Wedding Belle Boys

A minus point, living all the way 'downunder' in Australia is missing out on big happenings and special celebrations in England with family and friends and this week we felt it so much as our dear friends Stuart and Kiel had their Civil Ceremony and got married in the English sunshine in Kent.





Those of you who have read the blog over the last few months know that they are the owners of FONTAINE Decorative Antiques and I have done quite a few posts ( click HERE ) about what they sell and their company and also their cottage on the coast in England.

We sent them this bouquet above.. .... Called 'Antique Posy' (which I thought was really appropriate) from the Real Flower Company... in England - my favourite place for sending flowers - such gorgeous English roses.

I really do wish that we could have been with them though to share their happy day.....

P.S. I did look for a 'Civil Ceremony' card in our local card/gift shop but to no avail - (perhaps the area where we live here is a little conservative for such cards - has anyone seen them in their travels?) Anyway, I found a 'plain' suitable card for them which was lovely.

CONGRATULATIONS dearest Stu and Kiel - loads more happy years to you both together xxxxx

Sofas of the most gorgeous kind

Namely, these Kilim Sofas made by George Smith - a long established English furniture company. I have admired and loved from afar for years! They cost a 'King's Ransom' as they say, but how lovely are they?

Each sofa and chair is made by hand and they are deliciously squashy and comfortable too. They also make plain sofas but I think these made from antique kilims are so unique and are their 'signature look '.

My friend Jo is lucky enough to own not one but TWO!! Here above is a photograph of her sitting room showing the gorgeousness! I will add here that in her 'former life' she worked in Interior Design so picked these up in the George Smith sale and was able to apply her discount too but even then she hid the exact purchase price from her husband!

Above is my own 'home-designed' version of a George Smith wing chair!! This I had made up in a small and dusty shop in Istanbul, Turkey when we were on holiday there years ago and after much bartering and 'too-ing' and 'fro-ing' regarding the price it was shipped back to England as the finished article 6 weeks later! Thankfully it turned out well and I was delighted and still love it, although one day maybe, just maybe I might own a George Smith hand made one!

Everyone has to dream......

First image and logo from the George Smith website - other images - me.

The kindness of strangers

Yesterday morning my daughter lost her purse photographed above...

As you can see, it is a V.S.P. - Very Special Purse. (aka Very Special Wallet depending on where you live in the world) so you can imagine that last night we were extremely sad. Not because there was a lot of money it and not because her bank card was in it either but because it was her 18th birthday present from me to her. She absolutely loved her special purse and I will never, ever forget the look on her face when I gave it to her 18 months ago - total disbelief and delight at the same time.

I received a text from her in the morning.... 'Mum, help - have lost purse! ' and when I rang her she said, through tears, "I had my purse at the train station and when I got to the other end I could not find it". Many more tears, sadness and reporting to the Lost Property section of our train provider here in Melbourne. Last night we thought -well, we have to be philosophical - it had gone - we could not change that - maybe it was taken out of her bag, maybe she had not zipped up the compartment properly, maybe it had fallen to the floor and into the hands of someone who thought - "Aha, my lucky day" ...... BUT NO!
It was OUR lucky day as a wonderful person - I know now as Suzanne found it on the train station and went to great effort to find us (in the end tracing us through a Library card that my daughter had borrowed belonging to her stepfather (Mr SE) that was in the purse) .

The kindness of strangers - a lesson for all.... What comes around goes around. And how lucky we were.

Design in Black and White - new book

I am really enjoying luxuriating in my new gorgeous book... 'Design in Black and White' - I bought it a while back now but only just got around to sitting down and really savouring it at the weekend.... It's by Janelle McCulloch - an Australian journalist and writer - who is as lovely as she is talented. She took the majority of the photographs that appear in the book.

See what I mean? Aren't they sumptuous? I had the pleasure of meeting Janelle McCulloch last year - I wrote about it on the blog - see HERE (I did not have many followers then so you may not have read about my initial meeting with her!).

My fellow Melburnian blogger and friend Claire from Haven Home and Interiors has also written about this book - see HERE for her review and when we met we talked about how we loved it.... (amongst many other books).

Although the book is crammed full of some absolutely gorgeous shots of elegant black and white rooms it's the one above that really gets me. A wonderful kitchen in a fairly modest cottage featuring a whole wall of blackboard paint - how gorgeous! Although I have always painted a large square of blackboard paint for writing notes, recipes and shopping lists in the last few houses Mr SE and I have renovated I have never thought of this wonderful idea of using it on a complete wall..... Next house we do I plan to copy this whole kitchen slavishly. It's just wonderful.

Book available from HERE.

'Design in Black and White' by Janelle McColloch. Images Publishing 2010

This photo goes with the post below

This is what I was served for dinner... how sweet - 'M' for Ma on my chicken and veggie pie - all homemade - read the post below to see who made it !! And, I have to say, it was absolutely delicious - even more so that I did not have to think about what was for dinner tonight.

I'm so excited!

Trinny and Susannah are on television here in Australia tonight... I know it may sound a bit 'sad' but I have had the day marked in my calendar for ages...!!

They are on Lifestyle You at 9.30pm - the programme is their 'making over' America series ! Can't wait..

Not sure if this has aired in UK yet - does anyone know?



Also, my daughter is cooking dinner tonight and I have been banned from the kitchen completely (she says I interfere) - well, nothing to do but relax in the sitting room - how lovely after a day at work - such bliss.....!