Spring Has Sprung...

It's the first day of Spring here in Australia and it's my Wedding Anniversary so here are some florals on florals on florals from an old Vogue Living article to celebrate...

A Pretty House

I think this house is so pretty and charming. The all-white background is divine and I love the little hints of blue and pink and red and green.

All images via skona hem

Displaying Collections

I often talk about collections and how to display them. Here a few images to inspire...

All images via skona hem

Bright & Colourful

I love these two bright and colourful vignettes....perfect inspiration for Spring!

Top image from British Homes & Gardens and bottom image from Notebook magazine.

Also, I would like to send a huge thanks to Vera Klein for her mention of Absolutely Beautiful Things in this month's Notebook Magazine!! xx Anna

It Has Potential

This little old fisherman's cottage {bottom image} is one I've often admired on my morning walks over at Straddie. I think this house has so much potential and when you look at the top image you might possibly agree with me?!

Image 1 - elle decor

Friday Flowers

Here are some pretty fresh Freesias in an old bottle vase which I have placed on a table in the shop to end this week. See you next week...

Black & Spiro Today

The shop is brimming with lots of lovely new things. I thought I would share a few photos of some of our new bits & pieces.

Megan Park's Latest Collection

Today I viewed the new Megan Park cushion collection and I must say it was very beautiful. Our new stock will be arriving early November which is still a couple of months away but it will be well worth the wait. We will be sure to let everyone on our mailing list know when they arrive. I absolutely love the styling of her new range as above....so simple and beautiful.

To be kept in the loop please email us info@blackandspiro so that we can add you to our mailing list.

Fabric Deja Vu

I knew I had seen that gorgeous Christopher Farr fabric before when I opened up my copy of this month's Vogue Living and spotted those beautiful chairs on the cover by designer Darryl Gordon. When I stayed at the Haymarket Hotel in London last year that fabric was used by owner & designer Kit Kemp en masse in the foyer of the hotel. It's such a fresh and vibrant fabric and looks so beautiful on those chairs on the cover of VL. I thought I would show you a few photos I snapped last year of the fabric and how it was used at the Haymarket.

Image 1, 2, 3 - Anna Spiro, Image 4 - Vogue Living

It's Feeling Like Summer

Dana Cowie Artist


Photograph above by Robert Capa, Magnum Photos 1996 Estate of Robert Capa via Style Court

Francois Hallard

Hugh Stewart Photographer

Brooke Gianetti


Cap Ferrat - Anna Spiro

Grace Kelly Image source unknown

Tim Clarke

At the moment nothing excites me more than the thought of Summer. Our weather here in Brisbane this week has been crazy hot. I feel like it's those hot few weeks we experience just before Christmas but it's still Winter. It does scare me a little to think that we are probably in for an extremely hot Summer. All this heat has got me looking at Pool Houses, Outdoor Showers, Beach House images etc. etc. So, here are a few images I'm loving right now. There's probably a few pics we've all seen before but nothing like a few good oldies to come back and inspire us...

Last image via Desire to Inspire

There's My Chair

Anne Harwell recently painted the French chair in our lounge room at home and sent it to me as a very big surprise in the mail. I couldn't believe my eyes when I opened up the parcel. I absolutely adore Anne's work. Her drawings are so precise and beautifully composed. I particularly love her chair drawings. Courtney's chair certainly has been a favourite in the blogosphere! If you would like your own copy of my French chair Anne is selling it in her etsy shop along with all of her other beautiful pieces. I am trying to find a special spot to hang my chair and the frame is also still being decided on. For the moment I keep on propping it up on pieces around the shop. It looks so pretty with all of our mismatched cushions....I am mad, I know!

Looking Through the Windows

Some of you asked to see some more images of our new display at Black & Spiro. Well here they are. If you look closely you can see that we wallpapered the ceiling of the entry to the shop in a contrasting paper to our front wall. Sorry about the terrible photos...I haven't mastered the art of taking photos through glass yet even though some of my lovely readers have tried to offer me advice on how to do it!!

Friday Flowers

Thank Goodness it's Friday! What a week it's been. Thank you so much for all of your generous comments this week about both my VL article and our new Black & Spiro website. It certainly has been a whirlwind week.

Today's Friday Flowers sit amongst some more new things we have in the shop. The cockatoo lamps are so much fun!!

Hope you have a great weekend!!

It Happened!!!

When I was a young girl I would obsess over my mother’s magazine collection. I loved the fashion magazines but I loved the interiors magazines more. I must admit that my all-time favourite magazine was and always will be Australian Vogue Living. I would admire the beautiful homes and clever creative people featured in Vogue Living every month and I would dream {like many young girls} of the possibility one day, of my own appearance in my much-adored magazine.

This month my long withstanding dream has come true and I am beside myself with excitement and pride. I never really thought my work would be good enough to make the VL cut but someone down there thought it was.

I would like to extend a very big thank you to stylist and writer Catherine Shields and photographer Simon Kenny and of course, thank you Vogue Living for saying yes.

Xx
Anna

PS. Today I created the tablescape in the top 3 images {this is part of our new display at Black & Spiro} using the VL cover as inspiration. I hope you like it.