Archive for the Category »Blanaid featured in... «

danielle

I’m delighted to be the Irish Independent’s new resident interior designer, my comuln is now in their property section every Friday. Thrilled! Each week, I take a house for sale and give it a hypothetical makeover. How? Well, allow myelf to explain myself..! I use an ‘inspirational’ image, and then I find products available in and to Ireland inspired by that eh..inspirational image. This Friday will be my 10th article, so I really need to catch up on posting them on the blog!

This was the third article, and here’s the info - hope it’s useful in any way, shape or form!

x Blanaid

INSPIRATIONAL IMAGE (above) 

Image of room created by award winning designer Danielle Mac Innes of FUSE interiors, 64 Lower Mount Street,Dublin 2

T: +353-1-6611498 E: info@fuseinteriors.ie W: www.fuseinteriors.ie

PRODUCTS: 

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1.  LIGHT

 Skowhegan Vintage School House Pendant Light : $99.00 Plus $28.00 delivery to Ireland. W:  ‘Lamp Goods’ store on Etsy

2. PRINT  

‘For Like Ever’ Print by Village : $100.00 Inclusive of delivery. Available from Village W: www.vllg.com

3. CUSHIONS 

Selection of cushions from €54.37 plus P&P Anthropologie W: www.anthropologie.com

4. FIREPLACE 

Selection of cast iron fireplaces priced from €480.00 to €2,750.00.

Kilkenny Architectural Salvage and Antiques Ltd, The Old Woolen Mills, Bleach Road, Kilkenny, T: (056 7764434) E: info@eurosalve.com W: http://www.eurosalve.com

5. CHAIR

Eames Plastic Chair RAR from Vitra : €353.00 plus delivery to Ireland.

T: +49(0)931-4679828 W: www.einrichten-design.de

6. COFFEE TABLE 

Metropole High Gloss coffee table Cat No: TE1511B : €259.00

Littlewoods T: 01 8112222 W: www.littlewoodsireland.ie

7. WALLPAPER

Fountain by Brewers £30.99 per roll plus P&P

Wallpaper Direct T: 0044 (0) 1323 430886 W: www.wallpaperdirect.co.uk

8. PAINT

Cypress and Blade from the DeVine range. Devine Powder/Delicate Finish - 3L : €44.95.

Available through Colortrend stores and selected independent stockists nationwide.

T: + 353 1 6288224 W: www.colortrend.ie

 

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 As you may or may not know from me going on and on about it, I’m organising ‘Absolut Style at Set’, a vintage fashion, film and furniture fair for Langton’s House Hotel, Kilkenny ( 2nd, 3rd and 4th of April.) It’s to showcase their new SET theatre, which is quite lovely and beautiful, designed by interiors guru David Collins.  

My brother Eoin is a photographer, so we did a shoot in the SET theatre for our press package, and here are the results!

 Hair piece : Hand dyed Silk Chiffon and Velvet headpiece/corsage adorning a birdcage veil: €100.00 and Vintage Brooch: €15.00 both from Millinery By Rebekah Patterson , The Market Slip, Kilkenny.

Dress :  1970’s Gunne Sax strapless cream lace ballerina dress: €125.00. Vertigo Vintage, Dublin and Kilkenny.

Hair : by the quite brilliant Anne, at Kieran O’Gorman Hair and Beauty Day Spa, the Butterslip, Kilkenny. (see more below)

Shoes : Dunnes Stores €15.00, but they hurt!

More info on the ‘Absolut Style at Set’ weekend to follow, or read a bit about it >here<. Tickets go on sale tomorrow…

Thanks to Eoin for taking the photos!

xBlanaid

See more of the hair-did after the jump!

more…

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Just a quick  post to say a huge thank you to House and Home magazine for including me in their ‘Hot 100 People, Places and Products’ in this month’s edition, out now. I genuinely love this magazine, so it was a complete honour and thrill to be in this issue….

more…

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Style Tonic  is my absolute favourite Irish online shopping site, because it’s basically a whole lifestyle site. They do interviews, style news, sell very cool clothes, and a whole heap more, all collated in an effortlessly stylish and cool way. SO! I was beyond thrilled to be asked to answer their ‘10 questions’ segment, and even more delighted when it was included in their online magazine. If I were to design a magazine, their magazine is exactly the look I would be hoping for…

See the interview on their site > here<

Just click on the magazine link, if you so fancy, it’s a fantastic issue.

Thanks a million to Michelle! x

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I was also very honoured to be included in Blaubushka’s ‘A Christmas Carol’, where they asked bloggers such as Miss Milki from A Spoonful of Sugar, White Rabbit, Laura from Whisty Blogs Dublin Fashion and other style folk to answer a few Christmas related questions. 

I really do rate Blaubushka as one of THE best Irish blogs, the amount of work they put in to their blog, and how creative they are with their posts, is an inspiration. Thanks for having me ladies!

Check it out >here<  if you like, and do read everyone else’s far better answers too! :)

x Blanaid

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I was quite thrilled to be asked to offer up my ‘Ten Favourite Things’ to the Evening Herald, by journalist Suzanne Yarker, except…I’m really bad at picking my favourite anything. I love music, films, books, chocolate - but ask me my first choice of anything and eh…yeah come back to me in about a week. Thankfully, both Suzanne and the lovely photographer Doug O’Connor were as easygoing as anything. Even when Doug was trying to help me out things, saying like : ‘How about that lamp, do you like that?’…it ended up as…’I do! I do like that lamp!’…’Could you live without the lamp though?’…’I could…I could live without that lamp..’ etc.

Anyway, I’m pretty happy with the results, they all mean something, or remind me of a lovely time, and that’s all you can really ask for from objects.

Feel free to tell me yours..If you can pick ten - it’s hard, try it!

x Blanaid

In no particular order by the Evening Her-dild…

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1. Nikhil & Shantu hand painted gold coat :  This is by far the most expensive thing I own. I make it earn it’s keep by hanging it on the wall when I’m not wearing it, so it moonlights as a piece of art. It keeps my guilt about the cost down a bit..

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2. Green hat : The best representation of thievery from my mother’s wardrobe: she buys it, I steal it. Luckily both she, my sister and I all love second hand shops, so my bill is pretty low. So far.

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3.  Keniche Hoshine print : This Keniche Hoshine print reads “I never stopped writing to you, sending telegrams that read like fevers.” which for me, sums up how intense and insatiable some love affairs can be…His ‘A Polite Winter’ collection is this demented adventure in love and desire, and to know that other people can  feel that way without descending in to all-out insanity, well, it’s a comfort!

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4. Vintage chair : I bought this at a car boot sale for about €15.00 I’m usually pretty disrespectful toward everything I own, but not this chair. It’s very dainty.

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5. Vintage Cameras : My brothers and I are just about to open a new studio in Kilkenny, so I have to practice the old taking photographs lark. These vintage cameras, which cost a euro each, are much cheaper to drop than my brother’s expensive stuff. And I will drop them at some stage. No doubt about it.

6.  Cuban Cigar Box : I thieved this from my Dad years back, it reminds me of him, and my brother Eoin, who are both partial to a cigar. It’s been dragged from house to house, so is looking a bit shook, bit I still love it. 

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7. Turquoise ring : This ring reminds me of a slightly foolish but fun period of my life, when I was very young and knew a whole lot about nothing, particularly relationships.

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8. Brother Sewing Machine : One of the most thoughtful birthday gifts I ever received. It works perfectly and looks beautiful. It has also saved me a lot of money.I get bored with my clothes pretty quickly, but even with my very limited sewing skill, it’s possible to alter things just enough to make them different. Such as the huge scarf from H&M that became a very inexpensive maxi dress…

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9. White silk dress : I bought this in Zara, for €99.00. It reminds me of one of my favourite nights out; one of those mad occassions that started all elegant, and ended a few days later with a dirty fry up.

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10. Photo of grandparents : I love this photo of my mother’s parents, out at a party, looking all glamorous and in love. Instead of showing lots of different photos of my friends and family, who are really all of my favourite things, I think this image sums up my life with the people I love. Laughing, getting dressed up, having fun and just enjoying the whole party.

x

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A little late posting this, but Stellar is out all month, so it’s not too late…! Around a month back,  Stellar’s lovely Fashion Editor, Corina Gaffey, organised a shoot featuring some of the fashion bloggers in Ireland, photographed by the incredibly talented Lili Forberg. It was a fantastic day, especially getting to meet Corina, Lily, the hair stylist : Maurice Flynn, the make up artists; Seana Long and Alanna Wallace from Make Up Forever, and of course, the other Irish bloggers, including:

 Arsheen from Fashion Filosofy,  (beautiful creative taste.)

Catherine from This is an OffShoot, (a real live Irish Carine Roitfeld.)

Laura from Whisty Blogs Dublin Fashion, (my kind of style, I love her looks.)

Jessica from Get Your Frocks Off  (I need all of her clothes..)

Leonn from Cosmo-Sparkle  (vintage, eclectic look.)

and Zohra from ‘Ophelia Ford  (I’ll take all of her wardrobe too…)

and of course, our very own glamorous Laura Cunningham from The Stylebitches! :)

Do pick up Stellar if you see it, it’s a fantastic read. It was actually a favourite magazine of mine before this shoot, and now, of course, most definitely is..! Thank you to all involved, I had such a brilliant time, and was absolutely thrilled to be included.

x Blanaid

P.S See way more behind the scenes shot >here< if you like! x

 

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I was up in Athlone, in Burgess Department Store, styling for an RTÉ show, (yeah, there was no reason to tell you that, but I just wanted to type it out loud! Sorry!) when I picked up this gúna from Bay Trading - reduced to €14.oo!  I’m not in any way a shop snob, as you can probably guess from my love of Penneys, but Bay is never a store that comes into my mind when shopping, so I was quite thrilled with this little number. I also bought the studded belt there for €15.oo - good day!

The rigout has also earned it’s keep, as I wore it for the show, then presenting for Style Nation at the Off The Rails roadshow, then out again on Saturday night for my friend Orla’s birthday. Oh and also on another night out with my sister Roisin, and me Laura... So yeah…in conclusion… I like it.

Dress : €14.00 Bay Trading

Belt : €15.00 Bay Trading

Tights : €2.00 Penneys

Shoes : appx. €80.00 Topshop

Jewellery : Bracelets and turquoise ring : from Accessorize.

Stacked rings : from Tempted

Diamond band : Old engagement ring

Square ring : Present from Laura from Topshop.

x Blanaid

 

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My second interiors feature is in the Irish Independent property supplement today (Fri)…It’s a segment called ‘Put your stamp on it..‘, where I take a house that’s currently on the market for sale, and give it a hypothetical makeover using products sourced from around Ireland and the internet.

I also go to an interiors store and set up a room in the style I think would suit the home, and this time around, photographer Andrew Clancy and I paid a visit to the beautiful SKI interiors in Naas. The second image is a small selection from the products featured today, including the beautiufl, and incredibly affordable hand painted sideboard from Strawbridge in Co. Wicklow. 

You can see more in the Independent today, I hope you like it! 

x Blanaid

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I was quite delighted to be included in the Sunday Tribune’s ‘Insider Knowledge’ article last Sunday. The Tribune’s Valerie Shanley asked me all about saving money when doing up your home, which is, of course, a matter close to my non-rambunctiously-spending heart.  You can read the full piece, which features advice from Chefs Stephen Gibson and Natasha MacGowan, Stylist Aisling Farinella, DJ Cillian McDonnell and Gardener Fiann Ó Nualláin,  >> here !<<

x Blanaid

Photograph : Lar Boland, who was verrry patient and kind!  

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I was really very delighted to be asked by the ladies from the blog ‘Blaubushka,’ to take part in their ‘Blogging for Boobs’ campaign to raise the awareness of breast cancer. They asked bloggers to send in ‘pink’ themed images of themselves or anything at all, which they are now posting over on their blog. Such a lovely idea, and a huge congratulations to them for organising it all. There are some absolutely amazing images being posted, have a looksee at their blog >here<

For my image, I decided to do an  outfit post, so got my pink second -hand Monsoon dress, pink vintage hat, and pink TK Maxx umbrella, and toddled off to a field here in Kilkenny. The photographer was, again, Andrew Clancy, who was so great and didn’t mind a bit about the f-f-f-freezing cold and rain. Thank you Clancers!

Please visit Blaubushka, and do click on the breast cancer information links they have provided in the posts. 

Thanks for having me Blaubushka!

x Blanaid

Here’s our second episode of ‘All of This’, shot on location in Oxfam in Rathmines. In this episode, we showed a black lace number, a sliiightly demented office wear look, and a host of retro dresses that they are bringing down to the shop floor for Hallowe’en..unless you don’t need that excuse and like yourself some retro…

This was SUCH a lovely shoot, with the very beautiful model Naomi Casey, the brilliant production team; Helen and Emer, and our very special assistant on the day - Zarah Casey, who you can hear at 1′59″! You can kind of tell from the out takes at the end that we spent much of the time larking about, it was a fun day at the office!

You can WIN the black lace dress - it’s very simples - all you have to do is ‘cast your guess’ (yeah, I don’t know why I said that either…) as to how much YOU think Oxfam in Rathmines were selling the black lace dress for. You can do this over on >> Style Nation<< ,on >>Twitter, <<or on>> Facebook<<!. Click on the links to join in the game! It’ll take about two seconds and you could get yourself an elegant black lace dress for nada…good deal!

 x Blanaid

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Rosemary McCabe featured my blog in her article on bloggers who post their personal style, in the Irish Times magazine today, along with the fabulous Laura Whiston from ‘Whisty Blogs Dublin Fashion’, and Ana Kinsella from ’Ripped Knees’.  

To say I got a shock when I saw the size of the photo of meself would be an understatement, but I have to say, I’m so glad it was that large as it really showed Dave from The Coffey Filter’s photography skills! (NOT because it’s of me, but for the colouring and composition etc..)

Rosemary is an incredibly accomplished writer, which is hugely evident in the fact she made sense of my hour long ramblings in the interview… Check out her blog too >>here<<, it’s a regular haunt of mine..

So a huge THANK YOU! to Rosemary and to Dave Coffey for the images. 

See the article online >>here<< if you like! 

x Blanaid

 

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My very first interiors feature for the Irish Independent is out today - it’s a re-style of a home for sale, featuring lots of affordable products from around Ireland and the interweb, paint colours, couch options, accessories etc. Take a look at it if it takes your fancy!

I’ll be featuring all the stuff on the blog here next week, including a piece on the very cool Irish photographer, Moselle Foley, and some lovely stores around Ireland. 

Hope you like it, I’m pretty thrilled to be in it…I’m most definitely very lucky, and I’m working on the second one as I type. Well, once I get off this blog, that is. 

x Blanaid…(Fancy Friday on the way!)

Image above : Photograph by Andrew Clancy. Room styled by me, in the beautiful ‘Brambles’ store in Abbeyleix, Co. Laois.

Part of the absence from the blog last week was due to the fact that I was filming my very first piece for Style Nation.ie. In a new programme entitled ‘All of This’, I travel to charity shops around the country and put together a few outfits. Then YOU have the opportunity to win one of the outfits by playing the ‘All of This’ guessing name on Style Nation! Simples.

This week, we travelled to Oxfam on George’s Street and put together three or four outfits…and out of ‘all of this’ (!) we chose the H-AMAZING Karen Millen gold sequinned, drape back, long sleeved mini-dress as the prize of prizes. Watch the video above and get over to Style Nation.ie to guess the OXFAM price of the dress, not the original price, and you may just have a shiny, sparkly new number in your wardrobe for Christmas!

A HUGE thank you to the producer - Helen O’ Reilly from Straywave, who is a seriously multi-skilled multi-tasker, and made me feel incredibly at ease on this, my first time presenting to camera on my own. She’s a Burlesque dancer too, legend. And also to Dawn, our model, who was very patient and kind, and gorgeous! Which is handy…!

VISIT >> STYLE NATION.ie << TO ENTER THE COMPETITION OR DIRECT MESSAGE THEM ON >> TWITTER<<

My outfit : 

Vintage red fringed leather jacket : €45.00 Oxfam, George’s St. 

Black Double U neck dress : €38.00 American Apparel

Shoes : €80.00 Topshop

Hope you like the video!

x Blanaid

P.S Here’s a hint to the price : it was a seriously expensive dress to buy originally, so remember that Oxfam wanted to get the most they could for it, as it is a ‘future classic’… think less than a hundred euro but….;)

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Meant to post this ages ago, but anyway - here it is! Taken from the Irish Examiner’s ‘Fashionista Files’ with Annmarie O’Connor (from I Blog Fashion) complete with the interview, if you’d like to read it…

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FASHIONISTA FILE

 What are you wearing today?

Vintage cape and second hand cropped tux jacket, which were €5.00 each. A backless dress, gothic leggings and platform shoe boots, all from a huge splurge on Topshop.co.uk back when the sterling was weak. Finally, black tights from Penneys cut into stockings, and a vintage rip-off Chanel suede bag.  

How much did it cost?

The entire outfit cost around €192.00, with the shoes accounting for around half of that. A pretty expensive outfit for me!

What do you love most about it?

I don’t have a definite style and tend to flit between a kind of rocker/homeless look and a French style all-too-much glamour look, so this kind of marries the two. Like a kind of ‘demented French homeless coiffured rocker who raided her Grandmother’s wardrobe’ look. If that’s what’s in next season, then I’m all over it.

 Who is your fashion icon?

I don’t really have a fashion icon, but I do love to look through fashion blogs such as Knightcat, FashionToast, Lefashionimage and browse through streetstyle websites, like Dublin Streets, Garance Dore and Fashion Filosofy.  

Which designers do you admire?

Balmain, Balenciaga, Givenchy, Alexander Wang, Philip Lim, Comme des Garcons, Isabel Marant, Band of Outsiders and Malene Birger. I’ll have everything they’ve ever made, thanks!

 What is the last thing you bought?

I bought a vintage navy velvet flock long sleeved mini-dress for €6.00 in a charity shop. It is my new ‘if all else fails’ going out dress.

 What was your biggest splurge?

I bought a Custo Barcelona graphic printed, fur sleeved, bell shaped coat about 2 years ago. It’s slightly Henry VIII-esque, but I love it. I intend to have it for the rest of my, or it’s, life.

 What is your best bargain buy?

This fur cape is high on the list, as is a pair of unworn vintage Italian leather boots, which I bought at a car boot sale for €4.00.

 Where do you like to shop? 

I like to shop in places that accept imaginary money. Failing that : charity shops, followed by Penneys, H&M and Zara.

 What has been your biggest fashion faux pas?

The James Dean printed leggings, which I wore to my sister’s communion, complete with matching orange James Dean t-shirt, still makes me shudder. Sometimes I tell people that as a child, I thought everyone wore fancy dress to communions.

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Thanks for having me, Annmarie! 

x Blanaid