I'm a cover girl!

My home , all decked for Christmas, 

featured in HomeStyle magazine

Photo credit : Olly Gordon  for Homestyle magazine

EEEEEk!!

How exciting...I can finally tell you all!! 

I've been featured in Homestyle magazine, and I even made the front cover of their December issue!!

I can't tell you how hard it's been to keep this a secret....

But way back in july, I had the wonderful people from Homestyle magazine around to shoot the house for their Christmas issue!

Yes...That's right: Christmas in July!!

With a tree and mince pies and all!!

To say it was a bizarre experience would be an understatement, but a thoroughly enjoyable one at that!!

But even more bizarre, was the feeling of seeing myself on the front cover of a magazine!!

And of course seeing pictures of our home in print and reading about myself....Oddly fascinating!!

Sitting in my kitchen with a cup of coffee, whilst reading about my kitchen....

I have to tell you, as odd as it feels, that t was a truly enjoyable experience having the team from HomeStyle around, and as nervous as I was on the day, having spent the week putting up all my Christmas decorations, they soon made me feel totally at ease....Although the posing for the cover shot felt utterly awkward!

I was fascinated to see how they worked, with the stylists and photographer deciding on each shot, then spending ages tweaking the frames...

I learned a lot about styling and interior photography that day, and I am still trying to incorporate these lessons when I shoot my own photo's...although not quite to Olly Gordon's levels...

In the article the focus is, as it has been here on the blog, about the creative solutions I've had to come up with to achieve the kind of home that I wanted on a budget....I even share a couple of DIY's in the magazine:

The December HomeStyle issue, with me on the cover, is now for sale in the shops, so if you'd like to see more from my Christmassy home, run and buy!!

Or you can see a little preview here!!

And you can read more about my experience of being the HomeStyle cover girl and see more pictures from my home here

I guess this means ....yep Christmas is coming, and there is no denying it now!

Expect more Christmassy stuff on the blog in the coming weeks!

Small shop focus: T&Shop

Continuing on with my mini series of posts putting small, independent shops in focus, to encourage you all to shunt the big chains for your Christmas shopping this year, and instead choose to support local, creative and alternative businesses , I am today putting the spotlight on one of my stockist, Emily Grace wright's little lifestyle shop:

Emily serves loose leaf teas, locally roasted CARAVAN coffee, nutritious & delicious food & home baked cakes in her Newington Green premises situated in the stretch between Highbury, Dalston and Stoke Newington...But more than that she also sells  homeware, jewellery, textiles, ceramics, furniture & accessories sourced from emerging British based designers/makers who celebrate craftsmanship & share a minimal functional aesthetic in store and on her online website T&shop.

  emily is passionate about sourcing  hand crafted items, by emerging designers and UK based artisans producing small batches of unique and hand made products for the home. She has formed a collective of creative people, showcasing emerging design talent and in this way supporting small independent makers like myself.

Her carefully curated collection of products display her minimal functional aesthetic,with a slight bohemian feel, as well as her keen eye for unusual and unique design.

I am so proud to be part of Emily's stellar line up of start up designers and artisans, and her commitment to supporting creative people was cemented when she took her eclectic collection to Design junction in September this year...

All the images in this post is from her stall at the exhibition in Victoria House.

This is just a small selection of her eclectic mix of home wares and lifestyle products available in her East London tea-store and her online shop:

From the unique hand crafted ceramic organic vessels by Daisy Cooper , inspired by the Scottish wilderness,lovingly hand carved kitchen utensils made from reclaimed timber by Grain and Knot, and

the organic, yet modern laminated birch ply plates designed by print maker Krysta Batryn...

....the quirky and unique, multi functional hand thrown Diamond pots from London based Swedish ceramicist Stine Dulong of ScandiHus, inspired by a love for Scandinavian design in which beauty is radiated through light colours,

to the elegant and functional,charmingly tactile handmade hardwood contemporary homewares by Cotswold based artisan Brian Watson Wright marrying the natural beauty of hardwoods with the warmth of copper. ...

I adore the playful and fun design of the Clack! candle sticks in hand turned wood with copper from  Nice to be Nice ,a London based design studio, (pictured below with my own Hand cast Origami Concrete candlesticks)...

Hackney based Sophie and Gemma , the design duo behind Nice to be Nice also designed the gorgeous Stacklet modular shelving system Emily used to display her goods at design junction, cleverly combining Oak, Powder Coated Steel, Marble, Copper.... 

Perfect for displaying the gorgeously luxurious Cashmere knitwear Emily stocks from  ​Makeda Matheson​ . Responsibly & ethically made with locally sourced cashmere wool , then machine or hand knitted, but always finished by hand...

And Emily's beautifully eclectic range of jewelry from designers and makers such as NODO, Custom made and Wild Fawn.

As well as knitted, functional design accessories from Pluckd, Their Urban Wear hats and mittens made from innovative reflective wool, sourced from British makers, mills and suppliers.... 

T&Shop also sells handmade natural vegetable oil soaps from London Fields Soap company, natural scented soy candles from Earl of East London....

...as well as these funky geometric glass plant display's by Monti By Monti (shown above with cacti and succulents in marbled concrete planters by  Daniela Rubino, and above again). 

 Each piece is designed & made by Dee Monti ​in Hackney using locally sourced materials. 

Daniela Rubino ​designs concrete & metal products, such as the beautifully simplistic wall shelf pictured, above.

Daniela's choice of materials is based on their high compressive strength, sustainability & of course industrial aesthetics. Her designs are simple & bold, focusing on the beauty of the material. . 

The minimalist wall clock, above, is from JollySmith Design, a creative brand based in the North of England offering well designed British made gifts for any home or occasion.

This is just a small selection of Emily's beautifully curated collection of decorative, unique home wares and functional lifestyle products for sale at T&shop...Please visit her web shop for more inspiring Christmas gift ideas...or maybe just to treat yourself to something special..

Or if you are in East London, visit her tea shop for a coffee with a delicious treat whilst perusing her eclectic stock....you could even end up buying the chair you sit on...because EVERYTHING is for sale, so that you can have Emily's lifestyle and aesthetics in your own home...

How is that for a unique selling point??