My latest buys - Gold imperial glasses

I just received these gold beauties a few days ago. The above picture I took with my phone, is where I have my plates, glasses, vases and bowls. The gold glasses are vintage Sohi imperial Culver glasses that I purchased on Etsy and Ebay. Just amazing! Can´t understand why nobody makes these kind of glasses any more, they are so gorgeous. I found a lovely article about them here on the blog Tatter and Frey She has a lovely Etsy shop with vintage items to decorate your house here.

The other glasses more to the right are Vintage Culver glasses also but with a geometric pattern.

This collection is drop dead gorgeous. I am addicted now to start collecting more myself.

But I am already happy withe the ones I have and they look so good on my shelf!

Baby news update

Dear all, thank you for the patience! Today the 29th is Oliver´s 6 months milestone.
He is such a happy baby. Above picture big brother Matteo is giving a kiss.
So how is it to have to little ones you might ask? Ufff their a handfull, that´s why my lack of writing posts on my beloved blog. In the beginning there was some jalousy but now that Matteo is more involved in helping with baby Oliver he doesn´t show it that much. Matteo even advises me when the baby is crying I must check if Oliver has his pacifier...
Matteo starts talking better and better. Today when we were making a stroll in the city he was sitting on his daddy´s shoulders and he saw a short haired dog walking in front of them. Matteo said: daddy daddy, I can see the dogs butt, do you see it too?
I was just out of the blue, and I just had to laugh.

Note:
Dear Dad, happy birthday tomorrow the 30th of June! Love you
kisses from the 4 of us
xoxo

Swedish summer shoot - part 1

This last week has been crammed full of wonderful work and play in and around Stockholm in Sweden.  Primarily a trip to see friends and start on this seasons Van Asch photographs. 
The trip did of course, have to include some shopping and, what I call, research !

Some of you may know already that I have the great privilege of being asked by the paint maker Annie Sloan to be a "painter in residence" whereby I use her trade marked chalk paint in my styling.  The above photo features Antoinette paint and some details of the photo shoot for Van Asch and BVN Design. These two Swedish based companies have joined forces to expand their collections, Van Asch now producing fabrics and BVN using these on the furniture. UK shops should be prepared for the Swedish invasion as they will be launching in the UK later this year, I will keep you posted about that.

Shopping wise, well, we squeezed in what we could. A car boot fair was brilliant, although the weather was so hot! I found some beautiful candle sticks and a crochet throw, which will end up as props at some point. Then at the opposite end of the spectrum, we hit the old town in Stockholm, lovely winding cobbled streets with beautiful stores like Indiska and Godrum Sjoden.  These Swedish stores in particular are really embracing colourful influences from India and Eastern Europe. 

Gudrun Sjoden

Dala Horse Museum

the old town

lighting store windows

displays outside stylish shops

Indiska

Indiska

Indian cafe in the basement of Indiska

A couple of charity shops were raided for props, I saw the chair above in one and would have loved to have brought it home.

This little shop in Solentuna is now the latest Annie Sloan paint stockist and they are also stocking Van Asch cushions and bags.  The lovely lady is currently in Oxford at Chalk Paint HQ and will be setting up a facebook page on her return. Previously her parents gift shop she is in the process of revamping and re-stocking. 

Part II of the photo shoot will continue in July with some outdoor shots and new designs hot off the press.

In the meantime, Im working on some interior styling using Annie Sloan paints and also maybe photographing some more rock musicians. Who says my life isn't varied ! Lastly just before I sign off, I love this photo I took of my god-daughter so much I wanted to include it.  Vie ses snart!

Vintage Van Asch in the Vale

Life is pretty hectic which unfortunately impacts on blog posts, so anyway, for those of you kind enough to check me out here is a quick update of whats been happening here at Vale HQ.

Well, Im off to Sweden for a week to photograph the next Van Asch catalogue. This will be featuring the ever expanding collection from the extraordinarily talented Rachel who now has fabric for sale which is being used on beautiful Victorian style furniture and more.  So we will be taking her wares around to some gorgeous locations and styling up mood shots using our accompanying colour palette supplied by Annie Sloan Chalk Paints. 

This little jaunt does however mean that I will miss my favourite Vintage fair in Milton Keynes.  So if you can make it in my absence then please please go and say hi to my friends there. 
The fair is in the centre MK outside John Lewis on the weekend of 7th and 8th June.  

Heres some photos from previous fairs to wet your appetite.

Here in The Vale I have been Urban Exploring again but my exploring seems to concentrate on the same place, which I know kinda defeats the object, but hey !  I took my lovely friend there with her new camera so she could take some cool shots. I also found and noticed things I hadn't seen before and always impressed with the new graffiti that has appeared. 

We also visited the Hellfire Caves where Sir Frances Dashwood would meet with his cronies to practice the dark arts. The chalk caves are dug deep into the hillside and under a church. 

You can find the caves website here for more information on the history and location.

See you all on my return with lots of photos of Sweden I hope. 
Until then ...