“Monday Moments”
I am so fibbing. And I’ve been so bloggin’ good so far this year, until now. Yesterday was Monday but I was out all day exploring at the NEC’s Spring Fair, so Monday Moments is brought to you courtesy of Tuesday. With it so far? Oh good.
Yesterday was a great day. It’s tempting to scrap all of last week’s pics and just focus on all the exciting stuff found on my travels but that would b a) cheating and b) unfair on last week’s hard work, so we’ll stick to the usual plan.
Long time Moregeous readers will know that Insta-worthy whole rooms panoramas simply haven’t been possible here, they’ve been more #cornerofmyhome type shots, but last week…. taaaaa-daaaaaa, we sort of got one!
The skirtings aren’t finished, my fiddle leaf is off to the office and none of this furniture is *actually* staying in these positions but having finally rescued Mr M’s huge black armchair from storage, we just fancied seeing what the sitting room might look like all neat and tidy. I love our Blackpop wallpaper with all it’s all textured, muted, earthy tones, and the slaved-over reclaimed herringbone floor is everything we dreamed and sweated it might be.
What we’re actually sitting on at the moment is a sofa and two chairs set we bought at M&S, gosh, it must be 12yrs ago. It’s been completely brilliant. 
However filthy and dirty our work clothes, in whichever renovation disaster room it’s been piled high, whatever’s been dumped on it, it’s always come up trumps and cleaned like a dream. Full marks to M&S.
Close your ears, oh faithful sofa. You do not have Statement Sofa Status. Sorry. So sorry. You’re a bit saggy now and the beige really needs to go.
But, here’s the good news, you ain’t going to landfill. Because we’re not keen on throwing away good stuff and also to be frank, we can’t afford a load of new furniture (not before we get a kitchen anyway), you are going to be re-born. I’ve picked the (WOW) fabric, you’ve been upholsterer-approved, and your transformation will soon be underway!! Watch this space.
Another area transformed, well, a little corner anyway, is the space under the dining room cabinet wall boxing-off. The painting isn’t finished but getting the new Ikea Metod black boxes in felt like a triumph last week. They were a buggar as they’d to be cut down to size – 33cm wide ain’t standard in anyone’s book – and all the shelf holes had to be adjusted, a bit of a ‘mare.
What do you reckon? The right choice to go black and not white?
The one downside to the new Metod black boxes is all the very pale and very visible holes up the sides but you know me, I’ve a good tip for that. How To post coming up.
More good news – the banquette seating fabric arrived! 
Arrived and was promptly sprawled across by Rocky who took ownership as soon as it was laid out. He’s so cheeky. Even better in the flesh – no, not the cat, the fabric – it’s soft and silky but tough as nails. Actually that could also describe Rocky. He agrees that this is the direction the fabric needs to lie, so the tips face into the room. I can tell he agrees by the direction his nose is facing. He’s such a design cat.
The Origami Rockets works with the herringbone floor, nails the strong monochrome trend coming in for 2018/19 but most importantly, I just love it. Which is the most important thing when buying anything for your home. Don’t buy it ’cause it’s en vogue, buy it ’cause it’s on point.
Just peeping out from underneath is the reverse side fabric, but I’ll save that for next week 😉
The upcycling project on the go this week has been turning a white and floral patterned book case into a chalky charcoal and copper leaved cabinet for the guest bedroom. I ran out of time at weekend, but here’s where I’m up to.
I Insta-Storied it Live at weekend and only Mrs Blinkin’ Chalk Paint, Annie Sloan herself, joined in and said hi! She was poorly at home with a cold and just happened to be scrolling thru IG, isn’t social media amazing?! Get well soon Annie 🙂
What with all that plus tenants in & out and 2018 client interior and exterior work to price up, it’s been a busy week. I’m gonna cheat though and throw in some snaps from yesterday’s trade fair visit. I’ll save the trends round up and product features for a full post, but pop the people in here. And, what people 🙂
This year the Spring Fair teamed up with Jordan and Russell from 2LG Studio who hosted a tour of their fav stands with a fabulous Insta gang of interiors experts & design lovers. Matt from Real Homes and I were doing a spot of filming on this year’s top trends to be seen in the homeware market and were invited along to join the gang. Sometimes these invite events can be a tad cliquey but yesterday was perfectly balanced with genuinely lovely attendees. We were all inspired buy what we saw and snapped away, chatting and laughing for a few more hours than the Fair had planned, easy to do with such super hosting.
As you can see above, there’s a hot new trend which might not be on your radar yet. 2019 will allegedly be the Year of the Sloth. It’ll be a slow burner though. Might be 2023 before it gets here.
Talking of sloths, the man catching 40 winks at 5.30pm in the Spring Fair’s new immersive futures area The Atelier kind of summed up how designed-out we all were by the end of the day – there is SO much to see. It’s well worth a visit if you’ve a small retail outlet or online shop, there are so, SO many brands all under one roof, all vying for your business. Get thee down there.
See you all next week!
PS This is not a sponsored post x
