But this week has been awful and seems that rain and cold will last for at least few days more (yes, including the weekend). So to cheer us up a little bit, let's drool over some dreamy outdoor nooks and nests.

If you have a balcony, a porch or a garden, small or big, here's some great inspiration for restyling it looking forward for summer nights with friends (or alone with a good book and a glass of iced wine for that matters.)

3 easy outdoor trends to try:

1) You don't need big spaces to grow your garden: go vertical with wall planters!

2) Greenhouses:  I love them. I find they're a fantastic decor item also for indoor and the IKEA one here below is on my wishlist.

(This is probably not a real greenhouse, still gorgeus image!)

3) Hanging sofa for your outdoor living room. So confy. (The white bench is an "ikea hack"!).

As for our garden, for this year we have planned 3 big improvements.

First of all we have decided to rid the place from mosquitos. Last year it was nearly impossible to enjoy the garden for their fault, so this year we declared war calling a pest control company offering treatments that are harmless for people and domestic animals. We'll see who will win the fight!

Second we'll finally have installed next week (after 1 year and a half living here) garden lighting. Have you noticed how ugly garden lamps typically are? Brrr. In the end we decided for white spotlights to put in the ground.

Finally, Filippo will definitely buy the monster-barbecue of his dreams, but more about this in a future post maybe...

Have a lovely weekend freinds and if you feel like tell me about your outdoor nests and favorite corners!

IMAGE SOURCE:

See my pinboard Outdoor Inspiration for all the links. And if you like it follow me on Pinterest!

My favorite design is probably the one with the birdhouses but choosing is almost impossible.

What a cool way to create a pattern. And the wallpaper could be used in many different ways, even framed!

Studio Ditte also has a range of other products, including gorgeous paper items and some adorable stuff for kids.

I'm in love!

Hope I'm not raising a posh snobbish child but the world of baby fashion is too cute to resist! :)

As I might have mentioned we're so lucky to have a treasure trove of fabulous "vintage" baby clothes that used to be mine and my brother's. Mum has cherished them for over 30 years and I love to use them. Then we have some handmade beauties (especially pretty knitted stuff) and of course I like Petit Bateau and Grain de Blé (discovered via Gaia. I couldn't find their website though. Possible?): the French surely know hot to create baby clothes... H&M and Zara kids ranges offer some super cute very very affordable pieces and also Prenatal has some nice stuff.

But what I'm really really fond of is indipendent fashion labels for babies and today I want to present you one of them: Monsieur Cucù.

Despite the name the brand is 100% Italian, based in Modena (I really have to visit their boutique/mini concept store soon, we're so close!).

The style could be defined as "minimal chic" wich I totally love and makes me smile referred to babies.

This spring/summer collection is great!

Here's the philosphy of Monsieur Cucù:

Dressing your kids "Monsieur Cucù" means acknowledging that style and design are important from early years. As well as the quality of the fabrics, these garments leap out for its pure lines and rigour, a minimal color palette and a contemporary romanticism touch"

Love!

This is Marco's Monsieur Cucù outfit, from autumn/winter collection, a gift from our friend Sandra.

Yes, it's gray. No, it doesn't have Looney Tunes on it. And YES, MY LITTLE BOY LOOKS ADORABLE IN IT! :)

If you know any other fabulous niche baby clothing brand I'd love to get your recomendations!

Several months ago I've designed the decor for this pastel luna park themed party: the birthday of Carlotta (do you remember Nicolò's art themed party? Carlotta is his sister) who celebrated with Mathilda and Greta. Pompoms, candy cotton, fritters, fairground games: luna park was the inspiration for this carefully styled cheerful event.

For the party stationery I've used old fashioned carousels and horses with vintage typography, all in soft pastel colors: lilac, pink, blue, yellow.

The party stationery included: invite, cupcake toppers, bunting garland, vintage style popcorn boxes (my favorite piece), signs for the games that the guests played during the party, T-shirts design.

Do you have anything special planned for the upcoming Easter weekend? Anything involving a cute table setting or decor maybe?

We're going to have a family lunch at my parent's country home in the hills and I'm thinking to some eggs based decor for the table hoping to have time to create it. If you're looking for something similar too enjoy this inspirational collection I've put together for you, focusing on country simplicity, natural style and DIY ideas!

Love this style of decor, don't you?

Mixing twine, burlap, and fresh bits of green and flowers can be an excellent alternative to more complicated egg decor like dyeing the egss. Actually I've never tried egg dyeing before and I'm looking forward to, I only need some white vinegar to mix with the food coloring.

Or I could even decide to use doilies and lace with my eggs. Have a look to these two ideas:

Cute isn't it?

To finish with let me add two unrelated but utterly irresistible Easter ideas:

You've probably seen this message in a egg idea around already but how brillant is it?! Genius.

? Aaaaaw! ?

PSSSST. Do you remember my Easter Wreath tutorial? Go and (re)discover it! It can make a nice centerpiece as well.

IMAGE SOURCE:

See my pinboard Easter Inspiration for all the links. And if you like it follow me on Pinterest!

Lately I find myself particularly unable to resist the temptation of buying books. I've always been like this as I was taught that books are one of the very few things in life it's worth splurging on, but lately I'm just obsessed by illustration and design books. So no surprise I fell in love with this one I just bought (in Italian edition):

Bookshelf is full of gorgeous design creations, specially surprising ones, clever and out-of-the-box ways to store and display your beloved books. I wouldn't like all of them in my home still most are brillant and some truly adorable. Let me show you some of my favorites:

This one by Harry Allen Design goes straight to my wishlist. You can arrange the blocks as you like to create different house shapes. Wouldn't it be lovely in a kids room? But also for my studio actually.

Again the "house of books" concept. Cute!

Unexpected shape and love the color.

 Great bathroom solution.

I could browse to Bookshelf pages for hours.

What's your relationship with your books as mere objects? Control freak and hyper-tidy or hopelessly messy? I'm curious to hear.

But now I leave you with some more traditional yet gorgeous images of bookshelves and reading nooks, enjoy!