Sunday morning yumminess: Egg custard with pancetta crisp

Egg custard
1 pt heavy cream
½ cup roasted chicken fat
2 cloves garlic
2 bay leaves
Whole peppercorn
-----
4 yolks
1 whole egg
Salt and pepper to taste

Combine all except eggs and steep over low flame for 20 minutes.

Temper the egg mixture in.

Pour into shells, bake, covered, in bain marie for 20 minutes or until set.

Via Sunday Suppers. Super photos by Karen Mordechai as usual.
Big belated thanks for the love link from Stephanie at Ohhh...Mhhh

The Acapulco chair....Love at first sight

I'm loving this Acapulco chair spotted in Grand Designs magazine...It just feels like the perfect garden accessories staple you want right here, right now!

Designed in 1950s, the iconic Acapulco chair is still as stylish and contemporary as when it was first designed and will look superb at home to bring Summer indoor or on the deck outside, especially since The Acapulco Chair Company has now re-edited the chair in gorgeous, to die-for colours like orange, turquoise

The chair costs £345 + shipping and £375 for the rocking chair version

House Tour: the Danish home of MisseMai

Today, I'm taking you to see the house of Mia-Louise Mailund which was recently featured in Danish magazine Alt For Damerne. Mia-Louise is the talented designer behind the gorgeous Old Oak's last Dream handmade print, which I have at home.

In 2008, we had featured her studio on the blog but I'm loving her home, her black floorboards (very bold but a trend we see more and more) and how she used gorgeous, feminine wallpapers in one room and then went very graphic in the hallway. The wallpaper below is from Zoffany, the bag from Gucci and the scarf from Liberty. I'm really loving the Apple in the picture frame and I asked her if it was one of her designs (really hoping it would be) but sadly it is not. It was a present from a friend a long time ago...I love the use of Apple in design...I got this yellow one for Mila's bedroom in Hong-Kong and maybe I may be tempted to dig into our stock and get this gorgeous Apple rug for her bedroom

In her bedroom, Mia-Louise kept since simple and relax. The dresser is from a flea market and she found the vintage suitcase in the street (nice found!)....doesn't it look gorgeous AND practical?! and of course the beautiful cushions are by Mia-Louise (same designs than the prints)

Now....look at these glossy, glamourous floorboards! There are beautiful...
I have always thought that you need a huge amount of natural light to make the most of dark floorboards and therefore it wouldn't quite work in the UK with the fantastic weather (NOT) we have throughout most of the year. Saying that, we're seeing lots of Danish, Swedish and Dutch homes with glossy floorboards so maybe the light after all is not quite an issue. The table which looks like the Tulip table by Saarinen is in fact from Ikea and the chair is from a vintage shop and the pillow is covered with Florence Broadhurst print.

If you were wondering how to create a real statement in your hallway, this is one that bursts out of confidence and screams 'hello mama look at me!' The wallpaper that Mia-Louise used is Closet stripe by Farrow & Ball and it does bring out her wonderful prints. The ceiling light is by Caravaggio but you can also use the Hang lamp by Normann Copenhagen to achieve a similar look.

And to finish this wonderful house tour, the print on left hand side is by Sanna Hannuka who designs beautiful prints. Mia-Louise painted her desk with a hue from Farrow & Ball and the chairs are copies of the famous (and French :-) Tolix chair.

Now I have to run because I have a meeting with VITRA in Clerkwenwell so I wish you all a fantastic bank holidays weekend and as our new designer Bianca Hall would say....
Life would be rubbish without you! :-)

Life would be rubbish without you...

Our team is in the process of adding gorgeous art prints and decorative tiles by British ceramist Bianca Hall and I couldn't resist her 'Life would be rubbish without tile'

I love it! My immediate thought is for Steve and Mila but I think it's such a lovely message that it would be really nice for best friends, sisters and any other partners in crime....

My bedroom in a Chinese magazine

Camilla Diedrich kindly sent me this press cutting from a Chinese magazine that featured her wallpaper in our bedroom in France....It's a nice reminder because we've just spent 4 wonderful days in our holiday home at the beach with friends and family but it also reminds me how much I love this True Blue wallpaper in turquoise!

I would love to use it again in our home in London...Can't really do the bedroom thing again but I think it would be quite cool as a small feature wall on top of the stairs and would give our top floor a holiday feel....It's little details like this that helps me to cope with the British winter :-)
I have this vision of True Blue being incredibly stunning against the white painted stairs...well the stairs I will eventually paint in white because for the time being, they have an ugly beige carpet on them...

Adorable al fresco dinner

We are off to France until Monday evening for our annual get-together BBQ....We are all coming from Barcelona, Bruxels, Bordeaux and London to have fun here and while Steve will finish his tree house and the weather is about 27 degres, I just may try to do this...

Have a wonderful weekend....
Images via The Style Files and Frolic

Quick question on party bag....

While putting Mila's party bags, I realised that it was quite tricky to make little party bags with a WOW factor without either ending up with a lots of crappy things or paying the earth and when you have something like 14 kids at a party, the 'mum' in me thinks that it doesn't make a lot of sense to spend £100 on party bags so I just would like to know how much you think is reasonable to spend on a party bag and then I will see if we can come up with some really cool and affordable party bags on BODIE and FOU.

Mila's 5th B'day party....Major success

Last Sunday, we celebrated Mila's 5th Birthday and it was amazing!
As Mila and I share our lives with the kiwi King of BBQ & Sunday roast, we decided to organize Mila's party with a BBQ afterwards with all the parents to give everyone the opportunity to get to know each other.
Total: 14 kids + 25 adults = a very noisy but happy and memorable afternoon!

The blackboard sign...

The party bags.....

The Gingerbread man decoration....

Mila's cup cakes....

The guests....

Best party activity: Decoration of the Gingerbread man...by far
Best party find: Glitter clutch bag at the £1 shop....a real bargain with WOW factor!
Best creative idea: Decorating cupcakes with Mila's face on. I got the idea from Swiss Miss but added little things that Mila says often on the back of the cards like" "I love you to the moon and back and back to the planet...", "For ever and ever....", "Let's have a huggle" (family cuddle), etc...
Best life saver: Chocolate & strawberry cupcakes from Tesco's Finest range (£1.70 for 2)
Best friends: Mandy, Peyman, Mel, Guillaume, Pete, Barbara, Jerome, Liz, Francois, Julie & Eleonore + anyone else who helped us to make this day truly special. Thank you all

Little DIY project...painted bottles Part 2

Do you remember this little DIY project I posted last month...well... I found these gorgeous images by photographer Bonnie Tsang and I thought they were a perfect example of what could be achieved if we were using gold paint for our little project...

See more of Bonnie Tsang work here

2 thumbs down to the Louis Vuitton iPad case

I'm so sorry to re-post about an iPad slipcase but I've just seen the Louis Vuitton one and I thought no, no, no, beurk!

I mean I love Louis Vuitton, don't get me wrong.... and I cherished the old Vuitton bag I was given 20 years ago but it is now in my cupboard and hasn't seen the light of the day for years.

I keep looking at this monogrammed LV iPad case, shaking my head and thinking 'no...they got it so wrong'. Louis Vuitton has done some wonderful designs in the past with beautiful leather...Why on earth do they need to do everything now with their monogramm splashed out is beyond me. I think the LV iPad case looks too bling-bling, cheap and frankly has no style...

Are we still that much into branding in 2010? Is it still THAT important to walk around with big luxury brands on ourselves to show who we are? In the 80s and 90's yes ok but now....I just don't feel it's right anymore.
I don't know....maybe I'm getting old, maybe I'm simply happy in my own skin so I don't need need to have brands names on everything I wear but I much prefer the simplicity and style of the Clare Vivier iPad slipcase which just gets it right.

Anyway, the choice of yours and you may well disagree with me :-)

Karl Lagerfeld's bookshelves

Do you think you have too many books? Check out Karl Lagerfeld's studio in Paris!
His bookshelves covered all the walls of his studio up to the second floor and he even owns the bookstore next door!
These images are taken from Todd Selby's latest must-have book: The Selby is in your place which I mentioned last month....

The shot on the second image is a portrait of Lagerfeld's muse Baptiste Giabiconi. This portrait of Baptiste surrounded by roses and Barbie dolls (check out the Barbie Foot here) was taken by Lagerfeld last year when French concept store, Colette hired him to shoot a special series of Barbie photos to be displayed for their Barbie 50th birthday celebrations.
Photos courtesy of: www.theselby.com)

iPad leather slipcase by Clare Vivier

Our 'coup de ♥ fashion'!
Our love with Clare Vivier designs is a never-ending story...

From the day, we discovered her gorgeous La Tropezienne tote leather bag, we haven't stopped drooling over her sublime, chic, understated designs whose simplicity just gets it right.
Her stylish iPad leather slip case is no exception! Made from beautiful eco-tanned leather, the Clare Vivier iPad leather slip case is the perfect accessories to protect your Apple gear and our thinking is that if you are going to be a geek, you may as well do it with style!

Frankly....the new iPad from Apple + Clare Vivier leather slip case...it's just can't get better than this...
The Clare Vivier iPad leather slipcase will be available at the end of May in brown,
pink and green from here

Chez Nous: Mila's bedroom - UPDATE

I have to admit that the photoshoot with Paumes last Saturday gave me the ultimate boost needed to finish Mila's bedroom... After spending several weekends painting her walls and floorboards, my motivation to do more DIY was running low but hey....no matter how talented Hisashi Tokuyoshi is in seeing beauty in the most mundane things, I thought my masking tape around the ceiling wouldn't quite cut it!

So in an ultimate effort, I took the masking tape off, hang a couple of beautiful art prints et voila...!

I LOVE how the prints Mila and I choose together, look in her bedroom...The Friends of Violet poster by Studio Violet is my latest love. I have always been a fan of Camilla Engman and Elisabeth Dunker's work so I'm super happy to have this beautiful poster they designed together now on B&F (and now, we also have the Friends of Violet wallpaper!).
Elisabeth and Camilla have also designed some gorgeous postcards here that would look very nice framed individually and hang in a row.
My other 'coup de coeur' was this Nelly poster by Betsy Benn. Betsy's Quintessentially print is already a best-seller but my heart belongs to Nelly because I knew as soon as I saw it that it would be just perfect against Farrow & Ball Down Pipe paint I had in mind at the time. Both prints are super easy to frame as the Studio Violet design fits perfectly in a 50 x 70 cm picture frame from Ikea (I always use the RIBBA) and the Nelly print is a standard A2 format which most framing shops have in stock.

Like Sophie, I used these adorable Bird Clothes Pegs to display Mila's "masterpieces". I had the idea since I saw how one of our US customers used the bird pegs to display her wedding seating plan!

The more I look at these pictures, the more I'm pleased with how the soft and deep hues of greys used on a single wall and the shelves work beautifully against the rest of the room painted in white.
The room displays Mila's favourite toys and gifts which all have a little story to them like the yellow Apple we got from our last trip in Hong-Kong when we both went to explore Stanley market while Steve was working or the DREAM sign she broke, hide at the bottom of her basket under all her Doudous, which eventually I found months later and glued back, her latest present from me: the Doudou Superstar cushion, the vintage globe purchased at Columbia market, little gifts from Elodie and Lily she cherishes and Liberty cushions I made for her + one I brought back from my last trip to Paris.
I got the old Mickey on E-bay for my retro toys collection but lately everything I buy seems to end up in her space...The day after I bought a big rubber duck for my studio from the Paul Smith shop in Borough market, Steve found her sitting in the bathroom counting all her coins to see if she had enough to buy it from me. Her dad gave her £10, I 'sold' it to her at a loss but I ended up with a very happy little girl :-)
In the end, without too much pink, her room looks like a proper little girl room with cool pieces of design like the Norm 06 pendant light mixed with retro collectables robots and is so far, my favourite room in the house but if you are after more ideas on how to decorate a little girl's bedroom in pink and grey you may want to read this.

Love fashion

I love photo montages...I have been doing them since I was uni, covering my photo albums with beautiful, sexy and inspiring shots found in fashion magazines. I heart this one a lot from a home in Amsterdam but this weekend I came across this gorgeous and inspiring montage from One Boutique that celebrates life, friendship, family and fashion

1.Jussieu Dress by Malene Birger, 2. Halston Heritage Side Tie silk dress, 3. Rutzou Sequin Jelly Fish dress, 4. B&B Navy striped Silk knit mini dress

Mask

Love the mask, love the haircut, love the photo....

Photo by Mads Teglers

10 good things about my weekend

1. Having our home and family photographed by them for their next book
2. Making pancakes with Mila for breakfast
3. Enjoying a fabulous roast at a friend's diner party (thanks P!)
4. Dropping my old Blackberry in the toilet
5. Hearing Mila saying that when she is a grown-up, she wants to design Doudous like tatie Julie
6. Going to Columbia Road and finding a little black cab for my car collection for only £2
7. Watching Steve being kind, caring, smart and sexy and knowing that I'm still madly in love with him after 11 years
8. Finding out that she started a new blog thanks to her (Deb you made my day!)
9. Eating scones made by my Mother-in-Law (Nigella can go to bed!)
10. Getting lovely comments from you guys during the week-end
11.Having a nap with my little family
12. Ending the holidaygate crisis...we're now going to Portugal!

How was your weekend?
PS: Dropping my old Bberry in the toilet was a good thing because now I have no excuse to sort out my I-phone :-)

R13 - jeans to die in

I like R13 Denim, a fashion label that just landed in my in-box via Daily Candy...
R13 Denim reinterprets last season’s boyfriend cuts into cropped harem pants, slouchy-skinny, and drop-crotch styles that give the old workhorse a fresh look and frankly I would give the world for the harem pants fashion to keep going....
Steve hates it, I love it, mostly because harem pants are incredibly comfortable to wear and they look just as good with my old pair of converse covered in paint than my high-heels boots and as DC puts it: If the true value of your wardrobe can be calculated using the cost-per-wear formula, sexy lingerie’s never worth it (be honest) — and jeans are practically free.

Selfridges...me voila!