The Women's Room | Daily Life and Style Inspiration

Fashion & BeautyAugust 12, 2011

Doing Double Denim…it’s all about the shirt

By Amanda

It feels horribly flippant to be writing about clothes while all this mayhem surrounds us in the UK, but a girl still has to get dressed in the morning and with the weird hot/cold weather we’ve been getting currently, it’s… Read More

Home & GardenAugust 11, 2011

Sew yourself an iPhone cover!

By Jane

Amanda and I love our iPhones and are always on the look out for nice covers. I love this one I spotted on the great design blog, Design Milk, as it combine technology and craft, two of our favourite things!… Read More

Health & HappinessAugust 10, 2011

Camila Batmanghelidjh, style icon AND super hero

By Amanda

Anyone wondering what they can do to help make things right after the appalling events of the last few days, could check out the amazing work done by Camila Batmanghelidjh at The Kid’s Company. Camila started the charity in 1996… Read More

Novels & Biogs, We Are ReadingAugust 9, 2011

Westwood by Stella Gibbons

By Amanda

I’ve been listening to Lynne Truss’s Radio 4 Extra adaption of this just re-released version of Stella Gibbon’s Westwood and it’s a joy. Many people think Stella Gibbons begins and ends with Cold Comfort Farm, but she wrote lots more… Read More

Middle Aged MumAugust 9, 2011

Middleagedmum.com: liberal me?

By Jane

Today’s post was supposed to be an ironic take on suntanning and the fact that MAD tends to go a bit George Hamilton/David Dickinson in the sun. But writing a funny (hopefully!) holiday post seems a bit wrong today, since… Read More

Home & GardenAugust 8, 2011

Layer Cake, Cake Pops and Dr Oetker

By Amanda

Last week the very nice people from Dr Oetker sent us a pile of baking treats to play with and youngest teen got excited about our blog for the very first time (he is a very keen baker)… “What. you… Read More

Health & HappinessAugust 7, 2011

Silver: A state of Mind

By Jane

How do you feel about growing older and the colour of your hair? American Photographer Vicki Topaz explores society’s views of and aging and feminism through her photographic study of one of the obvious signs of growing older – grey… Read More

Home & GardenAugust 6, 2011

A field of dreams at Barcroft Hall

By Amanda

Wild flower planting at its most creative at Barcroft Hall in Somerset, where over 57 varieties of seed have been sown on a disused two acre field on the estate of Denise and Brian Herrick, resulting in this beautiful mass… Read More

Things We LoveAugust 5, 2011

M&S control slip for wearing under skimpy sundresses

By Amanda

I think we might have mentioned this before , but it was only when I was getting out mine today that I thought we should probably mention it again for any new readers. On the few occasions it’s warm enough… Read More

Novels & Biogs, We Are ReadingAugust 5, 2011

The Locusts have No King by Dawn Powell

By Amanda

As recommended by TWR reader (and sometimes book reviewer for us) Lee Randall, this is a gorgeously New York-y book, set at the end of the 40s, full of dames, late night bar activity, high-falutin’ social parties, actors, playwrights and… Read More

Out & AboutAugust 5, 2011

East London Mornings

By Jane

I have always considered breakfast the most important and enjoyable meal of the day, which if you time it right, can totally replace lunch, which I quite frankly I despise. If my teens dare utter the words ‘what’s for lunch?’… Read More

Health & HappinessAugust 4, 2011

Avon calling: Karren Brady’s tips on networking

By Amanda

We recently went to an Avon Networking event with the supremely efficient Karren Brady, she of The Apprentice and West Ham football club. The whole idea of networking is horrendous to Jane and I, we can think of a million… Read More

Home & GardenAugust 3, 2011

Horrockses bed linen

By Jane

The Horrockses exhibition at the Fashion and Textile Museum last year, was one of our all time favourites. The 40’s and 50’s bright cotton prints inspired many of this Spring Summers fashion ranges including the Wallis 1923 dress collection. We… Read More

Fashion & BeautyAugust 2, 2011

Stutterheim raincoats: Swedish melancholy at its driest

By Amanda

When in Stockholm pottering around the shops recently, Middleagedad and I discovered the wonderful Alexander Stutterheim and his rain macs. Based on his grandfather’s water poof, ancient old mac pattern, Alexander has designed the Arholma, a simple but beautiful rain… Read More

Things We LoveAugust 1, 2011

Anthropologie candles

By Jane

We are huge fans of scented candles, but often find it hard to the right combination of nice smell and value for money. If you have £35 to spend then it’s no problem, but that just seems like too much… Read More

Out & AboutAugust 1, 2011

A Vintage Weekend

By Jane

This weekend MAD and I spent a very enjoyable afternoon pottering around the Vintage Festival on London’s Southbank. Geraldine and Wayne Hemingway (of Red or Dead fame) started the Vintage Festival last year at Goodwood. The combination of retro music,… Read More

Out & AboutJuly 31, 2011

Pavement living and a good chat: nice ideas from Swedish retailers

By Amanda

While in Stockholm last weekend, middleagedad and I saw some nice ideas from Swedish retailers we’d like to see adopted over here in the UK. We spotted these trends as we wandered around the super hip area of SoFo (SoHo… Read More

Novels & Biogs, We Are ReadingJuly 30, 2011

The Long Song by Andrea Levy

By Jane

Fashion & BeautyJuly 30, 2011

Today I’m wearing: Mrs B’s fabulous style

By Jane

Ok, so we work in fashion and can be as pretentious as the next person if necessary, but if we’re honest we find the Vogue blog and Twitter hash tag ‘Today I’m Wearing’ a little annoying. It seems to be… Read More

Fashion & BeautyJuly 29, 2011

How daft are size charts? We talk body shape with Maria Grachvogel

By Amanda

Do you know what size you really are? And if you are a size 12, are you the same in every retailer? Are all size charts equal? I don’t think so. “If I bought clothes according to other retailers size… Read More

Health & HappinessJuly 28, 2011

MiddleagedSingle.com: Wherefore art thou, Romeo?

By Amanda

Juliet didn’t have to look very far to find her Romeo. But today’s modern woman can cast her net wider as she doesn’t have to rely on (or maybe won’t settle for) the boy next door. Factor in the array… Read More

Fashion & BeautyJuly 27, 2011

A Perfume Portrait with Linda Pilkington of Ormonde Jayne

By Amanda

If you were to ask me what my ideal day would consist of, somewhere in it (perhaps after breakfast with Hugh Laurie and lunch with Robert Plant) would be an hour spent smelling perfumes with someone who knows what they… Read More

Middle Aged MumJuly 26, 2011

Middleagedmum.com: the dog show

By Jane

Having recently had our chances of winning ‘best in Show’ at the Adderbury village dog show ruined, due to Archie developing Kennel cough the night before the big day, I was delighted when I found there was to be a… Read More

Things We LoveJuly 25, 2011

Dr Martens are back!

By Jane

We have fond memories of MA-1 Flying Jackets, black polo necks, Levi’s 501’s and black Dr Martens. The uniform of the fashionable 1980’s girl about town, we were nothing if not comfortable! All those years of stomping around in what… Read More

Fashion & BeautyJuly 25, 2011

Jacket lust: Denham The Jeanmaker’s leather Spy Lux jacket

By Amanda

The weather has been so rubbish this week that I have not been able to help thinking of autumn purchases. So I drifted onto the Denham the Jeanmaker site (as you do) and found the leather jacket that I will… Read More

Art & CultureJuly 24, 2011

What a week!

By Jane

The last time I spent the entire week glued to the news was after 9/11, when we all felt compelled to watch the horror of the planes crash into the towers, over and over again, trying to somehow make sense… Read More

Home & GardenJuly 23, 2011

Sainsbury’s fabulous knives and shears

By Amanda

So, Sainsbury’s. Not perhaps the first name that comes to mind when considering brilliant kitchen knives. We thought that too, until we saw these fabulous examples of knives and shears from the Cooks Collection at the Sainsbury’s Christmas press day… Read More

Fashion & BeautyJuly 22, 2011

Top Shop A/W 2011: A nostalgic moment

By Jane

When I saw the these images from the new Top Shop Autumn Winter ad campaign, I immediately loved them and wanted everything. Then I had to have a little word and remind myself how old and I am and how… Read More

Food, We Are ReadingJuly 22, 2011

Ginger Pig by Tim Wilson and Fran Warde

By Jane

Home & GardenJuly 21, 2011

Fedor van der Valk’s String Gardens

By Amanda

Cool gardens now hang, or grow up walls, it appears. I am a big fan of ‘green wall’ gardens, such as you can see in the Anthropologie store in Regent Street, which still looks lovely some 18 months after being… Read More