A happy home

I came across the lovely home of Thecla Reinders over at Taverne Agency. What I love most about this home is her confident use of colour throughout, whether it be the more flamboyant citrus colours or the slightly deeper, more luxurious shades. You really get the sense that this lady has not just based her home around a particular colour palette but around the treasured personal items within the space which make her happy, and it is this which unifies the home and makes it work. As you can see, I couldn't decide which of the lovely images to post so I pretty much posted them all! x

All Images: Taverne Agency

A lovely start to my 28th year...

Time spent at the caravan is time very well spent in my opinion!

Our lovely friends Ange and Ben brought some lanterns with them to light at midnight. It was so nice watching them float away above the sea until they were tiny specks in the distance.

We were woken on the morning of my birthday by the sunrise streaming in through the windows.

Larry loved his time on the beach as usual. This time, chasing seagulls and fetching flip-flops. That's not a fish in his mouth I promise...he's not that clever!

 

...and the icing on the cake was this gorgeous present from my lovely mum and dad.

I saw this 1930's lamp in one of my favourite antique shops months ago when shopping with my mum. At the time I decided not to buy it as I'd spent quite a bit that month but was upset when I realised it had been sold. I really wasn't expecting to see it again when I unwrapped my parcel! They definitely know how to make their daughter happy!!! So, here's a huge big thank-you to everyone who made my birthday so special.

I love surprises don't you? x

Literary perfection

If this were a bookcase in my home, in fact the room in general, I wouldn't ever want to leave!

Image: via Isuwannee

All that glitters...

I came across Lordship Park, a fantastic photographic location in North London over at Delikatissen and had to take a look for myself. I particularly love the styling of level two with it's combination of ornate French furnishings and beautiful decorative chandeliers, all set against a neutral backdrop with a pop of hot pink thrown in for that finishing touch.

All images: Lordship Park

Carrot cake and candles

Tomorrow's my birthday. I'll be 28.

I also sat in bed the other night reading a fridge freezer manual...I'm definitely getting old!

Have a very happy weekend! x

All Images: my own

House of fun.

love. love. love

Images: via the lovely Coquette & Dove

Time flies doesn't it?!

I can't quite believe it's been three months since my last post and that it's coming up to a year since Steve and I set up our business, Coachhouse 8 Ltd. It's been an exciting time and a big learning curve for us both so far and what with work and little jobs still to do around the office, the blog unfortunately came bottom of the list . Now, with things a little less hectic, I'm really looking forward to sharing my daily inspirations and loves again on 'An Hour From Eight' . Even though there are days when I still feel like I'm chasing my tail we have managed to tick quite a few things off our list. One of those things was to tackle this.....

The yard out the back of the office was completely overgrown and we could see it's potential as a space to sit on a warm day for informal meetings with clients. With the help of my dad and his garden tools (which were far superior to ours!) the weeds were shifted and we were left with a nice area in which to add a bit of colour.

This is how it's looking now. 

I picked up the number 8 while we were on holiday in Devon.

I'm not going to pretend I know much about gardening but this little guy was on his last legs in the garden centre. The lady gave me it for 90p and told me it would probably flower again next year but once planted it started to thrive much to our delight. The flowers are such a gorgeous shade of blue!

Larry loves the yard and is able to spend so much more time basking in the sun than us.

Seeing as we only rent our office, we tried to be as economical as possible when sorting the yard area. We re-used the existing paving flags and just rearranged them in a more convenient location and added a number of pots for some bursts of colour.

Larry.