Colourful

I love this fashion shoot featured in W Magazine celebrating admirable women in Spring attire! It's so colourful and so Bohemian and how gorgeous is that patchwork vintage style sofa in the picture above!

Photographer - Bruce Weber, Stylist - Camilla Nickerson

Black & Spiro One Day Only Sale

As we are about to embark on the remainder of our exciting renovations in under 2 weeks, we have decided to have a ONE DAY only sale.

The last famous Black & Spiro sale was approx 3 years ago so this one is definitely not to be missed!!!

All floor stock including furniture, lamps, shades and accessories will be heavily discounted, as well as a huge range of amazing fabric remnants reduced to clear. I am also throwing in some things from my own home so make sure you don’t miss out.

Remember, the sale is only on for one day!!!

Hope you can make it.

xx

Anna

Flowers on Monday

Here are some pretty roses in blue and white ginger jars which I couldn't help taking a photo of at mum and dad's today. I don't think anyone has as many blue and white ginger jars as my mother and still she continues to buy more. Whenever we get new blue and white pieces in at the shop she just cannot help but take a few more home...and yes if you look closely {in the background} she does have a hot pink dining room!!

White with a touch of navy...

I really love the navy high gloss material on these chairs and in fact I love everything about this image...the fantastic mirror above the fireplace is so gorgeous too. It is the work of Cortney & Robert Novogratz of Sixx Design...such a clever and dynamic design team. I just don't know how they do it with all of those beautiful children in tow!

Hope you all have an absolutely beautiful weekend!!

image via moodboard

Fun Chair & Update

I thought I'd share some photos of this fun chair we just had painted and re-upholstered for one of my clients. We used plain hot pink felt to cover the seat. We wanted to keep the chair all one colour and not cover the seat in a busy pattern. I can't wait to deliver it to my client. I am sure she is going to love it!

I have also had so many people ask me about the progress of our renovation and expansion. As usual, things have taken a little longer than anticipated. Upstairs is ALMOST done. I took these photos of the pink chair in our upstairs area. As you can see the cabinetry is almost complete and we are just waiting for our lighting to be installed. This should all be done in a week or so.

We will then be closing the shop for approximately 1 month from the 10th May to complete the renovation and expansion of the shop downstairs. So it is all systems go with a big re-opening party planned for mid-June! Oh and in amongst that we are moving house and having a baby so it is very full-on in my little world at the moment!!

Another Windmill

A week or so ago I posted an amazing windmill one of my clients found and had hung on her verandah wall. I was looking for a piece of furniture today for another client on Miguel Meirelles website and stumbled across this gorgeous windmill which I thought would look wonderful in a table vignette. It's available for sale on Miguel's website if anyone is interested...

From The {Old} Files

Whilst visiting Mum and Dad on Saturday night for a lovely home-cooked dinner, my mother handed me a pile of old magazine tear sheets she recently found in the cupboard of my old bedroom. They must date back to my early twenties. I pulled a couple out to show you as above. Isn't the last one interesting - I obviously loved blue, white and pink way back then and in actual fact, I think I might have pulled this one out of my mother's files originally!! I remember the top image as one from a story on Donna Karan...I remember obsessing over that table vignette for a long time...

The Billboard & New Project Unveiled

The scheme we originally presented to Mirvac

Late last week a new billboard went up in Brisbane which was being unveiled as my brother was coincidentally driving past it.

He dialled my number excited to advise me that my latest project was being unveiled as we spoke on a humongous billboard down in the Valley.

That afternoon, Harry and I went in search of the so-called humongous billboard. We went around and back and down and up the street approximately 5 times with great excitement. I nearly crashed the car 2 times trying to take a photo of it.

Saturday morning my parents couldn’t help but take a drive past the billboard.

Monday morning a client emailed us saying she had seen the billboard.

This morning another one of my clients commented on the billboard.

And tonight my husband said – “Where’s your billboard in the Valley? I’m heading down there tomorrow and I want to drive past it…”

The billboard has created a bit of a stir amongst family and friends…

One of my favourite things was selecting all the books and accessory pieces {some new and some vintage} for the shelving we had installed.

Remember that little snippet of a job I posted a week or two ago?? Well, that’s the one on the billboard.

Being invited by Mirvac to design the furnishings and accessories for it’s latest display apartment in the Newstead development was exciting and very rewarding. I was recently asked by Mirvac to explain my design and my thinking behind my scheme for the Park display apartment for a media release...


“To be working on one of Brisbane’s finest developments is truly exciting. I feel that my fresh and uplifting design for the Park display apartment is in tune with Mirvac’s philosophy of excellence and vision. When I think of Park I imagine expanses of lush green grass, leafy trees with natural bark clad trunks, colourful clothes and celebrations, mixed with urban elements such as vibrant graffiti and eclectic retail offerings. These are the things that have inspired my design for the display apartment. I want it to be fresh and colourful and I want the design to show people that they don’t have to have a ‘catalogue’ perfect interior to match a Park apartment. It can be colourful, it can be collected, it can be made up of vintage furniture mixed with more modern pieces. There are no rules. My vision with Park is to inspire people with my designs and encourage them to embrace their own unique style with their own Park apartment.”

I hope that my colourful design will be something different for Brisbane. We are so used to seeing ‘SAFE’ display apartments here. It is so exciting to be involved with a company like Mirvac who does think outside the square and who wants to be seen as different to the pack.

The cluster wall as conceptualised by Tony at Thyme Design

And on a final note…

Feedback on the apartment so far has been very positive. However, I have to share this with you…

My mother’s dearest friend and probably one of my biggest supporters went and had a look at the display on the weekend. She overheard the conversation of an older couple...

The husband said – “What were they thinking with those green chairs?”

The wife replied – “Oh Darling, get with the times – it’s for the young ones. They love it…”

The Reality Is...

The reality is that although our house looks pristine and white in the lovely spread Canadian House & Home did in their current issue, it really isn't like that in real life...

I thought I would share a few images with you of Ned and my mum and dad's Golden Retriever, Gus from the weekend. We had Gus over to stay for a couple of days and look what they got up to!

Obviously Ned became very scared once he spotted me...he jumped off the sofa very quickly and couldn't believe that Gus had the guts to remain there without any worries what-so-ever. If you look closely you can see that the white slip covered sofa is in a terrible state...I think it might need a new cover in some hardy denim next time round!!

Just a bit of evidence to show you that we actually live in a white-with-dirty-smudges-everywhere house!!

Inside Out Art Auction

To celebrate it's 10th year anniversary Inside Out Magazine is currently running a fantastic art auction on ebay. My absolute favourite piece is the hydrangeas by Jacqueline Coates. It's already at $711.00 with 7 days to go but it's real value is $2,200.00 so it will be very interesting to watch this auction. There are lots of wonderful pieces by some talented Australian artists and creative personalities...click HERE to be directed to the auction.

Here's another piece I love by Jacqueline which I found on her website.

Thank you Canadian House & Home

I was so thrilled to be included in the just-released May issue of Canadian House & Home magazine and so taken back by the size of the article. Thank you House & Home for the lovely story. You captured my aesthetic perfectly.

PS. No doubt you would all be completely over seeing images of my home here on ABT {huge apologies!!} however, I just wanted to share my excitement about the article and, in particular, I really wanted to thank House & Home for the lovely story and their interest in my work.

images - simon kenny, story - catherine sheilds

Two Completely Different Looks

I must say I love the latest edition of Inside Out magazine - their 10th Birthday issue. My two favourite stories within the issue are both very different. I love the images shown of Nicole Bonython-Hines home {above}...especially the gorgeous artwork cluster wall which is made up of pieces by her children in her kitchen. I also love the image of her standing in front of some magazine tear sheets - so colourful and uplifting!

The other story I loved was the feature on the home on Dangar Island on the Hawkesbury River just outside of Sydney which Greg Mellor and his partner Nick Krull have renovated. I adore the look of this laid-back, comfortable, cozy home. It looks so beautiful set in amongst the trees. It actually reminds me of the way our new home is surrounded by beautiful trees and gardens. I was very inspired by this story....I know, it's a complete departure from my usual love of colour! PS. Check out Greg Mellor's work on his website - www.gregorymellor.com

All images - Inside Out Magazine May/June 2010 issue

Bedroom Inspiration

I stumbled across this fabulous bedroom image in one of Melanie's client files today. She is currently on holidays so the girls and I are looking after her client work while she is gone. This is an image one of her clients tore out of a magazine as inspiration for her bedroom which they are currently working on at their beach apartment. I hadn't seen this image before and immediately I was drawn to it. I hope Mel and her client don't mind me sharing it here but I definitely thought it was worth sharing!! I really like the unusual combination of black, white and blue in this room.

Image source unknown. If anyone knows the source please let me know as I found it as a tear sheet.

A Child's Favourite Thing

I was recently reminded how important it is, not only for an adult, but for a child to have one or numerous special favourite things. Over Easter I read a lovely paragraph in the book Home by Anita Kaushal;


You’ll never know which thing will become the best-loved, can’t-do-without, the night-time necessity. It might be a hand-stitched hand-me-down, a bright new soft toy, or a well-used blanket. Whatever they choose, it will mean security to your children and bring a sense of personal belonging and wellbeing. And you’ll end up treasuring it almost as much as they do.

Our Harry has a special ‘can’t-do-without’ friend he affectionately refers to as Duckie. Duckie was found on Harry’s first Easter Egg Hunt when he was 1 and has remained his most-loved and most treasured cuddly friend who {not so much these days now that he is a big brave 7 year old} would accompany us absolutely everywhere. There has been many a tear-filled night when we have driven onto the barge to go to our house at Stradbroke for the weekend and it was discovered that Duckie was not on board!

Due to major concerns from all that Duckie might one-day disintegrate, he has only had 3 baths in his lifetime - a drop into the washing machine and then a dash in the clothes dryer – always fearful that the opening up of the dryer door might just reveal the absolute end of Duckie. The slightest sign of wear and tear anywhere on Duckie signals Brad’s mother to quickly whip out the sewing basket. Complete relief is thankfully restored once she has worked her magic on our special duck.

We have all {my parents and my brothers and brad’s parents and of course Brad & I} loved Duckie just as much as Harry…well almost as much as Harry!

I think it is wonderful to encourage our children to embrace the love of a special thing. Just like we have special things which we keep and hold onto {something I have talked a great deal about here on ABT}, a child should feel the comfort and re-assurance of having their very own special things around them. With this in mind, I think we should decorate a child's room filled with the special things they love and encourage them to collect, collect, collect!!

It makes me wonder what it will be that our next child treasures. What special thing can’t your little one live without?

Here are some little cuddly creatures I placed into a nursery I decorated for some clients a while ago. I wonder whether their little boy now treasures any of these little friends we placed into his cot before he was born?!

An old photo of Harry with his treasured Duckie...

image 1,2,3 - via children's spaces from zero to ten and babies rooms zero to three by judith wilson, image 4 - via interior divine blog