Can't ask for more

A good book and vases and vases of freshly-picked flowers - what more do you need?

Well...perhaps a beautiful view and a slice of cake. Or at a certain hour, a glass of wine.

But no matter how you 'accessorise' it books and flowers are the perfect combination of creativity, colour, ideas and beauty - the best of nature and the best of mankind. They feed the soul like little else can.

I admit it - if I could read all day I would.

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(Image: stylemepretty.com)

A little bit of dahlia magic

As this year's summer days pass so quickly and one lovely summer's day - yesterday - is so easily followed by a miserable, wet autumn-like day - today - summer feels like it's slipping away, and there hasn't been enough time to enjoy it. 

Summers should be spent enjoying long, lazy days. But life just doesn't work that way any more. This summer has been anything but leisurely. So Passe-par-tout has fallen to the bottom of the to-do list. But, as time should always be made for a little bit of loveliness, I thought I'd share these.

When your home is a gorgeous valley, tucked away under the Tuscan sun how can you help but grow up to be so exquisite?

And back to work.
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[Images: All PPT]

Summer scenes

Now that summer is finally here I can't stop dreaming about sandy beaches as far as the eye can see, shimmering water, walks in the country, ice-cream, favourite flowers like lavender, daisies and poppies, cocktails at sunset and days that go on and on.

Here are some postcards of my summer so far.

Summer is so precious in the UK. Before you know it it's gone. So I'm trying to hold on to these long days, relish feeling hot and bothered, make the most of wearing sandals and dresses, linger over the last few moments of sunlight each day.

And when it's over, and the days get short and the skies turn grey, I'll have these memories to look back on.

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(Images: All PPT except 1, 6 - both Desserts for Breakfast and 7 - The Wheatfield by Katie Daisy)

Welcome home

There's no doubt about it - I'm a homebody. There's nothing better than walking through the front door after a weekend away, a day or even a few hours out. Closing the door behind me. Kicking off my shoes. And being home. I love to travel. I love to be out doing things. But I love coming home at the end of it.

I've been thinking about home and what it means recently as we're on the cusp of owning our own home again. We've been living in a rented apartment for the last 20 months. It was supposed to be temporary but...here we are 20 months later. We moved here looking for a refuge. A place to figure out the next step in our lives. As I'm such a homebody where we did that was important.

Now that - fingers crossed (I have to keep saying that as house buying in the UK is a rocky business) - we're coming to the end of our time here, I've been thinking about our current home and what a fabulous job it's done for us.

We arrived a little battered. A little shell shocked from the unexpected turn our life had taken. Signing the lease was a leap of faith. We had no way of knowing how much we'd come to love living here - the apartment itself, the technicolour sunsets from our huge windows, the area too - and how this little, supposed-to-be-temporary apartment would become a real home. Our lives aren't, and won't be, perfect but we'll leave here stronger, and knowing that we can deal with whatever is on the menu for us next.

This photo sang the warmth and welcome of home for me. It's the beautiful mix of flowers, the hurricane lamps, the light, the open gate. I'm pleased to say that our new home - fingers crossed - has a similar little garden gate and flower-bordered path leading up to the front door. Perhaps that's why this image struck a cord.

I hope you'll come and visit.

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(Image: Style Me Pretty)

Soul food

When you live in a large, noisy, over-crowded city, views like these are like eating your Mom's roast chicken, curling up on the sofa with the one you love, catching up with a good friend, a massage for your mind.

All taken in the amazing Lake District on a perfect summer weekend.

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(Images: All PPT)



A little bit of loveliness

Unfortunately been too busy for blogging recently but thought I'd pop in with a little bit of loveliness. 

I'm intrigued by the succulents I'm seeing everywhere at the moment - in florists on the high street, in magazines and online - as I've always loved them. I tend to think of them in weathered terracotta pots on sun-drenched verandahs in hot places. So it's lovely to see them mixed with roses, hydrangeas and delicate freesias (some of my favourite flowers). Guess that's why I was so drawn to this arrangement.

Hope you enjoy this bit of loveliness too.

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(Image: Style Me Pretty)

Just because...

It's amazing what you find when you go looking. I came across this chair and flower set by chance and immediately swooned. The chair is perfect (I'd be very happy with eight for my dinning room). The lilac roses and the miniature lime hydrangeas are so romantic.

So, because I loved this image and on the off chance there might be more, I went looking for similar chair and flower combinations. More there were and these are my favourites.

The burst of pink and yellow peonies among succulents bring arid surroundings and a rusty chair to life. 

This chair is the perfect no-nonsense canvas for the regal, crown-like protea.





































This could almost be an old milking stool so just right for a country bouquet.

To some, chairs and flowers may seem arbitrary but I loved the idea and was delighted by the images I discovered in no time at all. Simple things can bring such pleasure. 

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(Images: All Style Me Pretty - 1, 2, 3 & 4)

Great advice for a new week

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(Image: Shabby Blogs)

The absolute must-have accessory

You can't pick up a fashion magazine without being told that the right accessory can bring any item in your wardrobe right up-to-date. It seems to me there is one accessory that these days no one should be without - an accessory that's always in fashion, that marks you out as someone with imagination and style, but more importantly a conscience, heart and soul.

That accessory is a shopper. Plastic bags - any bag that a store gives you - are way out of fashion. I can't believe there are still stores that give them out and still shoppers who use them.

I've just been browsing some favourite websites and found a great choice of fun, statement-making and even patriotic, if you happen to be English, shoppers for inspiration.

I hope you already have one (or, like me, two or three). If you don't, I hope you'll get one (or two...). And don't leave home without it.

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(Images: 1 & 4 - Catherine Colebrook 2,3 & 5 Not on the High Street.com, tape generously offered by Pugly Pixel)

A special detail to end the week

It's just a sign for a ballet school. No need for anything special - the signboard says it all.

But why oh why settle for ordinary and functional? Why, when with a little thought, some time and imagination a mere sign can be transformed as this one has.

The ballerina soaring up into the sky captured my attention, made me stop, stare and wonder. And as I walked away with a happier, lighter step made me want to sign up.

It's special details, taking time and care, never settling for ordinary that make life better.

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(Image: PPT)

Hat envy

I'm not typically a hat fan. People often just look slightly ridiculous in hats. But I do love a wide-brimmed, floppy sunhat, so perhaps that's why I love this hat - seen yesterday at Royal Ascot.

Wide-brimmed heaven and floppiness galore! I also love love love the hydrangea and the way it and the bow look as if they're floating. I'd love to try this on...but I'd probably look ridiculous.

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(Image: Telegraph)

Secret gardens

Can't resisit a little more on the subject of special, hideaway places at home. Who isn't tempted by a secret garden? A place to get lost among trees and flowers, with birds and butterflies for company. And a few special people too.

Imagine a perfect day.

It starts with a pre-brunch stroll under the arbour...


























Then you follow a hydrangea-lined path to brunch in your vintage greenhouse...

A late-afternoon snooze in the sunshine...

The day ends with dinner hidden among the trees...

When can you come over?

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(Images: Architectural Digest, l'elegance du herisson, The Secret Garden, Sandy Koepke Interior Design)

Believe in magic

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(Image: Shabby blogs)

A special detail to end the week

It's often the smallest, sometimes overlooked, often not crucial detail that makes something special - be it a table setting, an accessory, the colour of a door. I'm always considering and too often staring at small details that take my fancy and make something interesting for me.

I love this image. It's just paint brushes in pots. But one pot, with its delicately-painted garland, hints of pink and yellow and the rough gluing of the cracked piece, makes this image. 

These details turn simple paint brushes into a still life worthy, I thought, of saving and using for inspiration for how I display things in my home.

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(Image: Jordi Canosa)

Escaping at home

I love the idea of a small space somewhere at home whose main purpose isn't wrapped up in cooking, eating, sleeping, watching or all the doing that goes on at home. A place that's more for just enjoying and being. Maybe it's a place that's just for you. Maybe you share it with others. Either way it's somewhere to escape to - for thinking, reading, hiding, plotting and planning, or all of those with someone special as well as chatting, laughing, tea-drinking, reminiscing and debating.

I've been thinking about spaces and how to use them a lot recently as we're house hunting. These are some of the special spots, which look perfect to escape to, that I've found online.

A view, lots of cushions and it's tea time...

Cozy, sunlit and flowers on the table...

 

My favourite because it's a real nook in the snug sense of the word, it's surrounded by books and the view is, I think, of Paris...



A shady spot in a courtyard...

Most of the spaces I've chosen involve a view or being outdoors and books are an important feature. Clearly some of my must-haves. Could I re-create a space like one of these in a new home somewhere?

And here is one just for fun - we should always be dreaming after all.

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(Images: Perfect Hideaways, Architectural Digest, Unknown, Samode Hotels, Architectural Digest)

From Australia, with love

It's hard to be creative. It takes courage to say "I think this picture I've painted, this room I've decorated, this article I've written is good. What do you think?" Dealing with facts and figures is far easier than with ideas and the never-ending quest for inspiration.

Being creative is putting yourself on display. And inviting praise and criticism. But to be creative is to be blessed. It is to live a life that is constantly inspired by what's around you. 

I value the creative people in my life so much. They inspire me to take chances like starting Passe-par-tout - what was for me a huge step. So I'm very pleased that my super-creative, professional photographer, Aussie friend is going to share her photos of things she loves with us. This is the first in what I hope will be a regular column of her photos called From Australia with love. It's inspired by two friends who met a long time ago, haven't seen each other in person in over a decade, yet the ties of what we shared and the things we both love still bind us fast.

Thank you LTG - you are great, you are talented, you are inspiring. And these photos are just heavenly. Can't wait to share more of the beautiful things you capture so magnificently.

x

(Images: Journey of Life Photography)

Dinner guests

It was supposed to be a quiet meal for two. Just us. Nothing fancy.

But then some uninvited guests arrived.



They seemed eager to join us and jostled for a good spot.



Then, in an orderly line, they waited expectantly for dinner to be served.

What these photos can't convey is the noise about 50 hungry cows can make and our laughter.

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(Images: PPT)