Random Pretty Things



This was my week in pictures - a beautiful wedding in Noosa despite the rain, cushions, flowers, fabrics, lamps, bits and bobs.  It was a lovely week.

xx

Anna

Botanical

Tomorrow this beautiful, vibrant botanical print fabric will be hung in our new front window display at Black & Spiro.  Look at those beautiful dahlias and all of the little bugs and animals.  There's so much to look at and take in.  I would love to see this fabric made into cushions on a hot pink sofa or even used to cover some occasional chairs in a lounge room.  It's certainly a new favourite and the colours are perfect for the start of Autumn here in Australia.  

xx
Anna

More Ben Pentreath

Further to my previous post look at this fabulous picture taken at Ben Pentreath's store in London!  What a wonderful and uplifting combination of colours and I love the Josef Frank fabric on the armchair mixed with the kilim stripe on the side chairs and the blue and white ginger jars!  I really love his style.

Hi!

Hi & Happy New Year!  How are you?  How was your Christmas?  I feel like I haven't been here in such a long time.  I actually switched myself completely off the Internet and computer for the entire holidays and I must admit I feel like a new person!! 

I'm not officially back from holidays until early next week but I thought I should pop in to say hello.  Did anyone see our special New Year window displays at Black & Spiro over the holidays?  If you haven't already seen them, make sure you take a drive passed as the talented Pip Boydell painted us the fabulous and vibrant fabric drop {as above} and the beautiful pair of big vintage pineapple lamps are a must see!!

Anyway, I'll be back with beautiful things to share next week.  Until then I'll be making the most of the last few days I have left with my boys at the beach...

xx
Anna

Cushion Central

I thought I would share a few shots of some of the fabulous cushions we have in store at Black & Spiro at the moment.  Lots of clashing colour.  Lots of mismatched patterns.  Just the way we like it. 

xx
Anna

Fresh Tulips Fresh Window

It's always like a breath of fresh air when we install a new window display at Black & Spiro.  To celebrate our new window I bought some pretty fresh tulips which we have placed into one of a pair of blue and white vases we have on the table with a beautiful pair of lamps.  Good old Chiang Mai in blue and white makes a big appearance in the background.  I will try to post a picture from the outside of the shop too as the antique table which you can't really see in this photo is absolutely divine!!

Second Choice

The floral patterned fabric above wasn't my first choice colourway for the curtains in our bedroom at home.  My first choice was the lavender colourway.  However, like so many fabrics we have ordered over the past 12-18 months it was out of stock and not available.  Has this been a problem for other decorators out there too?  With only a few weeks to go before Christmas last year I made a very rushed decision and went for the green colourway instead.  I must admit when they first went in I had regrets because I am not usually a huge green lover.  However, they have grown on me and now I absolutely love them.  Has anything like this ever happened to you?  I'd love to hear your stories!!!

xx

Anna

image 1 - anna spiro bedroom photographed by elouise van riet-gray

The Preparations Have Begun...

Yesterday we started preparing for our annual sale at Black & Spiro which starts at 9am this Saturday.  This is what our fabric remnant room looked like after I had stripped it of piles and piles of fabric which we are putting into our sale on Saturday. It's so nice to have some order in our remnant room as it usually looks like a cyclone has swept through it!!

Today

I think these lilies which we have in the shop at the moment are the prettiest lilies I have ever seen.

I am smitten with our new hot pink {well it's actually fluoro/neon pink} love heart fabric which just arrived onto my desk this morning.

This vintage rug in my office keeps me smiling all day.  I love it.

And these new baskets in the shop are calling out to me - "take me home".....

Flowers, Vases, Baskets, Fabric, Plates & Pots

I've had a busy few days fossicking around the garden, the markets and local Antique shops. 

In my travels I stumbled across these vintage vases which I couldn't resist.  They now sit on our chest of drawers in our entry hallway.  The vibrant orange of the larger vase makes me happy every time I see it and I just love the quirky bird clinging to the other vase/jug....it certainly is something you either love or hate.

I fell in-love with these little yellow flowers at the markets but I can't remember the name of them so please do tell if you know.  

I also picked up one of these baskets which I have been coveting along with this piece of fabric which I am thinking of making into table napkins for an upcoming event I have planned.



On Saturday I potted up 12 little pots with Succulents for my brother as he was having a lunch at his house over the weekend and needed something wonderful to place down the centre of his dining table. I kept a few for myself to add to my growing collection of pot plants.  {Correction to my post last week the little pots sell for approx. $1.20 at Bunnings and the succulents came from there too}.

It seems I wasn't the only one playing with flowers on the weekend. Mum just sent me this picture of the fresh Banksias she collected from the trees on their property at the beach.  I am hoping she might deliver some over to me this week.



And finally I added 18 mismatched vintage dinner plates to my blue and white collection.  We never have enough plates when we have the family here for lunch or dinner so now we will. NB. Mismatched vintage is so much less expensive than heading out to buy a complete set and so much more interesting I think and the best thing is that I can keep on adding to them as I see them.

Chair Heaven

When I was at a client's house a few weeks ago I spotted this fabulous image when she was showing me through her file of things she loves.  I took a photo of the tear sheet as I too love this chair.  I'm sorry I don't know the source of this photo so if anyone does then just let me know.  This image has now been slotted into my file of things I love...the file is bulging these days!

image source thanks to Make mine Mid-Century Blog - Home Beautiful May 2007 'Bohemian Rhapsody' p 72.

Today

Today I collected together a little group of mismatched, brightly coloured fabrics for some cushions for a client's sofa.  I never tire of putting different fabric combinations together and I always try to make sure each client has a different combination so as to keep their look unique to them.  Lately I have been so inspired by fashion and the combinations of different fabrics fashion designers have been using in one outfit.  I love the way Easton Pearson mixes fabrics and incorporates beading, frilling and special details in their designs.  The top image is actually a collection of Easton Pearson dresses from 2008.  I like the colour combination used in those 4 dresses and would love to create a room scheme using this image as inspiration.

image 1 - jane roarty stylist

Ben & Phoebe's Daybed

I recently helped my cousin and his gorgeous fiance {they just got engaged on the weekend} with the cushioning on this lovely daybed which they purchased from Cotswold for their beach house. We selected an array of brightly coloured exterior fabrics for the scatter cushions and a trusty navy and white stripe exterior fabric for the seat cushions and voila this is the result. I just love it and apparently they do too!!

Absolutely In Love With...

I am always on the hunt for new, exciting, beautiful fabrics as fabric is my starting point for the rooms/homes I design. We have just received some absolutely beautiful new fabrics in and I must admit I am completely smitten with this orchid fabric. My favourite colourway is this one above but it doesn't work with my current wall colour at the new house. As painting the house {which is going to be a mamouth cost} is not yet on the agenda I am going to have to work with the existing colours which are all very heritage!! So I am going to cover a couple of old chairs I have in the yellow colourway which you can see peeping through underneath...it's very beautiful too but that pink is just to die for, don't you think?!!

Teena's Office

I thought I'd post some photos of an office I just completed for one of my clients as above. The factory lights came from an old factory in South Australia. I actually purchased about 20 of these lights in an auction and have installed some into our new Design Studio as well. Teena fell in love the the MC Pagoda fabric so I worked up a scheme around it for her. The desk skirt is one of my favourite things in this office. It works so well and hides ugly computer equipment which is stored underneath...

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!!

Big & Bold in 2010

Sonia Arriola's report on this years Maison et Objet in Paris reveals that a trend for large scale prints, bold colour pairings, denim blue, and neutrals that shimmer will be all the rage in 2010. I loved this image she shared on her flickr of some curtains hanging in the Dedar showroom in Paris...the fabric was apparently created to represent a digital print. To me they even look a bit ikatish!

Image - Katherine Kostreva

Clayfield House

Here are a couple of photos of a job I have been working on over at Clayfield. I thoroughly enjoyed working for this lovely couple and their 2 young children. The floral armchairs we made are my favourite thing in this house and work beautifully with the colourful Chinese drum stool which we placed next to the slip covered sofa.

Spring Has Sprung...

It's the first day of Spring here in Australia and it's my Wedding Anniversary so here are some florals on florals on florals from an old Vogue Living article to celebrate...