Crown and Crumpet

Crown and Crumpet, a darling English-style tea room in San Francisco opened at the revamped Ghirardelli square exactly a year ago. Oh, how I'd love to go to San Francisco just to spend an afternoon there with a warm pot of tea and endless warm scones with clotted cream.
I am so delighted by the style that I can't even begin to say what I like best. The colors and mix of patterns, the Cath Kidston tablecloths and vintage chairs, the art on the walls, the sofa upholstered in two colorful stripes and flowers prints, and specially the British flag cushions.
In their menu they offer Mimosas for breakfast, Welsh rarebit for lunch (a typically English sauce made from melted cheese served hot over toasted bread), and a selection of tea sandwiches such as egg salad, asparagus, cucumber and cream cheese or salmon, with your afternoon cup.
Not only do they have amazing decor but one can also buy beautiful things like pastel colored Parisian glass and delicate porcelain gold rimmed tea sets. Totally my kind of place.

Please look at this lovely felt tea cosy from Cath Kidston that I think matches perfectly Crown and Crumpet's style.

Food Styling

I have a new goal in life since I discovered Aran Goyoaga, an amazing food stylist and photographer who lives in South Florida and is originaly from the Basque Country. On her blog Cannelle et Vanille she showcases the most beautiful food pictures I've seen.
With every amazing picture, she includes the recipe, she uses fresh seasonal produce and lots of spices, and I like how she pairs ingredients like rosemary and honey, caramel and fleur de sel, or the sweet and delicate spiciness of pink peppercorns with raspberries! hers is a very contemporary style of cooking.
I wish one day I can learn to photograph like she does. It gave me hope to know that she started as a photographer a little more than a year ago and she is completely self taught. You can tell she has improved a lot if you take a look at older posts in her blog.
I like her white on white pictures the most, she is able o capture every little detail in them, and I also like the softness she creates by having some parts out of focus. I decided to give it a try. I began following Aran's tips: "Natural lighting, no lamps, shoot with a high aperture, make sure the white balance in your camera is set to the right category and try to over-expose the photo a bit. Not too much, just a little".
After 100's of pictures, this is the best I could come up with. I needed a photograph of this glass that I sell on my shop. It is made from recycled beer containers and is hand painted in a small village in Mexico. They are traditionally used at weddings. I think they're really pretty. I will use the picture on my website, even if is not that great, and just hope some day I manage to create beautiful images, like she does.

Event Styling

After six years of planning birthday parties for my kids, I have grown a passion for birthday party styling, decorations and specially cupcakes. In my search for nicely styled parties I came across Amy Atlas, a sought-after event planner in New York City, and her signature dessert tables.
Don't you love her work? I think her decorations are stunning, the color palettes of every one of her creations are just perfect, each event is uniquely planned and styled with vintage jars, natural flowers, beautifully crafted labels, perfectly thought backgrounds and patterns and whatever it takes to complete the theme, no detail is overlooked. She works with great bakers and candy purveyors. I haven't been in an event planned by her, but from the pictures you can tell the food must be great too.
The pictures were taken by Gemma Comas and Karen Mordechai.
Amy has a nice blog where she talks about her work and recommends suppliers and vendors.

Sticky, Chewy, Messy, Gooey

I got this super cute book last christmas, Sticky, Chewy, Messy, Gooey: Desserts for the Serious Sweet Tooth (2007) by Jill O'Connor and photographed by Leigh Beisch. I got it mostly for the pictures and the graphic design. Every page is adorably designed, with lovely colors and typography. The photography is great and nicely styled, I love the dots and gingham backgrounds and the plates, cups and dishes they used. I haven't cooked anything from it yet but I just love to look at it.

Whimsical Room

Via magnoliasquarelittlesnippets.blogspot.com

I had to add this room, just because I like it so much. The art deco armoire is beautiful, the collection of vintage cages, which I am so crazy about lately, and the mobile create a whimsical setting. The antique toy stroller is also very cute.

My Son's Room

This is my son's room. I don't really like the color of the wall, so I am thinking of painting it midnight blue. I am pretty happy with the rest of the elements and how they work together. The bookcase is from the years I lived in Costa Rica, it belonged to a public school. It has been painted several times and you can tell by the many colors that show through its scratches. The minute I saw it on the street, waiting for the garbage truck to pick it up, I knew it would be perfect storage for Alain's toys and books.
The garland is Neena's own. I ordered the map online from National Geographic's website, the antique trunk is a find from a flea market trip and I found the paddle in Key West many years ago.

Children Space

domino magazine

emmas.blogg.se

emmas.blogg.se

emmas.blogg.se

emmas.blogg.se

Sunrise Buffalo home via katyelliott.com

I am posting a few more children rooms from my collection of inspiring images, except this time I will show more colorful and less girly decor. I love how maps decorate a kid's room, vintage furniture and toys are also a common element and so are sheep skin rugs, garlands, and creative storage such as old trunks, baskets and tins. Antique children books look beautiful on a nice old bookcase or on a pretty rack. I apologize for those pictures that I don't give credit for, I just can't remember where I found them.

Bed of Flowers Hotel

As I wrote in my latest posts, I am very much into Interior design these days and working on a few projects, I often find myself blogging into late night hours, that is how I came across this fantastic hotel in Holland.
The style is exactly what I am all about: floral fabrics, vintage artwork, white sofas, wooden floors, crystal chandeliers and antique furniture pieces. I also love the vintage floral porcelain, the gingham fabric and feathered birds in the chandelier.
Although I am mostly attracted to very white interiors, in this case I really like the touch of color given through upholstery, a few painted walls and lots of flowers, their choice of turquoise, hot pink and green makes a great palette. I would absolutely love to stay here sometime.
Bed of flowers is the name of this gorgeous place, you can find more information and even book your room at www.bedofflowers.com.

Via absolutelybeautifulthings.blogspot.com

Maria's girls room

One of the best sources of inspiration is one's own friends. Like my friend Aina who introduced me to the shabby chic, cottage style that they like so much in Norway where she's from.
This summer I visited my friend Maria in Toronto, she has a lovely apartment and she just redecorated her daughters room since she is expecting her second baby girl. The room is painted in a beautiful shade of pink and she made the bird artwork herself. Do you recognize the doll? Yes! she traveled all the way from Neenä to Toronto.