Eco-Friendly in California

Hello my lovely readers! Having a restful Saturday? Good. Let's go over to California today, shall we?

Alison and Laura Forbes are the owners of The Art of Everyday Living company. Together they renovated and decorated Laura's home in Santa Monica, California. Their aim was to create a healthy, eco-friendly environment for the family and especially for Laura's sons who were babies at the time. They used unfinished furnishings, untreated wool rugs, natural latex rug pads, organic-fill sofas, cotton slipcovers, linen draperies, hemp pillows, and mineral-based lime paint.


Alison Forbes Houlihan with nephew James, left, and homeowner Laura Forbes Carlin with baby Matthew.




Throughout the house, sustainably harvested white-oak hardwood floors were installed and sealed with a low-VOC, nontoxic sealer. Traditional dining room chairs are made of reclaimed wood and water-based glue.


Elegant linen draperies on weathered rods are used throughout the house.








Five year old, James at his art table.




Little Matthew in the playroom.



Hope to see you here tomorrow!

Photographs by Edmund Barr
All images and information from here.

My Holiday to LA

Image via West Elm

My husband & I took our three children on a wonderful summer holiday during the July holidays. We stayed on the gorgeous Santa Monica beach for a whole week. We hired bikes, ate out at some amazing restaurants and then drove to San Francisco along the Coast road.

I will post more pictures in the next few weeks. Life has been busy at our place as we are getting our house ready to sell very soon. While we were away, I had plenty of tradesmen doing our new bathroom renovation and other various things. So the first thing I had to do when I walked in the door from our trip was vacuum. How enthralling!!

Hope you all have a very restful weekend.

Hayley