Time for a another ‘Day in the Life of’. This time we follow Chrissie King - milliner, mother, wife, shop owner and champion juggler.

Getting Up

My day starts when my 3 year old shouts, “Mummy I want you”. Normally this is around 7am. Breakfast is sat at the kitchen table with Daddy. Then it’s dog walking and getting organised for starting work. Thank God for Ceebeebies! Currently ‘Timmy Time’ saves the day or Morning!

My Commute

I have one flight of stairs from bedroom to kitchen and another fight of stairs from kitchen to shop. Yes I live above the shop which is great while Alice is little but I am never away from work and you will find me regularly ON DUTY at the sewing machine at 1am. Catching up.

Work is very busy. My shop can be quiet or really busy and you never know what it will be like from day to day. I am open Tues to Sunday so there’s never a dull moment.

I have a constant stream of bespoke orders so clients bring in many types of outfits for functions, all needing me to make something fabulous for their head.

The shop needs plenty of varied pieces and I also stock a nice sprinkling of accessories, so I am always searching for wonderful fabrics to get my scissors in to.

I have had my share of celebs through the door and hats etc. are taken all over the place. One off to Buckingham Palace tomorrow.

This week I have a new stockist in another part of Yorkshire at a lovely boutique so that’s great news.

And of course not forgetting blogging, Tweeting and Etysing!

Lunch

Lunch is now about 12 as my munchkin is off to nursery at 1. Prior to this it would’ve been anytime.
Hebden has some great cafes but alas I don’t get to have lunch unless it’s a delivery.

Being a Mummy

At 5 I lock up and then it’s being a mummy until about 8pm when peace reins and I get back to work, like writing this guest blog. But hey a busy life is a good life as they say.

It’s great to be self employed and I wouldn’t change it but sometimes I do feel as though I’m the juggler who has thrown all the balls in the air and caught none of them. Keep Practising Chrissie!!

Check out Chrissie’s website at www.hattherapy.co.uk, read her blog at www.thelittlehatshop.blogspot.com and shop at www.hattherapy.etsy.com.

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Thank you Chrissie.

If you’re an independent designer / maker / crafter or work within the creative sector and would like to write a ‘Day in the Life of’ article for us, please get in touch at info [at] indiequater [dot] com.

Well, I promised you a bath full of marshmallows and here it is. It’s housed in Plaisir, a wonderful shop specialising in handmade items and based in Biggar in the Scottish Borders. They sell fresh, colourful homewares, jewellery, fashion and gifts, selecting items that are beautiful, useful and have that indefinable quality of having been loved by the person who made them.

Husband and wife team Clare and Anthony run the shop together. They’re both actors and so try to bring a bit of theatre into the shopping experience. Clare explains, “One big hit has been our freestanding bath. For our opening, we wanted a way to display pillowcases that suggested softness, comfort and luxury, so we found an old cast-iron bath, fixed it up, covered the outside in fabric and filled it with twenty giant bags of marshmallows.”

Plaisir has only been open for six weeks but the shop is already a hit with customers. It isn’t difficult to see why.

If you can’t make it to Biggar, check out their website at www.plaisirshop.co.uk.

Here it is. As promised. I thought I’d get the ball rolling and post some pictures of my office. It’s based in Heaton Chapel which is just south of Manchester. All of the Vanilla Storm web team are based here.

I moved into this office a few months ago. It’s teeny tiny, more of a large cupboard really but I like it. I’ve added a few pictures and photographs here and there. Oh and an armchair which you can see above. I figured that I spend enough time here I might as well make it comfortable.

The jute bag you can see is from a gorgeous apothecary shop in Haworth, called Rose and Co. The bag holds lots of magazines and work related books and travels back and forth most days, much to my husband’s annoyance. I think you can just about see a coaster on top of the table, which is from the fabulous interiors store Hunky Dory Home.

The armchair and table are both from IKEA.

This is my view.

I added some wrapping paper in between the shelving to brighten them up a little. The card you can see on the left is from Aurora Bloom. Underneath you can see various family photos and the lovely print is called Le the Suspendu by The Nebulous Kingdom.

More shelves with IKEA magazine holders.

You can probably see from the photographs that the wallpaper is woodchip. To brighten it up I added a collage of prints, photos, artwork and other bits and bobs.

1. Cat / Telepgraph pic - Boxbird Gallery
2. Super Bake Girl by A Fanciful Twist
3. Scruffy Moggy by David Oldham aka DJ Spiderman
4. Pic of Richard and Me by Claudine Hellmuth
5. Ballet Shoes - a print out of a photograph from the Scottish Ballet
6. Printed Blue Teapot by Studio Lyon
7. Wintersong by The Hermitage

Well, that’s me. If you have a work space, living room, shop or kitchen that you would like to share please get in touch at info [at] indiequarter dot com. And PS, Monday’s post involves a bath full of marshmallows!

I don’t normally blog about big brands here but I like this idea. It’s simple, interactive and above all very personal. ‘This Is My Habitat’ is supported by Helena Christensen (seen above) and Bjorn Borg who each share their distinctive style and what makes their home theirs. The campaign focuses on the importance of making your house into a home that works for you and your lifestyle and above all reflects your personality.

To coincide with the launch supermodel Helena Christensen re-created her own living space in Habitat’s Regent Street shop window. The results can be seen above and on the Habitat website at www.thisismyhabitat.net/en/helena-christensen, where you can ‘roll over’ the furniture and find out more about Helena’s choices.

So what makes your habitat? Send in your pics and a brief description and I’ll post them on Indie Quarter. Living rooms, bedrooms, kitchens, work spaces and shops all welcome. And it would be great to hear a bit about you too. Because I’m nosy like that. I’ll get the ball rolling and post some pics of my office tomorrow.