find Vogue living & Zoe Hoare Hamptons style in our store!

Zoe Hoare, Australian expat and daughter of renowned London antique dealer Appley Hoare now lives in this gorgeous cottage in the Hamptons. She found this pair of 1950s bikes at a local antiques fair in the Hamptons, just one example of her keen eye for unique treasures!

She displays her antiques with flair. These are French milliner's heads, similar to ones that I showed in a previous post, on an antique dresser.

She has an amazing arched window mirror in her dining room. The chandelier is wonderful, too. What a light and airy space, the peaked ceiling painted white is stunning.

This is a rare French iron arched window mirror that we have in the store at the moment. It is currently in the garden room as I can imagine it on a courtyard wall. But it would look equally as good in a dining room as Zoe has shown.

Zoe outside with her potting bench. Note the French flower jug and watering cans, and the flower bucket...

...all available in our store!

And her Gustavian settee?

Again, available in our store! The only difference is our settee is an 18th century version, Zoe's is a reproduction available from her partner, Chris Mead's store, English Country Antiques. To visit his store, click here. Well, in actual fact, our settee is still in storage. We bought it on our buying trip earlier in the year but we have not had room for it in our store as yet. It is soon to take prime position, however!

Barnacles and simple cushions are very relaxed Hamptons style, I think.

We only have two barnacle clumps left in store, they make great decorator items.

We will be adding checked linen cushions to our range shortly, in addition to our grainsack striped pillows (above). We have acquired some lovely antique French linen of a similar design to Zoe's cushions. Watch this space!

And the decoy duck on Zoe's shelf above the Gustavian settee?

A very similar model is currently in our garden room. These decoy ducks ooze with character and charm. Do you like Zoe Hoare's relaxed style? We certainly do. (For the full article on Zoe Hoare's Hamptons cottage, see Vogue Living Australia, Nov/Dec pages 142 - 151).

new in store...spools, twine, wooden skis and shoe lasts for little people!

There is just something about balls of twine, isn't there? Well I think so, anyway. Especially when you can get your hands on some quality twine like these hemp balls that have just arrived into the store. I have some similar twine on my kitchen bench at home (and some in the laundry, too) with some scissors propped inside the ball. Whilst I do use it from twine to twine (sorry, bad pun), it really is just there for looks. Take a look through your latest Country Style or similar magazine, I am sure you will see balls of twine throughout...

Hemp twine is so smooth yet textural...don't you just want to reach through your screen and touch it?

These antique rachet ended spools have only just come into store, too. We have put some jute twine around them so that they are ready to be used for the garden.

These spools are cute. They have old coloured yarn on them. And I like the brass ends. I would think these would date to around c.1900.

And these were the find of the week! Original old timber skis, they are 6 foot long!

Finally, size 8 and 10 shoe lasts for children. It is great to be back in the store working and waxing away. I have returned from our buying trip with loads of new ideas and fresh energy. I have many more photos to show you from my trip but I thought I had better first catch you up on what has been happening in store. After all, home is where the heart is and mine is firmly fixed in Tasmania.

trend alert! antique tin and copper tubs as planters

I have only just arrived home from my overseas buying trip and as I was going through my pictures I noticed I was drawn to plants and trees in antique tin or copper tubs. The above olive tree has been planted into a large copper tub which has a fantastic verdigris patination. What a statement piece!

Outside a trendy antiques store in the Cotswold's are these tin tubs with numbers painted on them. They hold a bay tree and lavender but would also work well with herbs.

I saw several of these unusual slatted tubs at the trade fairs but was unsure what they could be used for. I am now kicking myself as I later saw them planted with buxus, above, to great effect. I have since learned that these are original olive buckets and that they also work well upside down as light shades! I will secure some of these on my next buying trip, don't worry.

The two larger tubs above are actually dolly tubs, used for washing clothes. They look great with buxus but I have seen them planted with olive trees and this looks amazing. We have one of these dolly tubs in store at the moment and have one on the way in our next shipment. They will hopefully make a nice pair?

fair finds...santos doll and petite French mannequin!

After a full day at a large antique trade fair I managed to find some wonderful antiques including this wooden Santos doll and a French mannequin of small proportions. Santos dolls are very hard to find, I was quite giddy when I saw it being unloaded from a stall holder's van. My favourite wicker trolley was crucial for carting my finds. Actually, I had fellow antique dealers wanting to buy my trolley from me, but somethings are just not for sale! I selected some garden antiques at the fair, including garden urns and tables. I can't wait to get them home to the store. I also happened upon some French vendage or wine harvesting tables. I bought one that has the most beautiful apple wood top, it is large and oval and flips up for storage.

The BBC were filming for an upcoming program of Bargain Hunt, featuring none other than the charismatic Tim Wonnacott. Quite an eventful and satisfying day, I must say!

French antique finds at a gorgeous showroom

I have been very busy here in the UK visiting my favourite trade showrooms and thought I should show you some of my finds so far. Look at how everything is so carefully displayed, above, it all looks so interesting.

These are possibly the best stools I have ever seen! They are so tall, strong, and masculine. I have only ever seen such stools within the pages of interior magazines. They would make great breakfast stools at a kitchen bench.

I had a wonderful collection of French white porcelain to choose from. I particularly like the sauce boats and chose several of these.

These are antique French milliner's heads, used for making hats. They are very rare indeed.

Look at these painted and gilded stools - not one but a pair! The table has a lovely decorated top as well...

I bought this French long stool with a removable antique French ticking cover. It would be perfect at the end of a bed.

Polished steel shoe lasts converted to door stops, very clever!

I bought the mercurised glass jars next to the lasts as I think they would make a great pair of bedside lamps. I have been to quite a few trade fairs here too and have found some truly great pieces. More photos to come!

buying trip begins with inspiration in London

Well, this may come as a surprise to some but I arrived in London this week for an antiques buying trip for the store. And we started the week off at the inspirational Decorative antiques and Textiles Fair in Battersea Park in London. Here is a collection of photos that I took at the fair (when I was focused enough to do so and not snapping my head around to look every which way I could!). I hope you find the gorgeous objects in these pictures as inspiring as I do...

It has been a very busy week travelling around. I will post more pictures over the next few weeks, especially of my favourite finds.

spring gardening

This antique garden cloche was one of the treasures I found earlier in the year on a buying trip. It came from the Yorkshire dales area of the UK. I am using it to help protect basil seedlings. It is a bit too early to plant basil here in Tasmania, it is not warm enough. I am hoping that the cloche will give create enough warmth to make the basil grow! This is my dibber - the handiest tool I own, and my light weight watering can.

Rocket is growing well at the moment. The slate label was a Christmas present last year. These are available at Karen Wagner's store in Hobart. If you are like me and love gardening, visit Karen's blog here.

You may have seen these antique French garden tiles in a previous post. Oh well, you didn't see my garlic and rhubarb planted in the bed, did you? Purple garlic grows very well here in Tasmania. Plant on the shortest day of the year and harvest on the longest day of the year, or so they say. I followed this method last year and it worked for me.

I am a tad worried about my broccoli, they are not sprouting or flowering at this stage and they have been in for a few months now. I am trying to be patient but it is difficult. Advice anyone?

My bay tree is flowering at the moment, attracting much needed bees to the vegetable garden.

Tarragon and purple sage in a wire work planter against the fence with another slate marker for the Tarragon. The slate markers are very handy if you ask someone unfamiliar with herbs to go picking. I am speaking from experience, it is easy to end up with parsley when you asked for mint!

This is my trusty daisy weeder which is vying for the title of handiest garden tool. And it is coming in at a very close second. I will be on the hunt for these for the store on my next buying trip as they work very well with daisies in the lawn.

And lastly, a weeping cherry tree in the front yard and a bee at work! As worldwide bee numbers decline with the possibility of extinction, we should all be happy when we see these beautiful little creatures in our gardens.