White Slip Covers Gone

I'm throwing in the towel.  I can't stand it anymore. 

I have always, always, always loved white slip covered chairs and sofas.  I just love them.  I don't ever get tired of them.  I can change the look of them by throwing a new cushion on them.  They can be placed in any room in the house because they go with everything.  They are perfect in every way except for 1 major problem.  

White Slip Covered Chairs + 18 Month Old Baby + Big Golden Retriever = DISASTER

On the weekend the filth and grime of my white slip covered armchairs in our lounge room got to the point where I couldn't stand it any longer.  I ripped off the covers and threw them into a big tub of cold water with lots of Nappy San.  After a day or so of soaking I removed them and lay them out onto some towels on a big table and let them dry.

Tonight I put the covers back onto the chairs whilst they were still damp so that they would fit back on perfectly.  I was so relieved to see them on the chairs looking all white, fresh and pristine.

I walked away from the chairs for approximately 3 minutes.  I walked back into the lounge room and there it was.  Smack bang in the middle of the seat of one of the freshly washed chair covers was a big dirty 18 month old hand print of biscuit smudged right into the fabric.  I couldn't believe my eyes.

I ripped the covers off the chairs and I have vowed and declared - THAT'S IT.  No more white slip covered furniture.

Tomorrow I am going to work and I am going to select a fabulous patterned fabric to cover the chairs in which will disguise the dirt and grime. 

Good-bye pretty, simple, elegant, interchangeable, timeless slip covers.  I promise you I'll pull you out again someday when it's safe!!

xx
Anna

An Inspired Day

Earlier this week I posted about my thoughts on inspiration and what inspires me.  I was thrilled to read that a few bloggers were inspired by my thoughts and words. 

I couldn't stop thinking about inspiration this week and not only what inspires me but also about my lack of inspiration at times. 

To say that I have been a little bit uninspired lately would be letting you in on a big secret because in my job I need to be inspired all of the time and I need to be coming up with wonderful, exciting things which are different and unique.  However, it does, at times become very hard to keep on coming up with the goods so-to-speak.  That's when I think I need to step away from my crazy life for a few days and appreciate all the beauty and inspiration around me. 

So this morning I declared this a day of finding some inspiration.  As I was driving to work I saw this beautiful tree cascading pretty pink flowers over the roof of an old run-down shed.  I had never noticed it before and yet I drive passed it every single day.

Then as I was waiting for a truck to arrive with some furniture I was installing into a beautiful old home in New Farm I sat on the front fence and noticed all the Jacaranda trees are starting to flower.

Inspiration really is everywhere.  It's just how you interpret it and apply it to your own life which counts.  As Daryl Wark said earlier this week in response to my post,  find what it is that inspires you and run with it.  Don't follow the pack.  Trends will come and go.  Personal style is eternal. 

And on that note, I will retire for this week.  I am off to find some more inspiration in my garden.
xx
Anna

What Inspires You?

Many people ask Designers the age old question - What Inspires you?  To be honest, I find it a very hard question to answer.  Pin-pointing exactly what inspires me is never really something I can put into words. 

However, in saying that the more I think about it and the more I learn and the more experiences I have there is one word which seems to ring around and around in my head.  It is something I strive for every single day and it is something I truly admire in successful, innnovative people.

The word is originality which is defined as - The capacity to act or think independently.

I once read a quote by John Mason which said - 'You were born an original, don't die a copy.'  To be an original, to be an innovator, to create something you can call your own.  Isn't that what we all strive for in this life?  To have full confidence in your own ability to create something wonderful is when everything falls into place.  I hope that when I look back on my life I will be able to say I was an innovator and I was always true to my original self.

I was recently extremely inspired by a book on Celia Birtwell which was given to me as a gift.  Her beautiful prints are unmistakable and it has been said that her work does not date.  So true in fact that her Mystic Daisy pattern, as worn by Kate Moss in 2006, was a sellout for Topshop and yet this very same pattern was worn by Jane Birkin in the 70's. 

In her own words about the process of collecting her thoughts for her book, Celia Birtwell says - 'that my life has been a patchwork of happy accidents without path or planning:  and how hugely privileged I am that my prints have a language of their own that people really enjoy and understand.'

Her work stands out on it's own full of confidence and originality.  There is nothing like it.  Celia Birtwell is an inspiration.