jasmineway.co.uk

50% Off – French Handmade Textile Clearance Sale

Hurry! 50% off for our French handmade textiles. They came all the way from an old textile town, Lyon in France. Do you feel that your living room needs a bit of loving care after the festive season? Then these French cushions are a must – they will brighten up your old comfy sofas with warm colours and cute pom-poms. Also don’t forget to take a look at our French cotton rugs and throws. We fell in love with them when we first saw them in France – they are just so beautiful! Oh, just to remind you, they are all hand made in France and high quality.

More new items will arrive soon – please look at our website JasmineWay Home Accessories

Coat Rack

Another in our home decor range that is proving very popular at this time of year. Apparently Belgian shabby but chic is the next big thing and many customers asked us about the style. We heard it is a mixture of rustic feel and simplicity, and this coat rack is the perfect item for the trendy style. It comes with 3 drawers – perfect for the entrance hall.

Where is Spring?

Hi there,

Are you one of us patiently waiting for the spring to come? We are indeed very fed up here in Surrey, where lots of snow and cold wind made our town look like a winter wonderland! We have been patiently waiting for a sign, a tiny sign of Spring, but feel like we are nowhere near…..

But I was working in the garden yesterday and surprisingly the sign of Spring is everywhere! Apart from a snow damaged trellis for our white jasmine, small buds are appearing slowly. Our roses have little pink buds all over, and clematis too it has tiny green side shoots! Ah that’s why I love this country – we have beautiful four seasons, don’t we?

Also we are doing a bit of re-decorating. After Christmas decorations are all gone and boxes are cleared away, it looks a bit bare. Although the coat rack in the hall is still full of thick jackets and logs are piled up in the basket, home decor doesn’t need to be wintry, does it? To brighten up inside the home we bought a basket full of crocus bulbs and a bunch of tulips from a local garden center. Now our living room is very colorful, and we can almost smell the sweet spring in the house!

Don’t forget to look at our website for pretty home accessories to brighten up your home. You don’t need to be an interior designer to create beautiful home. JasmineWay Home Accessories

Take care,
Jasmine

Hello from Jude, the Selkirk Rex Cat

Oh, look at him, our boy Jude is just waking up in the sunny conservatory. He is famous about having a say about his own bed – it needs to be equipped with genuine Scottish throw blanket and a soft “pillow”! Such a spoilt little boy… But building a conservatory has been one of the best home improvements we’ve done. Jude loves being there enjoying warm sun and heated floor all the time. It has actually started to look like a kids room with tiny toys scattered around the floor! Do you have a pet? They are so lovely, aren’t they?

Don’t forget to look at our website – we have a range of home accessories for kids rooms as well. JasmineWay Home Accessories

Take care,
Jasmine

Happy New Year and JasmineWay’s Experience with Swine Flu

Hello everyone,

Hope you are still enjoying the festive season! Just wanted to wish you a very happy new year. Isn’t it really hard to keep your house tidy at this time of the year? With various visitors asking to be fed, sadly the decor of our home will be the last thing we want to think about. Our living room is a full of things ranging from Christmas tree (of course), baskets with various biscuits and fruits, cat toys on the floor (!) etc. Does your home look the same?

I have been a bit lazy and didn’t blog much lately, but there was a reason for it. I came down with double pneumonia and swine flu in early November last year, and spent nearly 2 weeks in the hospital. It happened so quickly – it seems to have started with a Sunday dinner with my sister’s family and that was it. My little niece was coughing suffering from flu like symptoms at the time. Two days later I started to develop high fever and it went on and on. I was almost unconscious for about a week with high fever, but unfortunately it was very difficult to seek medical assistance because of the panic associated with this national pandemic scheme. You need to call a helpline, but you are just told to rest. Then it doesn’t improve and you call them again to be told exactly the same thing. It was absolutely a nightmare! I was whisked away to A&E twice, but still I was sent home (first time without any treatment whatsoever and second time with antibiotics for pneumonia). But third time lucky I was finally admitted to St. Georges’ Hospital in South London. Once I was admitted an intensive antibiotics treatment started straight away. But still it took more than 10 days for my pneumonia to clear. Because along the way I caught swine flu as well (doctors didn’t know which one came first, pneumonia or swine flu), I was in a very serious condition. But I can tell you, I highly praise NHS services at St. Georges’ Hospital. They were very efficient and everybody is extremely caring. I can’t thank them enough for what they have done for me.

One thing I’d like to let everybody know is to “get a swine flue jab” as soon as possible. I know many people are concerned about side effect etc., but you need to remember, once you became one of these seriously ill patients, mortality rate is 50%!  I can believe this from my own experience. So please everyone – get vaccinated! One simple jab may save your life and your loved ones’.

And thank you for supporting JasmineWay with many invaluable suggestions for our products. We are visiting tradeshows in London and Paris soon, and we promise to bring back more beautiful home accessories to share with you.

Don’t forget to take a look at our website – it’s full of unusual items for Home and Garden. JasmineWay Home Accessories

Take care,
Jasmine

3 Tier Wire Basket

3 Layer Wire Vegetable Basket

Beautiful 3 layer wire vegetable / fruit basket. Measures 72cm in height and is guaranteed to add that country kitchen look to any home.

With its wooden centre post it can stand on the floor or any counter top, and a great way to use your fruit and veg to accent your kitchen and decor. It can even be hung from your ceiling. It is a great item and we’ve seen it used not just for fruit and veg, but for xmas decorations, napkins, spices even wine corks.

3 Tier Cake Stand

Shabby but chic 3 tier cake stand

Our elegant 3 tier cake stand has been very popular this year, made from wrought iron with glass plates.

It is stylish and durable,  ideal if you enjoy afternoon tea with friends and family. We stock a range of cake stands, including glass domes, great items if you want to add a bit of style to your tea party.

My Enchanting French Life in Paris No.5 – Back to 1992

Can’t believe I didn’t write to you earlier. We’ve been a little bit manic with various press inquiries and another buying trip to Belgium.

Now let’s go back to my student life at Sorbonne University. To begin with I had such a tough time finding class rooms! Because Sorbonne is spread out in Paris and they are all busy with French students, they rent rooms at nearby churches. So usually their address starts something like “L’eglise Saint…”. Anyway, my first class was at a church behind Rue Saint Sulpice, and it was a protestant church. The class was about 20 students and our beautiful teacher, Yasmina. She was to teach us French grammar every morning for the next 6 months. Oh she was so stylish with thick long black hair. I was always curious about how French women dress, and she was the perfect example. I learned that it was really about color. She might wear something dull, but then uses scarves or colorful accessories to spice it up. She was a great role model for learning French chic.

However, the class itself was very tough. I found that I was being surrounded by 19 other youngsters from around the world. Also just going back to a student life is so difficult at the age of 33! I was so exhausted after the first lesson. After the class we would all scatter and go to another classes of our choice. For lunch I normally survived on a Filet-O-Fish at Quick around Jardin du Luxemburg. Luckily Paris just started to open these fast food restaurants (French government had been resisting for so long), so casual quick bite became possible in Paris. To be honest I don’t think I could survive if there was no Quick restaurants around Sorbonne.

After I started to walk around Sorbonne University, one thing I noticed was old buildings. If you are an ordinary tourist, probably you won’t see, but the inside of old buildings in Paris are so beautiful. Usually these infamous churches there have truly shabby chic decor inside with pure white walls and high ceilings. Shape of their rooms can vary, and especially their entrances are simple elegance and sometimes I was awed by its beauty. Really, this is already a beginning of JasmineWay concept.

I will write again soon, but a tiny tip when you go to Paris. You are always struggling to find toilets in Paris, right? You can always find toilets inside these humble churches in Paris, so no panic!

We recently added new Belgian shabby chic products – so please take a look at http://www.jasmineway.co.uk

Talk to you soon,

Jasmine

My Enchanting French Life in Paris No.4 – Back to 1992

It’s been a while since I updated you with my life with Parisians. But amid hectic buying trip and daily chores I have been a bit lazy…

Where were we? Yes, Sorbonne University. Finally with a precious Sorbonne student card in hand I got out of the admission building to try to find Fumiko. We arranged to meet up in front of Cluny Museum nearby and here we go, she was standing in front of the museum’s serious stone entrance. We went inside and started our first French art expedition. And that’s where my love of French decor starts. Cluny Museum is famous for its tapestry collections and inside the building you can see important medieval artefacts in all beautiful colors. I was amazed to see so many subtle colors swimming in these elegant rooms. Especially The Lady and the Unicorn was beautiful with its rich rustic red. For some reason I am so fascinated with colors, and growing up I was always thinking about coordinating colors either for clothes or decor. Of course at that time I had no idea that 15 years later we would start JasmineWay to sell home accessories!

Anyway, Fumiko and I were satisfied with our cultural achievement at Cluny and decided to explore Paris a little bit more. We walked along Boulevard Saint-Germain and decided to have lunch. And the choice? Typical – we picked a Chinese restaurant! I know people always look for café or bistro for meal in Paris, but you should really try Chinese restaurants there. Chinese people settled in Paris very long time ago and their cuisine is really amazing. They also have stylish interior and it is surprisingly comfy in the middle of Paris.

However, there was a bit of problem… We picked what seems like a very posh Chinese restaurant and their menu is only in French! We had no idea what they were saying in the menu, but blindly ordered several dishes to satisfy our appetite. We ordered jasmine tea, which came in a pretty Moroccan tea pot. And finally our dishes arrived. Awwwwww. They were sooo tiny! For both of us we got a palm size noodle soup, a plate of rice crackers, and two tiny spring rolls! That’s when we realized why the waitress was looking at us with suspicious eyes. She must have thought we were poor students from somewhere far away….. I was in need of serious studying at Sorbonne.

My adventure in Paris continues and will write soon. But good news – we have similar Moroccan style tea pot in stock http://www.jasmineway.co.uk/detail.php?recordID=177

See you soon,
Jasmine

My Enchanting French Life in Paris No.3 – Back to 1992

Sorry I haven’t updated you on my enchanting life in Paris! As usual lots of things to do…

Anyway, where were we? Oh yes, about the noise in the apartment. Yes, it turned out to be somebody’s happy moment, but obviously it turned Fumiko and me absolutely cold. We looked at each other and just resigned… This is only the first night in Paris, but well looks like there will be a lot of things to learn. We were too exhausted to think deep about our lives, so finally went to sleep on horrendously soft French bed.

Next day was a busy day. I needed to enrol at Sorbonne University, so we set off early in the morning. The idea was for me to go to school admission office and Fumiko to see Cluny Museum in front of the school. I was very scared to go into the admission office alone, but of course didn’t show my fear and waved off Fumiko casually. I’ve got application form and my visa information handy, so off we go, I hit the entrance to the school.

Mmmm there were an awful lot of young people…. I would say they were all around 18 or 19 years old. The problem is I was already 33 year old, so not really in the same league. Anyway, the next thing I needed to do was to talk with the receptionist.

Hmmm, excuuusee-mowwa?

“WHAT?!” (from the receptionist) She didn’t look very helpful and actually she WAS very hostile.

Mmmm, I am looking for an admission office for Sorbonne (this all in French, but with heavy American accent).

“GO STRAIGHT!”

Now I already started to feel like I was going into an army camp rather than the world famous Sorbonne. I somehow managed to talk with one of the administrators there, and looks like I was finally enrolled successfully!

Sorbonne University offers a fantastic course for foreign students, and they teach things very systematically. I was immediately placed in a phonetic class with Korean students (apparently Japanese people have similar accent problem, but they didn’t know what to do with my American accent on top of that…). I was told that my day starts from 8 a.m. attending university lectures (of course in French), then in the afternoon various classes to study all about French language. Among 18 years old gap students – Yey!

Will write soon,
Jasmine

P.S. Don’t forget to check on our French style home accessories shop www.jasmineway.co.uk