Monday Snoop – The Lure of SW7

As I mentioned on Friday, I fully intended to have a very restful weekend. And restful is exactly what I had. I slept in for the first time in ages and I was so lazy on Saturday that the only time I changed out of my pyjamas was to have a bath and put another pair straight back on. Now that my batteries have been recharged, I just want to ease gently in to the new week. I’m thinking soothing colours, light and airy rooms and linen covered furniture. Much like this SW7 beauty I came across over the weekend. There is absolutely nothing about it I don’t like! I am particularly taken with the architectural mouldings, the coffee table in the living room, the colour of the kitchen cabinets (paired with those brass pulls), the industrial doors leading to the garden, the butler’s pantry, the painted stairs… I think you get the picture!

Images via

Baseball hats…

Even though it’s only been a four-day week for me, it has been L.O.N.G. It shames me to admit this but I think my evening is going to be spent nodding off in front of Ice Road Truckers with a glass of wine. Don’t judge, OK? So I am keeping the topic simple today. Baseball hats. Do or don’t? And if you do, do you dress them up or down? (Personally, I think they are strictly dress down but these inspiration pics have me rethinking my stance). 

Another use for a loo…

A few months ago, I was half-heartedly watching an episode of George Clarke’s Amazing Spaces, when a subterranean one-bedroom flat in Crystal Palace caught my eye. It has to be seen to be believed but architect Laura Jane Clark managed to create an incredible space from.. wait for it… an underground disused public toilet. (If you click on this link to her blog, please note the wall tiles in the kitchen, yes, these are the original tiles from the toilet). Public toilets are now largely closing down in the capital and clever residents are picking up prime real estate at bargain prices. There is no doubt that a project like this would take serious guts, determination, imagination and a sense of humour but I for one, am loving the resulting spaces.

I came across another unique toilet project that I just had to share - the Attendant Café on Foley Street in London. Built around 1890, the former Victorian toilet had been dormant for more than fifty years. Their website describes the project: “After two-years planning and restoration the old Attendant’s office has been turned into a little kitchen and the original porcelain urinals have become an inspired line with green seating to match the original Victorian floor tiles”.

Guess where I am grabbing my coffee this weekend? What say you of toilet renovations? Could you live/eat in a converted toilet?

Some before pictures to give you the creeps:

Images via

Sissinghurst Castle and Gardens

We have found ourselves in Kent quite often lately. Partly because it’s relatively close to us, but mostly because it is so breathtakingly beautiful. Everywhere you look are hop farms, oast houses, orchards and ramshackle picturesque farms. As we meandered through country lanes with the sun blazing and the smell of cut grass in the air, I wondered if my mind would be as unsettled here as it is in London. What would it feel like to trade in the sound of sirens for the sound of tractors? I miss the country, the sea, the calm. And even though I am so far from home, something inside me seems to settle when I leave the craziness of the city. With the weather being so warm over the weekend, we would have been fools not to head out of the city. So off to Sissinghurst Castle in Cranbrook we went. Everyone seemed to have the same idea as us as the parking lot was jammed with people picnicking right outside their cars. [We joined in]. There is not much to the castle itself but the garden on its own is worth the visit.

Images via Wishful Thinking