Giveaway - Paris: Made By Hand

It's my birthday tomorrow and I figure that I shouldn't be the only one that gets the pressies (particularly at my age!!!). I'm a great fan of Pia Jane Bijkerk's blog - she's an amazing stylist and blogger, and so my dear blogging friends to celebrate my birthday I have a copy of Pia Jane Bijkerk's fabulous new little book, 'Paris: Made By Hand', to give away.

Here's what the publishers, The Little Bookroom, have to say about her book:

Stylist Pia Bijkerk has discovered more than 50 shops in Paris that embody the spirit of fait main and where you’ll find the most original and creative clothing, jewelry, handbags, ceramics, home furnishings, and decorative objects in Paris. Some are shops owned by professional chineurs, people who have an eye for the unique, who hunt out objects sought after by decorators, designers, and stylists.

To whet your appetite here are a few pages from the book courtesy of The Little Bookroom:

And here are a few gorgeous pics of some amazing vintage industrial furniture that is from Atelier 154, one of the 50 shops that is featured in the book...

So, if you'd like to be the proud owner of this gorgeous book all you have to do is leave a comment on this post telling me the one thing that you love most about Paris. I'll randomly pick a winner at 9.00am Monday morning (Melbourne time).

Images 1 - 4 are from The Little Bookroom; Images 5 - 8 are from Atelier 154.

Buenos Aires beauty

As well as being a world renown film director, Francis Ford Coppola is also a hotelier. Reading the latest edition of Vogue Living, I came across a very small article referring to Mr Coppola's boutique hotel in Buenos Aires, Argentina. Of course, being the blogger that I am, I just had to find out more. Here are some images of the lovely little boutique hotel, Jardin Escondido...

Wouldn't this be a nice place to stay if you found yourself in Buenos Aires. I love the colour of the walls in the internal courtyard!

All images from Jardin Escondido.

Sambag handbag

I have a black leather handbag which I lovingly call 'the black hole' because you cannot see my black wallet and my black phone inside - I'm always scratching around the depths of my bag to find them. So this Winter I want something a bit lighter, like this Sambag tote - it would be just the thing to chase away the Winter blues...



This would do the trick because I need a bag big enough to carry my....

• Oroton wallet


• iPod


• make up purse with all my bits and bobs


• notepad


• T2 teabags


• hand cream


• camera


• walking shoes


• mobile phone


• mints


• fold-up carry bag
  

And while I'm pretend spending, I may as well have these shoes to go with my bag...

(Note: This post is really just one big thinly-veiled hint for my husband for my upcoming birthday!)

Images from Sambag.

Monday morning shop post - Rose St Trading Co.

The Rose Street Trading Company is tucked away in a quiet neighbourhood shopping strip in Armadale, but it's well worth the trip and I never leave the shop empty-handed! This lovely little homewares shop sells everything from small trinkets for your tabletop, right through to gorgeous linen furniture and bedheads.
I have some of these lovely marble pears sitting on the window sill in my living room...The Essense bath and body products are almost too beautiful to remove from their packaging...The cashmere wraps, scarves and cardigans feel as soft as a cloud against your skin...

My sister bought some of these lovely silver bracelets last time we visited the shop...

The shop sells some nice bright & shiny nickel products - I love the little clock...

This glass lamp with parchment shade can be filled with whatever takes your fancy - I think I'd fill the base with big fat creamy pebbles. This is a great way to make your lamp match the decor of a room...

I am lusting after the little rattan thermos jug and tray in this pic...

And finally, the Rose St. Trading Co. also does a beautiful range of chairs and bedheads - this blue linen fabric with the white piping would be a wonderful addition to my son's bedroom...

All images are from the Rose Street Trading Company.

Have a lovely weekend

Dear blogging friends, have a lovely weekend. I'm off to explore Sydney for the next few days, so I'll see you Monday. I hope you all have something lovely planned for the weekend. Ciao bella.

Image from John Dummer

Playing hookey on a fine Autumn morning

It was a beautiful Autumn morning here in Melbourne today so I decided to play hookey from work and go have a coffee with my husband. He's a builder and he's working at a house about 10 minutes away from where we live. After coffee we decided to take a quick walk in the sunshine, taking in the sights of the neighbourhood. These are some of the lovely houses that I spied out on my walk this morning.

Wouldn't it be nice to have a swing like this on your front porch...
I liked the overgrown climbing rose and bouganvillea on this cute place, and the old church window and quaint wooden door at the side...

Here's a closer look at the lovely weatherbeaten door. I love the fact that even though this door obviously doesn't lead anywhere they'd decided to retain it in the brick wall.

The Boston Ivy that covers much of the front of this house is only just beginning to take on the lovely autumnal red and yellow tones (I must remember to go back and see it in its full glory soon)...

And how about this quite modern piece of garden sculpture in the front garden of this period house. 'X' marks the spot...

A sweet little water feature and a glossy black door - a lovely combination...

The water feature looks lovely with the stones and native plants surrounding it...

I loved the sweet bird decorative detail on this balustrade of an old Victorian home (I wish I could have got a closer shot of it)...

A sweet little white picket fence and a rambling garden...

Another black glossy door, this time the entrance is quietly tucked away at the side of the house...

Obviously I have a thing for glossy black doors! Here's another one. Don't the glossy grey pots at the entrance make a nice statement. And I quite like the idea of sitting in the sunshine on that white garden bench with a cup of tea and a good book or magazine...

And finally, one more black glossy door before the end of my neighbourhood walk...

Hope you enjoyed playing hookey with me!

Brown Button Trading - Wish List

The very gorgeous, stylish and entrepreneurial Kimberlee of Brown Button blog fame has finally opened her online store Brown Button Trading. I have to say that it was well worth the wait. It's chock full of Brown Button goodness and loveliness.

These are some of the things that are on my wish list...

A chalkboard wall sticker for inside my pantry door - my son would absolutely love this...

A pewter tea caddy so that I can retire the crappy old ceramic one that I have sitting on my kitchen bench...

I figure that if the camellias in my front garden won't flower then I should at least treat myself to a camellia ginger jar so that I have camellias in the house...

A Grain De Coleur table runner. This one reminds me of one of the paintings by my favourite artist, Thornton Walker. I would love to frame this one...

A set of red bangles to brighten up my winter wardrobe...

A set of Les Papiers Jean Rouget cards and envelopes so that I could send my snail mail in style...

Now I'll just have to get my PayPal sorted and make the tough decision about which of the above beauties are going to be mine. I think it's going to the chalkboard sticker & red bangles.

All images in this post are from Brown Button Trading. Make sure you go check it out and support this stylish new online endeavour.

Sydney - making a list

This weekend my husband and I will be heading up to Sydney - we're meeting three other couples up there for a long weekend of child-free fun & frivolity. None of us actually live in Sydney, we just happen to be congregating there. Every ANZAC day weekend we get together in either Melbourne, Sydney or Brisbane. We've been doing this for years - the four boys joined the army together when they were 16 and served in the UN peacekeeping force in Namibia and have remained good friends for over 25 years even though none of them are still in the army and they now live in different states. So, we're really looking forward to catching up with our good friends.

I'm also looking forward to checking out the Archibald Prize portraiture exhibition at the Art Gallery of NSW...

Image from Art Gallery of NSW

This is a portrait of musician Geoffrey Gurrumul Yunupingu painted by Guy Maestri. It is the winning portrait for the 2009 Archibald Prize. Can't wait to see it (and the other finalists) first hand.

I'm also making a list of some of my favourite Sydney shops that I want to check out while I'm there...

Ici Et La for fabric and French vintage...

Image from Urban Walkabout

Edit for interesting one-off pieces...

Image from Edit


Image from Edit

Cooking marvel Donna Hay's new homewares store...

Images from Donna Hay

Check out the great interview and fabulous pics of Donna's new store over at Far Out Brussels Sprout. It's got me itching to check out the shop!

The Society Inc for its general loveliness - you never know what you'll find when you step inside (oh how I wish they'd get their website up & running - it's been under construction for so long)...

Image from The Society Inc.

You can also read a recent post about this lovely shop at the fabulous blog The Design Files right here.

Parterre - I simply swoon and lust after everything whenever I visit this amazing store (make sure you check out their website - there are some amazing pieces)...

Image from Parterre

No Chintz - I need some fabric for my new bedroom window seat and I just know that I'll find exactly what I want right here...

Image from No Chintz

If you're a Sydneysider, do you know of any furniture and homewares shops that are really worth visiting?