All That Glitters is Golden
Those close to me know I have a bit of a fixation with gold. Mixed with colour & placed in positions where it reflects the light is just breathtakingly good. So I’ve put together some of my favorite golden things…
From top to bottom: Mr Kitly brass paperweights (photo by Nik Epifanidis)- Jonathan Adler Banana bud vase, Atollo lamp by Oluce, 2097 Suspension by Flos, Habibi gold tray table by e15, Moooi gold clock, B&B Joker vases & bowls in gold and Seletti golden gnomes.
Shopping For Layers…
For a while now I’ve been shopping online more & more, anything from groceries to kids stuff. Whilst it started when I had a little one & couldn’t get out of the house, it has now developed into a fully-fledged habit. So I thought I’d post some of my favourite stores for finishing off the house. After all, our homes needs quite a lot of layers to create interest & excitement after the tradespeople have left!
Mr Kitly: For all the smaller & more obscure arty finds from beautiful ceramics to exquisite Japanese metalware. A must visit. One of the triangular brass paperweights from Masanori Oji + Futagami is currently adorning my mantel.
Safari Living: Ten years on & still going strong thanks to Felicity Rulikowski’s pitch perfect eye. Stable brands include Marimekko, Missoni, Muuto, Donna Wilson & Design House Stockholm amongst others. Practically everything you need to finish off the house.
The Minimalist: To quote from the source: “unique, limited edition and designer made product from around the globe. The Minimalist isn’t about buying less but buying better. “
Third Drawer Down: Full to the brim with everything quirky for the kids & the not quite grown up kid in all of us. Personal favourites are the Worry Beads by Fredericks & Mae and the garlands, pinatas & paper decorations by New York favourites CONFETTISYSTEM
Top 3 by Design: Simply the best (read smartest, most functional & beautiful looking) design pieces for the home you can buy. Instead of trawling through the options, Top 3 has done the editing for you. Essential!
Dunlin Home: A beautiful edited collection of furniture, lighting & pieces for the home that feel rustic but well made which is often rare nowadays. A particular stand out is their lighting from Original BTC, check out the Stanley copper & brass pendants. Amazing!
Etsy: A post on the best online stores can’t leave out Etsy, the worlds best site for buying handmade, vintage, art & crafts & just plain quirky. Be warned though, time limits for surfing should apply. It’s addictive. I have some favorite shops I follow, check out 1001 Vintage for great ceramics & mid century modern, African House for Juju hats & the like and finally Beat Up Creations for altered vintage plates which I love right now.
CHDC Bedside Table
This is the first piece in my furniture collection that came about when I was looking to furnish my own place. I looked at my current bedside table set up, with a pile of books perched on top (about to fall) & magazines strewn on the floor & thought to myself, there has to be a better way to store/house/display everything you need next to your bed. Plus some tricks built in. So I started with the shopping list: a place to store magazines & books, skinny drawer for the last things you pull off at night ie. rings, earrings plus a drawer for bulkier things below. Then I started thinking about cups of coffee & toast in bed, how could make room for these things – after you have a lamp base & alarm clock, there’s not much space left – & protect the top from cup rings etc. So I designed the top drawer with a flap down front that can hold a small breakfast plate & cup. The inside drawer is flock lined for jewellery, watches etc & the bottom drawer lined in veneer. All push to open so there is no visible hardware. Finished in custom stained veneers with mirror backing to the magazine slot, it works like a charm.
Its the first in a series I’m calling Five Easy Pieces, with other pieces to follow.
Available in a range of timber finishes all in oak, drawers can be flock lined, or not, flap down front on drawer is optional. Made in Australia.
Bronzed Beauty
Whilst in Kyneton for a rare weekend away a couple of weeks back we visited Stockroom – an art gallery, vintage & retail store on Piper St. Look out for a post specifically about the space & the people who run it as my photographer partner is planning to do a series on “creative spaces”. Apart from the art, Stockroom is now also the destination to see Boyd Alternatives beautiful engineered stone baths & basins. I just fall in love with the romantic shapes & scale of these pieces every time i see them. You may remember we used the big oval bath in the bedroom of a country house which is about to feature in Home Beautiful.
My new discovery is Deborah Boyd is now doing basins in cast bronze which I nearly died for they were so fantastic. They’re the kind of thing that’s both olde world & achingly chic at the same time. Complemented with aged mirrors, the bronze basins, for the right client, are my next favourite thing.