Time For a Holiday...

Elle Decor via Stylecourt

Via Bijou Kaleidoscope

Via Coastal Living

Via Sarah Kaye

Debi Trelour via Terramia

Paul Costello via Desire to Inspire

Via Casapinka

Via Girl Meets Glamour

Via Katie Did

Via Bijou Kaleidoscope

I am signing off for 2 weeks to spend some much needed time with my family. Thank you everyone for visiting and for all your wonderful comments. I love hearing from you. I will be back on Monday 6th August. In the meantime I have left you some beautiful images which I have found around blog land of late which I adore. And while I'm away please be sure to check out some of the fantastic blogs I have listed on my side bar. Bye for now!!!

xo

Anna

Children's Bathroom

If I had lots of children I would definately want a bathroom like this - almost dorm style! But I only have 1 child so I don't need as many basins as this but if you have lots of little ones around why not consider this idea for a children's bathroom.

Image courtesy of House & Garden.

The Photo Shoot

What at day! I am so relieved it is all over. Jason the fantastic photographer flew up from Sydney last night and was at my home at 8.00am this morning. We spent 6 hours there photographing my home and then we drove into New Farm to Black & Spiro and spent another 2 hours photographing the shop so it was a huge and tiring day! Jason was FANTASTIC and I really enjoyed spending the day with such a creative and talented photographer. I must send a huge thank you out to him for all of his hard work and also a big thank you to Real Living Magazine. I have been asked by alot of my international readers to post some scanned images of the story once it comes out in Real Living magazine so I promise I will post them once the issue is out.

St. Lucia Bedroom Completed

A little while ago I posted a sneak peak of a bedroom I was working on in St Lucia, Brisbane. I finally installed the last bits and pieces today and thought I would share with you some pictures of the finished room.

So Beautiful

One of my favourite Blog's Dreamhouse Cammy posted this picture this week and I just LOVE it - so beautiful!

More Progress @ Home

My bedroom chair (which I orginally bought at a junk shop for $15.00) is covered in my favourite Manuel Canovas fabric. We had some stock of the fabric at the shop so I decided to use it for my bedroom chair.

I love to collect old crystal and silver perfume bottles and jars. I display them on my dressing table as above.

I bought the Bally print on Ebay for $20.00 (+ framing).

I LOVE cushions as you can see above - a collection of some of my favourite fabrics on my bed.

Here's my (very cheap) Ebay chair above which I adore. I haven't even recovered it. It is exactly how it arrived from the ebay seller - what a bargain!!

I've made lots more progress at home this week and I think I'm all organised for the photo shoot which is hapenning this Wednesday. I'll be so happy once it is all over as getting ready for something like this can be very stressful considering I am such a perfectionist and especially given the small time frame I've had to work with. However, don't get me wrong, I am not complaining, it is an absolute honour that they want to come to photograph my home and my shop so I think all the effort will be worth it in the end!! I would like to add a note that decorating a room can be done on a budget. As you will see above, I have sourced things on Ebay and junk shops and then just used some very special fabrics as a feature in the room. It's not always about spending a fortune, it's about having an eye to find and source great things at a cheaper price. I certainly had to be on a very tight budget with my decorating at home for this upcoming photo shoot!!

A Beachside Bathing Room

I love this image of Annette de la Renta's bathroom - a Venetian mirror, 19th century shell pictures, beach hats and a sumptuous big bath - what more could a girl want at the beach??

Chrissie Jeffery's Pretty Home

Chrissie has been collecting the beautiful leaf plates above since she was 12 years old.

I have mentioned Chrissie Jeffery before. Chrissie is the owner of Stitches Soft Furnishings - a trade only workroom in Sydney and No Chintz - a retail fabric and decorating store also in Sydney. Her home was featured in Vogue Living September/October 2005 and it is devine - a mixture of beautiful vibrant fabrics and collections of things fill her home. My favourite Manuel Canovas fabric is used on the cushions above - she says "I fall in love with things like the Manuel Canovas fabric on the cushions. I have this theory that if you only buy what you really love, it will invaribly go together" - what a great theory to have!!

Kelly Wearstler Interview

I thoroughly enjoyed reading the Kelly Wearstler interview by Grace Bonney on House & Garden today. Click here to be directed.

Front Gates

I was recently looking for some inspiration for some big front gates for an old house with a long driveway and I came across these 2 images which I just loved. It's so rare to see beautiful front gates here in Australia. I don't think people here put enough emphasis on designing or finding the right front gate for their home and instead often they opt for nothing at all. I would love to have a big old house with a long driveway with big old front gates - nothing like the thought of being closed away in your own private sanctuary behind a pair of beautiful front gates!

Rachel Arthur Drawings

Today I purchased these 2 ink & pen Rachel Arthur drawings (Butterly & Dragonfly) for our pink and blue display at Black & Spiro. I wanted a couple of paintings which were very simple and when I spotted these I knew they would be perfect. I actually think they will be like little flying insects amongst all of the pretty flowers which appear in the wallpaper and matching silk fabric which I have used in the curtains. Avril, my assistant will be picking them up from the artist in the morning - I can't wait to see them hung in our pink and blue room.

Today I Love...

Jackie O's Wedding Day via Casapinka

Antonia Hutt via Desire to Inspire

Just a couple of unrelated images which I adore. Thanks to Casapinka for the gorgeous Jackie O image - so beautiful and I love this room by Antonia Hutt via Desire to inspire - my favourite colour combo of the moment - pink and blue!!!

More Progress @ Black and Spiro...

There was lots more progress at the shop by the end of last week as above. I'm looking forward to all the final bits and pieces arriving this week.

Also, just a note to thank everyone for your very kind and encouraging comments and also hi and thanks for stopping by to all my new readers. I know I don't get to answer all of your comments but I do appreciate them very much.

xo

Anna

A Busy Week...

It's been so crazy in my little world these last couple of weeks - I have been trying to get the new display into the shop and at the same time I've been working to get my house ready for two things - putting it on the market to sell and a photo shoot for Real Living magazine. Real Living magazine is coming up to take photos of both my home and my shop in about a week's time which I am very excited about but with trying to look after my clients, my family, running Black & Spiro and getting home and the shop ready for this shoot, life has been very hectic so I do apologise for the lack of posts this week!! I thought I would show you some photos of my progress at home. My dear friend Sally came over this week to help me get things a little more organised which was fantastic. Sally is a whizz at organisation!! Hope you all have a great weekend and I look forward to hearing from you all next week and I promise I'll get my act into gear with some more exciting new posts!!!