About me

Who am I?

I'm a mum of three great kids!

I work for a living - like most, but I have a passion for all things beautiful.

I can't help it - I am like a Magpie when it come's to spotting things.

In my spare time, I love trawling through junk & antique shops....or wandering around markets.

I love mixing the 'old with the new'.

I believe old things come with history of their 'previous lives' in homes of other people.

Put this in with your new stuff & you create a room with personality.

In a perfect world - I would love to help people create their home with things they love.

I know it can be extremely hard for people to pull colour & textiles together.

I'm pretty lucky that my husband let's me try different things in our house - constantly.

I studied Art at High School - but unfortunately left school early to work in an office

to help out my parents out at home.

Interior Design, & Fashion Designers were not a thing to pursue as a career in New Zealand in the 80's - or so my parent's thought.

But the thoughts of all things creative never left me.

I love the look of Vintage & the colour Pink.

I think it is Feminine.

Something that is quite often forgotten about today.

A lot of our fashion is 'Grunge' which is fine in the right place,

but I think it's important for a woman to express  their sensuality.

Woman are sexy.

And far too many these days have insecurities about the way they look.

I also believe it's important to create your 'own look' & feeling comfortable with that.

Oh for the love of Turquoise!

"ONE" of my favorite colours

TURQUOISE

Generally this colour is always associated with something 'Exotic'.

Its extremely classy, soothing & eye catching

I love the look of 'Oriental'.

The Turquoise lamp - teamed up with the antique table & the moth orchid 

creates a look of class along with comfort.

How stunning is this!

This woman looks beautiful!

Once again a room of Turquoise with the Exotic bird - The Peacock

A lot of people who are superstitious - consider the feathers of a Peacock

to be bad luck.

In western parts of the world - the feathers of a Peacock mean Good Luck,

happiness & good fortune.

The sea is Turquoise - of which for most of us we associate 'soothing'

Used on the walls & doors it not only looks 'French' but that of extreme class

Painted here on an important building in Moscow to enhance the features around the windows

A designer gown in Turquoise Vintage Tulle

The very latest of Eden - February 2014

 

 

Finally "7"years later - with a bit of maintenance, I have achieved 'our' Eden.

 

I 100% believe however, no one's garden is EVER finished or completed.

There are always things to do, renew, change, add or remove.

 

 

It has been a Summertime without hardly any rainfall - however, the lawn has been holding up well so far.

 

 





This is the view from down the back garden - from the side you don't see that is behind the garage.

 

The pond at the base of the water feature, unfortunately has had to have giant pieces of Bamboo spaced around the bottom of it due to the fact our water loving Labrador created a Tsunami in it every time she went for a swim!!

The poor fish didn't know what had hit them with all the waves!

 

The very cute 'Wendy House' (playhouse) has long since become my garden shed.

 

The children decided far too many spider's resided in it when they didn't play in it for a while - so they gave up.

 

 

 



 

 

That 'circular' gate that separate's the two gardens - note...still keeping to the circular theme.

 

 

 

 

Looking back towards the house.

 

 

 

 

I love it that the Queen Palm's have continued to thrive over the years.

 

It's a bit of a shame however, that directly behind the Flare fireplace the half round garden I had - got a disease and I unfortunately had to pull it out.

This space would definitely benefit from being replanted as it is a little bare.

 

 

 

 

The side entrance to the deck from the driveway

 

 

 

 

We have had many a great evenings and nights with friends around the fire!

 

 

 

With the outside fire on the deck as large as ours - for us, it has created almost another room for entertaining.

 

In a perfect world - we would love to build some sort of structure over the top that

is attached to the house that acts like a roof.

 

We have been so fortunate that directly behind the BBQ is one of the most amazing

Avocado trees ever!

It fruits 100% of the time!

Our dogs love it - because when the occasional Avocado drops on the ground

they get to eat it!

Healthiest dogs ever!

 

I never realised though, in order for an Avocado tree to fruit - a male tree and a female tree

have to be planted near each other to pollinate.

Luckily the neighbours have one directly beside ours on the other side of the fence.

 

We haven't figured out which is which - however, both constantly have Avocados on them.

 

 

The Bi Fold doors have been just awesome as once they are completely opened up and pushed back - it creates a perfect indoor outdoor flow.

My love of all things Ballet!

This picture is absolutely amazing!

 

This picture is being painted by an artist in Christchurch, New Zealand to recognize the Royal New Zealand Ballet tour 2014.

 

To me Ballet is something of an 'awe' as they always look so poised, so in control & so incredibly

talented & I can only imagine the hours of training that has gone in to make something

look so gracious & elegant.

 

No one appreciates just how many hours has gone in to master this!

 

How incredibly beautiful & pretty & vintage looking!

Summer turns 18!

 

Being Two is tough work for this wee one as behind the scenes is a noisy new born brother!

 

Looking adorable comes easy...especially with those big eyes & eyelashes!

 

However, the 6th April 2014 is a big day for her as she is turning 18!

 

 

 

I love to bake - so out came the cookbook.

 

 

 

Never one for waiting for surprises - Summer takes a peek!

 

 

Summer loves all things pink & Ballet, so it wasn't hard to decide on what direction

I was going to take with decorating the cake.

I thought the vintage roses would be a nice touch as since she is turning 18 - fresh

flowers from The Country Providore would 'grow the cake up' so to speak.

 

 

 

 

I thought Raspberry & White Chocolate Icing would look great with the colour scheme -

not too mention great flavour!

The name of the roses where 'Old Dutch' & looked great with the vintage little

ballerina decorations I found at a local shop.

The pink balls around the edge of the cake were in actual fact - scorched almonds.

They were coated in this amazing pink metallic coating!

I found these also at a speciality lolly store in town.

 

 

The cute little 'Happy Birthday' bunting came from a giftware sale that I had saved.

 

 

 

Our 'big girl' at 18!

 

Happy Birthday Summer xx

 

 

Wise words

Living style

I think overall I love a lot of all things great & small.

I love clean lines.

I love soft textiles to balance out the bold.

I love simple yet I love busy.

I love the look of cosy yet harsh.

But most of all I love to look at a picture & get the feel of what it would be like

sitting in that room.

What would I take & love from it?

I love that it would feel great to flop on this big couch & be instantly enveloped in warmth & plushness
from the fur.
I love that the pictures on the wall have captured something 'sexy' in the shot
adding emotion to the room & making me want to kick back with a glass of wine & wait for that same very feeling
to flow through my veins.

I love the severity of lines within this room.
The size of the plush rug & hide chairs balance this out.

I would love to entertain in here with friends.
I love that you could sit back & relax - or stand in front of the
fire, with drinks in hand & listen to great music
floating around the ceiling.

I love the sheer simpleness of this room, as it's warmth is created through the soft tone of pink.
The vase on the table replicates the roundness of the shades & the ambiance of the room
would become softer as night time falls with the lights - if the bulbs were of low voltage.

I love that this room instantly oozes charm & looks lived in.
Someone has a love of art as they have created a collage of their favorites.

I love that the white background creates freshness & the feeling I would get in here is
of bright & cheery.

Ooh I love that this instantly makes me think of the ultimate in apartment living.

It is of style & taste.

Without the large 'flotiki' rug...the room would look quite servere & sterile.

I love that I would like to sit in the chair right by the window

with my feet up to read the paper.

I love that this room is fun & yet peaceful.

I love that the severity of the room has been toned down

with the delicate chandelier. 

I love that it looks liked in & that clearly someone loves to read as the bookcase

has no organised flow & the letters to the side of the room represent this too.

Be Inspired!

I am always looking for signs!

Signs of good things in life & what I can take out of it.

So when I turned the page of my calendar this morning - three days late, I discovered this as the picture.

How can I not take this on board when I have just finally started my blog!

6months young!

This is me at 6mths being held by Rose & Pop!

 

Nan is looking pretty retro there with her trendy glasses of the 1970s!

William Vincent & Rose Matthews

 

Old - meets new.....generation.

 

This is the wedding day of two very special people in the photo.

 

Their names are "William Vincent & Rose Matthews".

To me they are/were my great grandparents 'Nanny Rose & Pop'.

They were married in the 1920s.

They arrived in New Zealand when they were both incredibly young.

They survived the 'depression' while they resided up the Thames Coast, New Zealand.

Nanny often spoke of those times, when all they had for a meal was boiled cabbage soup - because someone had randomly left a cabbage at their front door.  Without the kind heartedness of those - there would be nothing to eat that day.

When Rose sailed away from her home shores (originally from the Isle of White) - she left

her father & sister behind.

I recall on the odd occasions when Nan mentioned a letter had arrived in the post (to us snail mail) from her sister.

Nan never saw her father or sister again after she left. Travel was far too expensive for her & pop.

They had one child 'Eva' - a daughter - my grandmother.

Nanny Rose got incredibly sick after having Nana - so that was it Pop said.

Pop passed away when I was 5. I still remember him calling me 'Ally cat'.

Nanny Rose passed when I was 21 - she was 92.

Amazing how life would have been different for Nan if she had email & Skype to keep in touch with her loved ones!

How the times have changed.

 

But I just wanted to point out in my photo most of all - how it is possible to keep the vintage amongst the new and make it work!



Don't Wait!!

I totally believe in this & for those that are lucky enough to have travelled to many corners of the Globe....it's your treasure's that express who you are and create 'a home'

Vintage Elegance