The Women's Room | Daily Life and Style Inspiration

Things We LoveNovember 6, 2011

Notions from Merchant & Mills

By Amanda

Since we’re on Christmas present watch, we can speak very highly of the Notions Box from Merchant & Mills, which comes beautifully wrapped and contains little jewel boxes of treasure -well made haberdashery things- if you are a sewer. Non… Read More

Fashion & BeautyNovember 6, 2011

British Heritage Collection from Fat Face

By Amanda

We’d been hearing good things about Fat Face’s brand revamp from friends in the industry and when I visited Westfield Stratford City, I liked the look of the new store concept, which featured less of that funny little skull logo… Read More

Home & GardenNovember 5, 2011

The Flower Appreciation Society

By Jane

Thanks to WR reader Hilary for telling us about The Flower Appreciation Society, which is now bookmarked in our favourites bar. Founders Anna and Ellie have backgrounds in illustration and textile design and a mutual love of flowers. They make… Read More

Art, Culture & Craft, We Are ReadingNovember 4, 2011

Best in Show: Knit your own Cat by Joanna Osborne and Sally Muir

By Jane

Art & CultureNovember 4, 2011

Christmas gifts for middleagedad

By Amanda

Middleagedad is a tricky one to buy for at Christmas and special birthdays, but we may have stumbled across a new form of Dad Art with these great vinyl pieces by Keith Haynes from Art Partnership. We asked Keith to… Read More

Fashion & BeautyNovember 3, 2011

TWR streetstyle: Hilary and Claire

By Jane

Yesterday I spent the day talking about colours for Autumn Winter 2013 /14 with the British Textile and Colour Group. We meet twice a year to share ideas and inspiration and to put together the British Colour Council seasonal palette.… Read More

Fashion & BeautyNovember 2, 2011

Perfume review: CB I Hate Perfume

By Amanda

This doesn’t look the most inspiring of shop fronts, does it? When you also add on the fact that it’s tucked away in a slightly mean looking street in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, you probably would walk away, smarti-sh, rather than go… Read More

Fashion & Beauty, Things We LoveNovember 1, 2011

Ila: Give yourself a break

By Jane

I don’t know about you, but I am starting to feel that ‘lead up to Christmas’ stress. Having decorated the house for Halloween and answered the door 200 times, there is just enough time to sit down before preparing for… Read More

Home & GardenOctober 31, 2011

Dear Jonathan Adler, can we move in please?

By Amanda

In our ongoing quest to find shops we’d like to move into, we’re adding the New York SoHo store of Jonathan Adler to the list, which I visited when on holiday there last week. Jonathan Adler is a talented ceramicist,… Read More

Food, We Are ReadingOctober 31, 2011

The Fat Duck Cook Book by Heston Blumenthal

By Amanda

Another book sent to us from The Book People, this one’s a mighty weighty tome in every sense. Fans of Mr Blumenthal will love the history and background read here, how he and his team came together and changed the… Read More

Home & GardenOctober 30, 2011

One for the Christmas list: Aggie’s Family Cookbook

By Jane

Sometimes when celebrities publish cook books (or clothing ranges!!) one wonders if they actually do roll up their sleeves and get their hands dirty? Well this time, we can genuinely vouch for the fact that Aggie’s Family Cookbook is no… Read More

Fashion & BeautyOctober 29, 2011

Christmas party planning: Wishwantwear

By Amanda

Are you frantically planning your Christmas party outfits? Nope, us neither, but for those who are thinking about it and anyone who has to do ‘seriously dressed up’, has limited funds and doesn’t want to buy a party dress they… Read More

Home & GardenOctober 28, 2011

A literary night out

By Jane

This week I spent a very inspiring evening at the Shoreditch House Literary Salon (despite the unorganised and rude bar staff – don’t get me started!). A free event which is open to everyone, simply join their Facebook group and… Read More

Home & GardenOctober 27, 2011

We Love: Merchant & Mills

By Amanda

We are indebted to TWR reader Louise who tipped us off about the fantastic Merchant & Mills, suppliers of beautiful patterns, accessories and general important stuff need for sewing. The website is like a little bit of heaven if you… Read More

Middle Aged MumOctober 26, 2011

Middleagedmum.com: turning up the heat

By Jane

A while ago I wrote about how I was always hot and wasn’t sure if it was just me, or a symptom of my age. Two years on and things are just getting hotter and hotter and not in a… Read More

Home & GardenOctober 25, 2011

We loved the Experimental Food Society

By Amanda

The Experimental Food Society held a ‘Spectacular’ last weekend, which both Jane and I went to not JUST to eat cake, although we did a lot of that, but also to see what some of the foodie nerds were up… Read More

Art & CultureOctober 24, 2011

One more doggie treat: get your tissues out!

By Jane

Home & GardenOctober 24, 2011

Dog shopping and when Archie got his ‘hair did’

By Jane

Owning a dog opens up a whole new world of shopping needs and as a trend forecaster I foresee massive opportunities for specialist services and high quality products for this market in the future. I have recently met some lovely… Read More

Fashion & BeautyOctober 23, 2011

Perfume for stationery geeks: Comme des Garcons

By Amanda

When @tamsinblanchard tweeted that the new Comme des Garcons perfume smelled of brown tape and industrial glue, we knew we had to get a sample to test, after all, this could be the smell of stationery in a bottle and… Read More

Art, Culture & Craft, We Are ReadingOctober 22, 2011

The Liberty Book of Home Sewing

By Amanda

Another nice book sent to us from The Book People and another good one for the Christmas present list is the Liberty Book of Home Sewing, written by Lucinda Ganderton with photos by Kristin Perers and clear illustrations on how… Read More

Fashion & BeautyOctober 22, 2011

Happy Socks

By Jane

Anyone who knows me in real life, knows I’m a huge fan of a coloured tight, a bright sock or a polka dot. So when I discovered Happy Socks in the fabulous fashion emporium Opening Ceremony (in NYC on hols)… Read More

Out & AboutOctober 21, 2011

Vintage Red Cross

By Amanda

The team at the British Red cross sent us a nice invite to the opening of their first ever Vintage Shop, which opened yesterday in Shrewsbury. Sadly we couldn’t go but they sent us pictures and now we wish we… Read More

Fashion & BeautyOctober 20, 2011

Style icon: Siobhan Fahey

By Jane

Anyone who was a fan of Bananarama will remember the name Siobhan Fahey. While I wasn’t a huge fan of their music (but did dance to it in the Students Union) I always loved the original band members style, Siobhan’s… Read More

Home & Garden, We Are ReadingOctober 19, 2011

Beautiful Chickens by Christie Aschwanden

By Amanda

This week the nice crew over at The Book People sent us over this gorgeous edition on chickens. It is the perfect tome to buy anyone who loves chickens but can’t keep them due to space issues, the photography is… Read More

Fashion & BeautyOctober 19, 2011

Frieze 2011 fashion part three: shoes, skirts and trousers

By Amanda

Back at Frieze….. Last year it was all about knee high boots, this year we got more shoes and shoe boots. I just adored the wedges below, worn with Issey Miyake Pleats Please skirts and wrinkled fine cotton coloured socks.… Read More

Health & HappinessOctober 18, 2011

Treat yourself: Aromatherapy Associates

By Jane

We are huge fans of Aromatherapy Associates products. I just love their Deep Relax Bath and Shower Oil, when I am feeling stressed out and in need of a good nights sleep. So when we were told that they have… Read More

Fashion & BeautyOctober 17, 2011

Frieze 2011 fashion part two: colour

By Amanda

Colour was very evident this year and clearly the whole colour blocking trend is having an effect on our confidence to ‘live it up’ a bit when it comes to brights too, neons, orange and shots of yellow were everywhere.… Read More

Fashion & BeautyOctober 17, 2011

Frieze 2011 fashion part one: dresses

By Amanda

Frieze Art Fair VIP day -held on the first afternoon of opening- is a total treat to go to. Yes the art is great, but the clothes! A joy to behold for the 40plus woman. OK, so lots of these… Read More

Fashion, We Are ReadingOctober 16, 2011

Daphne Guinness by Valerie Steele

By Jane

Things We LoveOctober 16, 2011

Aromatherapy Associates

By Jane

We asked Aromatherapy Associates what they considered their best products for tired, old skin (that’s how I was feeling at the time!) and they recomended the Rich Repair Nourishing Cream and Rich Repair Eye Cream. I have been using them… Read More