More Chrissy inspiration...

I'd say most of us have finished decorating our homes for the Christmas season but incase you're unfinished and uninspired here are some gorgeous festive rooms that have certainly inspired me!

Some have a nordic flavour and others are comfortably colonial. My home features a little of each.

(the three images above are all from Swedish Interior Design)

(the seven images above are all from country living)

(Liz Williams via VT Interiors)

While my children are still little, I have alot of decoration my children have made at school and such to which I cherish eg: the handstitched tree on a piece of linen my daughter made. My tree is very disorganized with mostly figurine and handmade ornaments as opposed to perfectly proportioned baubles.

Here is my latest edition, I found this lovely santa who I fondly refer to as my Nordic santa from the flea market this past sunday.

He stands proudly on my hall table :) My love for vintage finds certainly doesn't stop at Christmas. After seeing Tracey's post I'm now on the hunt for mercury glass baubles to place in a pewter bowl. LOVE IT!

More pics of my Chrissy decor to come...

Random loveliness...

(Chris Everard via Desire to Inspire)

Well the auction for our lake house came and went on thursday but didn't sell. A real sign of the times when people expect us to give away a prime piece of real estate. Nvm, more time for us to enjoy it :)

Anyhoo, it's been another mental week and I guess it wont get any slower for a few weeks yet. I had to post some of the absolutely stunning images that are inspiring me this week.

I hope you're having a joyous weekend filled with lots of Chrissy festivities :)

(Traditional Home)

(Latest Sussex)

(Eric Roth via Desire to Inspire)

(Eric Roth via Desire to Inspire)

(Eric Coher via Cote de Texas)

(Betsy Johnson via Taverne-Agency)

(Shabby Chic via Apartment Therapy)

A nursery fit for a princess...

(petit tresor)


Spending time with my nextdoor neighbours brand new boo boo one can't help but feel clucky. No I'm not going to go there myself lol but I do hope to design a French/vintage with a touch of glam inspired nursery someday. My neighbours didn't find out what they were having therefore planned their nursery around a very basic neutral background. When I say basic, I mean beige! But a lovely beige at that :) I think they made a wise choice. Their furniture is a very dark, almost ebony timber. Their overall colour scheme looks similar to J'Lo's nursery above :) When I ask friends who are pregnant what colour they are painting their pending babies room alot of them can't wait to experiment with lots of colour. Friends who don't know the sex of their baby often want mint green or lemon and others who know of the sex go straight for the bright pinks and blues.


I personally prefer a nursery to be predominantly white. A newborn baby is the most pure form of human therefore I believe should be adorned in white. I absolutely love to see a newborn baby dressed up in a white nightie or all-in-one suit. To me, it epitomizes their youth.

(chic shak)

When I say I like nursery's in white I don't mean ALL white like the image above. Yikes! They've just come from heaven to earth they now need to experience pops of colour ;)

(taverne-agency)

When first bringing a baby home most of us like to have a smaller bed next to ours for easy access during the night feeding phase lol. Really, babies are only able to sleep in these types of beds for about 4 to 5 months maximum therefore I think it's a waste to take up too much space out of your room with large cradles or bassinets with canopys and valances and such. I really love these sweet moses baskets. Easy maintenance, cosy, unintrusive, multifunctional and with a little monogrammed bedding I think they look fit for royalty.

(Petit Tresor)

If I were to decorate a nursery for a little girl I'd begin by painting the walls either antique white or a very pale beige.


Without going crazy with bright colours and patterns, which we all know as they say you should never do as it stimulates their mind when they are supposed to be resting, I believe there are more subtle ways of incorporating interest for the baby but at a much calmer level.

(Ohdeedoh)

I LOVE the image above. Who needs an annoying mobile hanging over the cot/crib when you could have a beautiful sparkly chandelier hanging from the ceiling or sconces on the walls. Imagine the pretty soft colours that would dance around the room when the sun bounces off the crystals.





When it comes to a cot/crib I absolutely love iron. Timber slim slat cots are lovely also but I just love the delicacy of iron cots. Again to me, children, as they get older, tend to acquire more chunky furniture, predominantely timber, so I like the thought of a petit delicate baby sleeping in a petit delicate bed. Alot of iron cots have an heirloom stigma attached to them and rightly so. They are that something extra special you wouldn't want to just throw away after your baby has outgrown it, more like pass it down the family tree.

(celebrity babies)

I absolutely love Toile patterns for the soft furnishings, especially if it depicts children, animals or nursery rhymes.


If you don't have built in wardrobes a beautiful armoire would be a perfect choice and the caning on this one is a welcomed texture.

Ok there is no avoiding some of the chunky, practical furniture every babies room needs. When you have a limited space i don't believe you should crowd the room with a changing station and a chest of draws. I love the draws/change table combination. It makes sense to make two functions out of one piece. What is it with me and monogrammes lately? I can't get enough! I'm already planning on trying to encorporate some monogrammed cushions into one of my clients formal living room and now thinking about nursery's I think it's paramount you display SOMETHING with your beautiful new babies initial/s. Really welcome your cherub to their new home by personalizing the space.

You know me and my love for painted furniture....I couldn't resist including this lovely piece as another option. It's very detailed but not tacky or overdone and if you were to keep detail painted pieces to just one again it will offer the baby interest and wont be overstated.




I love ornate furniture in a nursery, offering depth and texture with that important touch of whimsy.


This would be a sweet nightstand and perfect to neatly display all the beautiful heirloom gifts you recieve from family and friends. Actually I'm looking for piece similar for my own daughters room. Unfortunately the tufted bench I was using next to her bed has proven to be a bit of a pain and not the functional piece I'd hoped. It's now at the end of my bed where I suppose it was original made for.



Another darling option for a nightstand.




This Louis style chaise is probably highly impractical but can I just say what a gorgeous piece of furniture it is? :)

If space permits i'd be more inclined to use a gorgeous tufted glider like the one above in a beautiful vintage floral or toile fabric or combination of both. I wouldn't bother with the ottoman unless client requests.

Moving onto accents, if I wasn't using any other detail painted pieces in the room I'd love a little table and chairs set just like this, anxiously awaiting the first of many tea parties.

(house to home)

Another small but lovely detail to add to any baby girl or boys room is to display your favourite of their clothes ie: their christening gowns. I love the look of shelving with little pegs hung above the change table and beautiful baby outfits hanging in a row.

Look at that gorgeous bunny lamp?! What an enchanting element.

(french weave)

You know I would also try my hardest to get an aubusson rug in there ;)

Finally, what vintage inspired nursery would be complete without some of the beautiful artwork of Mz Besse Pease Gutman in slightly ornate white frames.

These are my three favourites!

Ok this post was a little more detailed than I first expected so I'm all babied out now and snapped back to reality lol.

I'm quite certain my next baby will be a yappy handbag dog lol

All furniture featured was from Petit Tresor

Oh how I love to dream...

(image via charm hill Interiors)

Thumbing through one of my old Veranda issues searching for colour inspiration I was reminded of this absolutely exquisite kitchen designed by Jack Arnold. Mr Arnold is famous for his surperb luxury country French designs. He nails the authentic French look down to the finest of details.

To me, kitchens just don't get much better than this. The black cabinetry with gilding and ironwork is ultimate feature. The countertops, sinks and wall tiles are all Carerra marble. The antique chandelier is from Avignon, France.

Here is another view of this heavenly workspace from the Bentwood Kitchens website. What makes me happy while viewing the luxurious details is that I have been able to copy somewhat some of the design principles for my own kitchen on a far more modest budget. I have white cabinetry with a black stone countertop therefore kinda sorta the same lol. I have iron hardware and scrolly bakers stand, copper pots, vintage pottery, goose neck faucet, greenery by the way of potted herbs on the window sil and beautiful recipe books on display. What I do need now is a wooden wall plate rack, new oven and french style rangehood, a glass canister filled with lemons and definately one of those apple bowls!

Well a new year is around the corner, who knows what adventures it will bring.

Have a wonderful weekend and good luck trying to find parking at the malls! ;)

My celebrity moment...

Last week I mentioned my home when I was a little girl was featured in a couple of magazines. Well here are the images I promised. It's very 80's now but back then I thought it was a palace lol. The formal lounge we could only look at and not actually enter lol The white lounges were from Peter Meyer Interiors and the soft furnishings were Laura Ashley. This room came complete with cream shagpile carpet, apricot paint and fabrics and maiden hair furns lol :)

I do however still love the colonial double hung windows.


This was the breakfast room looking out over a small courtyard. this room featured old brown vinyl bentwood chairs, pine buffet and hutch, matchstick blinds and navy gingham valance. As you can see this is where my love for blue & white began.


My mum still has many of the items such as the persian rug, cane chairs and country paintings.




The little table and chairs also still exsist and get used by my children and my sisters.

Here is me and my sister Sarah in our terry towelling jumpsuits modelling in our country style kitchen my Pa built. The flooring is vinyl day tiles. I still love this kitchen, especially around the window.

It was very unfortunate that back then half the images were colour and the other half were black and white. The room above was our family room. We used to place our christmas tree in front of the copper fireplace. The wingback lounge you can just see at the bottom right I still have and plan on recovering for my bedroom. My mum still has the cane etagere's in her current family room. I love them and feel they are a timeless piece.

The formal dining room had more shagpile, a travertine marble base and glass top table, malacca cane chairs with apricot Laura Ashley fabric. The curtains were the most STUNNING black chinosiere pattern with hints of green, blue and more apricot and I WISH my mum kept these. She also had a single wingback chair covered in the same fabric which is also long gone :(

This was a beautiful home, it was rendered white on the outside with all the classic features I love so much. I wished we still owned this house. Nvm.

I hope you all enjoyed my retro moment and trip down memory lane :)

Feeling Green...

I don't know what has come over me. I'm usually such a blue person but lately I'm seeing green. I have a heap of colour schemes to put together for all three clients and two of the homes I can see a predominant green theme for their formal living/dining areas.

One a muted olive/sea grass type hue and the other a more forest green, like the green in Mz Wearstlers Imperial Trellis pattern.

One of the homes had a very formal and sophisticated living/dining but VERY outdated, however while walking through I was immediately thinking of an image I saw in a book I have at home called Hollywood At Home by Architectural Digest. It was the home of the late, great Danny Kaye.



I can barely describe the love I feel for this dining room, which still amazes me considering it's so different to my usual prefered style. Decorated back in the 50's I feel this room is absolutely timeless and truly captures that feel of old Hollywood glamour with a contemporary edge. The wallpaper, the chairs, the oak sideboard in the colonial bay window, the oriental tureens, the bowl of yellow tulips - It all works so beautifully and epitomizes elegance and comfort.


Another reason for me thinking about this home was my client had a rosewood pedestal with a vase of silk flowers that were tired and ready for the rubbish and she asked me what could replace them. I noticed she had a couple of oriental accent pieces around so I thought a beautiful white orchid would be a classic way to go with a distinct oriental flavour.
Notice the orchids in the Kaye's living room? :)



I also love the orange cushions in the Kaye's family room. I'm now thinking key colours - green and white with accent colours orange, blue & white.



Especially now after seeing this stunning entry room of the home of Mary McDonald via my favourite blog and yours, Cote De Texas.

I know you're probably all thinking pffft it's all been done before but this is my first time building a concept with the challenge of selling it to the client and I'm excited! :)