Scottish tenement block architectural models

Architecture geeks, or just fans of fine looking buildings in miniature, may already know about the popular MONUmini series by the Glasgow-based Finch & Fouracre, in collaboration with Another Studio. If not, these were the beautifully executed stainless steel make-it-yourself models of London monuments including the Barbican, Tower Bridge and Battersea Power station.

But if you were thinking how irritating it is that London gets so much press (it does, it is, and I live here!) you might like the company's gorgeous miniature Scottish tenement blocks.

The Scottish tenement model kit is available in red or blonde sandstone. It comes with pre-cut card pieces and windows, timber chimneys, instructions, and glue. When finished, the model stands at about 17cm high and costs £19.50. You can buy it from Bouf.

Or you might prefer the Edinburgh old town model kit, £24.50, which is their newest Scottish building addition and is modelled on the 16th and 17th century buildings found around the High Street and Grassmarket in Edinburgh. When built, it stands at 20cm high.

They also sell really little versions, called Tinyment, which measure just 6cm high when constructed, and cost £22 a-piece.

But my favourite model is the teeny tiny ice-cream van, £9.50. Isn't it cute?

Yellow fever

What's got me tuned into yellow? I don't know if it was the sight of so many chick icons in the ether this Easter weekend, or just a spontaneous profusion of lovely sun-tinted things that popped up on my computer screen. But it reminded me how much I love the colour yellow for a home.

It started with the bright image of the Saguaro Hotel in Palm Springs (above) on the cover of a weekend travel supplement (I am practically aching for a stylish Californian road trip to stay in places like this). Don't the pink towels look excellent on those yellow sunloungers?

And then I spotted the yellow Tango Tray Table (above) on offer today only for £29, at Made.com, that'd totally solve my tricky "where can I put my tea" problem in the sofa region of my sitting room, as well as spring up the space beautifully.

And then over at Bouf, the Flock felt geometric wall stickers by Hive, from £26 per pack (above right), caught my eye: aren't they a great way to break up a big bare wall, without having to search for giant prints or artworks – and then fork out to get them framed? I also love the flashes of colour from an interior shot of the Saguaro Hotel again (above left). An expert craftsman, handy with light fittings, and a bit of Dreamwalls slate panel action – and you, too, could live it like you were in 1950s California.

I'm also on an ongoing project to help a friend with a place in Berlin to do up his flat. It's coming along and we're now onto wall-paint options. I've suggested one of my favourite colour combinations ever, illustrated beautifully in Fired Earth's mid-century range room shots (above). The colours are Skylon Grey and Race Yellow.

Are wall stickers dead?

"I've just bought some wall stickers," said a good, and stylish, friend the other day. "Do you think I can get away with them?" She has a point: have wall stickers jumped the shark? 

We both agreed they kind of had – but that hers, which I have yet to see, but which I have had described to me ("birds, discreet, disappear into the wall" was the gist), might just count as an exception. Which is what I thought when I spotted the unusual, photographic stickers, below, currently on sale (which perhaps backs up the shark theory) with a tenner off at Bouf.

Yes, a mere £14.99 will get you your mitts on this rather striking British Squirrel and Fox wall sticker by Binary. You get Mr Fox, above (he measures 54cm x 60cm), and also, his buddy/prey, Mr Squirrel (27cm x 20cm), as seen in the full image below. I quite like them – though I think I'd perhaps go for just the fox. What do you think?

I'm partial to a horse image, too. And though this black stallion, left, is totally OTT (and much more expensive, at £54.95), there's something about it I'm quite drawn to...

However, the gleaming beast from Surface View's National Gallery collection, which I posted about last year, is probably more classy.

Watch the birdie

Bird prints, bird ceramics, bird fabric, bird lights, even wooden birds on stilts that live in my flowerbeds... I have them all, and more in my house. I have a bit of a thing about birds. 

So I couldn't help be drawn to the bird illustrations of Paul Farrell, above and directly below – named (who knew?) "Flight of Swallows" and "Parcel of Oystercatchers" respectively. (And if you're dying to know the collective nouns to describe other groups of birds... this will tell you.) I heard about Paul via Pedlars, who were at one point selling a lovely garden birds chart by him in their shop. The silkscreen prints – each a limited edition of 30 – measure 320mm wide by 210mm high and cost £55 each, unframed.

While I'm in the bird zone, here are some more feathered friends I've found and loved...

1. Birdpaper print (top), by Paris-based American artist, Matthew Rose at the Keep Calm Gallery, £48 unframed (40cm x 30cm). But what exactly is it? "Rare species of Nepalese birds pause in a forest of antique French wallpaper," explains the artist. He's currently creating a version of the print that can be bought in sections and hung like wallpaper. Find out more at the Keep Calm Gallery. 

2. Hummingbird cushion covers (middle left), by RVA Pillow Works on Etsy, around £16 ($25) for two. These come as a pair for this price, or you can buy them individually for, uh-huh, exactly half. Postage is about eight quid. Check out RVA's other hand-drawn designs too.

3. Bird print (middle, right), by Bark Design on Etsy,  around £9.50 ($15) or around £22 ($35) for a set of three. Postage is from around £3. I've already featured some beautiful alphabet prints from this environmentally aware company – see what else they do.

4. Festive foil-pressed gift tags, by Lucky Bird at Bouf, £6.95. These gift tags are almost too good to tie onto presents – so make sure you give them to someone who'll keep and appreciate theirs. They'd look sweet on an office pinboard, don't you think? I don't reckon, despite the name, they're uniquely festive either – an all-round set of birds! These come in packs of ten, with five different designs. And do check out Lucky Bird's own website, they do lots of other lovely illustrated stuff too.

Luke Stephenson's Showbirds And for something a bit different. I know I've mentioned Luke Stephenson's colour-drenched photographs of showbirds before, on the Facebook page, but they are too gorgeous not to give more space to. This image (above) is part of Stephenson's Incomplete Dictionary of Showbirds collection, and you can buy a print from £400 plus Vat via the Photographers' Gallery (and do check out the brilliant interest-free loans from Own Art to make payment less painful).

Paul Greenleaf's pigeons Differenter still, this isn't anything you can buy. But I came across this weird and oddly compelling project, part of an exhibition a couple of years back, by the photographer Paul Greenleaf and just had to share. It's called DO NOT FEED THE BIRDS and comprises a series of photographs of pigeons, digitally removed from their habitat and then returned to their natural environment – such as the streets of Shoreditch. Aren't they fantastic and funny?

Greenleaf also has a collection of equally urban-centric technicolour images, called Here Today, very much in the vein of John Hinde, who regular readers will know is another of my obsessions. Might have to get hold of some of those images for a future post.

Retro lunchbox

It's a bit silly, but this 'I Love London' lunchbox is very sweet. It might make a nice cake or biscuit tin for the kitchen, or just spruce up your Tuppaware collection with it.

The illustration is very cute and reminds me of hand-me-down picture books I was read as a child, and makes me wish I lived in 1960s London and could commute alongside men in trilby hats and wear smart, swish outfits all the time. Which of course would be most tiresome really... but that's my romantic vision and I'm sticking to it. 

Anyway - this comes from Bouf, which is a spectacular website if you're not familiar (it's essentially a storefront for all sorts of interesting small-scale designers). And it comes from I Love Retro and costs £7.16 (random price, but it's on sale right now, so get in quick).