Corrugated colour and flip flops

From the vibe of the decor in the restaurant which billed itself as serving Rio street food I had high hopes for the decor in the loos in Cabana. As I reached the staircase, made of scaffold poles and planks for the treads I started to think I could be right, but I had no idea what I was to discover.

It was quite a trek down, and on reflection the ground floor was a light and double-floored space so perhaps that shouldn't have been such a surprise.  When I entered The Loos, as they were signposted, this is what I was met with.

It was as if I'd walked into one of those storage containers, albeit a pretty pastel rainbow one.  Showing how pre-programmed we are, and conforming to type, I headed left to a door with pink flop flops nailed on.

As I had the space to myself I took a peek behind each of the pink doors.  The decor behind each door matched its place in the rainbow, but all of them had these funky, beaded oversized lampshades.

LILAC

CANDY PINK

CERISE PINK

But it wasn't just the paintwork or the corrugate finish. The mirror and sink also stood out - and behind the mirror there was a tame hand dryer, with a more ferocious one out in the lobby.

The tap almost looks out of place, but I coped.

Fun isn't it?  And totally in keeping for the restaurant's vibe, but also far from what I expected when I opened the door.

Those pom poms in the Botanical Bedroom

In my Ideal Home Inspiration post last week I teased you with some pom poms, today I'm sharing the rest of the bedroom - a botanical bedroom room set, at that.  I wasn't surprised to see the botanical theme pop up in one of the roomsets, as it is one of the trends for 2018 and I've spoken about that here on the blog before, but I didn't expect it to be the bedroom.

Nor did I expect it to be quite so stylish.  I'll admit, that even as a plant lover, I'm not so sure about having so many in the bedroom, even though they're fake, but I did love the colours and the effect. 

A FOUR POSTER WITH A POM POM THROW

The muted greens, greys and neutrals were set off with the purple and lavender greys and the overall result for me was a calming and relaxing room. Even the wood of the four poster bed toned with the colour scheme, and what an elegant four poster.

The louvre doors of the wardrobe also work with the style of the room.  The top of my wardrobe would never look so stylish though, I've long since learnt to have floor to ceiling wardrobes so that I can hide things like suitcases and extra storage for the wardrobe I'm not wearing.

Looking across to the wardrobe gives a really good overview of the colours used, and don't they work well?

The other nod throughout the room set to the botanicals look are the black edged mirrors and terrariums, shown well on the dressing table.  I've only just spotted the shaped mirror leant against the wall and it's the little touches like this, that made the room sets feel like proper rooms for me.

But at times I think they can be totally impractical.  The photo below sums that up perfectly - the ivy climbing into bed with you and the very pretty, but less practical bedside table - is it just me?

The room sets often challenge and push my opinions, but at times they're pushed in a direction that I don't expect to like. Take the artwork below, if you'd described the picture then I might be wary. Clearly I can see it's some kind of skull, but it's prettier than you could ever describe it, don't you think?

Lighting is something we often take for granted, and this roomset had some interesting choices.  Of the bedside lights and ceiling lights, I much prefer the bedside lights - although I'm sure I'd walk into them regularly!

And remember that mustard armchair from the inspiration post? Well I hadn't forgotten to include it, but I thought I'd save it until now so you too can fall in love with the room all over again, just like me.  It's not the obvious choice to put with the muted colours, but I really like how its turned out, don't you?

Hello February!

This post has been hanging around for a while, and I never realised I could be so patient! Today I'm sharing the first of a few months of papery loveliness, and one of my Christmas presents. I don't know about you, but I embraced all things subscription boxes for Christmas presents and while researching presents to buy, found one for my list too...

My first instalment arrived the first week of January, which goes to show just how patient I've been about sharing it all - you might remember the Happy New Year garland which I pinned un-cut-out on my noticeboard in a half-attempt at making use of back then. And that was only the paper sleeve. 

inside the box there was a tropically patterned notebook, a month card (look out for that on Instagram at some point during the month, I'm sure), and some slogan pens all brightly coloured and wrapped in zingy tissue paper.

Add to that a contrasting, plainer notebook and a handy to do pad and a matching birthday card too, and I'm all set for a colourful, and yet organised month!

THE FULL SET IN FEBRUARY'S PAPERGANG BOX BY OHH DEER

The next box has already arrived - the crazy timing of the subscription box world- and you might have already seen a peek at it on my social channels. I can't bring myself to share it all before March, because, well it feels like I'll be wishing the months away, and they already go pretty fast don't they?