Gardens & Garden Furniture

I like these gardens pictured above because to me they are informal. I don't want a formal garden. I want one which is filled with lots of different plants just like these are. I also adore the gravel pathways which to me seem less formal than paving. The chairs in the top image remind me of the furniture we are now stocking at Black & Spiro which is all handmade by a lovely man down South using timber from his property.

Here are some of the pieces which we are having made at the moment. We are having them custom painted for us in lots of different bright colours. We currently have some white rectangular side tables and one orange round table at the shop.

Kiki & Coco in Paris

I stumbled across this gorgeous little piece of fun on photographer Stephanie Rausser's website over the weekend. If you haven't already seen it click HERE now to see the most gorgeous slideshow ever!

My Garden Project

To my absolute delight we have a pretty serious garden at our new house which I am hoping to improve, extend and make even more beautiful over time. We also ended up purchasing the block next door which is a big, ugly mound of dirt at the moment - a perfect blank canvas. One thing I definitely want to put in is a Kitchen Garden or a Jardin Potager as the French call them and I also want to add more flowering plants so that I can cut flowers for the house and for Black & Spiro too.

With lots of ideas swirling and no idea where to start, I have decided to create a garden file and if it's okay with you I am going to post a few more garden inspiration bits here on the blog too.

My Uncle Robbie is going to help me put all of this into action as he is a retired Landscape Architect. He actually just did our front garden beds at Black & Spiro and although my instructions were very vague; "I just want them to look like a field of pretty flowers", he nailed it.

So, watch out for lots of pretty garden pictures and maybe I might even pose a few questions to you along the way as gardening is a whole new ball game for me!!

image 1 via nibs blog, image 2 jennifer garner's garden via habitually chic

Happy Times

My beautiful dad.

The beach houses surrounding the house we stayed in. The agapanthus grows wild in front of these houses. I would love to see them flowering.

The gardens in this small sleepy beach side town are to-die-for.



Table set for Dad's Birthday lunch.






I spotted this cute beach shack when I was out picking flowers and loved it. In New Zealand I've noticed they paint many of their houses black and white which I love.



I had a bath in this huge clawfoot bath every day we were there. I love the little vintage butterfly prints on the wall.




When we eventually renovate the kitchen in our new house I definitely want to have a cabinet built just like this one which was in the kitchen at the beach house. It was so perfect for all the plates, platters, cups etc.

The beach in front of the house.

We've just returned home from a week in New Zealand where we celebrated my father's 60th Birthday. After spending a few days in Auckland we caught a plane down to Napier and drove down to a beautiful beach house my parent's have been frequenting over the past 12 months in a sleepy beach side town in Hawkes Bay. We spent 3 days here with my parents, brothers, cousins, aunty & uncle and our grandmother. It was the most wonderful holiday with lots of laughs, lots of tears and lots of reminiscing. Mum cooked an amazing lunch for Dad on his birthday. I went down the street and picked some gorgeous roadside flowers which I arranged for the table. It was the most amazing week away from work and the craziness of life. Happy 60th Birthday Dad. You are one in a million and we all love you so much.

If anyone is interested in staying at this beautiful house click HERE for details.

And More...

Stuart Membery and I before the guests arrived above.

Melanie, Kelly & I before the guests arrived above.

A better shot of the tutu desk.

Me speaking to our guests and introducing Stuart Membery...I look like I'm about to fly off the hot pink stool I was standing on!!

The store front before our 170 guests arrived on Wednesday night.

Melanie with some of our guests

Are you getting bored yet of my photos??!! Sorry! Here are a few shots of our re-opening party. I have lots more but I didn't want to post photos of my clients just in case they were not happy to be seen on the blog. Anyway, I am now taking a few days off. It's been a very hectic couple of months and I feel like I need to spend a few days with my boys.

xx

Anna

More Pictures

The back room which I have named the sunroom is proving to be a favourite amongst customers.

Above and below you can see the desk tutu which I designed for my office and my inspiration board too.

Melanie and I designed the lampshade wall light which has fabric both on the inside and outside and is suspended from a white painted bracket. This is in our new stairwell which leads from the shop to our design studio.

We now have a bedroom on display in the store as above.

Here are some more photos of the new store. I have a few more to come from my photographer which will be much nicer than these snaps I have taken so I'll post those when I get them. Thank you so much for all of your positive and kind comments. It certainly is a dream come true having the store look like this.

xx

Anna

PS. A huge thank you to all of those amazing bloggers out there who have posted about our new store. You are all so kind!!xx

Black & Spiro Unveiled

Last night we unveiled our new store to our beautiful clients and friends. It was an amazing night and I was just so proud of everything the girls and I have created and accomplished over the last few months. Here are a few pictures above but I'll share more with you over the coming days. I must say I am so exhausted yet so, so excited!

xx

Anna

What's In My Pantry?

If you are at all interested in what I have in my pantry, then head over to Fashion Food Fatale HERE {I must admit, it's nothing glamorous!!}. Featuring stylish people from across the globe Elizabeth Clarke and Jane Walsh are the style gurus behind FFF. I have been enjoying their posts and musings on all things fashionable. I just wish my pantry looked as good as this one above but I have to tell you it is completely the opposite...shame on me!!

3 Days & Counting...

With only 3 days to go till our big Black & Spiro grand re-opening, I must say I am getting extremely excited about opening the doors again. Although it's been great operating the business upstairs in our new design studio, the girls and I have missed seeing our regular customers popping in. After what's been a crazy week, I've had a bit of spare time this morning to catch up on a few of my favourite blogs. I loved this image which Megan posted over at Beach Bungalow 8 of Krista Ewart's work as featured in House Beautiful.

Check back later this week to see lots of photos of the new store...


image - krista ewart house beautiful via beachbungalow 8

Seeing Red

I seem to spotting lots of red and white being used around the place at the moment. I love these red images above. Sorry my posts are going to be a bit sporadic over the next week whilst we complete the finishing touches to the new store.

xx
Anna

image 1 via shelter blog, image 2 hgtv house via surroundings blog

Fabulous New Betsy Images

I'm sure this will be blogged about all over the blogosphere however, I absolutely loved seeing these new images of Betsy Burnham's work over at Decor Demon. She certainly is up there on my list of favourite Designers. Thanks must go to Ronda for finding this. Make sure you head over to Decor Demon to check out the rest of the images.

produced, written & directed by brian patrick flynn, styled by betsy burnham, photographed by sarah dorio

Almost There...

Two weeks today our new store will be open. It's been a very hectic couple of months but I must say the new store is looking amazing. I can't wait to open the doors again. I thought I'd share a little sneak peek above to get you excited!!

Beautiful

So fresh and so beautiful. I love this image!

Carolyn Quartermaine via Aged & Gilded

Welcome To The Street...

What a lovely welcome we've had from the neighbours in our new street!! After the container arriving on the front foot path last week, I wasn't sure we would be the most popular people in the street however, I was wrong. Over the weekend we found a lovely card in our mail box from the neighbours next door and to my huge excitement this morning, Joy from over the road arrived at our front door with a humongous bag of fresh limes which she had just picked from her lime tree. I immediately pulled out one of the baskets we will be selling in the new shop, threw the limes in it and placed it on our dining table. What a nice feeling it is to be living in such a lovely, quiet street with kind people all around us!!