Unique Gifts and Homeware

1. Fur and Flowers dog doormat - US$25

Often it is hard to find that perfect gift or special item for the home that is not mass produced, so when I discovered an on-line store with unique gifts that ship many of their products world wide, I had to share the love.

Tuesday's Mix - Naked Cakes and DIY Homeware

Just Destiny Mag 

I used to have a regular weekly post that contained a medley of recipes, DIY homeware and interior inspiration but somehow it slowly disappeared when I had to reduce time on the blog due to dry eyes. Recently, a reader made a comment that my blog "felt like sitting down with a good magazine", I was really happy to hear this but also aware that the magazine type inspiration I had wanted for Lee Caroline had slipped a little as I hadn't been featuring this post. So, I am re-introducing a regular post with links to recipes and DIY projects for the home and calling it 'Tuesday's Mix'.

Tips to Selecting the Perfect Rug

1. Soft Geometric Rug as seen in Elle from Cox & Cox

A rug is the perfect way to introduce colour, pattern or texture to a space. Rugs can be used to help define and add beauty to a room, however, choosing the perfect rug does involve a few important points to consider.

Kelly Hoppen's Elegant Designs & On Line Store

Kelly Hoppen's style is instantly recognisable, Kelly combines her signature 'taupe' colour, with black, beige and white to create the most stunning interiors. Whether a beach house in Barbados or a loft apartment in London, from casual elegance to a dramatic statement, her designs appear flawless. 

Weekly Inspiration - A fabulous DIY dining table, chalk paint effects, not forgetting some delicious recipes.

Last week I discovered a stunning DIY dining table of which the end results look as good as a design store piece. I am also excited to announce Chalk Paint™, decorative paint by Annie Sloan, will soon be arriving in Auckland...Yay! I will be revealing more in a few weeks time. Meanwhile I have been exploring the use of stencils with Chalk Paint™ and discovered a few clever ideas. A couple of delicious recipes and a few newly discovered homeware products, complete this week's round up.

Above: Becky who blogs at This is Happiness, has a very handy husband who created this beautiful dining table out of re-cycled timber, from scratch......Instructions can be found here. If you have a beach house, finishing this table with a white wash could also be an option.

Glass Cloche Styling Ideas

I bought a sweet little glass cloche with a bird on top, it didn't come with a base but I found the perfect solution, a little silver engraved sweet tray that was my mothers. I then bought a wee, rustic terracotta pot and planted some baby Thyme. The idea of the Thyme was borrowed from Le Monde where I bought the cloche. I spotted some little pots of Thyme on one of their dining settings and thought, what a great idea. There are plenty of other clever ideas for styling glass cloches, so I am sharing a few today...

Image via

Above: I spotted this unique wire cloche with DIY instructions at a lovely blog called Raised In Cotton

Images above via Pinterest

If you have a glass cloche or thinking about buying one, I hope you've found some inspiration to help with styling.

Lee oxo

I will be sharing this post with the following blogs:

I should be Mopping the Floor
The Dedicated House
DIY Showoff
The Blissful Bee

Savvy Southern Style
Not Just A Housewife

No Minimalist Here
The Real Housewives of Riverton

My Romantic Home

The 36th Avenue

Last Minute Gifts From Anthropologie

I was amazed to hear on the news last night that New Zealanders have spent over 400 million dollars on internet shopping, with our tiny population of 4 million I find that incredible. More and more fabulous overseas stores are making their products available to ship to our little country and one such store is Anthropologie, previously one of my favourite places to browse and now becoming one of my favourite places to shop. So if you have any money left over from Christmas or you want to do some last minute shopping, you may want to hop over and have a look at their wonderful range of homeware, fashion and jewelry.

Visit Anthropologie for more fabulous gift ideas.

Happy shopping

Lee oxo

Emily Ziz's Colourful Sydney Store

Recently I came across 'Style Studio', the Paddington store of Emily Ziz. Emily's studio supplies fabrics, wallpapers, rugs, lighting and artworks. Style Studio loves to inspire their customers by regularly showcasing the work of textile and product designers they represent. In a recent interview with Temple and Webster, Emily was asked her favourite colour combination? I was delighted to read her answer, "blue and white is coming back as a trend". I still have my collection of blue and white china in my living room, I also agree with Emily that blue and white is timeless. Emily then went on to say, pinks, reds and oranges jumbled together give a rich uplifting effect and soft dove grey and indigo give a classic twist when combined with pops of magenta. You can read her full interview at Temple & Webster where Emily provides tips to mix cushions and how to add interest to a spare room.

Here is a taster of what's available in Emily's Sydney store... It looks like Emily uses my favourite Louis ghost chairs to work from.

The timber wall tiles have a distinct Moroccan feel 

Emily has some unusual felted goods such as the rocks in the first image

Would you believe, wallpaper!

vibrant cushions

Designkist wallpaper & fabrics

 beautiful fabrics by Fabricnation

Lorenzo Nassimbeni - Constantine Collection

I couldn't resist this amazing recycled art - Fanta Sebo with Lipton iced tea mouth

Don't forget to visit Emily's store to see more of her unique items.

Guest bedroom makeover underway

Finally the weekend is here and I am happy to say the guest bedroom is well on its way. After a little indecision about colour and a huge collection of Resene test pots, I finally narrowed it down to 1/8th Bison hide. I wanted a neutral colour with a touch of beige, bison hide was perfect, I would describe it as the colour of drift wood and would look great in a coastal home. My previous wall colour, rice cake is a lovely neutral colour, however it didn't appear to have much depth, the new colour has depth and the decision to use flat rather than low sheen paint was a much smarter choice for a bedroom.

My theme is my own take on the Hampton's versus Ralph Lauren. I wanted a room with a touch of masculinity, hoping to entice my Air Force son home on his breaks. The images below are part of my inspiration, as you can see my palette is completely neutral and very beige..."oh no!" I hear some of you say, "how boring!" However, my cottage is only 103 square metres and as much as I love colour because of its size I try to keep a neutral palette, adding interest with texture and pattern. From time to time when I do get a little bored, I simply introduce a few bright cushions to provide a lift.

1.  Wall colour -  Resene one eighth Bison hide

2.   Picasso dove print from All Posters

3.   Cosy homestead sheets and two pillowcases - Wallace Cotton

4.   Bungalow duvet cover and two pillowcases -  Wallace Cotton (link above)

5.   Picasso camel print also from All Posters (link above)

6.   Nickel desk lamp adds a touch of masculinity and doubles as an easy reading lamp

7.   Linen headboard with studs (I will be making my own)

8.   Pineapple lamp will work great with the camel print

9.   Black iron tripod tables beside the bed

10. Toile from Martha's for cushions

11.  Quirky cushion seen over at Interior Design online (still thinking about this one)

12.  Beige tartan for bed cushion

13.  Rattan trunk for storage - adds interest and texture

14.  Possible storage unit

15.  Beige linen for curtains (these may go either side of the wide slatted alabaster blinds).

16.  Sisal flooring  from Artisan flooring - wall to wall or large edged rug, (budget may factor here)

I am planning on making my own padded headboard similar to the snippet in my mood board, (Later I will be sharing this step by step). The top of the little iron tables I plan to stencil with a simple design such as fleur-de- lis rubbed with gold furniture wax. I was going to purchase some black and white prints, however, I have decided to use my artistic skills and create my own pictures, one idea I have will tie in beautifully with the pineapple lamp seen in my mood board.

We hope you have a wonderful weekend, I would love to hear your comments and suggestions.

If you love neutral interiors you may want to tour this stylish  Manhattan apartment.

Note: Since posting, you can now see the final reveal of this makeover here.

Sharing this post with the following blogs:

I should be Mopping the Floor

Savvy Southern Style
Not Just A Housewife

No Minimalist Here

My Romantic Home

Black and white prints are timeless

I have been browsing black and white prints for my guest bedroom and was excited to see a fabulous range of prints at Serena and Lily. What appeals most about black and white prints is the ease they fit into most decorating styles, they are forever stylish and have a timeless appeal about them.

Jennifer Ament and Alison Mckee are a couple of the talented artists whose works are on exhibit. I love Jennifer's distinct style, printed from her original lino cuts, each one is limited to around 50 editions which makes them rather special.

1. Alison Mckee - Black and white ink drawing 1993

2. Jennifer Ament - Ferry boat print

3. Jennifer Ament - Safety pin print

4. Jennifer Ament - Eucalyptus print

5. Rob Delamater - Feather print

6. Gaetan Caron -  Auto portrait sur Argile Mendocino (self portrait in clay)

I have certainly been inspired and have light-bulb idea for my guest room, so pop back tomorrow when I will be sharing my mood boards. The room is well underway so there is no turning back from the style I have chosen. My guest room will have a touch of masculinity which is unusual for me as I am a bit of a "girly, girl", however I've decided to try something a little different, hopefully it will come together nicely.

Coastal themed Interiors & accessories

I'm aware Summer's long gone in NZ, but hey! the sun was shining today and I am still able to walk along the beach most mornings. One of the hardest things about returning to NZ after so many years in SE Asia and the Middle East was not having daily sunshine and that wonderful warmth I felt waking up every morning to the sun streaming through our windows.  Recently I shared a post on a lovely coastal interior which jogged my memory that I had started to draft a post in April about coastal themed interiors and had not yet finished it, so with a bit more work and a lot of searching of images I have completed the post and hope you will be inspired to bring some coastal sunshine to your home.

A simple way to incorporate a theme into your home, whatever it may be, French, Country, Contemporary, Coastal, is to take the word and then make a list of words that spring to mind, a kind of "word association" game. Taking the word "Coastal", I created a short list of words to help me with my textures, a quick and easy way to help create a mood board. 

I then created another list to help select accessories that will work with the coastal theme...

seagulls
sand

driftwood

stripes
coral

wicker/rattan

shells

glass

waves

sun
starfish

More inspiration...

The coastal lamp above and below is a smart idea from Laura Ashley. Fill your jar with shells, pebbles or whatever little treasures you have to add some interest and texture. You could even place a faux nest and eggs inside.

The  items above are from Laura Ashley's coastal range.

Create a nautical mirror -  link to instructions can be found at the end of this post.

Sand dollar cookies, see quick links at the end of this post for recipe and  step by step instructions.

Coastal style...

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Image Sources 1|2|3|4|5

Quick Links:
Nautical mirror instructions from Martha Stewart....Instructions here.
Cute sand dollar cookies from Sugarbelle....Recipe & instructions here.

We hope you've enjoyed our coastal inspiration. A recent post with a tour of a coastal home can be seen at the link below.

A lot of love in this coastal interior ....read more and see images here

I will be sharing this post with the following blog parties:

I should Be Mopping The Floor

Coastal Charm

Rain On A Tin Roof

Wow Us Wednesdays at Savvy Southern Style

Open House Party at No Minimalist Here

Time Travel Thursday at the Brambleberry Cottage

Show and Tell Friday at My Romantic Home

Stroll Thru Life

Christmas Gift Ideas - My Wish List Or Your Wish List!

Today I've been looking for pretty Christmas gifts from Anthropologie I ♥ my finds and hope they tempt you to do some shopping. My favourite is the Rolling Peaks Gravy/Sauce boats, I think the black and white one is adorable and perfectly suits French style decor...oh and I love the monogrammed mugs, in fact, "light bulb flash"... that gives me an idea!

Click on the images for direct link back to products for further details.

I also couldn't resist these gorgeous items and simply have to have that Leopard belt, I think it would look perfect with a pair denims.

Love this Lace and Lines pullover....

Don't forget if you want to check out more details or order any of these items, the images are direct links to the product or you can go to Anthropologie and browse their store.