Out & About: SGAR Opening

Renai Grace & Paul Spiro stand in front of one of the paintings we purchased last night by artist Simone Louise Gillespie

This is the other Simone Louise Gillespie painting we purchased

It was so nice to get out of the tracksuit pants I've been sporting all week and into some proper clothes with make-up on last night to head out to the opening of Spiro Grace Art Rooms in Spring Hill.

Brad, Harry & I decided we needed some adult time out so we decided to leave Max with his gorgeous Nanny Rhonda for a few hours whilst we attended the gallery opening. I had my first glass of French champagne in 9 months upon arriving at the gallery. It went straight to my head of course. We ended up purchasing 2 paintings by emerging artist Simone Louise Gillespie. I was so thrilled we decided on them straight away as every painting I looked at as the night progressed had a sold sticker.

Gallery owners Paul Spiro {yes he is related to me - he is my uncle} and Renai Grace will be showcasing emerging {and therefore quite reasonably priced} artists in their space on a quarterly basis. I for one can't wait for their next exhibition.

For all enquiries or to be added to SGAR's mailing list email Renai renai@sgar.com.au

An Update

Max


The shop renovation in progress

A snippet of one of the rooms in our new Design Studio

Last week we welcomed our second son, Max into the world. He is perfect in every way. Thank you for all your lovely emails and comments.

Our shop renovation is proceeding very well...still lots of work to be done. Our Design Studio is now in full swing upstairs. The girls and I are enjoying having a very special space just for our clients. Some photos are above for your viewing pleasure. I'll be back soon with some more news and posts. Just enjoying my newborn for the moment. Hope you are all well.

xo

Anna

It's Time..

Well it's time for me to say good-bye for a few weeks. I am having a baby in a couple of days and our major shop renovation starts on Monday. I thought I'd post some pictures of the signage we've had put onto the front of our store whilst we undergo renovation. This signage displays our new Black & Spiro logo. There certainly are a lot of exciting things happening around here and I can't wait to come back in a few weeks to give you all an update. Our Design Studio is in full swing upstairs and I'll be sure to show you some photos of it when I return.

Thanks again to everyone for your continued support and interest in my work. I can't wait to unveil the new store. It's going to be something very special and unique...I promise!!

xo
Anna

White on White on White

I love this image which Interior Divine posted recently of a room in a converted farmhouse in South Africa. It's just so white and bright and fresh. I am loving, in particular, the non-existence of colour...I know that may sound strange coming from me!! I am also in-love with the particular collection of pieces in this room.

Image via Living Etc. July 2009 issue via Interior Divine blog

Ivy & Piper, Mothers Day & Exhaustion Sets In...

My Mother's Day started early this morning when Harry and Brad arrived at my bedside with gifts galore. All except the bottle of YSL perfume were handmade by Harry. After the gifts were dispersed Harry went and prepared breakfast for me...my favourite fresh orange juice with lots of ice and toast with Vegemite!! Although a little burnt I managed to devour half a piece and {quietly without Harry knowing} Ned the other piece.

After some more rest {my exhaustion from the sale having completely set-in} we got ready and jumped into the car as I wanted to go and visit Melanie & Liz over at the Portside Markets. Their new stall Ivy & Piper had is debut this morning and I couldn't miss seeing the beautiful creations the girls have been working on over the last couple of months!

I loved the cushion with the vintage Chanel perfume bottles and pearls with the black and white hounds tooth piping and I couldn't resist a set of 8 pink and white geometric napkins. I can't wait to see their next collection!

After visiting the girls we headed down to my parent's house to visit my mother for Mothers Day with my 2 brothers. We picked up roadside chrysanthemums as none of us had been able to get to Phoebe Stephens Flowers before she closed yesterday afternoon.

Mum made roadside flowers look like flowers from the Chelsea Flower Show arranging them in her blue and white ginger jar on her coffee table.

You may remember the lovely Antique French chair upholstered in the blue and white French floral fabric I posted a couple of days ago which we had in the sale yesterday...well my father bartered with me upon closing the sale and bought it for mum. We delivered it to her today and she totally loves it. My brother enjoyed sitting on the chair all afternoon but was reminded every 5 minutes not to spill red wine on it...now that would have been a disaster!

The day ended up being all too much for Harry...he fell asleep on Mum's daybed amongst her copious number of blue and white cushions.

Although completely and utterly exhausted tonight, I had a lovely day with my family and I am now trying to imagine how I am going to do all the things I have to do this week without going into labour before all is done.

I'll keep you posted on that...

Happy Mothers Day and to FF Happy Aunts Day!!

xx

Anna

Oh and more blog thanks to Michelle at Divine Finds and Spring Blossom for also posting about our sale on their blogs today!!!

What a day...

WOW is all I can say. I am speechless. The sale today was incredible. I am so taken back by the support and patronage of our customers, blog readers and friends. A huge thank you to all of those who lined up at the door from 8.15am this morning waiting for our doors to open at 9.30am. Another big thank you to everyone for your patience as we tried our hardest to help as many customers as we could whilst the stampede occurred during the first 2 hours of our sale. I met so many lovely people who read the blog. Thank you to everyone including my gorgeous Black & Spiro girls for making today's sale the best Black & Spiro sale we have ever had. We literally have nothing left.

PS. Loved meeting you Faux Fuchsia {one of my new absolutely favourite blogs}! Thanks for posting today about the sale and also thanks to Bec from A Cup of Kitsch for also posting about the sale on her blog too!

Sale Preview

Thought I would post a few photos of how it's all coming together for our big sale this Saturday. The girls and I have worked liked Trojans today with still lots of marking down to do tomorrow. There are some amazing bargains and lots of great things on offer. Every time we have one of these sales it never ceases to amaze me how much fabric we accumulate. We have 2 huge tables full of piles of beautiful fabrics at seriously crazy prices. There's also a great collection of blue and white pieces going on sale and 2 sets of beautiful Antique dining chairs...not to mention all the other great pieces of furniture, lamps, artwork and CUSHIONS galore!!!

See you Saturday.

xo
Anna

Excuse My Absence...

To me, all of these beautiful images evoke a sense of fun, happiness, relaxation and comfort. I think I am drawn to these pictures at the moment because my world is so incredibly crazy

and quite the opposite of what these pictures portray.

This week has been all about preparation for our Black & Spiro one day sale which we are having this coming Saturday so I do apologise for not being around the blog much this week. I just keep crossing my fingers, my toes {and my legs} that this baby doesn't decide to come before this Saturday!!

I'll be sure to post some photos before Saturday of some of the wonderful things we have going into the sale. If you are looking for beautiful fabrics at crazy, ridiculous prices then you must come and visit us on Saturday but be sure to be here at 9.30am as our sales are renowned to have a line up at the door upon opening time!!

Hope you're all having a fabulous week and I promise to be a much better blogger next week!!

image 1 - via this is glamorous via fric & frac, image 2 - via habitually chic, image 3 - laudomia pucci via w magazine, image 4 - via fric & frac