Rop van Mierlo's animals

Cheapskate decorators never waste a good postcard. And these unusual and endearing animal watercolours, by Dutch graphic designer Rop van Mierlo, would make a lovely collection of framed prints for a child's bedroom wall. 

Don't you think? Or just a wall in the room of someone who likes nice depictions of animals – and from the number of animal-themed items that crop up here, you may rightly conclude I am a person of that persuasion. 

 

I came across them at one of my favourite online shops, Fine Little Day. A set of 10 cards cost £20 (and shipping worldwide is free – woo!). Find the cards here.

You can also buy full-size prints (70cm x 50cm, in limited editions of 50) direct from Rop van Mierlo's webstore, for 150 Euros.

The large version of the donkey, above, would be pretty good.

Van Mierlo also has a book of his animal illustrations, which are painted onto wet paper to create the special splodgy effect. The book, simply called Wild Animals, comes in either Dutch or English and also available on van Mierlo's website for 18-20 Euros.

Off the wall

A mini post from Abi today.

Remember my zingy apple green kitchen makeover? Well thanks to the lovely Kate giving me this rather splendid Hatch print poster for my birthday...

...I now have another print to put up on the walls. I had it framed and it's going to look lovely in there don't you think?

And another ace birthday present came courtesy of my fabulous husband – also for the kitchen and finally a partner for the massive vintage "M"; soon to both be installed on the wall (just as soon as we've worked out how to light up the M... expect Frank Spencer tales of electrocuted stylings).

It's from Seletti which, I've discovered, sell all sorts of weird and wonderful homewares (including these design-your-own neon illuminated lights we recently featured in another post). Ooh, I can feel a post coming on Kate...

What's the most provocative thing in this picture?

As I've mentioned recently, I've joined the world of co-habitation. Because he's moved into a ready-made house, rather than us finding somewhere jointly, decisions about furniture, re-painting or what to put on the walls could have become unfairly loaded (or just unintentionally insulting).

But it's been great. I'm enjoying changing things around together – and want it to feel like our home, not mine (and this generous sentiment is not in the slightest bit prompted by the fact that he happens to have brilliant taste and is way tidier than I am). In fact, it was all a bit too-good-to-be-true harmonious. Until this...

What do you think the issue is here? The loo seat position*? The paint I've allowed to hang, peeling off various surfaces for several years? My appalling plant nurturing skills (that greenery is meant to be an orchid)?

Nope. None of the above. Instead, this is the one thing that has divided our style sensibilities...

One of us likes the loo roll this way**.

One of us likes it this way.

With no hint of the strong feeling beneath the breezy "oh, this just popped into my head" style in which the topic came up, he asked if I deliberately put the loo roll any particular way round. He'd hoped I'd never given the matter a second thought – just throwing it into the holder and leaving it whichever way it landed. Each time I've reversed the thing in recent weeks to face "my" way, I'd hoped the same – unaware of how deliberately it had been positioned. We should both have known each other's aesthetic pedantry better.

Pretending to Google something unrelated, I looked up the officially "right" way. I wanted to end the conversation with surprise, smug victory. But I was disappointed: despite there being, madly, a whole Wikipedia entry on the topic, it is as inconclusive as our conversation was (60-70% of people prefer one style over the other, but neither way is "correct"; suggested solutions include using separate bathrooms...). At least it proved we aren't the only ones to get worked up over something so idiotically trivial.

* The up loo seat is always down – this is purely for the photos by way of red herring (before I inadvertently start another debate entirely).

** That someone is me, by the way: "But it's just obvious that the other way looks much better," according to the only trained designer in the house (him). But he's WRONG! Right?

Introducing... A Place Called Home, by Jason Grant

We've just moved bedrooms and there's now a trail of furniture to swap about and all sorts of things to be looked at with fresh eyes – but no budget for buying anything new. So I'm most inspired by a beautiful book just out last week, A Place Called Home, by Australian stylist Jason Grant (Hardie Grant).

It's perfect since the ideas – presented with barely any accompanying text – are all about sprucing your home without spending much: there are some crazy-simple furniture pimping ideas (though not labelled 'upcycling' which is refreshing), some ideas involving cheap, plastic kids' toys (my favourite) and lots of other very basic but creative instant perks. Here are my favourite...

All my kitchen table chairs are painted white, as are the table legs. It looks good against the concrete-grey vinyl floor. But they're a bit grubby and a change is coming to the kitchen in other ways – and mixing up the chairs a bit, maybe painting one or two would give the space a whole new style.

Blue is a brilliant colour for bedrooms. Restful and airy. And if you have a paintable bedhead, it's an nice way to get some into your sleeping space. This simply dressed bed just looks lovely.

Oh yes. Plastic animals. I have a toy horse balanced on a chunky light switch already. It's possibly my favourite spot to look at in the whole house, and always makes me smile. But how great to expand the idea – and create an instant feature on the top of a picture frame. I just love this. And it's a bit weird. Not everyone will like it. Perhaps it's not very sophisticated or grown up. Which is perfect, as nor am I.

A tired old-man chair: picture it without the sparky cushion... it could be that chair you keep meaning to re-uphoster but can't quite rustle up the cash for the job. It could be the comfy chair that looks a bit drab and makes you think you need to one day buy a proper new one... but, again, there are more important things to buy. How great to see what a massive and lovely-looking difference a simple cushion can make – one that contrasts pointedly is the key. And golden brown with turquoise? A dreamy combo don't you think?

By the way, those clean white shelves repeated on the wall – in case you don't recognise them – are from Ikea. How easy to de-Ikea things with some personalising paint. And it's a cheap way to create good-looking display stands for books with good covers or small framed pictures or large loose photos.

Matching flowers and a big trad vase are over-rated. I love this random collection of bottles – some still with visible branding and labels – with stray stems on the go. No need to fork out for enough blooms to make a bunch.

A Place Called Home is by Jason Grant and published by Hardie Grant books (£25 hardback). You can also check out Jason's blog.

Matt Sewell does Mini Moderns – competition!

Do you know Matt Sewell's birds? I first discovered the artist/ ornithologist through Pedlars, who were selling prints of his beautiful garden birds illustration.

That, alas, was a limited edition, though you can still buy his lovely individual drawings in the same style (scroll down to see one). But today we're all about his charming, Charley Harper-ish wooden birds, below. And this new set of four – a special commission for Mini Moderns to show off the homeware duo's new environmentally-friendly paint (more about which here) – is up for grabs for FREE...

This colourful quartet, being individually hand-made and painted, is not so cheap – it'd set you back £300 to buy. But MM are giving you the chance to win the lot (signed and numbered, no less) along with a copy of Sewell's pretty new book, Our Songbirds, below right (next to one of Sewell's solo bird prints, which cost £45 from his website).

You can also buy individual birds in three different types, pictured below, from the V&A shop for £85 each.

Rather give winning a go? The competition closes on 21 June – follow @minimoderns on Twitter and retweet the competition to win, or like the competition post on their Facebook page and comment on it, or follow minimoderns through Instagram. You can also win by joining their mailing list – just email the word 'birds' in the subject to charlotte@minimoderns.com

Now... on that topic, would you like to have a nose around the home of Mini Moderns' founders? That's their sitting room below – nice innit? Take the tour here.