Love This #78: Mirrored furniture

It's funny the things you lust after isn't it? I mean, if I were to plan my dream bedroom I'm pretty certain it would include mirrored furniture.  There used to be a shop in the village which I think secretly knew of my dream bedroom design, and for many months - or it felt like many months anyway - had the most gorgeous window display of mirrored furniture.  And of course I found myself walking past it everyday, wanting to stop and admire it more than I should when I had a train to catch.

I'd visions of the lifestyle this furniture would bring, which if I'm honest with myself, no single piece or set of furniture could bring. In reality, of course, my life wouldn't be much different - there'd still be the day job to get to every day, too many pots and potions to make a dressing table have the minimalistic approach I have in mind, and of course mornings would still be a rush because, well, the bed is cosy, and you're much more likely to find me up in the small hours of the night, rather than the early hours of the morning.

But that's life, hey?

Photo credit: All images courtesy of Zurleys

Photo credit: All images courtesy of Zurleys

Mirrored furniture from Zurleys adding a touch of glamour don't you think?

That doesn't stop me daydreaming though, and when I browsed the Zurleys site, I knew which furniture range I'd be sharing.  The essentials in my dream bedroom would be bedside tables, a dressing table and a chest of drawers. Having become a bit of a self-appointed expert on mirrored furniture, I've realised like any furniture there's more than one style. 

So whether your style is sleek, modern lines or a more Art Deco feel, or like me taking the opportunity to fulfil my equally long held French-style shabby chic dreams, there's plenty to choose from. I'm already working on my sales pitch to MOH in my head...

Antonia-Shabby-Silver-Mirrored-Chest-of-Drawers-ZUR206045.jpg

Not that it'll be a big pitch, but I need to combat his questions and sometimes, as you know, because sometimes we all need to back up what is essentially "because I like it" with more hard fact evidence. There'll be the added light reasoning, they have mirrored surfaces and so I'd expect them to bring light into any space they're in, that's what mirrors do, right?

I'd have to counter the "what's wrong with the furniture we've got" and actually the answer right now is nothing, I love that too. But even I know suggesting we have backup bedroom furniture isn't going to be a winner, so it'll be a case of picking my time, as these aren't exactly items that could be snuck in and fall under the "this old thing" approach.

Of course an obvious plus is their sheer good looks, and the my killer argument drawers in the bedside tables!  For my clutter-loving-wannabe-minimalist-self, it'll be a winner.  I like my stuff and can artfully arrange it (in my eyes anyway), but MOH would rather it was all shoved, or rather carefully placed, into a drawer.  Now thinking about it, this furniture is a compromise, now that really is a winner!

What reasoning do you deploy, and more importantly what would you deploy those tactics for?  

* This is a collaborative post, but all views and opinions are my own.

 

Post Comment Love 19 - 21 January 2018

Hello there and welcome to another Friday and another #PoCoLo and already I'm wondering how we're over halfway through January.  I've a feeling this year is going to whizz by just as the more recent ones have, but as I can't do much to stop that - just eek!  If you were here last week, it was great to see you, if you're new here this week then you're equally as welcome. 

Work has once again been busy and i've not managed to meet my leave on time ambition but I am making the most of my walk to work, thanks to some snazzy new trainers.  I'm also pleased to see the back of the grey, damp weather and while now there's colder blue skied days, I think on balance I prefer them. Not the wind quite so much though, I hope you didn't experience fences blown down - I don't think we have, and if we have I haven't spotted it yet. 

If I'm honest I was half expecting the cover on our patio table to have escaped, but it was still there this morning so that was a pleasant surprise.  I think it'll need securing this weekend though.

My photo seems much more calm and serene than the weather has been doesn't it? It's another from the beautiful garden, Compton Acres in Poole - I will share more from our visit there last March at some point, and you'll see just what I mean about it being beautiful.

Relaxing among the greenery at Compton Acres

Blogger Showcase: Jazmin from All That Jazmin

Jazz is an amateur pop culture journalist with a passion for writing and is a huge Disney fan and one of the things she loves about blogging is to discover life through other people's eyes. You can find out more about Jazmin on Morgan's blog, but before you go, don't forget to connect with Jazz on her social channels:  Instagram  -  Twitter 

If you'd like to be featured in a future Blogger Showcase then please get in touch with either Morgan and I, we've a waiting list until Easter, but we'd love to add your name to it.  

A mixed year on the plot

If you've been following my "year in review" posts you'll know that they've been full of things I've enjoyed, and this one is no different, but it's also been a year of challenges. We knew when we took on our overgrown plot that it wouldn't be easy, but I don't think either of us realised quite how hard it would be either.

That said, it's still been rewarding, just a little bit more back breaking and soul destroying than we'd hoped for. And eating produce you've grown yourself makes your back ache just a little bit less, although in my case that wasn't helped by my "allotment tan" that gap between my shorts and my t-shirt, ouch!  (It's still brown now!)

But 2018 is a new year, and once again I'm already itching to thumb those seed catalogues and start planning where we'll plant things this year. And I'm determined that this year I'll make that cutting patch...

My allotment year in 2017 was a shorter year, in fact not a year at all as my posts only cover April to November, so there's another lesson for me and that's to get out there digging earlier this year.

If anything I think these two first two photos from my post in April checking in with the plot were to be indicative of our growing year - the celeriac above ground looked to be doing well, but below was just a mass of roots without the lovely celeriac bulb. We'll try again - hopefully with more success - I'm sure.

APRIL: IT LOOKS LIKE CELERIAC

APRIL: IT LOOKS LIKE CELERIAC

...NOT QUITE SO MUCH NOW THOUGH!

...NOT QUITE SO MUCH NOW THOUGH!

But I'm grateful for one thing for our first visit last year, and that's one of my favourite photos of the year - yes the one with the lichen, and yes I still liken my lichen a lot!

APRIL: I STILL LIKEN MY LICHEN

APRIL: I STILL LIKEN MY LICHEN

Later that month I had potatoes chitting everywhere. Almost every surface was covered with them and it felt like the potatoes had taken over the asylum, and that's still true today.  We're still eating potatoes we harvested in autumn last year - I told you there was a lot!  And that gives me a dilemma, as it's apparent we're not big potato eaters so I should grow less, but then they've done wonders for our soil, so we'll be growing them again.

...perhaps I should look for a different solution, it would most definitely be easier to start eating more potatoes!

APRIL: POTATOES CHITTING EVERYWHERE

APRIL: POTATOES CHITTING EVERYWHERE

By May my broad beans were planted out and our plot was looking semi-respectable again, and the battle of the onions lay ahead of us.  We took a new approach to the weeds too and rather than dig them up, decided to try blocking them out with soil in a raised bed.

MAY: BROAD BEANS AND A WEED FREE PATH  (IGNORE THE REST OF THE WEEDS!)

MAY: BROAD BEANS AND A WEED FREE PATH  (IGNORE THE REST OF THE WEEDS!)

The next month or so saw me wage that battle with the foxes over the onions. I'd like to call it a truce, but I think in reality they won and my onions never really recovered. It's the second year I've had no luck with onions so I'm going to give them a miss for a bit and hope that when we try again the foxes have forgotten, or moved on.

JULY: PROTECTING MY ONIONS TO NO AVAIL

JULY: PROTECTING MY ONIONS TO NO AVAIL

We did have a bumper crop of strawberries, and later raspberries and later still apples and it's these small wins that made having the plot so worthwhile.  Especially so with the strawberries as they were off plants I'd moved over from our garden - most of them free plants too from the runners, and you know how much I like free plants. And strawberries!

JULY: PLENTIFUL STRAWBERRIES

JULY: PLENTIFUL STRAWBERRIES

The plot next to ours continues to inspire me, but there's also an element of envy too. I know how much effort our small progress has taken, and at times I think ours will never be quite as together as this, but I also know that having it right next door gives us something to aim for. I suspect our neighbouring plot owner looks at ours hoping we'd hurry up and get it sorted, but I'm sure they also know just how much effort that will take.

JULY: NOT MY PLOT (OBVS)

JULY: NOT MY PLOT (OBVS)

In August we were back on the plot and making good progress, although there were notable losses - pumpkins, tomatoes and cucumbers, I'm looking at you, but once again we did have some beautiful sunflowers.

AUGUST: PLENTY OF BEAUTIFUL SUNFLOWERS STILL TO COME

AUGUST: PLENTY OF BEAUTIFUL SUNFLOWERS STILL TO COME

In September we were overrun with red and green bounty and feasted on borlotti beans and rhubarb - not together and all was good with the world. Our biggest harvest was later this year than the previous year, but it was much needed and our energy and enthusiasm was renewed. Phew.

SEPTEMBER'S RED AND GREEN BOUNTY

SEPTEMBER'S RED AND GREEN BOUNTY

But that wasn't the last of our harvests, we still had the potatoes to come.  In the end that took us two attempts, and I think we've still got some in the ground (mental note: need to check on these soon) and as I said earlier in the post, we're still working our way through the almost 10kg of potatoes. 

ALMOST 10KG OF POTATOES, WHICH IS A LOT OF POTATOES...

ALMOST 10KG OF POTATOES, WHICH IS A LOT OF POTATOES...

TINY SUNFLOWERS ON A VERY THICK STEM

TINY SUNFLOWERS ON A VERY THICK STEM

So thankfully there were highs in our allotment year, but there were also lows too, and lows that were lower than I'd expected to feel and I seriously questioned if we should keep our plot. There is still so much to do, but we have a plan to bring a new section of it into fruition this year, and I'm hopeful that won't be quite as bad as we hope. The section in question has been covered with tarpaulin since we took over the plot so at least there isn't the grass (above ground) to dig through.

Wish us luck - we're going to need it - and I'll keep you updated with how we get on.