Friday Flowers...

Whatever you do this weekend - Hope it is a beautiful one... take care, S x

Image from Heather Bullard

Backyard Oasis...small or grand create your view

My Top 5 Garden Oasis'... nothing says it like an element of water in your garden design, & boy do these outdoor redefine the standard expectations. With the professional skills of a designer & a landscape architect an amazing vision can be realised.... Poolside Grove In this lush and relaxing setting, landscape architect Andrea Cochran placed the pool terrace between a charming olive grove and a lush, grassy Sonoma Valley meadow. Beautiful and serene, the raised lap pool reflects the white clouds of the sky.Photographer: Emily Rylander

Shimmering Stretch Set in idyllic and magnificent Marin County, California, this 75-foot-long lap pool, designed by landscape architect Bernard Trainor is stunning against the native grassland. A concrete and stone walkway leads down to the gleaming expanse, accented with coyote bush, needle grass, and rosemary, to enhance the land’s natural beauty. Photographer: Jason Liske
Bring on the Bubbly Landscape designer Anthony Exter designed this spectacular pool space in Pasadena, California, with a light installation and waterfall to mimic a bubbling bottle of champagne. That motif, plus the accompanying allee with enough space to seat 100 plus people, makes this contemporary backyard a posh party space. Photographer: Steve Gunther

Art Escape A cube-shaped grotto rises majestically out of a gleaming pool in Napa Valley. The ceiling of the grotto is equipped with programmable LED light strips to further the artlike effect. Designed by Tom Leader Studio, this pool features “wet edges,” making it look like a surreal, edgeless expanse. Photographer: Florian Holzherr

Bay Beauty Pristinely set up on a seven-acre site on Lynnhaven Bay, a part of a tributary to the Chesapeake Bay, this lovely landscape designed by Nelson Byrd Woltz appears as if the patio is a floating island. A fresh water pond surrounds the raised paths to the lap pool and adjacent family pool. The effect is that of a true getaway. Architect: William McDonough + Partners

Images & details from Point Click Home

Saturday in Design is approaching... are you going?

Just got my email... very excited. - will you be joinig me for Saturday In Design?

SATURDAY IN DESIGN STARTS THIS FRIDAY!
Remember to bring along your day pass if it’s been mailed to you, and if you have a printed E-ticket, take it to one of the registration counters to pick up your personal day pass. Of course, you can still register on the day at any of the showrooms where you can grab an official handbook, day pass and lanyard. And if you have any colleagues who have forgotten to register, they can still do so on Friday or Saturday.
This year, there’s a paperless electronic copy of the handbook available online – you can start your planning now by viewing the company profiles and the rest of the e-book on screen at your own convenience. Click here...

Visit CSM Storage and Filing Solutions (sharing with Kinnarps) for some great storage ideas, and to enter your idea for the CSM / Kinnarps ‘Think Green and Save!’ competition – you could ride home on an award-winning Swedish Skeppshult bicycle! Find out more here...

At InterfaceFLOR’s Representations Gallery, vote for your favourite of the five installations created by leading local architects and designers. Will a ‘Sense of Depth’ – the exploration of 3D carpet by Sheargold/Hieatt (concept pictured) – be your favourite? Find out more here...


Located in the heart of Surry Hills, Hub Furniture Living Lighting has been bringing Australia furniture and lighting from a diverse range of high-endinternational suppliers, including Moroso, Tribu, Vibia and Bambu. See the latest, plus have a chance to win a designer dining table at Saturday in Design. Find out more here...

Straight from the popular ‘Out of the Box’ installation in Milan, the Tom Dixon Comet Lamp is heading to Sydney. See them at the Habitus Lounge in Gelosa’s showroom during SID or win one of your own by visiting one of the Veuve Clicquot Pouring Bars. Pop in with your guests or catch up with friends for a drink around the event! Find out more here...


Head to Warehouse 625 to be a part of the video project by Republic of Everyone. Choose your own character to tell everyone your tips on designing sustainably, then see your video once it’s been uploaded onto the website. Find out more here...

Start your engines on +Friday, as there will be plenty happening. Make sure you call ahead to showrooms to make appointments and RSVP to any special events companies have planned. Click here for more...

Relax and take a seat in the Habitus Lounge (sponsored by Ashington and Fridcorp) at Gelosa’s showroom at SiD. This will be the perfect place to find a little respite from the hustle and bustle of the event, so come in and have a read of the latest issue of Habitus. More...

Check out page 16 of the hand-E-book online for a full list of showrooms participating in The Project. There are a range of architects, designers and other members of the creative community taking part this year, so make sure you get out and see them! Or click here to see who...

Visit this link for more details http://www.saturdayindesign.com.au/

HHH - Hagan's Hamptons Home Pt II.

Following the previous images I posted on Victoria Hagan's Hampton's Home... here are the final images of her expansive stylish 'weekend summer' home... wish it were mine, check - one more for the wish list!

The well-manicured homes and sparkling beaches of the Hamptons make it the summer community of choice for many New York City dwellers. It's also where Victoria Hagan met her husband, Michael Berman. Soon after their wedding, they began looking for a house, preferably an old one, to buy. "Then we came across this piece of land with beautiful farm views," says Victoria. They decided to build a new house in the style of the traditional saltboxes that Victoria has always loved, but "to make the interiors a little more open and light," she says. The house reflects Victoria's talent for mixing an intriguing range of furnishings, from antique finds to clean-lined pieces of her own design, and conjuring the oft-desired but hard-to-achieve effect of relaxed elegance and sophistication that is still family welcoming. "Soon after we moved in, I found out I was having twins," she recalls (sons Harry and Alex are now 10), "so this house is very special to us because I've watched my boys grow up here."
photo credit: Don Freeman

Landscape designer Lisa Bynon created a dentil-edged bluestone walk from the back door.

"We sited the house very carefully to capture the light. We see the most beautiful sunsets from the family room and the back terrace."

"We designed the family room to look like an addition to the 'old' house, with a peaked ceiling framed in antique beams," says Victoria. "It's our favorite part of the house." Unadorned windows welcome in light and views of the surrounding fields. Sea-grass matting, a linen-slipcovered sofa, and a coffee table of Victoria's own design have stood the test of toddlers and time.

Vases and a faux-shagreen lamp are from Victoria Hagan's "Perfect Pieces" launch collection for Target; her line changes seasonally.

Hints of pale pink and lilac bring "the colors of twilight" into the master bedroom. Victoria's fabric designs -- "Four Seasons" on the pillows and "Halex" on the slipper chairs -- bring a touch of femininity to the dark woods of a carved tester bed and side tables. A flat-weave wool carpet and painted floors keep the effect soft and light.

Images & Article from Country Living.

HHH - Hampton's Home Love... Victoria Hagan Pt I.

I am a big admirer of Victoria Hagan's work... here in part 1of this post - the article [and images] we see her beautiful home in the Hampton's mixed with pieces from different ends of the price spectrum from her bespoke design firm's items then effortlessly coupled with her range for Target - successful because of it's seamless thoughtful considered approach, authentic design, colouration & style...

The dining room is lit by candlelight from a silver fixture that probably once hung in a church and an antique carriage lantern. "This isn't a large room, so it feels intimate, but we can still squeeze in 12 for dinner," says Victoria. "I like upholstered chairs for dining," she notes, and these old bobbin-turned chairs covered in wool felt set up an intriguing contrast with the cross-braced Porter dining table of her own design

"When you begin a project," says Victoria, "I believe the most important thing is to look outside to the views, then echo what you see outside in the palette you use inside."


"The living room, which incorporates creamy fabrics and is painted in Pratt & Lambert's Ancestral, has a very golden feel when the sun hits the fields. And the bedroom, which is painted a very subtle lavender-gray -- Pratt & Lambert's Arrowroot -- has the feel of twilight. I also sometimes use a historic color, such as a sage, on the ceiling, to add warmth. If you pick the right shade, it seems to 'lift' the ceiling," says Victoria. For more, visit victoriahagan.com.

"When you begin a project," says Victoria, "I believe the most important thing is to look outside to the views, then echo what you see outside in the palette you use inside."

An excerpt from Victoria Hagan's website allows us a small insight into her background up to her current work....

Soon after Victoria began her career in 1985, The New York Times described her work as "the most cerebral, the one bound to be influential," and the continues to be a major force is the design community. She is continually featured in such publications as Architectural Digest, The New York Times, New York Magazine, Elle Decor, Vogue, W, Town & Country, Harper's Bazaar and House Beautiful. Vogue exclaimed that she defies the old school implications of the term "lady decorator".In December 2004, Victoria Hagan was inducted into the Interior Design Hall of Fame. In addition, she has been awarded many of the country's top design honors, including Architectural Digest's "Top 100" and New York Magazine's "Hottest Interior Designers".A graduate of Parsons School of Design, Victoria Hagan currently serves on the school's Board of Governors. She is a frequent guest speaker on design issues through the country, and is featured in a number of international design books.

Images from Country Living

Enjoy the View...

Thought I would share with you - this view is from one of my favourite places in Sydney's Pittwater... I adore the soft dusky pale pink haze settling over the background, and boats dotted in the foreground there on the water waiting like loyal old friends. I feel like a wistful voyeur looking into a quiet calm cove of blissful naivety...

Do you have a favourite view... what is it?

Ignited Passion...

I came across some stunning images by photographer Felix Rachor that made me feel a juxtaposed sense of inspired yet fleeting calmness of colourful passion - that had been ignited on a - Monday!

This image also reminds me of a youthful Audrey Hepburn in a Givenchy poppy red gown in the superbly magnificent 1957 movie 'Funny Face' with dance extraordinaire - Fred Astaire [a pseudo persona that may be - based on real life character Richard Avedon] with his character a Fashion photographer named Dick Avery, in search for an intellectual backdrop for an air-headed model, expropriates a Greenwich Village bookstore. When the photo session is over the store is left in a shambles, much to salesgirl Jo Stockton's dismay. Avery stays behind to help her clean up. Later, he examines the photos taken there and sees Jo in the background of one shot. He is intrigued by her unique appearance, as is Maggie Prescott, the editor of a leading fashion magazine. They offer Jo a modeling contract, which she reluctantly accepts only because it includes a trip to Paris. Eventually, her snobbish attitude toward the job softens, and Jo begins to enjoy the work and the company of her handsome photographer.

What ignites your passion?

Image from Felix Rachor - Vi.sualize.us . For more of Felix Rachor's work please visit his web site.

Print & Patterned Walls...

More often we love our neutral colour schemes with a splash of colour here and there, and the influence of trends & fashion, we can sometimes be afraid to use pattern & print more liberally through our homes & commercial spaces - and often it is down to the execution and bravado! I fell in love with these rich print patterns used in various colour palettes that create a striking presence in the space... Where sometimes less is more, and more is more! I am torn between the top image the bedroom of Beth Buccini and the 2nd from top image of The Palm Beach, Florida, dining room of Simon Doonan!

So now the question.. Will you give that print you've been looking over a 2nd chance now?

For the bedroom of Beth Buccini, a cofounder of fashion boutique Kirna Zabête, interior designer Carl D’Aquino combined two 19th-century gilt-wood headboards and upholstered them in a thickly patterned floral fabric. Behind the bed is a hanging made of a leafy textile by Clarence House.

The Palm Beach, Florida, dining room of Simon Doonan (creative director of Barneys New York) and Jonathan Adler (potter extraordinaire) flaunts an iconic floral wallpaper made by Bob Collins & Sons, accentuated by white-lacquer furniture. Photographer: William Waldron

When commissioned to decorate the bedroom of a client’s daughter, designer Katie Ridder combined two floral creations—a dense printed cotton by Muriel Brandolini and an airy pink fabric by Lori Weitzner for Sahco Hesslein. Photographer: William Waldron

Style icon Lee Radziwill wrapped her cozy New York City library in an Indian-themed fabric by Le Manach printed with brilliant pink lilies and exotic foliage. The English églomisé table lamp has a floral motif too. Photographer: Eric Boman

Interior designer Michael S. Smith chose a hemp fabric splashed with earth-red poppies for the curtains of his Bel Air, California, breakfast room. The gentle folds tone down the bold Moghul-inspired print—it is from Smith’s own Jasper collection—ensuring it doesn’t overpower the space. Photographer: Simon Upton

Images from Elle Decor - Point Click Home

Friday Flower... a simple vignette.

I saw this gorgeous yet very simple arrangement and had to share it with you, even with just 1 single stem you can create something beautiful like this vignette using odd [organic] numbers and a couple of your favourite vessels in [family] related sizes...

Enjoy & Hope you have a very Happy Weekend! xx

Image from Elle Decor