The Women's Room | Daily Life and Style Inspiration

Middle Aged MumDecember 29, 2010

Middleagemum.com: The Middle Age Sigh

By The Womens Room

This year, I have noticed that middleagedad and I have increasingly been doing something that can only be described as a Middle Age Sigh. An exasperated expulsion of stress/frustration/disbelief/annoyance that is often -but not always- related to teenagesons’ activities.… Read More

Art & CultureDecember 28, 2010

Style icon: Lady Holland

By The Womens Room

After only the second episode of Upstairs Downstairs, we are well and truly hooked. We grew up with the Bellamys of Eaton Place and I have to admit to a slight childhood obsession with Edwardian maids, and spent a great… Read More

Out & AboutDecember 27, 2010

We love: animal graffiti

By The Womens Room

We were wandering around the Brick Lane and Shoreditch area of London this week and spotted these rather wonderful graffiti animals everywhere. Eldestteenageson, who is at art school in the area, says they have been around for a while, but… Read More

Health & HappinessDecember 26, 2010

Something to make you laugh (or cry) on Boxing day

By The Womens Room

By now you may well be planning your escape from the family, 'Just going to take the dog for a walk/check my emails/phone my best friend for a moan/book a flight to Outer Mongolia', as no matter how well you… Read More

Home & GardenDecember 25, 2010

Christmas greetings: The Knitted Nativity

By The Womens Room

Having shopped the glossy shiny-ness of all the big London stores for the past couple of weeks, it was a real joy to spot this home-knitted and utterly charming nativity scene in our local knitting shop in Barnes.Sadly the woolly… Read More

Middle Aged MumDecember 24, 2010

Middleagedmum.com: Party time

By The Womens Room

DJ Ruth Flowers www.mamyrock.com The run up to Christmas is in full swing here at Middleaged Towers. The teens are lying in bed till noon, lounging on the sofa watching terrible tv most of the day and occasionally demanding food.… Read More

Fashion & BeautyDecember 23, 2010

Readers Reviews: Jeanne Piaubert Radical Firmness Serum

By The Womens Room

So, how are we all doing? All presents bought and wrapped? Turkey/nut roast ready to go? Relatives quietly enjoying a sherry in the front room? No? Join the club. While you wonder what on Earth possessed you to invite the… Read More

Home & GardenDecember 22, 2010

We love: Fanny Craddock at Christmas

By The Womens Room

Christmas catering can be either a joy or a trial, depending on how much you like cooking and how well you get on with your family. But in the words of my dear old mum 'Theres always something to be… Read More

Art & CultureDecember 22, 2010

Watch this: Miranda

By The Womens Room

If like me you can quote lines from Victoria Wood, Absolutely Fabulous and Catherine Tate, then you will love BBC sit com Miranda. If you haven't already, you simply have to buy the box set of series one and catch up… Read More

Health & HappinessDecember 21, 2010

Teabreak treat: Harvey Nichols dogs….

By The Womens Room

Something to cheer you up this afternoon, a cute vid from Harvey Nichols for all our dog lovers. I notice on the HN website a few people have got a bit hot under the collar about the use of small,… Read More

Middle Aged MumDecember 21, 2010

Middleagemum.com: the return of the student

By The Womens Room

Regular readers will remember that Amanda's middleteenageson went off to university earlier this term, with all the strange emotions that incurred for both parents (sadness) and son (mostly total joy). Well, term has ended and middleteenageson has returned A DIFFERENT… Read More

Home & GardenDecember 20, 2010

We love: Hooked on houses

By The Womens Room

We love looking round other people houses, and I always say, I only joined a book group to see the other womens houses (sorry ladies, no offence!). I also love looking at Estate agents website, either nosing around local… Read More

Out & AboutDecember 19, 2010

We love : Chicks on Speed

By The Womens Room

Currently showing at the Kate MacGarry gallery in London, Chicks on Speed are a truly original band of artists, musicians and fashion designers. They look as mad as a box of frogs, but we love their originality and the fact… Read More

Art & Culture, Out & AboutDecember 18, 2010

Something to look forward to: Black Swan

By The Womens Room

We love ballet and we love a psychological thriller, so Black Swan, (released in the UK on Jan the 21st), ticks all our boxes. Set in the world of New York city Ballet, Natalie Portman stars as Nina, a prima… Read More

Home & GardenDecember 17, 2010

Readers’ reviews: Panasonic’s telly by Sue

By The Womens Room

Do you remember when we asked you all if anyone wanted to test Panasonic's new Pure Line TV and Sue's comments won you all over ?…we even had poetry. Well Sue has completed the testing and her review is below.… Read More

Home & GardenDecember 16, 2010

We love: What Katie Ate

By The Womens Room

We are huge fans of food blogs, they provide great inspiration on those days when we need an alternative to those five dishes we all cook on rotation! We espcially love food blogs that not only have great recipes, but… Read More

Fashion & BeautyDecember 15, 2010

Party dressing: Can I wear my Uggs?

By The Womens Room

Natural fur waistcoat from Zara £139.00. Available on line. I love Hadley Freeman in the Guardian, she makes me laugh with her Ask Hadley page, which this week considered the possibility that buying a new dress for the Party Season might… Read More

Things We LoveDecember 14, 2010

Vintage style hotties

By The Womens Room

Cold weather is an on going challenge style wise, as the desire to keep warm often gets in the way of sartorial elegance. Seemingly stylish people loose the plot in a quest to cosy up and suddenly start wearing strange… Read More

Fashion & BeautyDecember 13, 2010

We love: nerdboyfriend.com

By The Womens Room

We are indebted to TWR reader Lorna for telling us about the wonderful nerdboyfriend.com, a blog refreshingly devoid of any words/details of who writes it/about page/titles/anything. Instead it is a picture guide to how celebrity men used to dress pre stylists….(there's… Read More

Fashion & BeautyDecember 12, 2010

We love: a designer bargain

By The Womens Room

We were recently invited to Bicester village, the amazing designer shopping outlet we have blogged about before. The marketing team invited some of their favourite bloggers to go shopping for the day and we got to hang out with the… Read More

Health & Happiness, Home & GardenDecember 11, 2010

TWR hotel review: Hoshinoya, Kyoto, Japan

By The Womens Room

I find that Japan is not a place many people head to for their holidays, so this hotel review might seem a touch random, but on the off chance that you are ever passing by the old Japanese capital of… Read More

Fashion & Beauty, Out & AboutDecember 10, 2010

We love: Timney Fowler

By The Womens Room

Sue Timney and Grahame Fowler met at the RCA in 1979 and went to on to set up the successful print design company Timney-Fowler. The company's signature black and white graphic style was popular worldwide and led to collaborations with… Read More

Fashion & Beauty, Out & AboutDecember 9, 2010

Street shots: Japan….ginko trees, hats and art classes

By The Womens Room

More photos from Tokyo, this time looking at how the Japanese love a bit of nature-admiring. By total accident, MAD and I discovered a celebrated stretch of ginko trees in Tokyo that were the centre of attention for their show… Read More

Middle Aged MumDecember 8, 2010

Middleagedmum.com: “They’re very bay window down there”

By The Womens Room

I spent my childhood, teenage years and 20’s watching Coronation St, but when I had small children (in the days before playback TV) that 7.30 slot was filled with books and bed time and I lost the energy for soap… Read More

Fashion & BeautyDecember 7, 2010

TWR street shots: Japan

By The Womens Room

Last week Amanda managed to avoid the freezing weather by being in Japan as part of the day job, where it was a bit warmer and sunnier. This season the Japanese have all gone crazy for padded coats; super lightweight… Read More

Fashion & BeautyDecember 6, 2010

Christmas present wish list: for the men in your life

By The Womens Room

Buying Christmas presents for men can be a nightmare, especially if they are designers or aesthetically obsessive. Don't even think about buying them technology or clothes, as they will have very strict rules about acceptable brands/colours/ shapes etc. And forget… Read More

Home & GardenDecember 5, 2010

TWR Christmas cake 2010: cooking and decorating

By The Womens Room

Making the cake So, you have marinated your fruit in alcohol and chopped the nuts and chocolate and you have your lined cake tin all ready to go…..next, turn on the oven to gas mark 1, 140 c. Cream the… Read More

Middle Aged MumDecember 4, 2010

Middleagedmum.com: why I love London

By The Womens Room

Growing up in the suburbs of big cities, I was never happier than when I was 'in town'. Hanging out in the local shopping centre, hunting down weird bargains in Chelsea Girl and Miss Selfridge that no normal people wanted… Read More

Home & GardenDecember 3, 2010

TWR Christmas cake 2010: ingredients and pre-prep.

By The Womens Room

This Christmas we are making a recipe that originally came from a 1997 Sainsbury's Magazine article by Ruth Rogers and Rose Gray from The River Cafe. It's called Dada's Christmas cake with chocolate. It is partly in tribute to the… Read More

Home & Garden, Out & AboutDecember 2, 2010

Something for the weekend (and tonight): Christmas past at the Geffrye Museum

By The Womens Room

We have mentioned before how much we love the Geffrye Museum. Set in London's East End, the small but perfectly formed museum devoted to domestic interiors through the ages, never fails to inspire. It is particularly lovely at this time… Read More