Dorm Room

As much as I do love the look of a gorgeous bunk room, I have found that bunk beds really are such a pain to make. Lately I have been preferring the look of a large dorm room with rows of single beds like the picture above. I love the lidded basket placed at the end of each bed - perfect for storing each person's clothes in. I personally would be much happier making these beds instead of numerous bunk beds.

image - cote maison via aged & gilded

Decorating A New Home {Over Time}

When I look at these images I love that they are all so casual and not overly decorated. I am leaning towards this more pared back look in our new house. I want it to be a home where we can relax and not be too worried about the white slip covered sofa when the big 1 year old {yes he turned 1 yesterday} Golden Retriever jumps up on it.

I am dreaming of faded denim fabrics on sofas, washed out florals and checks and stripes and mismatched pieces of cane furniture on the verandahs - not new cane - old mismatched cane collected over time. I will retain all of our Antique pieces of furniture which Brad & I have collected over the years. That's what I love about Antiques...they transcend fashion and trends, they are the pieces we hold onto and they are the pieces we pass onto our loved ones. I find I never tire of my Antique pieces. It's the mass-produced pieces I tire of very quickly.

This time round Harry and Brad have made me promise not to have the floors painted white. My obsession with keeping our current white-painted floors clean is all too much for my boys. All the internal walls will be painted my usual white but this time I think we might just sand back the old wide plank floorboards and apply an oiled, not glossy finish.

Everything about this house will be about living and enjoying and adding to it over time. I find that so many people {me included} rush into renovating or decorating a new home. I have learnt that you must live in a house for a period of time before you start the process of change....something my mother has been trying to instill in me for years!!

This time, I am going to take my time and enjoy the process of decorating the house which my children will call home for many, many years to come.

image 1 - pamela easton's home via creative homes, image 2 - deborah needleman's home via lonny, image 3 - via charlotte, image 4 - via charlotte, image 5 via lonny

Nursery Thoughts...

My friends keep reminding me that I have a baby's room to decorate. With approximately 8 weeks to go I decided last week that I needed to at least get a few things organised.

My few things ended up turning into a complete room scheme for our little bundle. It all started with the original joker water colour by Rupert Hamilton dated 1916 which I stumbled across at a little Antique store here in Brisbane last week. I then decided I would collect a few bits and pieces to work back with it to create an artwork cluster wall full of lovely colour.

From there I selected the watermelon coloured Brunschwig & Fils Ikat which I am having an old chair I have recovered in and a lampshade for a floor lamp will be made in the small patterned chinnoiserie fabric. I also have an old Eastern embroidered piece of cloth which I will have made into a little cushion for the chair.

Over the weekend I started to wonder what I would use as a change table so Harry and I made a quick visit to our friend Nick Wallrock on Saturday morning {the most wonderful European Antique store in Brisbane}. We purchased a lovely circa 1780 Swedish Walnut cabinet from Nick which will be perfect.

I plan to use fresh white bed linen for the turned white timber painted cot which I picked up on Ebay for a mere $57.00 {a new mattress will be made and it will be re-painted with a fresh coat of white paint} and a few little Etsy cuddly numbers will be hunted down over the coming weeks.

So I can now say to my friends...yes it is all under control, I am organised!! {Fingers crossed it will all be made in time!!}

I Love...

Every now and then I spot a room I absolutely love and this one above, as published in Elle Decor, is one of them. I think it's the lovely fresh colours against the all-white background, the dining chairs and the beautiful old marble fireplace which I love most!

image - elle decor via frolic via seesaw designs

Friday Flowers

A weekend full of time spent with Harry is what I have planned. I have worked many long and crazy hours this week so this weekend will be catch up time with my boys. Hope you have a lovely weekend. See you next time.

xx

Anna

Inspired By

I save so many images in my picture files to keep as inspiration for co-ordinating different colour schemes. It's often the combination of different colours in a picture or different products or different textures which can inspire me to put together a scheme for a client's home. I love the colours in these two product images above. The first image is from Jean Brown, a Brisbane fashion mecca, advertising some of their latest offerings {I adore the bangles by Paula Bianco} and the second image is a product editorial from House Beautiful. I just love all the wonderful colour and patterns and textures in these images. I find them very inspiring.

A Verandah Vignette

One of my lovely clients emailed me this photo of the windmill she just had hung above an old work bench she purchased from us a while ago on her verandah. Doesn't it look fabulous? She was telling me that she had to hang it in a spot where the children wouldn't brush past it because the blades on the windmill are obviously very sharp. What a wonderful idea for a verandah vignette.

Smile

Today I stumbled across this great poster over at Made By Girl whilst searching for pieces for a cluster wall I am currently working on. Just thought I'd share it with you...

An Exciting Project

Sorry I've been missing in action since earlier this week however, I have been extremely busy installing a very exciting job we have been working on over the past couple of months. I cannot share any details of the project at this stage but I can share these 3 very sneaky photos. We have a few finishing touches to complete and then it will be launched to the public late next week. I'll do a full posting in the upcoming weeks about this project which we are thrilled to have been asked to undertake.

Working On

The lounge room started with these 2 vintage chairs which we had for sale in the shop. The clients loved them so much that we worked the entire room scheme around them.

I placed the art pieces on the floor first {as below} and then we had them hung on the wall once everything was in place.

Here are a few snippets of a lovely house I am working on at the moment. We hung the art work cluster wall this morning in the lounge room. The sofa is yet to arrive so once we have that in place I'll post some more photos. The clients just moved into the house at Christmas. Since then we've had it painted all-white inside and out. It is the most gorgeous cottage and looks wonderful with all the white paint. We are using lots of fabulous colour in the furniture and accessory pieces. More photos in a week or so, I promise!!

New Window Display

We installed a fresh new window display at the shop this afternoon. The pretty blue, yellow, green and white floral fabric in the background is a current favourite. We teamed it with some classic blue and white lamps, fresh bright yellow roses and a set of Antique Victorian jugs. Over the next few weeks we have lots of lovely new things arriving which is always very exciting!!

Blog Browsing

Hiding from the rain - via Moodboard {allure magazine}

A great pink sofa - via the Neo-traditionalist



A pretty cluster wall at Kate Spade - via Delight by Design



LV Balloons - via My Little Paris Blog via Pink Lemonade



Old glass bottles filled with flowering branches via Shelter via Fric and Frac




An original marble topped Victorian sink - via Moodboard

These days I am finding it harder and harder to put aside some time to spend reading my favourite blogs. Once upon a time there was only a handful of blogs I considered my favourite but these days there are just so many great ones out there I find it difficult to keep up!

Last night I spent a few hours trawling through back posts on some fantastic blogs I have recently stumbled across. I thought I would post a few things I loved from these blogs here today to end the week.

Maybe if this rain continues through the weekend I might just snuggle under the blankets and do some more blog browsing. My boys are away on a father/son trip so there should be lots of time for me this weekend!

See you next time.

xx

Anna

Allyson's Moths

As seen in Vogue Living 2002



Our moth painting in our lounge room at home

The pair hanging in the Number 16 Hotel in London

I remember the first time I spotted one of Allyson Reynold's moth paintings. I was in my early 20's flipping through one of my mother's Vogue Living magazines. I have posted the exact picture I spotted at the top of this post. I immediately fell in-love with that painting and the room it was hung in.

A few years later my husband and I purchased one of Allyson's moth paintings and to this day I absolutely adore and treasure it. I am often asked about this painting. I believe that Allyson had a couple available at Doggett Street Gallery late last year however, I think they are a little hard to come by these days.

Kit Kemp selected a pair of Allyson's moths for her Number 16 hotel in London. It seems however that Kit has revamped Number 16 as I just checked out their website and the paintings are still there but the room is completely redecorated. I was thrilled to see she kept the moths in place.

Allyson currently has an exhibition at Doggett Street Gallery in Brisbane. Unfortunately it seems there's no moths in her latest works.

And Another One

Wow this mantel certainly has lots of bits and pieces collected on top of it...

image - johnny valiant photographer/australian vogue living via moodboard

Light My Fire

One thing I can't wait to do when we move into our new house is light a fire. I have always dreamed of having a house with a fireplace and our new house has three beautiful old fireplaces. There is one in the lounge room, one in the kitchen and one in what will become our main bedroom. My collection of vintage cane baskets will be put to good use as log baskets and I love the idea of clustering lots of candles on the mantel just like they have in the top image. I'm excited to think of the wonderful vignettes I will be able to create on the mantels...

image 1 via this is glamorous

Another Great Inspiration Board

Inspiration boards certainly have done their dash through Blogland but I still love how individual one can look in an office or like this one above hung above some lovely pieces of furniture. The bigger the board, the better the look I think.


image - canadian house & home via delight by design

Aged & Gilded

'Every flower must grow through dirt' - Anonymous

It's not often that I stumble across a blog which I need to read from beginning to end but Aged & Gilded written by Ursula is one I would love to spend a few hours reading through. Her images are seriously divine. I thought I would post a few little things above which I loved from her blog.

images via aged & gilded blog

Friday Flowers

It's lovely when you receive a little bunch of unexpected flowers especially from your brother and especially hand picked from the garden. He obviously knows me very well to have thought to bring me these pretty pink flowers which are currently blooming on a tree in his front yard. They made my day.

Debra Dawes Paintings

I am a little besotted with these paintings by one of Australia's leading abstract artists, Debra Dawes. I love the clean, geometric lines and of course the vibrant colours. I think they would look wonderful mixed with some more traditional still life pieces. I enjoy mixing artwork styles in a home. Collecting and displaying fabulous art is another area where we can express our own unique individual style.