Mila's little bedroom revamp...

A few weeks I got inspired by this little creative project for Mila's bedroom found on Pinterest...and as the minx wanted more pink in her bedroom, I decided to add soft touches to her room by painting her old desk and chair.

We went to our local DIY shop and she chose (actually!) a lovely, soft pink from the Dulux range which we got mixed into a plain pot of acrylic eggshell paint.

Here is the result....a lovely, brand new desk & chair for just £12!

White pompoms | Rabbit lamp | Handmade Pigmee dolls

I'm feeling a bit restless today so I may carry doing stuff with my paint brushes...Have a great weekend

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Two DIY projects that fire me up!

OK I have DIY on the brain...
Mila & I spent the afternoon painting her old desk (you could see the result on Instagram.com) and then we made white pom poms to hang in her bedroom.
I have to admit the desk looks good. I'm not a massive fan of pink but she chose a gorgeous soft pink from Dulux and against her grey wall, it looks beautiful. I will post pictures later on this week.
In the meantime, these two DIY projects fired me up.
The first one is an idea from Emily Henderson to style shelving units for one of her clients. You should follow the link as she describes the whole creative process and I think it's a brilliant idea! I would love to do something like this on our house in France.
The second one are these house numbers inspired by the work of Architect Richard Neutra, found on Curbly and when you know the price of contemporary house number, I think you will find the result pretty impressive!
As I have been offered tickets to go to The National Home Improvement Show, that's where we will go after our ride in Richmond Park so maybe I'll see you there! Have a great weekend

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Creative project for a rainy Sunday

I love using grey at home. I painted one of Mila's walls in down pipe by Farrow & Ball (pic here and there) and I used Pavillion grey on our bedroom so I have a few leftover post of paint at home.
I really love this idea of painting a big, feel good heart painted on our walls...
Have a wonderful Sunday...

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Creative projects for the weekend

I'm really looking forward to this weekend...
My migraine is gone, the sun is out, we have nothing planned other than a family picnic in Richmond Park and the visit of Michael Paul who shot our holidays home in France and got it featured in various magazines in Australia, Italy, UK, New-Zealand, Belgium, Croatia etc. I've learnt a lot about styling from him first time around and I'm very much looking forward to working with him again.
This weekend, I'm planning to make these two creative projects and add final touches to our lounge which is really now coming together and if you have time, please please please vote for us:
{MyDeco Independent Home Shop Award} 

All you need to do is nominate BODIE and FOU as your favourite ever independent Home Shop and you could win £1000* to spend in our concept store on anything you like! 

CLICK HERE to enter the competition.

Have a great weekend

1. VTWonen | 2. Anouk B

Enfin le weekend...Ma migraine est partie, il fait beau, nous n'avons rien de prévu à part un pique-nique familial à Richmond Park et la visite de Michael Paul (le photographe qui a shooté notre maison de vacances en France et a publié son reportage photo dans plusieurs magazines en Australie, Italie, Angleterre, Nouvelle-Zealand, Belgique, Croatie. J'ai beaucoup appris sur le stylisme photo la première fois qu'il est venu et il me tarde de retravailler avec lui.

Ce weekend, je vais m'atteler à ces deux petits projets créatifs et ajouter les touches finales à notre salon qui commence serieusement à etre très Bo et si vous avez le temps, please please please votez pour nous: 

{MyDeco Independent Home Shop Award} 

Tout ce que vous devez faire, c'est nominer BODIE and FOU comme votre magasin de decoration indépendent préféré et vous pourriez gagner £1000* a dépenser dans notre boutique sur tout ce qui vous fait envie!

CLIQUEZ ICI pour participer au jeu-concours.

Passez un bon weekend

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Little DIY project: magic decals to personalise jars

While the streets of London are covered with snow, we are shooting the first images of our Spring/Summer catalogue in a corner of my kitchen which seems a bit odd but necessary to be able to release it in May and so far so good... I really love the Summer vibes of these first shots and the new BAU pendant light is beautiful!
During our lunch break, I discovered this fabulous tutorial by Kristine from  The Painted Hive to make labels on Ikea jars. She is the queen of decals tutorials because this other one she posted earlier looks equally fab so if you're stuck at home today, I think it's something you may enjoy reading to do it some other time. Have a great sunday

Click here to read the instructions

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Little creative project: Advent calendar

As Mila is back from her French holidays on Wednesday, I'm busy making some changes to her bedroom to surprise her and as I took down the Bird Clothes pegs I was using in her bedroom to display her drawings, I'm going to make an advent calendar with them and some paper brown bags I got from my local convenient store. I don't know how it will look in the end but if it doesn't work out, we still have this lovely Advent calendar from Noix de Coc'. Have a great Sunday!

Photo: François Kong

Comme Mila rentre de France mercredi, je me dépeche de finir les petits changements que j'apporte à sa chambre pour lui faire une surprise et comme j'ai décroché les pinces à linge oiseaux que j'utilisais pour accrocher tous ses jolis dessins, je vais également commencé un calendrier de l'Avent avec les pinces à linge et des petits sacs en papier récupérés à l'épicerie d'à coté. Je ne suis pas encore sure du resultat mais si c'est trop nul, de toutes facons, nous avons toujours le calendrier de l'Avant de Noix de Coc'. Bon Dimanche!

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Little sneak-peak of my black kitchen

Inspired by these images of black kitchens, last June I started a DIY marathon and spent two weekends painting our old kitchen in black. You can see "before" images here when our home was shot by Edition PAUMES for the London Family Style book
Now this may well be a temporary look because we have builders starting working on our garden to lay down a deck on Monday and the next stage will probably be to cover the floor titles or replace them by wooden floors to achieve the 'delicatessen look' I have longed for.
Saying that, this DIY job was one of the most inexpensive kitchen update I ever done as I think painting came to about £50 in total and the result has impressed everyone that came around the house.

  

Inspirée par ces cuisines peintes en noir, en Juin dernier, j'ai attaqué un marathon bricolage et passé deux weekends à peindre  notre vieille cuisine en noir. Vous pouvez voir des photos "avant" ici lorsque notre maison fut photographié par Edition PAUMES pour le livre London Family Style.

Finalement, ce look ne va peut-être qu'être temporaire parce que nous avons une équipe d'ouvriers qui commence à travailler dans le jardin Lundi prochain pour installer une terrasse en bois et la prochaine étape sera surement de couvrir ou remplacer la carrelage au sol par du plancher pour obtenir le look  'delicatessen' que je rêve depuis longtemps.

Ceci dit, ce petit projet bricolage s'est averé très bon marché puisqu'au final, jai du en avoir pour £50 de peinture et le resultat a impressioné tous ceux qui l'ont vu.

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DIY project: Little foot prints

Not that I would like to do this right now on my pristine white stairs but I really like the idea for a kid bedroom and it's an easy little project to do to add a personal touch to your home.

Sources: Allt I Hemmet, Levis via Liberty Deco

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DIY project: Coffee table

You know that I'm partial to one or two DIY projects, especially when they look stylish and can be done in one afternoon so this morning I wanted to show this fantastic coffee table Weekdaycarnival did using Ikea's vika lerberg stands and a wooden board.
I also love how she displayed prints in the lounge and I love her workspace there!

PS: The Batgirl print is here and the black cat will soon be replaced by two fab prints: Mimi Le Chat and The Cat...we're just in the process of finalizing the size of each print.

(C) Weekday Carnival

Vous savez que je suis fan d'un ou deux projets bricolage de temps en temps, surtout quand le resultat est beau et qu'ils peuvent etre realises en un apres-midi. Alors ce matin, je voulais vous montrer ce fabulous projet brico de table basse realise par Weekdaycarnival qui a utilise les tretreaux Vika lerberg d'Ikea's et un plateau en bois.
J'aime beaucoup aussi comment elle a arrange differentes illustrations sur le mur de son salon et j'adore son espace de travail ici!

PS: Le poster Batgirl print est ici et le chat en N&B sera bientot remplace par deux illustrations canons: Mimi Le Chat and The Cat...nous sommes juste en train de finaliser les tailles des deux illustrations.

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I love this...

While doing some research for our next lifestyle shot for our mail order catalogue, I came across this gorgeous display of plates.
The Rob Ryan Four Season plates would look amazing mixed with vintage ones and plain ones from Muji or The White Company.

Via Living Etc

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Black kitchen in the making...

I think it's going to look good! Once dry, the paint has a really nice matt finish that looks very very stylish. We are on a winner people! Enjoy your weekend! I'm going back to my brushes... Bises

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My next DIY challenge is....

Pimping up our kitchen units by Sunday evening!
You can see how it currently looks there. In fact, nothing has changed since it was photographed by Edition Paumes for their London Family Style book last year but to be honest they shot the nice part of the kitchen (high glass ceilings, natural light, French door leading onto the garden). On the right hand side, things aren't so good....Kitchen units are really old and Steve & I really can't stand the ugly stone tiles on the floor.
We had our hearts on a polished concrete floor to replace the tiles but we've been told that we will need to dig down quite deep for the company to pour enough concrete and achieve a lasting, hard-wearing look. So, I think we are going to settle for painted white floorboards a la Story Deli a few years back to achieve something between the kitchen of Li Edelkoort (below)

this one by the owners of Balthazar's Keuken, that has rocked my boat for some time

and ultimately this one (shot by Frederic Vasseur), which summarizes everything I like.... concrete and white

But we have the deck in the garden to do first so the total revamp of the kitchen will be for later. In the meantime, I thought, shall I give the units a white coat of paint and then paint the beams in white to emphasize the sense of space or be bolder and paint everything (and I mean everything as in the units!) in black like this kitchen which I really really love!

So as I was not fussed by either the white or black option, the kiwi (Steve) decided for black and I think that with a few "Have a seat" stools in white from House Doctor, a few industrial lights, a new fridge and our French doors opening onto our forthcoming deck, we won't be too far off this look. At the end of the day, if it turns out a complete disaster, we will just have to wait for the total revamp.
PS:
Photos of my DIY pallet table are coming up. I spent 2 hours this am to style the room and ended up with 90% of my shots out of focus because I didn't know how to use the new lense that my brother made me bought. Now that I have had his instructions, I will try again tomorrow.

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Sunday inspiration/DIY project

So back home, instead of painting our bathroom as I had planned, I painted the cupboard under our stairs with blackboard paint and I love the result!

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I love this!

Busy weekend...BBQ friday night, brunch yesterday morning, diner at the pub last night, re-brunch this morning, we spent the whole weekend eating and to top it up, this afternoon, I'm making chocolate pecan brownies for Mila to take to school as she turns 6 tomorrow!
I'm also planning to hang a few art prints in the hallway, take photos of the treasures I brought back from France and potentially start painting a pallet in white (yes white again!) to make a coffee table out of it so I'm off.
Have a wonderful Sunday afternoon wherever you are!

1. Have a seat stool by House Doctor DK 2. red metal letter

Weekend tres 'busy'...BBQ vendredi soir, brunch hier matin, diner au pub hier soir, re-brunch ce matin, on a passe le weekend a manger et pour couronner le tout, cet apres-midi, je vais faire des brownies au chocolat et noix de pecan pour que Mila les emmene a l'ecole car demain elle a 6 ans!

Je vais aussi accrocher quelques illustrations dans le couloir, prendre en photo les tresors que j'ai rammene de France et potentiellement, peindre une palette en blanc (oui encore en blanc!) pour en faire une table basse donc j'y vais!

Je vous souhaite un tres bon apres-midi ou que vous soyez!

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DIY project: How to style your toilets

I've just finished my contributor post on Poppytalk to explain how I re-styled our toilets in France...I know there is more glamorous subject than this but bear with me on this...It looks better than it sounds :-)

You can read the full article here. Have a great evening. This is stock take evening for us at B&F and as I don't intend to spend the evening at the warehouse, I shall leave you. Bises

(C) 1. Kong bar re-designed by P. Starck, 2. Shot styled by Sweet Paul

Je viens juste de terminer un article sur Poppytalk expliquant comment j'ai re-style nos toilettes en France...Je sais, il y a plus glamour comme sujet mais faites-moi confiance...C'est plus joli que ca en a l'air :-)

Vous pouvez lire l'article en entier ici. Passez une bonne soiree. C'est la journee ou nous comptons nos stock a B&F et vu que je n'ai pas l'intention de passer la soiree au bureau, je vous laisse. Bises

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White stairs....

Half-term is coming to an end...Two more days left in France until our next get-together in April and some great memories of our few days skiing in Andorra with Mila (5 1/2 years old) and Lily (7 years old) before heading back to London (I strongly recommend Andorra to any families who want to go skiing with young children...).
And to top it up, Steve has finally agreed to try white stairs at home so now I can't wait to get back and get rid of our old carpet to get something like this!
I'm also thinking that I may even revamp one of the top bedrooms using Piet Hein Eek's scrapwood wallpaper on one wall...I'm still hesitating between PHE-1, PHE-2 and PHE-3 but I think it would look great against white floorboards. What do you think?

Stairs from Paul Massey's house

Les vacances de Fevrier arrivent a leur fin...Encore deux jours en France avant de tous nous retrouver en Avril et de super souvenirs de nos quelques jours au ski en Andorre avec Mila et Lily (je recommende l'Andorre a tous ceux qui ont de jeunes enfants et veulent aller skier...)
Et la cerise sur le gateau, c'est que Steve a enfin accepte qu'on passe notre escalier a Londres en blanc, du coup il me tarde de rentrer et de nous debarrasser de la vieille moquette pour arriver a un truc canon comme ca!
Je me disais, je pourrais meme refaire une des chambres du 2eme etage en mettant le

papier peint Bois de recup' de Piet Hein Eek sur un mur...J'hesite encore entre PHE-1, PHE-2 et PHE-3 mais je pense que ca aurait l'air super beau contre le plancher peint en blanc. Qu'est ce que vous en pensez?

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21 Easy kitchen updates

This is long overdue post but on my way to Paris, I bought Elle Decoration and only managed to go through it recently. One of their articles was on 21 Easy Kitchen updates and I was really thrilled to see they had used my kitchen cupboard from our house in France (where I'm right now to celebrate my Dad's 65th B'day) as example no 9!

If you haven't got a copy, I've just listed these easy updates for you because I think a lot of do are easy and also inexpensive.
1 Show your cupboards some love by adding new fronts or wallpaper them with the scrapwood wallpaper by Piet Hein Eek2 Cheer your ears with a whistling kettle
3 Treat yourself to proper tools
4 If you can, position your sink station by a sunny window (or add one of our cool roller blinds!)
5 Add some character to your kitchen with quirky tea towels
6 Look for imaginative ways to organize your space
7 Decant cutlery into large glass tumblers for instant deli-style chic (I have been doing this at home since I saw it done at Story Deli in Bricklane)
8 Take the plunge with a colourful tap and inject a jolt of fun

9 Give the inside of cupboards a lick of paint (which is honestly the easiest thing to do! I bought a second-hand cupboard for 15 Euros in France, painted the inside in blue grey and the outside in white and then add white crockery). I really like this B&W version too.

Norrgavel via Emma's Design blog

10 Swap standard cupboard handles for something more unusual
11 Raise the heat with a sexy new oven
12 Add some pizzazz to your walls with patterned tiles
13 Make an impact with colourful storage
14 Commission glassworker to make you a decorative splash-back
15 Store spices in magnetic mini containers on the side of your fridge
16 Create a dynamic display with pots and pans
17 Transform shelves by covering with patterned oilcloth (you can use these large blind fabric samples too to achieve the same result)
18 Grow a herb garden and keep it near the hob so you can add straight to the cooking pot
19 Make recycling your New Year's resolution!
20 Enjoy eye-catching crockery every day
21 Collect colourful cookbooks

En allant a Paris, j'ai achete Elle Decoration et il n'y a seulement quelques jours que j'ai pu enfin lire. Un de leurs articles etait sur 21 facons faciles de renover une cuisine et j'etais super contente de voir qu'ils avaient utilise le placard de ma cuisine de notre maison en France (ou je suis actuellement pour feter les 65 ans de mon pere) en exemple no 9!
Si vous n'avez pas une copie du Elle Deco, je les ai liste ci-dessous parce que je pense que la plupart sont faciles et faire et pas trop cher.
1 Montrez un peu d'amour a vos placards de cuisine en remplacant les portes ou en les couvrant de papier peint comme le papier peint Bois de Recup de Piet Hein Eek2 Ajoutez une jolie bouilloire qui siffle ou en couleur
3 Equipez-vous avec de vrais outils
4 Si vous pouvez, positionez votre evier pres d'une fenetre ensoleillee (ou ajoutez un de super cool stores!)
5 Ajoutez du charactere a votre cuisine avec quelques torchons un peu funky
6 Essayez de trouver des facons imaginatives d'organiser l'espace
7 Mettez vos couteaux et fourchettes dans des gros pots en verre comme dans les cafes our Delicatessen (je fais ca a la maison depuis que je l'ai vu a Story Deli a Bricklane)
8 Ajoutez un peu de fun avec un robinet en couleur
9 Peignez l'interieur de votre placard de cuisine (ce qui est honnetement super facile a faire! J'ai achete un placard d'occasion pour 15 Euros in France et peint l'interieur en bleu-gris et l'exterieur en blanc en une weekend et ensuite je les remplie avec de la vaisselle blanche). J'aime bien aussi cette version N&B.

10 Changez les poignets de vos placards pour quelque de different
11 Ajoutez un nouveau four aux lignes sexy
12 Ajoutez un peu de vavavroum a vos murs avec des carreaux a motifs
13 Creez un impact avec des meubles de rangement haut en couleur
14 Commissionnez un artisan pour creer une plaque
15 Rangez vos epices dans des petits containers magnetiques sur le cote de votre frigo
16 Creez un mur dynamique en exposant votre batterie de cuisine
17 Transformez vos etageres en les recouvrant de tissu impermeable (vous pouvez egalement utiliser ces larges echantillons de tissu pour arriver au meme resultat)
18 Faire pousser des herbes et gardez les pres de la gasiniere pour les ajouter a votre casserole lorsque vous cuisinez
19 Faites du recyclage votre nouvelle resolution pour l'annee!
20 Faites vous plaisir avec de la jolie vaisselle

21 Collectionnez des livres de cuisine qui vous font faire envie

Now that the B'day Boy party is over, we're off to Andorra for a few days of skiiing with Lily and Mila. Have a great week!

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DIY project: wooden headboard

For a while, I have been wanted to share with you how I double the height of a basic Malm bedframe by IKEA and and covered it up with grey linens to create a stylish, French-looking headboard for less than £60. Unfortunately the photos I took at the time are pathetic and needs work so in the meantime, I thought I would share this headboard done by House Tweaking. I love wood at home especially recycled wood so I think this one is a great way to make a statement in your bedroom and to create a modern, rustic look.

Alternatively, you can source an old French iron bed and use the top and bottom of the bed to create a headboard for two single beds which is what I did in Mila's bedroom, in our house in France (see below).

Cela fait un moment que je souhaiterais vous expliquer comment j'ai double la hauteur d'une tete de lit Malm d'IKEA pour ensuite la recouvrir de lin gris et creer une tete-de-lit contemporaine pour moins de £60. Malheureusement les photos que j'ai prise sont nulles et ont besoin d'etre retravaillee. En attendant, je vous montre cette tete de lit cree par House Tweaking. A la maison, j'aime avoir du bois surtout du bois recycle et je trouve que celle-ci est une bonne facon de creer un impact visuel dans votre chambre tout en apportant une touche moderne et rustique.
L'autre solution est de trouver un vieux lit en fer dans une brocante, le repeindre et d'utiliser la tete de lit et celle du bas sur deux lits une personne comme je l'ai fait dans la chambre de Mila, dans notre maison en France (voir ci-dessus).

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DIY Grace Kelly Hermes Bag

 

Kelly Bag

What woman hasn’t lusted after a Kelly handbag from Hermes. I know I have, but with a price tag over $10,000.00 I think twice. Even though the price tag is so high there is a waiting list to own one of these bags. Last time I was in New York I dropped into the Hermes store and enquired about purchasing  and was told that there was a several month wait and it was on a first come first serve basis. They were very vague about timing, color choices etc. and I was informed that they would not accept enquiries over the phone. Apparently you have to check in person in the store for the privilege of being able to buy one. Fine if you live in New York, have the time to hang around the store, and have the money to spend. The distinctive closure on the Kelly bag is what makes it so recognizable. I thought this DIY project was quite clever and could be fun to make if you are lusting after your own Kelly bag or know someone who is.

DIY Kelly Bag

Download the pattern and instructions from Paper Monkey. Please let me know if you decide to make one, or better yet send me a photo and I will post it.   Thanks to Content in a Cottage who suggests that this origami Kelly bag would be make fabulous place cards for your holiday table or fancy dinner party with a small gift inside for each guest.

Patricia Gray Inc is an award winning Interior Design firm in Vancouver who blogs about Lifestyle and WHAT'S HOT in the world of Interior Design.
2011 © Patricia Gray | Interior Design Blog™

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