Wednesday, September 30, 2009
A Charmed Life & A New Book
Tuesday, September 29, 2009
Black & Spiro Today
A Summer Table
This lovely table setting screams Summer to me. I love the fresh green and white colour palette. I also love the little succulent arrangements. They actually reminded me of the lovely succulent arrangements Chelsea over at Frolic created recently as below.
image 1 - victoria pearson via brown turtleneck sweater,
Monday, September 28, 2009
Bathroom Shelving & Stools
Another great idea for a bathroom, if you have a bath tub, is to use a drum stool next to the tub to put a book or a glass on. We have some lovely blue and white stools {and other colours too} in the shop at the moment which would do the job. I use one at home next to our bath and it is fabulous. I often have a pile of magazines on mine...nothing like reading some magazines in the bath at the end of a long day!!
image 1 & 2 via the lettered cottage, image 3 - anna spiro
Sunday, September 27, 2009
Ormiston House Sneak Peek
I thought I would share a few photos of a job I have been working on lately for some very lovely clients at Ormiston. It's quite a funny story actually. When Brad, Harry and I lived at Ormiston a few years ago this house was one we used to drive past and comment on. The gardens were always so beautifully kept and the house was picture-perfect. I was thrilled when I arrived at the front door earlier this year at my first appointment with the clients to walk inside and see the house we had long admired and to be asked to be involved with the renovation and update of the home.
I helped the clients with the concept for the kitchen. One of my favourite things in the kitchen is the 3 vintage light fittings we found for above the island bench. I took them to one of my little vintage lighting haunts and we spent a good half hour there looking for the perfect lights. Two of the lights match and the third is slightly different. The clients were a little unsure of this at first but after my re-assurance they were happy to go with them. When I visited them at the house last week they couldn't have been happier with the lights. I actually love the size of them. Being smaller they don't dominate the kitchen which I really like.
Once we have completed the house in a few months we will be photographing it for our Black & Spiro website. I'll be sure to let you know once it is up on the portfolio page.
Oh, and look at the beautiful afternoon tea my client had prepared for me when I arrived to install the furniture. So lovely!!
Friday, September 25, 2009
Hello
Tuesday, September 15, 2009
A Week Off...
I'm taking off for a week or so to spend some time with my boys. I should be back by the end of next week or there-abouts. I'll leave you with this photo {top} which I was trying to take for Friday Flowers but a little friend kept sneaking into the photo!
Hope you all have a great week and I'll be back soon...
xo
Anna
Vintage Beach Photos
Image 1 - via Flickr, Image 2 - Domino via Flickr
Uniquely Me Chic - Part 2
Monday, September 14, 2009
Red
image 1 via pink wallpaper, image 2 via shelter, image 3 via brown turtle neck sweater, image 4 via elle decor, image 5 - via Mrs Blandings
Thursday, September 10, 2009
Friday Flowers
Wednesday, September 9, 2009
A Passion for Beach Hats Part 2
I have talked about my passion for beach hats before. You may recall that post where I talked about my love of using hats as decoration, especially in a beach house. Here are a few more images I have been collecting which may inspire you to use hats as decoration also.
Maybe I should consider a lovely hat rack for the wall as an alternative as I think Brad & Harry might be getting a little overwhelmed with all the hats piling up on the table!!
image 1 - tom scheerer, image 2 - toast, image 3 - anna spiro, image 4 - tom scheerer
Monday, September 7, 2009
A Love Affair With a House
One particluar story I love is that of iconic Australian artist Ken Done and his cabin which he found and fell in-love with when he was 14 years of age. Ken uses the cabin, which is right on the edge of Sydeny Harbour, as his art studio. I have included an excerpt below from Studio International;
Ken Done's Sydney Harbour Cabin above
The Cabin studio at Mosman, overlooking Chinaman's Beach on Middle Harbour, was acquired by Ken Done in 1979, after he had leased it for sometime prior.
His first encounter with the building that subsequently became a most vital source of inspiration was when Ken was 14 when he and a friend took an alternative route from Cremorne to Balmoral Beach. Walking along the foreshore via Chinaman's Beach, Ken Done recalls his delight at discovering the small cottage:
"Suddenly, miraculously, underneath a huge tree was the most wonderful little building that I had ever seen. It was very much in the style of "The Wind in the Willows", but Australian. A house right by the edge of the water on the rocks, under a spreading Morton Bay Fig and a Camphor Laurel tree. It stood at the point where the rocks and sand and water and beach and land all met. A perfect holiday house or a fisherman's cottage."
By the time that Ken Done's previous studio, The Nook was demolished he knew the owner of The Cabin. The Cabin had been let to a series of tenants and Ken Done made it clear that he very much wanted to lease it to use as a studio. His childlike enthusiasm for the Cabin represents his joy and passion for the place. The components of the cabin studio represented perfection for Ken Done: an exquisite view over the Middle Harbour, marvellous trees and flowers, an exotic paradise. The view of the upper level of the Cabin from the wooden veranda provided Ken Done with further inspiration. It is a view onto a myriad of light effects, the endless patterning of boats, the drama of storms, the power and beauty in nature all from a secure vantage point. In the area surrounding the house, he and Judy have created an oasis of garden which Ken has painted constantly and where in the early years there he shared with his family at weekends.
To have loved a property for so many years and then to have been able to acquire it is an amazing and inspiring story. Ken Done certainly expresses a true sense of Australian style in his work and it is evident that his cabin and it's surrounds have been a huge source of inspiration for his paintings over the years. It was obviously meant to be that he would one day own the place of his dreams.
Head in the Sand
Thursday, September 3, 2009
Wednesday, September 2, 2009
Ned Update
10 Happy Things
Tuesday, September 1, 2009
Tidbits
Here are a few little tidbits I am inspired by this week. I think it's the colours and the patterns and the wonderful mix of things I am loving!! The multi coloured floral fabric is one which we will be using in our windows soon at the shop....I love the little pops of orange in this fabric!! We will also be hanging the pink peony fabric in the bottom image in our front windows at Black & Spiro in coming weeks {this fabric is so me!!}. Oh and also in the bottom image you can see my absolute favourite Nina Campbell candles which we also sell at Black & Spiro!!
image 1 - amy homey's photostream @ flickr, image 2 - bella foster artist, 3 & 4 - marie claire maison, image 5 - fabric from black & spiro, image 6 via that chair has buttons, image 7 via that chair has buttons