Having our birthdays! Yep, like two people who were probably separated after a long and well-decorated birth, we celebrate our big 3-4 two days apart, which means we get to party twice as hard. For ‘party’, read, ‘sit down’ and for ‘twice as hard’, read, ‘in our pyjamas’. We know how to have fun…
By having a birthday pyjama party
The good folks over at Piglet in Bed sent us some PJs monogrammed with our ruddy initials on them, and said, ‘Here you go, girls, go and make merry in your pyjamas – sit in them and enjoy myriad cups of tea and pieces of birthday cake, and take photos for posterity. But, be warned, when your backs are turned a grey hound named Cilla will climb onto the table and eat your birthday cake, and when that time comes, the party shall end’. And all of that came to pass. Side note: the pyjamas are fricking EXCELLENT and the dog was fine, but riddled with guilt.
By going to see Rocky Horror
If you’ve never dressed up and been to a singalong Rocky Horror Picture Show at the Prince Charles Cinema in Leicester Square, truly, you haven’t lived.
This dynamic is very misleading, usually Robyn is on the receiving end of the gaping mouth full of teeth.
By getting a puppy
Robyn: Bobby is in the building and it’s been a steep learning curve. He’s cute, he’s cuddly, he’s peeing all over my house and chomping on any extremity that’s uncovered. I was grossly inaccurate when I said having two dogs was the same as having one but unfortunately this pissy-pants little biter has stolen my heart so we’re stuck with him. Keep ’em peeled for updates on endless afternoons with the behaviourist and more doggy dressing-up than you can shake a stick at.
By conquering a long-standing fear of rugs
Emma: yes, friends, it’s finally happening – I am facing my design fears and taking the plunge on a big rug for the living room. So many of you sent suggestions when I asked for advice on Instagram, and I want to say thank you so much for the help – I’ll keep you posted on the results over on my grid.
By getting a grip on TIME, man
When we launched All Up In My Space, the lovely lot at Newgate offered to gift us a little something each to say congrats, and the things we got were, of course, exact opposites. That said, while the aesthetics were different, the intention was the same – to claw back time from our tech!
Robyn: I am a bugger for looking at my phone. I do it every 30 seconds on average and my worst time for mobile-eye-frying is first thing in the morning when I switch off my alarm. Problem is, I can’t settle down to sleep when a clock is a-ticking so I’ve been stuck. Until now! Newgate kindly gifted me the Wideboy, which is quiet as a mouse as well as looking the business. So now I have no excuse (other than my chronic social media addiction) not to leave my phone charging in another room.
If Emma doesn’t hold her right hand like this it will fall off
Emma: I don’t have a clock in the crap flat because I maaay have been a serial clock-watcher in the past, who struggles to step away from the schedule when there’s something ticking on the wall (quelle surprise). Which means I tend to rely on my phone for time updates. How many times have I picked up my phone to check the time and found myself 40 minutes later in an Instagram hole, with no idea how I’ve got there? Thousands. Thou-sands. In the flat, out of the flat – it matters not. How many times have I done that since wearing my Newgate watch? Like, less than a hundred. And look how pretty it is. I feel very grown-up.
By being in an actual real-life magazine!
Robyn: Late last year, Fiona Walker-Arnott came round and we spent an idyllic Autumn afternoon shooting Foxberry Towers back when it was a one-dog household and I had 50% less stuff (yeah, I know, 50% more stuff in six months, very much not sustainable). I’m absolutely chuffed to bits that you can check out those very photos in the April issue of Real Homes Magazine and as soon as I track down a copy I will be having the full spread tattooed all over me, Prison Break-style.
By getting all up in people’s spaces
This month, we’re going to be interviewing Insta-royalty Kate from Mad About the House, about her home and headspace, as well as Vicki from Wheel Chic Home, about creating a space she loves that also works practically for her husband, who has MS. Check out these two amazing accounts and leave any questions you want us to ask them in the comments below. We’re also launching a new category called Work Space, that looks at makers and creators and how they make spaces that work as hard as they do. Stay tuned, spacers!