Bag a beauty!

I absolutely adore vintage suitcases. I spot them all the time at antique markets and vintage boutiques. There’s just something about the worn leather, the old buckles, the colours that reflect a different time, another era, the stitching and so many more details that you just don’t see on luggage made these days. Unfortunately, more often than not they do come with a pretty hefty price tag, so for now I just dream about the many suitcases I am going to have one day and how I am going to use them in my home. Without further ado, here’s some inspiration I have compiled for you…

Photo credits in this collage: Girl standing on suitcase from Wedding by Color, pile of many suitcases and stack of suitcases with fan by Quote a Gentleman, close up image of suitcase by mmmaythe, stack of blue and beige suitcases by ApartmentTherapy.com via Live the Fancy Life and stacked brown and beige suitcases by Elements of Style.

“…suitcases carry adventures, fairytales and great stories from around the world. Stickers, secret pockets, forgotten personal belongings, the shape and colour all tell us something…” Quote a gentleman.

I couldn't agree more. While they do possess a large degree of old world charm, these bags are more versatile than you’d think. They can be incorporated into both vintage and modern settings. If used in a modern setting the outcome will be eclectic, which is one of my favourite styles.

Lonny Magazine July/August 2011

There are a million ways of incorporating them into your home. Simply place your beautiful bag in a nifty corner of a room and use it as a decorative item, as illustrated in the above most image from Lonny Magazine’s July/August issue. I love how the suitcase just brings this room to life and gives it a retro feel.

 Lonny Magazine July/August 2011

Stack a few on top of each other and use them as a bedside table as shown above and below. I LOVE the simplicity of this!!!

skcnis.com via pinterest

If you have a few more, you can build the base for a coffee table, place a leaf of wood on top and viola! Use them for storage that is not confined to the attic, basement or hallway closet. You could also screw some funky legs onto your sturdy suitcase and use it as a funky bed end as illustrated below.

William Henry for infobarrel.com

However you choose to use and display your vintage suitcase, just know that if you happen to see one that is in good nick, you have several very good reasons to take that baby home with you! There…purchase justified!

Love, Holly

The Writing's on the Wall

Today I am inspired by the written word. 

I adore books. Old books. New books. Dog eared, tea stained, hard covered and soft books.  

So why not use them in decorating? Have you done this before?

What do you think of book pages as wall paper? Personally I think it's really pretty, but may be best used in smaller spaces. A small bathroom space maybe?

www.writtenword.com

plakuvent.blogspot.com

I LOVE this lampshade idea. The soft light created by the slightly yellowing pages is particularly nice.

www.writtenword.com

This little painting over pages, ledgers and music paper is  lovely and would be a simple way to incorporate the written word into your home in small doses.

*source unknown (please message me if you know and I will credit accordingly)

Why not make use of these great free printable music sheets 

printable vintage music sheets

or these pretty printable ledgers

printable vintage ledger pages

I hope you can all have some fun with these lovely ideas. 

I know I will,

Lauren

Bottle Green with Envy

I have a confession to make. I have a serious weakness for old glass bottles. I love the soft blues and greens, the old descriptions of long gone contents, and particularly how they look in clusters. If you are anything like me and can't seem to stop yourself from buying every old bottle you find, then you too are probably searching for ways in which to display these lovely treasures from the past. Well never fear, Love, Thomas is here!

The three bottles above adorn  the bookcase in my bedroom, reminding me daily of the antique markets and little old ladies garage sales where I have collected them and reflecting light across my room, however I've been trying to think of a way to jazz them up a titch. This lovely idea of placing old photographs (another weakness of mine) in your bottles is a lovely touch. I really think I will try this one. I'll keep you posted as to how it works out.

tatianapatron.tumblr.com

I tend to find myself making small clusters of items in specific places throughout the houses...

...however I love the sheer scale of colour onslaught that is created here by this very large collection of beautiful items and old bottles.

thedecorista.com

I often use old glass decanters for oils.

This one I use in my bathroom to hold Almond oil (a lovely natural moisturiser).

Or in the kitchen with olive oil (which looking at the level, I use rather frequently)...

...but I LOVE this idea of filling old wine bottles with battery powered twinkle lights, as an  alternative to candles at the dinner table, or even as a unique Christmas center piece (is it too soon to talk about Christmas? I apologize for any heart palpitations I may have caused)

curbly.com

But finally, if you are still stumped, you can't go past the simple beauty of filling your collection of glass bottles with wildflowers.

stylemepretty.com

I hope you have found some inspiration here to avoid the debilitating condition known as bottle green envy.

Best, 

Lauren

A cup of loveliness...

Hello readers!

Here in the Netherlands, the autumn is fast approaching. The evenings are getting chillier as the summer fades away for another year. For me, nothing says cosy more than a steaming cup of tea, and all the better when served in a gorgeous teacup! As I threw on my woolly cardigan, unearthed a pair of socks and clicked the kettle on, the inspiration for my first Love, Thomas blog post came to me. As I am a slave to vintage crockery, and often add a quirky item to my growing collection of vintage teacups from my local antique market, I happen to have acquired a collection of images that I hope you will find as beautiful and inspiring as I have.

Turn your teacup treasures into wall art that is as different as it is darling! Image below from Pinterest.com. Or stuff some wild flowers into a teacup and let the spring linger a little longer… 

       amermaidspurse.blogspot.com

However you choose to use or display your teacup, make sure you don't go by these vintage treasures without snagging a few to take home with!

Love, Holly

Vintage Inspiration

Hello love, Thomas readers. Welcome!!

I'm on the other side of another warm and wonderful winter weekend (is it too early for alliteration?) and wanted to share with you the lovely things I swooned over in my (never ending) search for beautiful things to fill my home with.

Just around the corner from my house, in the leafy suburb of Paddington Brisbane, is  the Paddington Antique Center. It is one of my favourite places to spend a Saturday morning, or afternoon, or Sunday morning, or afternoon, or any day of the week come to think of it- any way, I digress.

This Saturday just past, I got the chance to pour over it's warehouse proportions, full to the brim of antique, vintage and retro goods in search of decorating inspiration. Well, I can assure you I was inspired. (note: I hope you can use a bit of your imagination here to make up for my grainy iphone photos)

This amazing old moonshine bottle caught my eye almost as soon as I walked through the door. I can think of so many places I'd love to put this. I love this idea below of a collection on top of a great sturdy cupboard (no one wants this falling on their head no matter how pretty it is!).

I have no idea how exactly I would incorporate this collection of boxes below into a room, but it reminded me so much of that great room in Harry Potter with all the wands that I had to take a picture to mull it over. 

I'll find a way (and a reason) to have this in my house one day. That is unless I'm thwarted by a partner with some degree of logic or common sense to his decorating. 

Finally, I've decided after seeing this amazing phone, (and remembering we had a bright yellow one just like this in my house growing up), that I will find one for my house just like it someday soon (hopefully more reasonably priced that this one!) by the way, does anyone know if these things still work as phones?

All in all a great Saturday morning. Hope your weekends were equally inspirational.

Love, Lauren

Treasure Hunting, from passion to profession

Love, Thomas is the love child of two friends, Holly and Lauren. Though separated by a zillion miles across the Indian Ocean, we share a passion for all things interior related. We have spent endless hours over Skype trawling the internet for inspiration purely for the fun of it. On the very rare occasions that we find ourselves not only in the same country, but at the same coffee table, we scour magazines and each other’s inspiration boards over cups of tea and giggles. What we have realised is that we are so similar in our love for interiors, that the logical next step was to start a blog. We look forward to sharing with you our personal projects and inspirational finds, delighted that our treasure hunting is evolving from passion to profession. Holly will write from the quaint little town of Delft, the Netherlands, and Lauren will write from the hilly suburb of Red Hill in Brisbane, Australia.  Together, we hope that you find inspiration in what inspires us. 

 Love interiors. Love life. Love, Thomas.