Do you have an artist that you love every single piece they’ve ever created? For me, that artist is Raoul Dufy. There was always a bit of a collection of his work around our family home, being a favourite of my darling Dad’s, which is how I came to know about him. Now, I can pick out his paintings in an instant, just from his use of colour and love of seaside settings, cityscapes, and racecourses and horses. I’d love to own one of his most colourful pieces and theme a room round it. Especially the first one below… I don’t think the shades could get any better:

{images via art cyclopedia}
Who’s your go-to artist?

Good morning everyone, hope you all had a fun couple of days. I had one of those amazing weekends that you just don’t want to end… including a trip to Engagement Ring Alley (a.k.a. Hatton Gardens). Did I find a replacement for Five Pound Argos? Erm, not s’much, but I did get lots of ideas of the kind of design I like, as well as finding a lovely man who is the jewellery equivalent of ‘Build-a-Bear’. Which is a lot easier than choosing a ring from the 85,724 in each window display. So we’ll get there. Anyway, on to today’s post and breakfast nooks. My room of the week on Friday gave me total nook envy. I currently eat porridge at my desk whilst checking work emails, which, let’s face it, isn’t the dream breakfast scenario. Hopefully one day I’ll be sat at the likes of one of these charming alcoves, sipping a chai latte, reading the papers and devouring exactly what’s in the fourth image down:

{images via pinterest}

Happy Friday! I don’t know about you, but I couldn’t be happier to finally reach the weekend. Work stress has made this past week a real struggle, so two days stretched out in front of me (including ring shopping tomorrow – hell to the yeah) with nothing but relaxation and X Factor sounds pretty darn amazing. Do you have an exciting plans for the weekend?
As my friends and family know, I grew up being one of those pony-mad teens who would spend every spare minute around horses… completely obsessed. I still love horses, still dream of one day having my own, so the current horse print trend was bound to catch my eye. I especially like the white on black print dress, it’s so striking. I do find it mildly hilarious that my teenage uniform of jodhpurs, tall boots and quilted jacket is now fully en vogue. I couldn’t have been less trendy back then if I’d tried; I think it was partly due to the scraped back greasy hair and penchant for Benetton sweatshirts. It wasn’t a good time for me fashion-wise. Anyway, back to horse motifs… would you don this print?

{1. Oasis horse print dress – £25 / 2. Dorothy Perkins horse print scarf – £7 / 3. Dorothy Perkins horse print top – £20 / 4. Topshop raglan sweater – £40}
Onto my look of the week and a dress that is bound to divide you. I will admit, on most people it would look like bridesmaid-gone-wrong. But Biel is not ‘people’. She’s an A-lister. There’s a difference. With the swept-up hair and Grecian belt, I think she looks stunning, but do tell me if you think differently! My room of the week was love at first sight. Imagine that was the scene of your breakfast every morning. Uh-huh, I know. The chandelier, the china display, the white kitchen… it makes me giddy just looking at it:

{images via prphotos & Kelly Rae Roberts}
I hope you have an fantastic weekend whatever you’re doing and wherever you may be…

Well, this post doesn’t need much introduction; I think you get the gist. Cruising the interweb and searching for pretty things as much as I do, I often encounter items that stand out above everything else. So, here it is… my “Santa, are you listening? Might wanna take a note of this” most coveted count-down*:

{1. KG Kurt Geiger large pouch – £30 / 2. Oliver Bonas half pint candle – £16 / 3. French Connection saddle bag – £250 / 4. Design*Sponge at Home book – £12.35 / 5. Anthropologie Veiled Alder dress – £228 / 6. Michael Kors rose gold watch – £240 / 7. Stella & Dot French Deco necklace – £315 / 8. Zara retro ankle boot – £49.99 / 9. Graham & Green Eiffel Tower lamp – £95 / 10. Kate Spade Blackberry pouch – $25}
*this doesn’t include the Mulberry and the Louboutins I’ve recently posted about, because a) that’s just greedy, and b) there’s ‘wish list’ and there’s just plain dreaming.

Do I have an ‘At home’ feature for you today… for me, it’s as close to perfection as you can get. I’m a little obsessed with soft grey and dusky pink, and this home is a textbook example of this serene palette done right. The home in question belongs to Alaina Kuczmarski, author of one of my daily reads, Live Creating Yourself, and contains so many of my favourite features (the soft colours, Moroccan pouffes, panelled and gallery walls, yellow tulips, need I go on?!) I literally can’t stop staring at the images. Beautiful, right? Not only this (yep, there’s more), Alaina has an etsy shop for her designs which you can see adorning the walls in the living and dining room. Needless to say, they are going straight on the Christmas wish-list:

{images via Live Creating Yourself}
What do you think of Alaina’s home?