Card Carrying Design...

I love chairs especially those by iconic designers Ray & Charles Eames... but I can't fit them all into my home -  then why not in my bag or pocket... Love this xxx by Acme Acme Studios for Ray + Charles Eames.

Card Case Eames Chairs

Acme Studios for Ray + Charles Eames

price:  AUD$60.00 / Ref #: HCE04BC

via Habitus Living.com

Nursery Sneak Peak...

I covet my [our] Eames [Replica] RAR Rocker from Matt Blatt - it is so comfortable and terribly stylish, teamed with UK brand 'Nature's Purest' - 'Bird' applique Pillow... ready for nursing.

A collection of sweet friends - left to right - 'D-lux' knitted Bunny from my Aunt & cousin, Harrods' 'My First Puppy' I picked this adorable plush puppy up when I was in London last year visiting my sister - just before I arrived we found out I was pregnant with Baby Verity - as a little girl I had a 'puppy' that I adored & I wanted to carry on the tradition.

Next to 'Puppy' is the knitted soft rattle 'Safari Elephant' from Nature's Purest - an adorable gift from a good friend & work colleague who loved the recent birth of the baby elephant at Sydney's Taronga Zoo and thought to commemorate it for our baby! Lastly - 'Noukies' Teddy Bear rattle plush slippers I saw these in a baby wear store in Lucerne Switzerland on my travels late last year and thought they were perfect!

I love this Cath Kidston 'Knitted Bunny' that I picked up in the Cath Kidston signature store in Covent Garden London when visiting my sister last year - I really love that store, coupled with another 'rabbit' with the wonderful story book 'Guess How Much I Love You' sweetheart edition by Sam McBrateny & Illustrated by Anita Jeram.

A fun display - Eric Carle's 'Very Special Baby Book' , Dr Suess' Miniature Library, Cath Kidson's 'Knitted Rabbit', & 'Guess How Much I Love You' story book.

[Above] A very special friend has been waiting for a few years now... we named 'Sinclair', who is Harrods' Signature Teddy Bear that my husband surprised with me when in London, heading though Europe for Christmas & New Year's, a couple months after we were married in 2004, he bought it for our first baby that he knew we'd have some time down the track!

[Above]'Peter Rabbit & Wedgewood Dinner Plate' & Mug; a gift from Verity Grandparents-to-be, my mother-in-law gave us this sweet set, which I have displayed with perspex plate holder, when we announced we were pregnant - I love that she told me she had bought it, as in -waiting gift, shortly after we were married and kept it for this announcement! A lovely friend & work colleague gave us Baby Verity's first couture - a 'Baby Dior' by Christian Dior bottle, complete with silver mesh carrier!

Starting the library... you know my fondness of books, and it's never to early to start. Since taking this photo the collection has grown again, as has the Amazon wish list in Baby Verity's name!

I got restless & did some 'nesting' end of last week and through the weekend in the nursery... and also picked up our Eames [Replica] RAR Rocker - Yay! Here are a few images of the Neutral Canvas I have created for our much anticipated 'Baby Verity'... due in approx. 2/2.5 wks time! My husband thinks it's hilarious that I love to 'merchandise' the books & toys in the bookcase & room... maybe some of me is rubbing off on him - as he found the white baskets, and is quite proud of his 'design' mark made!

Hope you like them... accented colours & more decor pieces to follow - stay tuned! S xxx

Images by Sarah Verity - Verandah Home & Garden Living Solutions

Nursery Styling & Decor Ideas...

Since Baby Verity is due anywhere between the next 2 weeks & 4.5 weeks, I have been asked frequently by all who know me - '...how's the nursery decorating going...'! After being in hospital for false labour on Wednesday evening last week [a great test run for darling husband and family!]. I was at least calm in the knowledge that I have already created a fabulous neutral canvas that will be a solid design foundation on which to build more gender specific decor themes around & upon...

Above - Neutral Canvas, a solid colour & design foundation to build upon.

Above - Colour & Design accent ideas for a little man... White, Sand with Navy, Pale Blue, Cherry Red, teamed with Stripes & Nautical influences.

As we decided not to find out what we're having - a little boy or girl, here's a few mood boards I have popped together for our potential baby boy or baby girl! Hope you like them too! I have painted the room walls in Dulux 'Scallywag' Full tint, the trim & door is 'White Canvas' and the furniture is all 'White' - we repainted a timber bookcase that I have had for a number of years in Dulux 'Vivid White' aqua enamel [I don't know why I didn't do it sooner] it looks fabulous! And the rest of the decor is accented with similar hues, with dotted applique, mirco stripes & plains to create a solid colour & design foundation on which to build upon for our impending delivery - a little man or for a little lady!

Above: Colour & Design accents for a little lady...hues of Raspberry, Floss Pink, Pistachio Green with forest friends of stylised owls & squirrels in blossom branches to ticking stripe & gingham bunting.

So when we have settled back home with our Baby, in several weeks time, and we accent the room to his or her decor style, I will post pics of the room to share with you! Hope you like the ideas so far!

Images by Verandah Home & Garden Living Solutions.

Included in collage - Fabric from No Chintz, Boori Furniture, Nature's Purest UK - bedlinen & decor, Eames RAR Rocker, Ikea - Lamp & Basket, My Sweet Prints via Etsy.com - 'World Map',' Room t Grow' & 'Nautical' Bedroom Collage from Shop4Kids magazine, WallArt - decals, Bosco Bear - Decals.

Dining Chair Affair...

I have been lusting after some new dining chairs for our 'beloved' mid century oblong hand-me down dining table. The chairs that I have been looking at, that would most suit our twist on contemporary classic dining area, would be a style from the mid-century era such as Eames which would give a more modern touch - such as these Eamses DSR Plastic Side Chair with Eiffel Base Steel, [the top image] also with the timber frame -as a stool. I'll keep hunting around... I have a few others I have my eye on and will share with you shortly!

Fact: The DSR Plastic Side Chair with Eiffel Base Steel Designed in 1950 by Charles and Ray Eames, the DSR chair incorporates the use of a bent and welded wire base and injection moulded polypropylene seat.

Images from Metropolitan Home, McGrath Real Estate & Luminere

Mad About Eames

Eames Wire Mesh Chairs - advertisement

This particular advertisement for the Eames Wire Mesh chairs has an almost 'Hitchcock' air about it - not sure if it the lone bird, or the post-modernist grpahic appeal, almost 'Charade' 1963 - Audrey Hepburn & Cary Grant.

Sofa Hang Tag - Eames for Herman Miller
I have such a pengent for post-modern advertising and printed product info such as this image of a sofa hang tag for a Eames (for Herman Miller) sofa lounge.

Eames Rocking Chair

Eames Alumiunium Chairs 1958

I love these chairs I am looking at getting 2 replicas for our newly design open office/ media area. Not only are they comfortable but after 50 years the purity of the design remains ever so contemporary.

Eames Lounge Chair 1956

There's a fantastic upholsterer and furniture seller in Sydney, located in inner-city suburb Glebe, that always seems to have this Eames lounge chair and ottoman in their window I pass it almost everyday and always have to make sure I keep my eyes on the road - Not sure if it's the owners and they show it off to get people's attention or unbeknown to me it hasn't found a home yet! Ahgast!

For more info www.eamesoffice.com and http://eamesoffice.com/index2.php?mod=furniture

Bio on the legendary Product Designer / Artist - Charles Eames
Charles Ormond Eames, Jr was born in 1907 in Saint Louis, Missouri. By the time he was 14 years old, while attending high school, Charles worked at the Laclede Steel Company as a part-time laborer, where he learned about engineering, drawing, and architecture (and also first entertained the idea of one day becoming an architect).
Charles briefly studied architecture at Washington University in St. Louis on an architectural scholarship. He proposed studying Frank Lloyd Wright to his professors, and when he would not cease his interest in modern architects, he was dismissed from the university. In the report describing why he was dismissed from the university, a professor wrote the comment "His views were too modern." While at Washington University, he met his first wife, Catherine Woermann, whom he married in 1929. A year later, they had a daughter, Lucia.
After he left school and was married, Charles began his own architectural practice, with partners Charles Gray and later Walter Pauley.
One great influence on him was the Finnish architect Eliel Saarinen (whose son Eero, also an architect, would become a partner and friend). At the elder Saarinen's invitation, he moved in 1938 with his wife Catherine and daughter Lucia to Michigan, to further study architecture at the Cranbrook Academy of Art, where he would become a teacher and head of the industrial design department. One of the requirements of the Architecture and Urban Planning Program, at the time Eames applied, was for the student to have decided upon his project and gathered as much pertinent information in advance – Eames' interest was in the St. Louis waterfront. Together with Eero Saarinen he designed prize-winning furniture for New York's Museum of Modern Art "Organic Design in Home Furnishings" competition.[1] Their work displayed the new technique of wood moulding (originally developed by Alvar Aalto), that Eames would further develop in many moulded plywood products, including, beside chairs and other furniture, splints and stretchers for the U.S. Navy during World War II.[2]
In 1941, Charles and Catherine divorced, and he married his Cranbrook colleague Ray Kaiser, who was born in Sacramento, California. He then moved with her to Los Angeles, California, where they would work and live for the rest of their lives. In the late 1940s, as part of the Arts & Architecture magazine's "Case Study" program, Ray and Charles designed and built the groundbreaking Eames House, Case Study House #8, as their home. Located upon a cliff overlooking the Pacific Ocean, and hand-constructed within a matter of days entirely of pre-fabricated steel parts intended for industrial construction, it remains a milestone of modern architecture.

Source - see wikipedia.com