels creating sculptural displays [see first image].

After a bit of research I discovered how simple it was to make these arrangements at home – just find a beautiful vessel and fill with tiny succulents in varying heights – easy! I also became obsessed with  the ease of potting succulents in any type of receptacle. The brass plant stands above are from Ferm Living’s new 2014 collection, the hanging glass bubble from West Elm bought a few years ago in NY, and the other two earthenware vessels by a very talented acquaintance.

So given my new penchant for indoor gardening, I was really excited to discover the founder of online store The Balcony Gardener, Isabelle Palmer’s new book The House Gardener. Isabelle’s books always seem to carry a nice symmetry with my own green fingered experiments – her last one published in summer 2013 The Balcony Gardener tied in perfectly with me tackling my own balcony garden which I am proud to say is ticking along nicely. So this year given my move into house plants I was itching to get a hold of her newest tome.

Filled with innovative ways to display your houseplants the book really taps into all the great indoor gardening trends, from air plants to indoor water gardens, terrariums and table centrepieces.

Stunningly styled images are all tied together with Palmer’s easy to put into practice instructions with comprehensive chapters for choosing and positioning containers, planting techniques and plant care. I already love this book, only having received and devoured it yesterday – and just know that it’s going to be a well-loved and well-thumbed modern classic on my bookshelf.

The House Gardener is published by CICO at £25 and is available at all good bookshops.

I have to admit I unashamedly stole this post’s inspiration from my friends at The Women’s Room Blog because I just love a party decor web-shop.

The Americans do party decor really well, with design doyennes like Martha Stewart and Grace Bonney making crafting and entertaining a national institution. Across the pond, the online landscape is filled with inspiring offers from the likes of BHLDN, department stores like Target and not to mention Etsy’s covetable craft shops.

The UK on the other hand leaves a lot to be desired with creative shoppers left to cobble together their decorations from uninspiring resources like Ebay and Amazon.

Enter Pea Green Boat a beautifully executed online store founded by friends Tessa and Zoe based in North London.

Drawing on their backgrounds in interior design and film production, their decor collections are fresh, modern and on-trend. Divided into inspiring sections like Decorate, Lay The Table, Gifts, Accessories, Vintage and by curated Theme, covetable products like bunting, cake toppers, giant balloons and table decor are sourced from all over the world and where possible, made in the UK.

Now all I need is an excuse for a party…

Toronto based artist is an exciting and affordable new addition to her offerings.

Equally beautiful and eccentric like her handmade tiles, the porcelain mugs carry her signature folk-art inspired illustrations. The eye mug has to be my favourite of course…

I have been reluctant to share much baby related inspiration on the blog till now as I have been nervous of jinxing events, but since I am having a baby shower this weekend and our new arrival is imminent I thought it was time to loosen up a little and just embrace being excited!

I thought I would begin by a little look into our soon to be nursery. We cleared our very cluttered spare room a few months ago and have slowly been decorating, again trying to keep the decor as pared back as possible until baby arrives. We repainted the room from a grungy blue to a bright chalky grey. Both working for ourselves we envision doing so often from home, and so for now the room doubles as a nursery/office.

Most of the furniture is from Ikea: RANARP reading lamp, STRANDMON armchair, GREGOR swivel chair, HEMNES chest of drawers, EXPEDIT shelving unit in white, BRANAS  and DRONAS baskets in white, geometric storage boxes from Limited Edition BRAKIG Collection. The work desk is also an old model from Ikea. Grey Cotton Cushion Cover and Yellow Velvet Cushion Cover H&M Home. DIY Star Garland made using fishing wire and Gold Iron on Stars and Polka Dot Decals from Polkadotwallstickers.com.

I’m also waiting for these Glasbury Bee handles to arrive from Anthropologie to customise the chest of drawers with!