The brief for this month’s Urban Jungle Bloggers was two-fold - Judith and Igor asked for us to style our little green friends along the themes of 'Spring' or 'Easter'. I know already in Blogland Easter is upon us, and Easter crafts, DIYs and stylings are popping up left, right and centre. However on planet Lauren Lou Bate it’s a whole month away and I’ve not even started to think about the the chocolatiest of all holidays.

Spring, however, has arrived ridiculously early, there’s been absolutely no denying it! And, so far, the arrival of this joyous season has meant undertaking a huge Spring-clean of the apartment, purging crap unnecessary items accumulated in the FOUR years (yes, this month also celebrates my four year occupation of the “Beehive”) spent living in the same space, deep cleaning the kitchen and bathroom*, and rearranging the furniture and deco to better suit my our aesthetics.
 
One of the first areas I tackled was my desk and “office” area. Sitting down at my computer to work has to be a calm and inspiring experience, otherwise I avoid it like the plague. Which then equals no work produced, and a very cranky me. So, for my second installment of the Urban Jungle Bloggers series, I got to work with a bottle of my favourite pink grapefruit cleaning product, and using its scent as the inspiration, as well as a change-of-season cold I was suffering the day I shot these pics, put my desk-scape together in fresh, Vitamin-C-filled, citrusy harmony with the help of Marcus the ficus and Makmood*,  whose pot I decorated with some skinny washi tape.

Having these two plants around makes my desk feel more alive and energising. I now feel like celebrating each corner of the apartment I get through in my spring-cleaning mission with some urban greenery.
Pretty decent motivation if you ask me!

'To-do' list notepad from the new Garance Doré x Rifle Paper Co. stationary line, available at Colette. 

*Special thanks goes out to the man of the appart', Mr M, who helped me with this shoot by holding up my reflective foam core boards on a very dimly-lit afternoon, who cleans the bathroom - my most despised chore - without complain, and likes to give our houseplants really obscure names.

xx

Urban Jungle Bloggers is a monthly series initiated by 2 bloggers: Igor (Happy Interior Blog) and Judith (JOELIX.com). Every month we share ideas to create an urban jungle through styling ideas, DIYs and green tips & tricks. You can find additional inspiration on our Urban Jungle Bloggers Pinterest board and keep up-to-date via our Facebook page. Want to join? Use #urbanjunglebloggers on twitter and instagram. Or let let Judith and Igor know you're keen and I'm sure they'll share all the details. Let's bring some green into our homes and blogs!

One plant :: three ways

Urban Jungle Bloggers is a little, but growing, movement started by Judith and Igor to inspire people to bring more greenery and nature into their homes. I’ve followed Judith’s infectious love for greenery intently on Instagram but it was only last week, two days before this month’s episode, that I realised that I could perhaps play along, too. And was greatly welcomed to! Thanks guys!! This month’s episode of UJB involved styling one plant three different ways, something I’d be meaning to have fun with for a long time since I bought several little cacti and succulents, embarrassingly, ages ago. I chose this more cactusy-looking little guy, I don’t even know his kind, my green thumb is still very fresh. He’s looking a little pruney at the moment, but I don’t water him, just a couple drops every now and then, so I’m hoping he’s just in need of some decent vitamin D, like all of us are here in Europe!

So, just in time for the close of February, here they are…

Number one - Moroccan-inspired reading spot

Or, "all-the-stuff-Mr-M-bought-back-from-his-trip-to-Morocco-thrown-up-against-the-wall" reading spot.
I really wanted to see if I could freestyle macramé a hanging planter. Originally I thought of doing one in neon cord and it being really modern and fresh but then I found this beautiful linen string in amongst my supplies and further digging brought up the wooden beads and I realised that they would tie all Mr M’s Moroccan souvenirs nicely together. I liked the idea of sitting there lost in a book and having a little green friend, hanging by your head, for company. The banner was originally going to read READ but as I was cutting out the letters I realised that I could rearrange them and add an M to make DREAM to hang in my bedroom afterwards and then I liked that better. A DIY tutorial for the planter will come shortly, I promise!

Number two - souvenir shelf

This was the idea that sparked buying some little plants in the first place and putting together this little post. I’d souvenired this little can after our trip to Cap Ferret, where you can go in the afternoons and eat freshly shucked oysters directly from the oyster farmers, but because they are not allowed to have kitchens to cook other food to offer they serve little jars of pâté to eat alongside your chilled white wine and oysters. It’s the weirdest thing, but somehow works and is utterly divine. It’s been my favourite holiday so far so I thought of housing the little guy in the can I lugged home alongside some other highly memorable things and souvenirs. The can obviously offers no drainage so I had to get heavy with a nail and hammer to make some holes at the bottom so soil stays properly dry.

Number three - geometric dresser

Oh, to have a minimalist, clean dresser. This is another project that I had going on in my head for a while and think will be how I pot my little succulents. Posca paints are just the best! I liked the idea of a little fresh green life to great you in the morning as you are getting ready for the day. The cute triangles just make me happy. I also threw in a cheeky second plant, my air plant, who I love so so much! I’m going to call her Ellen. I propped her in a napkin holder and just strung her up with some white nylon. After the jump I’ve included some pics on how I DIYed the painted pot.

Thank you to Igor and Judith for allowing me be included in this month’s Urban Jungle Bloggers party. It was fun!

xx

Urban Jungle Bloggers is a monthly series initiated by 2 bloggers: Igor (Happy Interior Blog) and Judith (JOELIX.com). Every month we share ideas to create an urban jungle through styling ideas, DIYs and green tips & tricks. You can find additional inspiration on our Urban Jungle Bloggers Pinterest board and keep up-to-date via our Facebook page. Want to join? Use #urbanjunglebloggers on twitter and instagram. Or let let Judith and Igor know you're keen and I'm sure they'll share all the details. Let's bring some green into our homes and blogs!

Dietlind Wolf @ The Hive, Berlin

**This post was going to be part of my recap post back here but I just couldn't bring myself to lump it all together.**

As soon as I was able in the lead up to The Hive I signed up to join Dietlind Wolf's styling class as my chosen intensive workshop on the second day. I'm not a big consumer of European magazines - I've given up reading French monthlies and internationals are still quite expensive - so the extent of Dietlind's work that I'd seen was limited to what she posts on her blog and whatever a Google Image search conjured. But I had devoured and adored all the eclectic and creatively hand-made images I saw. And god knows I need help in the styling department. So I was thrilled that it was not yet full and I got a place.

As we all piled into the room where the workshop was to happen Dietlind was busy laying out all her wonderful things collected whilst on journeys all over the world and her hand-made ceramic bowls (bottom image). When she finished and stood off the the side facing us the room quietened - you could've heard a pin drop on the carpet - everyone was completely captivated. Dietlind started by speaking of her education in visual communications and her early career in textile design in Milan. Disenchanted with the fashion industry producing "brothers and sisters" of more famous designs, she moved home to Germany and, at the advice of a friend, announced she was to be a prop stylist. Despite this announcement it took seven years before she felt she could actually call herself one. 

Then Dietlind shared the most heartbreaking stories of not receiving the right recognition and credit for her work. In those days, and sometimes even now, the "esteemed" photographer took all the stylists rights (read: and good chunk of money) away as soon as he hit the shutter button on his camera - "Click!" - and like that all the ownership of your hard work was gone and was now the property of the photographer. Her tales were so crushing to listen to.
But from hardship comes lessons learned, and now Dietlind is also an accomplished photographer (although she waited 13 years this time before she called herself one!) and primarily produces all shoots herself to be sure she is the rightful owner of her work.

After telling us her story she then went through her props, describing to us their different uses and value, how to hand-make "undergrounds" and piece them all together. She then asked her little, captivated audience if we'd like to break up into groups and do some styling of our own, or, watch while she put something together - unanimously everyone asked her to do it. A little thrill went through the air we all realised we were about to watch a magician perform magic, but with no smoke or mirrors; simply with just beautiful talent.

She showed us how she colour matches her props, how to build a scene and how to best capture it on camera. While her technique was easy to follow, you could tell that most of what she does comes from within, that every decision is done with feeling and while hanging onto every word and scribbling down everything that left her mouth can teach you the basics it can't teach you that flawless style that makes each stylist perfect in their own way. But, from now on, I'll try a little harder and cleverer. 

Danke schön Dietlind xx

Dietlind promised to finish the scene she created at the conference on her blog which she has posted here. She's now promised to finish the story, so stay tuned...