The Women's Room | Daily Life and Style Inspiration

Art & CultureAugust 20, 2013

Middleagedad: A Modern-Day, Arty Stig of the Dump

By Amanda

Today I am interviewing Middleagedad, as he is currently artist in residence at our local Richmond recycling and re-use centre (The Dump as we have always known it). It is the first time Richmond has ever had an Artist in… Read More

Art & CultureAugust 19, 2013

Top of The Lake

By Jane

If you haven’t seen Top of the Lake yet – you are in for a treat. Written and directed by Jane Campion and filmed in New Zealand, it stars Elizabeth Moss (Peggy from Mad Men), Holly Hunter and Peter Mullan… Read More

Things We LoveAugust 19, 2013

Neom Limited Edition Enchantment

By Amanda

I’m still very fond of the Neom range of luxury organic home smells, with its reassuringly no-paraffin wax, no synthetic scents and no added chemicals, and the brand does a great range of reed diffusers. We recently got the Enchantment… Read More

Art & CultureAugust 18, 2013

We love: Hitomi Hosono’s ceramics

By Amanda

OK, fessing up here, by the time you read this Hitomi Hosono’s little exhibition at The St Pancras Renaissance Hotel Chamber’s Club will be over (it finished on 4th August). Sorry, it’s been a busy month and anyway, we went… Read More

Things We LoveAugust 17, 2013

Cosmakeup from Sampar

By Jane

Cosmakeup is new beauty “thing”, which basically means blurring the lines between cosmetics and make up – who knew? Well you do now, and one of the brands championing this thinking is French company Sampar. Available from Marks & Spencer… Read More

Fashion & BeautyAugust 16, 2013

Two late summer and two early autumn buys from Zara

By Amanda

Fessing up, Zara is size-ist, so really I should start this post with a rant… Dear Zara, women come bigger than size 16, so deal with it please. And no you don’t really do size 18…try finding a style that… Read More

Art & CultureAugust 15, 2013

See this: Mirror Mirror at LCF

By Jane

Thanks to @Spob for alerting us to an up and coming event at the London College of Fashion, which looks right up our street. Mirror Mirror: Representations and Reflections on age and ageing is a two-day event is designed to… Read More

Fashion & Beauty, Home & GardenAugust 14, 2013

A visit to Merchant & Mills in Rye

By Amanda

We’ve written about the wonderful haberdashery and sewing brand Merchant & Mills before, but last week while on a trip to Rye I got to visit the shop and readers, Middleagedad nearly had to throw a bucket of cold water… Read More

Home & GardenAugust 13, 2013

We love: The Meringue Girls

By Jane

Pavlova has become my signature dish for special occasions – I just adore that sweet combo of sugar, cream and fruit – and given the choice, would always choose a meringue over an eclair Ottolenghi championed the return of the… Read More

Fashion, We Are ReadingAugust 12, 2013

C.Z Guest, American Style icon by Susanna Salk

By Amanda

Another tip from Colin’s Column from last week, C.Z Guest, American Style Icon by Susanna Salk. C.Z Guest was American Style Royalty, a sort of old school American aristocrat who was thin enough and rich enough to inspire photographers and… Read More

Things We LoveAugust 12, 2013

Muji’s aroma diffuser

By Amanda

It’s possible I’m telling you all to suck eggs with this wonderful Muji aroma diffuser, do you all already have one? Quite possibly, as they are not new. However, just in case you don’t know about the amazing, steamy mist… Read More

Fashion & BeautyAugust 12, 2013

Three late summer buys from: Gap

By Amanda

Yes Gap, again. But I couldn’t resist telling you about these lovely leopard print, pony-skin finish slip-on sneakers which are £39.95. Now the fashion forward of you will have already bought a pair of leopard print sneakers (Jane) but not… Read More

Fashion, We Are ReadingAugust 9, 2013

The Mechanical Smile by Caroline Evans

By Amanda

One for the fashion crew this. I saw this recommended by Colin McDowell in his regular feature (it’s called Colin’s Column….) on the Business of Fashion website. When we first started blogging Colin had his own blog where he would… Read More

Middle Aged MumAugust 9, 2013

Middleagedmum.com: Summer in the city

By Jane

For the last three months, our kitchen floor has been home to a constant stream of tents, rucksacks and bags of disgusting washing, as one or the other of the teens returns from yet another holiday or festival. I have… Read More

Health & HappinessAugust 8, 2013

Sally Muir’s A Dog A Day at the Anthropologie Gallery

By Amanda

It’s turning into a dog week here on TWR, what with Jane’s post on The Dogs Trust Honour Awards on Monday and today we’re looking at artist Sally Muir’s dog painting exhibition. We are big fans of Sally’s previous knit… Read More

Novels & Biogs, We Are ReadingAugust 7, 2013

Beautiful Ruins by Jess Walter

By Amanda

The wonderful India Knight recently tweeted that she loved this, which is enough for us really…but by coincidence I had a copy, so I started to read it and it is indeed fabulous. Pick it up for a great summer… Read More

Fashion & BeautyAugust 7, 2013

We love: Playing in Diane’s closet

By Jane

Last Summer my best friend, daughter and I went on a little road trip in Conneticut. We had heard Diane Von Furstenberg’s country home was somewhere near where we were staying and were fascinated to see if we could find… Read More

Out & AboutAugust 6, 2013

Advice on how to be a funny woman, from Funny Women’s Lynne Parker

By Amanda

I met Lynne Parker, founder of Funny Women last week at the Arianna Huffington Third Metric evening (more on this in a later post) and we got on splendidly. I have at least one girlfriend who would have made a… Read More

Things We LoveAugust 6, 2013

Perfume review: Isis by Agonist

By Amanda

Yet more reason to love all things Swedish. I have fallen for the niche fragrance brand Agonist, founded in 2008 by Christine and Niclas Lydeen, which puts a distinctly Nordic inspired, arty bent on appreciating smell. Niclas is an art… Read More

Out & AboutAugust 5, 2013

The Dogs Trust Honour Awards

By Jane

Becoming a dog owner has been one of the best decisions I have ever made. Not only has it made me exercise every single day and shown me what loyalty and unconditional love means (soppy I know – but dog… Read More

Fashion & BeautyAugust 2, 2013

Buckitt bags on Kickstarter, an update

By Amanda

A little while ago we wrote about our friend Rachel’s Buckitt Bag launch on Kickstarter. For those of you who don’t know how Kicktarter works, Rachel has to raise the money for her bags over a limited period of time,… Read More

Out & AboutAugust 2, 2013

We love: Woody Allen’s Blue Jasmine

By Amanda

Did you all watch the Woody Allen two part documentary on last week? (part one, part two.. sorry, iPlayer only works in the UK) I grew up absolutely adoring Woody Allen and for years I wanted to be Diane Keaton… Read More

Fashion & BeautyAugust 1, 2013

We love: Ethnic jackets from Lisa Taylor

By Jane

Ethnic jackets are having a bit of a fashion moment – although personally we have always been fans of the eccentric textile lecturer look – and it’s all due to Isabel Marant, the queen of boho chic, who is known… Read More

Art & CultureJuly 31, 2013

Talking feminism and retail with Fiona Atkins from Townhouse

By Amanda

We’ve mentioned the lovely Spitalfields store-cum-coffeeshop-cum-gallery Townhouse previously, it is the reason we don’t buy everything on the internet, an atmospheric and charming almost-unkown spot that’s always full of new finds, is staffed by experts and has great cake. Due… Read More

Things We LoveJuly 30, 2013

Damask Rose Petal Spray from The Herbal Dispensary

By Amanda

When the heat comes back (This Thursday apparently) you might like to consider investing in a small bottle of this lovely rose water spray to keep you cool, specially if you have to travel by tube or bus. You spray… Read More

Art & CultureJuly 30, 2013

Summer in the City: Everybody Street

By Jane

There’s a certain intensity to living in a city, which is something that you either love or hate. Personally it’s what keeps me living in London and in particular Hackney. I love the strange characters, underground clubs, dodgy alleyways and… Read More

Things We LoveJuly 29, 2013

Hydracotton Towels from The White Company

By Amanda

Having interviewed The White Company recently on its lovely bedlinen, I’m now seriously into revamping my domestic textile investments. It’s amazing how long you can go without changing your towels….so long in fact that you can completely miss new and… Read More

Fashion & BeautyJuly 29, 2013

A few things to buy from Levi’s Made & Crafted

By Amanda

We are fans of the understated Levi Made & Crafted range of contemporary casual clothes and it’s great to see that the collection has moved out of the poky confines of the Levi Vintage store near Carnaby Street into its… Read More

Art & CultureJuly 26, 2013

Libertine magazine for ‘Interested Women’

By Jane

While there are lots of great, lifestyle, culture and food magazines around at the moment, we were despairing of the women’s magazine market – there simply wasn’t a monthly read which made us think and captured our imagination – until… Read More

Fashion & BeautyJuly 25, 2013

We love: Tracey Neuls Shoes

By Amanda

How much do we love Tracey Neuls? We met her last week, having been admirers of her lovely shoes and beautifully crafted displays in her two London stores for a while and she turned out even better than we’d hoped… Read More