Amazing London Interior!

One of my favourite features of all time in the World of Interiors magazine was in the February 2010 issue (page 104 to 113). The home belongs to designer Anouska Hempel in London.

These round fanlight windows are beautiful! She turned them upside down to form circles - very clever! I love her daring use of dark colours. But mostly I adore the way she uses multiples of objects to make a striking impact. She does not have just one hanging engraved glass lantern above her dining table, she has nine! And I count six glass smoke domes in front of the window (see above photo) Hanging glass lanterns are my favourite light fitting, they always look elegant, particularly in entrances and hallways. Both mum and Donna have these in their hallways. And the engraved pattern sends of dancing patterns onto the walls. The lanterns pictured in the above photo are some that we have in our store presently.

And here is a collection of 19th century glass smoke domes that we have in the store. They would look great hanging in a window as Anouska has done in her dining room.

She has plenty of dark lacquer, glass candlesticks, storm lanterns, red Chinese pottery and plaster intaglios. It certainly makes me want to be more bold with decorating!

Aprons for the Store

How clever is my mum and sister, Rachel? They created these beautiful aprons from French linen and stamped them using vintage wooden printers letters. They look really unique and we are very proud to be wearing them in our store. They actually made them while we were in the UK and surprised us with them upon our return. We have the wooden printers letters in our store. A lady bought some that spelt "baby" on the weekend, as a gift to her friend setting up a nursery.

Salamanca Market - Early Morning Finds

At Salamanca Market on Hobart's waterfront this morning I rugged up against the elements with the mission of brightening up my kitchen with some fresh flowers. I found a stall selling dutch hyacinths, he only had one white one left (white is my favourite flower colour) so I was in luck. I potted them into a small French white porcelain tureen base... I was utterly mesmerised by some cabbage roses or ornamental kale on the same stall, I had to buy one to take home just to admire. I have popped it in a glass vessel that I bought from The Vintage Rose in Launceston (see below photo). I also bought some tulips which look great in English creamware. This jug is one of my favourites in my cupboard, I bought it on last year's UK buying trip. Here is another type of ornamental kale - amazing! This one was grouped with some native flowers, which I didn't like, they look best just as they are. I plan to plant some next year, I have to wait til Autumn. The frosts actually enhance the depth of colour. But the seeds need some warmth in the soil to germinate, so I will plant around 6 weeks before the expected first frost. There are numerous fruit and vegetable stalls like this one. I bought some fresh produce including some organic apples, leeks, butternut pumpkin, beetroot etc. Plus a red onion and chedder bread to have with roast pumpkin soup. Yum.

And lastly, I could not resist a few vintage pieces... I found a French white porcelain juicer (very small, I will use it for limes) and a strainer...

Pictures of Venice

The petite canals with the famous gondolas. We chose a warm night for our gondola ride, see photo below... Going under the Rialto bridge on the Grand Canal. This courtyard with arched ironwork and stone statue was out the back of the glass museum on the island of Murano. On the island of Torcello we stumbled across an antique shop. Inside was a fabulous Russian icon for 6000 euros and a French still-life painting for 3200 euros - a little outside our budget. They also had garden statuary for sale, see photo below...

Also on the island of Torcello was the above villa. It was actually for sale, it would make the perfect holiday home. We can dream...

Within Venice itself we saw a couple of stores making and selling these aprons. And they were a real steal at only 10 to 15 euro each!

Ladder frenzy

This collection of English country ladders are available in America on 1stdibs. I would think we bought as many as this on our buying trip! We love ladders, from the more refined faux bamboo ladders to the English country farmhouse steps, not to mention French orchard ladders.

We bought some pine library steps very similar to this one (which is also on 1stdibs). Ours does not have quite as many steps, but the steps are nice and wide. It may be one that we want to keep as a shop fitting, we will see...

I love these folding ladders as they make a great display shelf (just add some planks across the steps). The one above is on 1stdibs, the one below is one of two that we bought - one has original green paint, the other is waxed pine. Both will have a few planks with them as shelves. Donna bought a ladder very similar to the one above. I love the complex construction. Not only does it look great, it makes them very, very strong. This is the French faux bamboo ladder that I bought last year from our store. It is now in my kitchen and I use it to reach into my high cupboards. It is very strong as it is not bamboo, but oak made to look like bamboo. There is one on 1stdibs at the moment, I bet it would cost a small fortune! We have a tall pine faux bamboo ladder in our shop at the moment with hooks at the top (not folding). It would look great in a library, hallway or bathroom. And we also bought another darker coloured one (see previous post). And I have saved the best for last. This is the dreamiest ladder of all time and is also on 1stdibs. And I would think that this one would not cost a small fortune, but a large one!

More buying trip finds

This delightful pine chest of drawers was one of Donna's finds in the south of England. The powder blue painted finish with white detail and the bracket feet give it oodles of character - it is both cute and sophisticated at the same time if possible. The French faux bamboo ladder came from the same trade contact, as did the leather screen in the background. I have a thing for faux bamboo ladders, I have one in my kitchen and absolutely love it! And speaking of French faux bamboo and painted chest of drawers, here is a faux bamboo chest of drawers that we bought quite early in the trip... It would look great in a bedroom, boudoir or bathroom...

Swedish clocks, movie sets and potting sheds

The above clock was one of Donna and my favourite finds on our buying trip. We had it in the backs of our minds that we wouldn't mind a Swedish clock for the shop. And we found not only one, but two of the most beautiful Swedish clocks (I didn't get a photo of the other one before we had wrapped it up, it is just as beautiful, in a soft grey colour). They are just so dreamily decorative and would look great absolutely anywhere. I saw several in upmarket shops in the south of England (including the one pictured above), all of which were unsurprisingly sold.

I have since found out that they are called Swedish Mora clocks. And even more exciting, there was a Mora clock featured in the living room of the Hampton house from the movie "Something's Gotta Give" (see above photo) - my favourite movie house along with of course "It's Complicated". For example, the "It's Complicated" potting shed (in which our flower buckets would look right at home, see previous post)...

Need I say more? Or at least I could include a photo of her dreamy kitchen just to really make a point (I feel I am getting a bit off track here though)... Back to Swedish Mora clocks. Here are some examples in the home setting... I plan to continue my Swedish/Gustavian theme in my next post, with another snap shot of a piece that we have coming.

Flower buckets

I was pouring over an English House & Garden magazine (May issue) that I brought back from the UK and couldn't help but notice the tin flower buckets used in the fabric photo shoot. They have brass maker's labels which is actually quite rare. I managed to buy some like these from a stall at a big international antique fair that I went to in early June. Again, thank goodness for the granny trolley as they were actually quite heavy. From the same stall I bought an early 20th century weather vane in the form of a cockerel. I received loads of comments on the cockerel on my way back to the van! In the background of this picture you can see the flower buckets that Donna found. They don't have brass labels but they do have handles which makes them easier to use. We also found quite a few traditional English garden trugs, perfect for collecting vegies or flowers from the garden.

These photos (from Cote de Texas blogspot) show flower buckets very similiar to the ones that Donna got with handles. They contrast nicely with flowers or the grasses.

Antichita in Venice

Although we were meant to be taking a break from antiques hunting, we couldn't help but keep a keen eye out for the odd Antichita shop in Venice. In one I found a wonderful vintage crocodile case but it did not have a price and I couldn't buy it ... we returned a few times but to no avail. It would have definitely put me over the luggage limit! In another shop we bought a pair of Italian stone lamps, we think they may be onyx but we will have to do some research. We were on the hunt for a vintage Venetian scene painting but we must have been too fussy because we did not find the right one. Overall, we had our fill of all things old including architecture, paintings and of course the famous Venetian glass.

We topped off our trip at a great restaurant 'Da Fiore' which was close to our apartment. They had signed Venetian glass vases as their bread holders which proves with imagination beautiful objects can find purpose in often unusual ways. On our walk back to the apartment we came across dancing - more than 30 couples dancing a Latin ballroom dance in the square.