Candlelight, Bookstacks & Foliage A February Evening
A short and sweet lil hello for a Sunday evening in February.
The evenings are dark, the remaining sparkle from Christmas has vanished from sight and the weather is cold…February is here. But it’s certainly not all dark and gloomy; it’s the month of love and more importantly…PANCAKES!!
As well as January, February is also a tough month for some people mentally (me included), so in these months, it’s extremely important to make self care a priority. My way of doing this is nestling in my kingdom; my little 110 year old terraced house, my lil cave of wonders. And sometimes I literally do make it a cave, a close all my velvet curtains including the door curtain so it’s like a cosy lil burrow with lots of twinkling lights and candles. I say goodbye to the world for now, and focus on mine, the one I can control and create and make it as magical and whimsical as I want.
A project of mine recently has been my bedroom which I’ve wanted to redecorate for such a long time, and last year we finally made a start…
Bookstacks
We have a fondness for books, and those of you have visited the shop know that they’re always present in our displays. Mum, seeing lots of pictures of old libraries and bookshops, decided to start making book stacks, tied with ribbon, decorated with foliage and sprinkled with sparkle! Not only are they now all over the shop, but they have found their way into my home. I can’t recommend them enough, they’re just beautiful to add to any display with an empty space, or somewhere just needing a lil bit of romanticism. The add height, depth and texture, and of course SPARKLE!
Foliage & Candlight
No room in my home is without foliage…I love adding it to all my displays! My rooms seem to smile with flowers and garlands, picks and wreaths, like it’s ready and we’ll dressed to welcome the season!
I’ve added the green eucalyptus garland to the mantle along with the pink faux dried flower sprays. I’m also quite partial to antique tassels, braiding and ribbon at the moment, they always seem to find their way into a space!
Of course, I’ve just had to have a candelabra…I’ve always been in love with them, and find my self gravitating towards them whenever we go buying! They’re so moody and gothic, whilst also being romantic and atmospheric. Now that the short dinner candles are back in stock, I’ve managed to grab a few before they sell out again!
I’ve added some trusty LED candles too in cute pastels so I can keep them on whilst I fall asleep if I fancied it.
Fitted Wardrobes
We finally took the plunge and decided to invest in fitted wardrobes, and I can honestly say it’s the BEST THING WE’VE EVER BOUGHT. The absolutely incredible and totally remarkable guys at Allwood Kitchens made and fitted these for us, they also made our display unit for last years Chatsworth Christmas Market, their craftsmanship will also expand to our store…(more on that soon).
I can’t recommend them enough! If you’re after a new kitchen or wardrobes or ANYTHING, drop us an email and we can send you a discount code.
Next Task…
The BED! And i need your help with this…if you know of any small businesses that make the most beautiful and cosy bed sheets and duvet covers, let me know! I’m on the hunt for the perfect bedding and not managed to find any as of yet.
As for curtains, I’ve decided to brave it and design my own!! Let’s see if I can figure out repeat pattern making…thats going to be fun…
I hope you’re all keeping well and looking after yourselves in this bizarre time of year, and just know, it’s not long until March!!
Susie, a PS Lil Mowse
Halloween at the nevermowse house
A sunday spent watching halloween films and making the home a cosy, spooky kingdom.
As soon as September arrives, I am DESPERATE to get out the Halloween decs…I LOVE Halloween! A bit of spookiness (tasteful spookiness i might add) always makes the day seem a lil bit more magical then usual. Of course though, being a small business owner, it never goes to plan and i end up decorating the shop before i get chance to think about my home! But luckily today has been a free day, and i spent it bringing a lil of Primsisters to my very own home, The Nevermowse House.
Ceramic Pumpkin lantern, along the Jack the Pumpkin King Tea light holder, from Disneyland Paris.
The first thing was the wall- of course one of my prints had to make the cut as i never seem to keep anything i make! Next was the amazing bone daddy wall femur , (in case you didn’t know, the quote is from Nightmare before Christmas, if you haven’t seen it then you seriously need to!). Next, the mantle was simply filled with the new velvet pumpkins , along with stems of the faux dried green lupins to add a lil bit of depth. Any autumn mantle of course needs some candlelight, so what better candelabra to add than the orange flock beauty?
Foliage
Two of the green eucalyptus garland was used as every mantle needs a garland! I then poked a few of the different shades of eucalyptus stems for more of an impact. I then added a set of the velvet pumpkins to scatter and place in the foliage- i didn’t have any floral wire handy, but you could easily poke it through the bottom of one of the pumpkins and tie it round any garlands/wreath/foliage you have for Autumn.
Halloween Ornaments
The foliage and pumpkins alone are fantastical enough for Autumn, but I needed to add a touch of Halloween spooky scare. I had soooo much fun with the new Bethany Lowe goodies! Skelly and ghostie sit amongst the pumpkins, whilst the sparkle cat and trick or treaters silhouettes dangle from the window display. To sit on top of the fire, i have the haunted halloween village sparkle silhouette. It comes in three pieces, and becuase i wanted to make it more of a statement, i added some lights behind so the shapes really pop. What you could do is add a mini flood light behind to get some colour changing magic!
Spooktacular Skelly and Ghost on Jack O lantern sit amongst the velvet pumpkins.
Sparkling silhouettes hang from the window.
Tea lights and a few of the pumpkins from the pumpkin set surround the Halloween village silhouette. The ceramic jack o lantern hangs. The Phantom Manor clock is from Disneyland Paris.
Ive dotted a few of the ceramic pumpkin lanterns around including one I’ve hung underneath the mantle. The handle can be easily removed if you wanted to place them instead.
O’Little Shine Designs
Along with the ghost print, a Guddlegrump and two velvet pumpkins are seen here but they can’t stay as they need to return to their home in the shop (which I’m sad about because they look so beautiful with the display! One day I will make myself some…) A Guddlegrump monster loves Halloween, it’s very special to them as most of you will know…
Pumpkin Man
The spectacular pumpkin man takes centre stage, as he is simply incredible. He’s by Mackenzie Child’s Patience Brewster range, a collectible delight to any Halloween lover…he looks like he jumped straight out of a Tim Burton film!
So that’s todays antics and I’m positive I’m not finished yet! Whats your Autumn home looking like? What’s your favourite Halloween look? We want to see!
Happy Sunday to you all, Love Susie, one of the PS Lickle Mowse
… (and the hubby and Stanley, who doesn’t appreciate his Mum taking pictures of the house whilst its supposed to be tea time).
Happy lights
Copper Star Waterfall Lights
Dear you,
Happy New Year! I hope you’ve had the best Christmas and still have lots of scrummy food to eat, I know I have. This is the first blog post I’ve written, I’ve wanted to do one for yonks but as we all know, silly little things always get in the way…so i thought the first one should be about something close to home, and of course something magical.
I don’t know about you, but i loathe January. The issue with working in retail and having your own business means that Christmas is a HHHUUUGGGGGGE time of year, and all the magic is planned as early as December the previous year, so there’s all that work and build up- buying, displaying, making, marketing, pricing, packaging and so much more- and as quick as a flash it’s over and we have to start again. And like many of us, starting again can either be riveting or down right scary and a big fat NOT TODAY. Myself can be found there.
New Years Day arrives and all i want to do is sleep, snack on all-things cheese and cuddle my dearest friends, Stanley and Ernie the spaniels. none of this “take down all the decks malarkey” and “lets have a salad for tea”, no thank you. It’s now Sunday 9th January and I still feel exactly the same. Tears are always a moment away and it seems like the cheer, sparkly air of December has left an overwhelming empty pit. Starting again is frightening and tiring, and i don’t have the energy to make my bed, let alone reforming a brand new “Me”.
SO first of all, lets talk about my kingdom, my cave-my terraced house den. My home means the world to me, which is obviously why I’m extremely lucky for mum and i to have our little business. When i feel as awful as i do, my home becomes my solace and the best thing to fill it with is of course, TWINKLY LIGHTS, and just like puppies, fairy lights are certainly not just Christmas.
The first thing I do when i wake is switch on my pretty lights. It brings a little, cosy feeling in my belly- a sort of warm hug to begin the day with, as if the room is giving me a gentle, reassuring nudge. I suddenly feel that even if i can’t do as much work as i should today, i can certainly give it a go. And i believe thats the thing that counts.
That’s the reason why our shop is always FILLED with twinkle, happy lights. If something as simple as switching on a plug can make us feel a little bit more capable, comfortable and in-control, then why the devil not?
If we’re on the same page, and you want to fill your home with some twinkle goodness, I’ve drawn up a little guide of the sorts of lights we do…who knew there were so many?!?!
Waterfall Lights
These are the ones found all over the ceiling in the shop! They are absolutely perfect for creating a cascading effect, a perfectly twinkly floating light style. Our tips for styling these are from the ceiling, and ironically they look best when the strands aren’t fully separated- simply get them out of the box and give them a shake, don’t waste your time untangling each strand, trust me they’ll look better! For an even greater visual impact, place them in front of a mirror- that way it’ll look like you have even more sparkly goodness!
Cluster lights
These a are absolutely beautiful at creating a dense, impactful style and are our “go-to” lights for foliage and garlands. Comes in one long strand with small, strand flecks coming off the main strand with the lights attached (really hard to describe, hence the guide). These are perfect for along the mantle, beams etc and create a thicker, denser look than single strand lights.
STRING LIGHTS
the original sort-comes on one long string and is the basic all-rounder for any look. Perfect to add virtually anywhere that needs a touch more magic. If you like the more random effect, i would definitely recommended the waterfall lights compared to these.
All our lights come on a very thin copper, gold, silver, green or black wire for a delicate, floating effect (not like the old fashioned thick green Christmas tree lights). We have the original floating droplets, or the star lights which are my personal favourite but my home is of course filled with both.
So, i suppose this is my way of saying “new me” can wait a little bit longer to bloom, and 2022’s chapter can begin once I feel ready to write it. The first thing I’m going to do is switch on my lights as with each reassuring nudge and warm hug, I’m closer to starting my chapter than i think.
Love Susie,
a primsisters lickle mowse x