Heading to Kerala

We're off to Kerala in November with my mum and Stepdad. We're planning on moving around a bit, I think we're staying in 5 hotels in 2 weeks so far & I really hope it's not going to be too much for everyone. Nick and I have been to Kerala once before, but have found it so hard to plan this trip. We want to show my parents all the stuff we loved last time, without staying in exactly the same places and somehow,  knowing what you might be missing or how long & bumpy some of the car journeys will actually be is making it hard! I've had a few people ask about our travel plans, so I thought i'd share it as we book it!

1. The first couple of nights in Cochin , we're staying in The Old Harbour. We have actually stayed in this one before & absolutely loved it.

2&3. We're then staying right on Lake Vembanad for about 5 nights in Vismaya. This place is new to us, but we stayed in their sister villa a couple of years ago and thought it was brilliant and the owners were really nice.

4. Not booked yet, but a trip on the backwaters will fit in here somewhere!

5,6&7. We're heading up to the hills a little way and staying at Serenity, on Kanam Estate for 2 nights. We'd love to go further, but we're getting short of time and don't want to be in the car too much.

The next step of the journey, I think is going to be to go further south than we've been before to the beach at Kovalam. Then back up to Cochin on the train! 

1.

 

2&3

4.

 5, 6&7

Workshop Dreaming...

Nick and I have 2 weeks left in London! We are moving to a tiny village just outside of Bristol & I can't wait!  The Plate Rack will finally have it's own little HQ!  So i'm in planning mode,  thinking about how I'm going to use the new space. So far my Pinterest Workspace inspiration looks like this...

1. Love the chalkboard drawers and central island idea

2. Really simple chip board desk

3. Love the scaffold plank surfaces

4. That long surface! All that space!

New! Plate Rack Sizes!

These beauties are now for sale on our website 

They are so practical,  hold absolutely loads & add loads of character to a kitchen too! 

Drink Shop & Do

Drink Shop & Do is somewhere I have been meaning to go for ages!  It's a design shop and cafe bar where everything is for sale, so the interior is changing all the time. The space is so inspiring, it's in an old Victorian bathhouse in King's Cross and is soooo pretty & the cake is good too! I feel like I'm the last person to visit this place, but if you haven't discovered it yet, go! I went with my mum and sister (in the pic below...)

Travel Photographer of the Year 2013

My dad was in town last week and took me to see this Travel Photography exhibition at the Royal Geographic Society. Pictures above by Timothy Allen, Andrew Newey & Carlos Esteves. It's well worth a visit!

Stop the Water While Using Me!

I came across this  brand the other day and think it's brilliant. I love the not so subtle message,  the packaging, the website, all of it! I bought the lemon and honey hand soap, it's really good!

Seafoam Come Home

It's been an exciting Summer at The Plate Rack. We've been working on adding some colour to our racks and the first one is here!

It's a beautiful aquamarine dream that we're calling 'Seafoam'. We're aiming to get it on our website by the end of August.  T H E  P L A T E   R A C K

coming at the end of August from  T H E  P L A T E   R A C K

coming at the end of August from  T H E  P L A T E   R A C K

 Other loveliness in this colour....

image sources: 1,  2,  3,  4

Wonky Lolly

I made ice lollies for my Sister & her man last weekend.  I had to improvise a bit as I'd left making these till the last minute and couldn't find any ice lolly sticks,  so I used 3 wooden skewers ( cut the spikes off !)  which seemed to work ok. I used a combination of rum and coconut milk, pineapple juice,  apple juice, peach smoothie and cherry juice. I poured the first layer into the lolly mould with the sticks held in place stuck through a piece of cardboard. I put it into the freezer tilted at an angle for a couple of hours, took it out, poured in another colour and repeated tilting it the opposite way each time. So simple, but I think they look really pretty! 

Our colourful indian bedspread came in handy as a picnic blanket.  

Anna bought me peonies that opened up in about 30 seconds, so beautiful!

 

Love Letters

I got crafty with the cardboard a couple of months ago, to make giant letters for my sister in law's wedding. Here are some images to show how simple they are to make.

1:Hand drawn letters cut out from a cardboard box ( all bottom edges are flat so they don't roll!)

 

2: Rough cardboard bases, held together with brown tape.

3: paper mache layer

4: Finally a layer of polyfilla and white paint.

& Others.....

Table numbers made for my wedding using the same process.

A present for my sister at the polyfilla stage.

and below all moved in.

 

Plate Racks Stacked in Good Homes Magazine

We're so excited to be in the July issue of Good Homes magazine!  It's always interesting to see them filled up with other people's stuff - We think they look brilliant here!