Art: Paintings + Plates

I adore the very clever and very beautiful creations by Bruce Wayland and Marcello De Simone of Little Owl Design - I'd love this one for over my fireplace:

Or perhaps this stunning image of dahlias:

Both pieces are sold and alas, Little Owl is far, far away in Amsterdam.

If you're interested, you can check out more of this amazing art at Little Owl Design.

[All images from Little Owl]

Afternoon delight

My lovely friend Jen celebrated a significant birthday on the weekend - she saw in the momentous occasion by having a Spring Garden themed afternoon tea for 20 or so of her girlfriends at my place. We had such a wonderful afternoon, filled with champagne cocktails, cups of tea, soft fluffy sponges, magnificent macarons and more....

The centrepiece was definitely the amazing white chocolate mud cake that my sister organised as a birthday cake - she capped off the cake by decorating it with some lovely little violas...

A bright outlook

Nothing like a bright door on a great little cottage or shed to brighten your outlook...three perfect examples:

[Image from Stayz]

[Image from Content Agency]

[Image from here]

Have a lovely weekend.

A certain charm

This gorgeous apartment was created by Boddam Whetham Architects and it features in the 'Before & After Special' booklet that accompanies the October issue of the Real Living magazine. It's a simply beautiful clean, uncluttered space. My favourite features: (1) I especially love the dining bar up against the window. It's a terrific idea when you're tight on space; (2) the steel internal doors really add character to the space; (3) the unique bathroom pedestal (custom made) and basin.

You can click on the images for a closer look, or pop on over to Boddam Whetham to view the images of this and other beautiful architectural projects.

[All images from Boddam Whetham]

Pearl Beach beauty

This lovely Pearl Beach (NSW) house featured in the latest issue of House and Garden - I really like the both the exterior and interior paint colours and I'm trying to convince my husband that we should use similar colours on the house we've just bought. He wants to go all white on the exterior. A bit boring if you ask me.

The other amazing thing about this house...the family also let it out as a holiday rental! If you're interested you can find more information here.

Anyway, on to the eye candy (click on any of the photos for a closer/clearer view)...

The dark, dramatic exterior...

The light and airy interior...

The house renovation was designed by Connor and Solomon Architects.

[All images from Stayz]

Bookish

It's so good to see a bookstore opening rather than closing down - and quite a stylish one at that! So heartening to read in my fave online newspaper 'Broadsheet Melbourne' about the opening of Embiggen Books @ 197-203 Little Lonsdale Street, Melbourne. You can find out much, much more about this bookshop here and here. I'll definitely be wandering down Little Lonsdale Street for a visit on my next foray into town.

Of course that would entail a visit to Design Dispensary too - just down the street at 322 Little Lonsdale.

[Images: 1- Broadsheet Melbourne; 2 - Design For Use]

tropical gorgeousness

Don't get me wrong, I like Dinosaur Designs, but it's only since I saw these images on the Mr and Mrs Smith blog that I've really, really wanted to own some of their homewares - their Coral Sea collection screams 'tropical summer', particularly when you see the way it's been styled at the Mr and Mrs Smith morning tea:

[All images from Mr and Mrs Smith]

A bit of greenery for the first day of Spring

A garden post to celebrate the first day of Spring here in Australia...it's here at long, long last!  If the weather is good I'm looking forward to doing a bit of weeding and planting in our neglected garden this weekend.

While trawling through some of the images I've got stored on my computer, it's only just become apparent to me that I have a thing for houses covered in a bit of greenery:

"A love of gardening is a seed that once sown, never dies."

Gertrude Jekyll (1843 - 1932)

[Images: 1 to 3 - Country Living; 4 & 5 - Emily Followill; 6 & 7 - Kay & Burton]