Inspiration from Thailand

Its been such a long time since the last post! A lot has happened since then; like we got married (!) and have been away in Thailand for over 2 weeks since.

Today marks the 1 year anniversary of finally getting the keys to this little house! Looking back we were definitely slightly naive as to the scale of work needed to bring this house up to scratch, but we have done a lot in those 12 months- and there is still so much more left to do. 

In Thailand I got some real inspiration in terms of interior design, from our hotel and some restaurants we visited. Even the local markets where i picked up quite a few bits and pieces for the house - more on that later.

We stayed at the Anantara Lawana Resort and Spa in Chaweng Koh Samui for the first part of our honeymoon. We had a pool villa, which consisted of terrace area, garden, small pool, bedroom and outdoor bathroom. I really loved the style of the room, neutral floor tiles and walls, with dark furniture and green/turquoise accents.

I want some chairs similar to these in the dining room

I love the dark wood with the neutral backdrop

Some details we will definitely re-create in the living room will be the use of the dark wood furniture and green accents. With light coloured walls, sofas and soft furnishings it shouldn't be too dark.

Wall Lantern in the bathroom, i like the idea of lanterns by the fireplace

The dark wood table in the bathroom for the towels. I want something similar to this (smaller) as end tables.

The other thing i like about the room was the use of light coloured curtains on dark wood poles- and the fabric was nice too! 

Green accents were the tray in the bathroom with all the amenities on, the cups for the complimentary tea and coffee, and in the restaurant they had elephant salt and pepper shakers in an amazing hue of ocean Green, i searched all the markets for something similar but couldn't find anything :( I probably could have just taken the ones from the hotel but technically that is theft which is illegal, and i really didn't fancy my chances in a Thai jail ;)

Loved these leaf plates at a local restaurant!

Lanterns, lanterns lanterns!

I also wanted to take this turquoise tray!

Well given all that I didn't actually buy any dark wood furniture, green accessorise or lanterns! But of course i picked up just a few bits and pieces for the house...

From left to right:
a) A new patterned scarf. Not actually to use as a scarf- i am going to make something out of it with my sewing machine, perhaps a top. - Cost equivalent of £3
b) An ancient style map of "Siam" or Thailand. It was actually a greetings card but i (of course) put it into a white frame when i got home ;)- Cost equivalent to £1.20
c) Mandatory fridge magnet of Thailand!
d) The little gold symbol in the plastic bag is the number 8 in Thai (or so i have been told!) Not sure what I am going to do with it yet, maybe attach some magnets to the back...
e) At the back is a Giraffe lamp. Shamelessly i stole this idea off our friends who have the same lamp. Ever since i first saw it at their house i have been banging on about how much i like it, so when i saw them for sale in Thailand i had to have one! Well imitation is flattery! It cost the equivalent of £6, and its main body is made form a coconut. Not sure where it's going to go yet and we need an adaptor for the plug.
d)A bronze Buddha head statue- i did some hard bargaining for this at a market in Bangkok called MBK. The lady originally wanted about £26 for it but in the end i got it for £8. She didn't seem very happy to give it to me at that but she was saying something about the first customer being lucky!
e) And finally a teak wood hand of Buddha- in the "peace" gesture. Cost approx £6

So many things to find homes for- would be easier if the living room was already finished because a few of those things can definitely go on the built in storage/TV stand we are planning. We also saw some amazing painters/paintings but we couldn't really bring any of them home safely. If we ever return then we will definetly come back with one or have one shipped.