Head for Bed

I'm feeling a bit sad that I've only got a few more bits of the house left to decorate. I could quite happily do the whole thing all over again. Maybe without the stress of the builders. All our beds are still headless though so my latest and nearly last project is designing headboards. I have three to make and have just come back from a meeting with the lovely Donna, a magical seamstress in Mid Wales who is going to translate my designs into the real thing. And for a quarter of the price of buying ready made ones.

I want each one to be very different from the next and have spent hours trying to come up with new and original ideas. Lets face it, head boards aren't usually the most exciting of things.

I love the idea of having an antique, Indian balcony in my paisley room but am having slight issues finding one that costs less than £2000.

I bought this wooden screen years ago from a shop on Portobello road and painted it off white. We have it in our bedroom as the headboard and it's been slowly turning pink over time which I love. I was quite tempted to get another one for our grey room but it's quite a statement so thought it'd look a bit too same-y.

I'll probably end up going down the typical upholstered route with all three as there are so many divine fabrics that I want to use. Some of the ones in the running are below...

'Cordoba' by Bennison

Bennison

Two heavenly Penny Morrison fabrics.

Although I'd be very happy with any of her designs.

Peter Dunham paisleys

Nicholas Herbert

Two Vaughan sensations

John Robshaw 'Lanka Oyster'

Other possibles are to use old doors and mirrors; although having glass hanging above your head does make me slightly nervous...

Threads of feeling

I spent the afternoon without the Cub today at The Foundling Museum looking at the exhibition 'Threads of Feeling'. I'd been told by so many people that I had to go. Apparently it's right up my street and I would love it. They were so right. It's an incredibly touching, emotive exhibition and I really urge anyone who can to go and see it before it closes this Sunday.

In 1739, Thomas Coram founded The Foundling Hospital. A place for women to leave their babies when they couldn't look after them themselves. Heartbreakingly, some mothers didn't want anything to do with the babies again and just deposited them at the hospital - end of story. Others though had dreams of one day being reunited. When they left their babies they left a token, often a special ribbon or bit of fabric attached to the registration forms. The fabrics were kept as a way of establishing an indentifiable link between the child and it's mother. The hospital kept all of these tokens and have now created an exhibition showcasing the tokens and letters that were left with the abandoned children. Very moving and also if you're interested in textiles a fascinating show of never seen before 18th century fabrics.

Images taken from the exhibition, showing bits of fabrics left with the babies

Threads of Feeling

www.foundlingmuseum.org.uk

40 Brunswick Square. London. WC1N 1A