Signs that autumn is here...

...ginormous spiders in the neighborhood...

...and Origin!

This year's Origin was a big change from last year, and even more wonderful! I'll be sharing some pictures and stories of some of the wonderful people and things I saw there in next week's I Spy. Including the few and lovely things I ended up buying  that day. Can't wait!

I Spy

Some computer troubles kept me from posting yesterday, but here I am (better late than never) with a touch of Victoriana for you.

It seems like the Victorian era is all the rage in television and books these days and, correspondingly, in home decor. Fortunately, the trend hasn't extended to fashion. I could do without hoop skirts and corsets, thank you  very much.

This summer, two of our favorite shows had Victorian themes: the surprise hit Sherlock Holmes and Victorian Pharmacy, a spin-off of the lovable Victorian Farm and Victorian Christmas.

The mysteries featured on the three episodes of the new version of Sherlock Holmes feature updated and slightly twisted around versions of Arthur Conan Doyle's originals, with somewhat po-mo nods to the source material. Where the series' Victorian origins really come out are in the atmospheric feel to the series and the decor.

Sorry for the crap picture. It was hard to find even this one.

The vintage wallpaper in Holmes' sitting room (and kitchen, and various other places) is to die for. There are some great companies making reproductions of period papers for modern homes.

The Victorian Collectibles company reproduces wallpapers from the Cooper-Hewitt Museum's unique and pristine collection of Victorian-era wallpapers produced in America. They've even sold some to the Victoria and Albert Museum. Swanky.

And this gorgeous reproduction of a William Morris wallpaper is from Bradbury & Bradbury, who specialize in British papers from the Victorian era through the 1960s.

Although I preferred the Victorian Farm, its succeeding series, the BBC's Victorian Pharmacy was quite enjoyable. M. loved all the chemistry and I loved all the apothecary glass and packaging. If you missed it, I'd check the BBC iPlayer. Unfortunately, I doubt this one will make it to America.

(Interesting tidbit: "Chemist" and "druggist" were once synonyms, but the use of "chemist" fell off in America, leaving us with drug stores. Meanwhile, "druggist" got lost and "chemist" thrived in Britain, and the latter is still the term used today. They didn't say that in Victorian Pharmacy. I just wanted to drop some of my own knowledge on you.)

And quite possibly my favorite part of Inception was the quick glimpse of the chemist's room. Although his jars all appear to be filled with urine (seriously, what's up with that?), they're still so gorgeous.

Apothecary glass can be a bit expensive here in the UK, although I'm told it's easier to find and cheaper in America. Fortunately for those of us here in Blighty, and those of us too lazy to market shop (you know who you are), there are some modern options.

This stodgy little guy is from Heal's.

Artist supply shops are a great place to find lovely, cheap apothecary-style jars. These are from GreatArt.

And, although it doesn't quality as recent, I have to give a shout-out to Victorian Farm. What a great show, with some great homewares.

The kitchen at the Victorian Farm in question. Love the chairs, the sideboard, the stove, the table, the whole shebang.

There are tons of companies making similar lovely furniture, and plenty of antique shops selling the real thing.

This sideboard, in the massive farmhouse style, comes from English Antique Imports.

I had planned on addressing Victoriana in print in this post, but it's getting just a bit too long. So I'll save that for next week's I Spy.

p.s. You're welcome for the knowledge. Please feel free to drop a little knowledge bomb of your own in the comments, if you like.

I'm baaack!

So, life has been a little nuts recently. M. and I went home for a nice, long visit (2 weeks!). That doesn't seem so very long, until you think that it's in the middle of high wedding season. Oh, and also two days before we left we put down a deposit to rent a house (a house!). This meant that we had to start moving out of our old flat on September 1st, and be done moving in to the new place by September 15th. Without a car. Or being able to drive in the UK. And all of a sudden September and October became my two busiest months so far, work-wise.

This is all a very long-winded way of saying... sorry. Sorry I haven't posted in forever. But I'm back now. As you may have guessed from the title of this post. And I've got a slew of posts up my sleeve, including some gorgeous flowers heading out the door, some lovely autumn-oriented I Spies, a little bragging about our new house (and my new studio!), a field trip or two, and probably more parenthetical exclamation marks (!!!!). Oh, and, uh, maybe a new product. Yeehaw.

So stay tuned, for not too long this time, I promise, and I'll be back with more goodies.