Movie magic...

(image couresy of Vogue Living Australia)

It's heavenly images like this that make want to forget all about my love of French design and embrace the culture from my own backyard.

Whether it be French, English or Australiana, what is it about a feminine boudoir that appeals to my senses? I suppose it's the romance of it all. The fact that although I'm not royalty or a celebrity I can still create this illusion in my own home.

Catherine Martin is the brilliant talent behind this scenic beauty created for the new Baz Luhrmann movie - Australia. It is quite a feast for the eyes with it's intriguing wall of art, fresh plant life (LOVE orchids!) and just the right amount of pink!, including the gorgeous porcelain galah. Finally, aren't those blossom rugs and matching lamps too die for? Mz Martin is driving me crazy! Firstly she tantalizes and dazzles me with her Academy Award winning sumptuous Parisian sets on Moulin Rouge and now I find myself falling love with the interiors of 1940's Australia!

My God I love this room and I CAN'T WAIT to see this movie!

Indulgent luxuries...

Ok now for something at the completely opposite end of the spectrum. I have discovered this company called Sweet Dreams via a blog I can't remember the name of (argh I'm so sorry). Sweet Dreams is a fine furnishings company who specialise in luxurious fabrics and trimmings sourced from around the world. This company has been around for 15 yrs so I'm sure my American pals know and love their heavenly wares well.

This was an exciting discovery for me and I was practically speechless as I was scrolling through their site. At approx $300 US a pillow it's lovely to dream about someday being about to afford their royal pieces.

Following are some too-die-for examples of just what Sweet Dreams has to offer. Possibly one of my favourite designs is the Angelina (pictured above). The soft blue and green tones are so calming and soothing and perfect for the bedroom.

Angelina Table Cover.

Angelina Runner.

Angelina Throw.

Bellissima Table Cover.




Malmaison Runner.

Momentos Bedding.

I also LOVE this Jasmine bedding.

Now we move on to the pillows. This one called Chelsea Garden is my absolute favourite. Look how splendid she is?! I love her so much! LOL ;)

Jasmine Pillow.

Antoinette Breakfast Pillow.

Look Brookie they even have Dragonflies!

Printemps Boutique Pillow.

Giverny Boudoir Pillow.

Giverny Boutique Pillow.

Daniela Boutique Pillow.

Daniela Boudoir Pillow.

Scuttlebug Boudoir Pillow.

Anniversaire Pillow.

And the piece de resistance - The Scuttlebug Ottoman! WOW what a beauty!!

The details and textures on all these pieces drives me crazy. I love my needlepoints for my livingroom and I sure love my silks and trims and emboideries for my boudoir.

Here was just a small selection of some favourites I picked out. There are so many more breathtaking designs to choose from please check out their website if you dare ;)

May your weekend be full of Sweet Dreams :)

A circus themed little boys room...

Some people despise themed rooms but I actually don't mind them. Inspired by the new range of wallpaper and rugs by designer extraordinaire Catherine Martin, introduced to me by Shannon Fricke and Home Beautiful magazine, I have become so smitten with her Circus Silhouette range I couldn't help but put a virtual inspiration board together for a proposal to my sister. My pregnant sister and her husband already have one 2 yr old son - Zach!, and we all just found out last night at a family dinner they are expecting a second son! *YAY*

Unfortunately my own son is now 11 so I doubt I could convince him to allow me to attack his room with my new found love lol. If I were to design a circus themed boys room this is how I'd do it -

Example one: I would paper one wall with either the red or the blue CM circus design and paint the remaining walls white.

Example two: Like the images, I'd paper all the walls the CM circus design and corresponding stripes design.

Example one: I would use a stripe design fabric for the window treatments such as the Alvine Smal fabric from Ikea or another along the lines of this stripes fabric from Pottery Barn kids.

Example two: I'd use a plain primary coloured fabric.

This absolutely GORGEOUS circus silhoulette design rug also by Catherine Martin to coordinate with the wallpapers, sourced through Designer Rugs would go in both example rooms.

(realestate.com)

For both example one and two the bedding would be a very similar pattern to the window coverings and I would choose perhaps a black iron or timber bed.

It's at this point I get to show off the AMAZING work of Kris Langenburg of Mystico Designs.

Kris is yet another extremely talented artist and fellow francophile who specializes in wall murals and handpainted wall hangings. I was blown away as I toured around her site at all her stunning whimsical designs and I was thrilled to see she even had a circus themed wall hanging you can have custom named. This would make such a wonderfully personal feature in my circus room. Check out her new blog as she takes us on a journey of her life, loves and work through her storybook eyes :)

For both example one and two I love this Hensvik bookcase from Ikea and I would probably attempt to paper the back with again either the circus silhouette or stripes design, however opposite colours to the walls. I would then fill it with with some must have accents such as...

A carousel...

A jack in the box...

And of course what childs circus room would be complete without Dumbo!

Finally, one last detail I thought would make a great addition would be a rocking lion as opposed to the traditional horse. I can just picture the little tacker riding away and roaring his lungs out lol.

Now as I am only a student I welcome constructive criticism. What do you all think of my virtual boys circus inspired room? Yay or Nay? lol

Mosaic making....

(please click to enlarge)

Inspired by all the mosaic's I've seen on my favourite blogs and flickr pages I thought I'd try one myself.

This is my first attempt and it's basically a virtual inspiration board for my new bedroom. Girly glamour, romantic, and traditional French chic are all words I would say best describes it's style.

I received Laura Ashley wallpaper and fabric samples in the mail today and I was bursting with excitement. My real inspiration board is almost complete. I'll post pics of this in the near future :)

1 Designers Guild, 2 Laura Ashley, 3 Mercer and Reid, 4 Laura Ashley

5 Google, 6 Villa Anna, 7 Laura Ashley, 8 David Brian Sanders

9, Villa Anna, 10 Eva Lindh, 11 NY rug company, 12 Villa Anna

13 Imagine This, 14 http://www.flickr.com/, 15 Jessica McClintok, 16 And so to bed

Mosaic maker.

Ahhh blue & white.......a classic!

I found myself sighing out loud when I discovered these two heavenly images on Dreamhouse. No matter what style I find myself loving throughout the years I will always surround myself with blue and white accents. Blue and white means home to me. My grandparents loved blue and white and so does my mum. It's timeless, it's alluring, it's classic!

Happy Birthday Beautiful Friend....and My Bed Post.

Dearest Brook, I wish you a truly wonderful birthday. You've been such a good friend to me over the past 5 years. I cherish our time chatting about all matter of things, sharing thoughts, troubles and dreams, and of course treasure hunting together. I love that we share a passion of all things vintage, girly and pink. You are the only friend of mine who gets that about me lol. I wish you all the very best in life and may all your wishes and dreams come true. I can't wait for our dinner date this week :)

The past few weeks I've been overwhelmed with blogging pals tagging me. I'm so honoured and humbled by the fact you want to know more about me. I apologise for not playing along, I hope I haven't offended anyone. With so many at once I just felt a little tagged out :)

One tag though from Chantal at Interior Dreaming simply asked me to post a picture of my bed. I wish I had a deliciously glamourous bedroom I could show off just as I dream to have someday but alas I don't. My bed is lovely though, an Australian oak sleigh bed. I found these pics in my files of my bed taken a few years ago. My room hasn't changed in that time. I do have different bedding for the different seasons. This photo was taken in spring. Sorry it's not so clear.


I posted this second pic to show a little closer view of the bedding. The quilt and one pillow is Laura Ashley and another pillow is Rachel Ashwell. Look at my gorgeous baby Tigger! He's all grown up now but still as loveable. He's the friendliest cat I've ever known. Sometimes I think he thinks he's a dog lol.

This pic is of one of the guest beds I use at my dads farm house. There is another bedroom next door and each room is partitioned from the living area with gorgeous candy striped curtains. It's so much fun! My dad has promised to send me some shots of the guest house soon to show you. He's a much better photographer than me lol.

Another bedroom I can't wait to show you over the next couple of weeks is my guestroom at my mum's home on the lake, and two - too die for - patchwork quilts my aunty lovingly made for me - absolutely stunning!

This last image is of my dream bed - currently owned by Paris Hilton :)


For anyone out there who wants to show off their bedrooms I'd LOVE to see them :)

Please let me know if you make a post like this.

New friends :)

Bloglandia is just full of surprises everyday. I have been so fortunate to have been introduced to some incredibly beautiful blogs over the last few days and I'm so excited about them I had to spread the word.

The House That A-M built is a wonderful blog by a Queensland mum and online boutique owner who takes us on a journey as her family builds their dream home. I am proud to say I even unexpectedly offered some inspiration for this endeavour :)

Her inspiration pics and ideas are absolutely beautiful and....well....quite inspirational really lol :)

The image above came from A-M's blog, originally from a furniture store in London comically called 'And so to bed'. I am in awe of it's beauty, including the bedding. I just wish I could somehow enlarge the picture to screen size.

http://thehousethata-mbuilt.blogspot.com/

http://www.armchairtrader.com.au/index.php

(A-M's online boutique, a visual feast of girly goodness)

http://www.andsotobed.co.uk/

Lily-G is another brilliant Australian designer and I've now decided my new mentor lol :)

Again based in Queensland (All my favourite designing women and their boutiques are in QLD...I seriously need to move! lol), Judy has a wonderful wonderful french country inspired furniture and homewares store and her blog showcasing her wares as well as pics and subjects that inspire her is a place to marvel and in my case, be educated on the beautiful world of design.

After months and months of searching for the perfect wallpaper for my bedroom feature wall I found this stunning duck egg blue damask paper by Anna French at Lily-G's. Like I said, the blog world is full of surprises.

http://lily-gonline.blogspot.com/

http://www.lily-g.com.au/

(Judy's website is positively too die for, definately have a peek)

http://www.annafrench.co.uk/index.shtml

Last but not least I'm sure almost everyone from Australia would know who Shannon Fricke is due to her outstanding work as leading interior designer on the lifestyle channel.

I have only recently discovered her blog thanks to Anna Spiro and I LOVE IT!

Again perfectly inspirational and educational, Shannon posts about the latest and greatest products and ideas and definately keeps you well informed about what's new and hot in the design world.

I especially wanted to make mention of a post Shannon featured on this new up and coming childrens clothing label called Paperwings.

The extremely talented people behind this label are graduated set designers from NIDA (National Institue of Dramatic Art) and the sets these children are featured in on their website are stunning. I am smitten with the frame swing!

Unfortunately the sizing range looks to be too small for my children borderlining teenagehood so I hope they do broaden their demographic. Their website and collections are simply adorable and incredibly alluring.

http://shannonfricke.blogspot.com/

http://www.paperwings.com.au/

Beautiful bedding...

While continuing my research for the perfect look for my new bedroom I came across these two stunning images at Sheridan.

I love the two painted panels on ither side of the bed which could easily be mistaken for etched mirrors - Gorgeous.

In this image I love the luxurious bedding, round pillows and chandelier sconces. The She Sheridan range is made for royalty featuring 1000 thread counts and retails for a few thousand dollars. I wonder, have any of you ever slept in such luxury? I can only imagine how incredible it must feel.

Alas this is my beautiful brand new duck egg blue 350 thread count sheet set by Mercer and Reid. I personally feel like royalty sleeping on this silky soft bed linen and the colour is perfect.

(image courtesy of Lynn's Linen Loft)


Of course this is my dream bedding and probably a near future purchase lol - Ralph Lauren's Villandry Highfields. Just beautiful!

http://www.sheridan.com.au/She.html

http://www.adairs.com.au/brand.asp?id=36