Shop Focus

Anthropologie has got it all right, with an incredible shop fitting including tin buckets to display door knobs, green moss lining display shelves and oven mits stuffed inside vintage crates (and not to mention absolutely gorgeous products). I am blown away by the creativity their team puts into the stores and always walk in amazed and leave inspired. Just what a store should do...

***New Workshop Dates***

Hi all,
Well you've asked and we've answered... We have two new workshop dates that have been popped into the schedule...
The first is our How To Decorate Workshop - on Friday 12th August.... If you're interested in decorating but are just not sure how to dip your toe in - then this is a great workshop for you. We cover everything - how to harness your own sense of style and individuality, understanding the relationship that colour plays in an interior, to creating your own room scheme. The day is always a hoot - so you'll not only go away with some tried and true decorating skills under your belt but some new friends too....
Our second is Styling 101 on Friday August 26th. What can I say about our styling days??? Well, they are fun, intensive, energetic, creative and a little nutty (but in a good way). You'll get down and dirty with the art of styling for photographic shoots - whether for magazines, ad campaigns or your own online business. These are grass roots days as I impart all that I have learnt in a styling career that spans 20 years and includes jobs for some of Australia's most coveted clients... Leave your high heels at home for this one!
I hope to see you at one of these workshops over the coming months... At this stage, this is all that I have planned in terms of workshops at The Little Cottage in Bangalow as the schedule is well and truly hotting up... The Just Colour workshop on June 17th will be my last colour workshop for this year - so if colour is your concern - then hop along to this fun and intensive day of learning about colour.
Oh, and for our Tassie girlfriends - don't forget that How To Decorate is heading to Tasmania on Saturday 3rd September. The seats are filling up fast - so head to the Free Range link below for all of the details and to make your booking...

Click here if you'd like to make a booking to one of the workshops....

Loving....

pics Anthro

Why, Hello There Colour Girl...

After months and months of hassling from my lovely offsider Sophie (!) - I have finally succumbed to posting a video or two here on the blog and the Facebook page. We've been playing around for ages with a video camera, filming bits and bobs of styling days and interior decorating tips - which we'll be rolling out here in the weeks and months to come. But to get the ball rolling, I've been practicing my video chit chat using my trusty old iPhoto on the MacBook... This little film is taken sitting at my dining room table up here at the farm, with a lovely Hilary Herrmann painting hanging on the wall behind me. In the background, is my mother (who's up here for the hols) teettering around in the kitchen making cups of tea and Dr Phil is joyfully giving advice from the TV in the background... Nonetheless, I'm happy with this little effort (although I did have to remind myself to speak to the camera and not look at myself on the screen!). And, after years of avoiding a video camera - I think I can smell a come back!!! What do you think y'all...

Oh, I Wish You Could All Be Winners...

Particularly when the prize is just so simply sublime... Well, we have a winner on this gorgeous (albeit rainy!) Friday here in Byron Bay... First up, a big thank you to everyone who has entered the competition - this has been one of our best yet - and it's such a pleasure to be able to offer you guys such extraordinary booty. And so, here we go.... Drum roll please everyone...
The winner of the gorgeous Cello Steel Industrial Dining Chair in Red from Spaces And Places is *******$$$$$#@@@@@@#
$@@#@#*********************....................................................*******************...................................................................................&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&$$$$$$$$$$$$$$(#(#(#(#(#$(#(......................................................................................................******   KIM POLLEY..... Hooray.... Kim Polley are you out there? Then send us an email and we'll organize to get you your chair.... Congratulations....

Last Night I Wondered...

I was watching an episode of Grand Designs last night - the one about the guy who built a straw bale house and created a life around subsistence living... It was an idyllic setting - if not slightly ramshackle - but inspirational nonetheless... This guy was living a truly simple life - digging his vegetables from the garden and making things; beautiful things, with his hands... Every time he spoke, it was with ease and grace and a kind of calm that is reserved for those with Buddhist-like disciplines... It got me to thinking about life; the way we design our lives and the choices that we make that ultimately shape how our lives look, think and feel. For me right now, life is busy (yes, even on a farm in the country!!!). Every day is broken down into the smallest increments of time - 10-minute blocks of focus - which means that in any given hour I could be working on 10 different things (and sometimes none very well!) Of course, I've designed things this way - right now, at 42, I figure I'm up for being as busy as can be and welcome the opportunity to fill every moment with wonderful projects and exciting ventures. No time like your 40s I say for getting things well and truly going! But, it got me thinking - what if? What if my life looked different to this - how would I shape it? Could I live a totally subsistent life? Do I have it in me to spend each day toiling the land? What if, I'd chosen another way of doing things... Is it crazy to fill life up with such doing, doing, doing... Perhaps we need a little more being, being, being... Do you ever wonder about what if? What would you do if you could do things differently...
pic from terrain at styers

Don't Miss Out On Some Colour Love...

Don't be afraid of colour all - whilst it can appear tricky from the outside, once you get down and dirty with it, once you get inside it, get to know it from the inside to the outside then you'll move forth confidently toward an interior filled to the brim with delightfully well styled colour. To begin your journey? Well, you need a few rules and tools under your belt and then you'll be on your way. Just in time to help you on your merry colour way, I'm holding a Just Colour Workshop on Friday 17th June 2011. It's a project filled day designed to get you understanding how colour actually works, and what you need to look out for, feel and see to move you closer to a good relationship with colour. If you're interested in coming along then click here to be directed to the website for all of the details. This could very well be your last chance to learn about colour up here at The Little Cottage in Bangalow for 2011 - so don't miss out...

pic serena & lily

Comfort... Here I Come...

When the weather gets cooler and I'm in the mood for some comfort food, nothing looks more delicious than this recipe I came across at Smitten Kitchen for Creme Brulee french toast, yes you heard it right...

Does that make your mouth water or what?

Stand Up And Take Notice... It's Beautiful...

It's Saturday morning up here at the farm and I'm sitting in bed writing what should be my new book, but instead it's a note to you guys on what's going on outside my window... You see, right outside the window the sun is coming up over the hills beyond, and deep down in the valley below is a thick blanket of winter mist. It's such a beautiful sight that I can't quite keep my eyes off it... Needless to say, not many words are being invested in book writing this morning! But it's worth it... For me, the little moments like these, the ones where you take a peek outside your internal mind and step into the world beyond for a second, allows us the opportunity to see... To see the beauty of the world around us. It's sounds a little warm and fuzzy for a Saturday but I'm a big believer in the power of beautiful things - whether it's your time worn favourite handbag, a sweet smelling candle straight out of the box, a fresh notebook, with crisp white pages, just waiting for your words to be laid down upon it or the beauty of the world around us.  This morning the beauty outside my window is enough to fill me up with joy for days... And I love it. Along with my very warm bed I'm in Saturday morning heaven...

P.s As I can't quite get myself out of my very warm bed to take a snap of the beautiful view and so instead I'm sharing this chilly pic from our trip to Europe at Christmas. This pic was taken at Versaille - one of the most beautiful places on earth...

The Warmth Of White...



Agent Bauer

Could there be anything more beautiful that white?

Drum Roll Please.............

We have an exciting giveaway ready to be announced, and boy is this is a big one!!
Are you ready to hear what it is?
Okay, well the amazing people over at Spaces & Places have generously offered the beautiful Cello Steel Industrial Dining Chair in Red.

You can get your hands on one of these by visiting the new website where they offer free shipping to most major cities in Australia. Worth $240, this gorgeous red chair is sure to make any space pop, whether it be used as a resting place for your books, included in your dining chair set to mix things up or even as a bed side table, the options are endless. The Spaces & Places team are constantly sourcing products for their online shop Australia wide and from across the globe, including industrial style furnishings and eclectic pieces that will surely make an impact.

You really don't want to miss out on this treasure, to enter this amazing giveaway become a follower of my blog and follow the link to my facebook page and click the "like" button, better yet, share my facebook page with your friends and leave a message on the page saying you have done so and you will receive an extra entry!

This giveaway is open to all Australian Residents, good luck!!

Green Love...

vtwonen.nl

I'm sure by now you know how much I love green, especially deep sea greens, fresh mint green, actually...make that any green. I'm currently in the process of painting my hallway in a shade not too disimilar to the above, and its bold, but I love my green..

An Old Mill..

oswalds mill

There's something rather divine about all things stone - don't you find? I'm simply in love it - and am trying to infuse as much of it around my home - in the gardens and such. Joni, our stonemason (and Hayden his offsider) is lovingly transforming our garden into a beautiful labyrinth of stone. And I'm in love with it. I love that something can have such majesty and grandeur whilst still projecting a cosy and warm feeling. This beautiful old mill in Pennsylvania has such a grand and sensitive tone. It's grand, but rustic. And that bridge? I think I'm in love...

Garden Blossoms

livingetc

Can't help myself as we move into Autumn here in Oz and chilly weather. I'm feeling inspired by these beautiful gardens featured in Living Etc, there's nothing like a gorgeous European garden with bursts of colour to brighten this dreary weather we're having in Bangalow.

Hello May!

I can't believe how quickly this year is flying by, and we've come to Monday already.
That means it's time to announce the winner of last week's amazing botanical print giveaway from Vintage Prints....and the winner is.........................................Jennifer Rizzo, congratulations Jennifer, shoot us an email with your details so we can get the lovely prize to you!

toast travels