Modern House Minimalist Design

I adore Roses, especially old fashioned roses such as Albertine and all the David Austin roses. Next month is the Parnell Rose Festival and I will be heading off with my camera to share their roses with you. I am also excited about showcasing two private Auckland cottage gardens that have previously featured in NZ Magazines. These gardens are crammed in every corner with beautiful old fashioned roses and English flowers such as Hollyhocks, delphiniums, foxgloves and many other English delights.  My new house unfortunately has the tiniest garden imaginable, hardly bigger than a postage stamp and so the only claim to roses are two standard icebergs that flank my rear patio.  I've been watching my roses closely for their first buds but not close enough it seems.  I noticed that one rose was glossy and healthy with lots of new shoots whereas the other seemed to be sparse and straggly. On closer inspection I discovered all the new shoots had and were being munched on...

Well, the sun finally showed its face Friday, I wanted to get the photos completed of my bedroom makeover so I dived in while the going was good. The light wasn't  perfect but without professional equipment or waiting till mid Summer,  I had to make the most of the natural light.  I easily took well over 150 shots (am I a pedantic perfectionist?), thank goodness for digital cameras! Although I have to repeat I am disappointed with the light. Colours above are not quite true, the fabric for the Roman blind is more beige than grey. The pair of weathered French shutters are from  Yvonne Saunders Antiques .  Because they were only 500m wide I chose to have a space between to create better balance to the Queen size bed. Originally I was going to use an old door behind the bed but the bedroom is not large and I fell in love with the colour of the shutters. The great thing is if decide to change the look of the room, I can simply get the shutters stripped back to the n...

I'm excited that next week my bedroom makeover should be complete and all going well if the "Hangman" turns up Wednesday to hang my shutters above my bed, and I'm not concussed by them falling off the wall while sleeping, it's just a matter of getting everything in place for my shoot.   Wallace Cotton are kindly loaning bedlinen for the shoot so excited about showcasing their products and using them to enhance and tie the look together. Keeping with the theme, Today I've sourced some gorgeous French style furniture for my readers.  First a company based in the USA, Painted Cottage, a small company with a showroom and studio in Collingswood, New Jersey. Their showroom is filled to the brim with vintage finds including these gorgeous pieces below that would fit perfectly into a romantic French style bedroom. Painted Cottage sell from their   Etsy store but also have a website at Painted Cottage Studio. The other furniture is from a New Zealand company called F...

My mother had the most exquisite perfume bottle given to her by my Godfather many years ago, I have never seen anything quite so beautiful. The delicate, porcelain blue speckled egg with its little solid silver screw on lid sits proudly on her dressing table. Although the egg is a copy of a blackbirds egg, it's  the classic "duck egg blue" I adore. I am sorry I don't have a photo of it to share with you today but promise to get one tomorrow and add it to this post because it truly is a thing of beauty and when I inherit it I will cherish it forever.  I do, however, have a collection of images for you in varying shades of  blue. Hopefully  these photos inspire you to find a place in your home to add a little of this colour whether it be a throw on your bed, accent pillows, a vase or even a photo frame. I am excited to be using this blue as an accent in my own "soon to be featured" bedroom. Duck Eggs - The inspiration for the colour photo source - unfortunatel...

Known for it's coolness in Summer and warmth in Winter  100% linen is quickly becoming a popular choice for duvet covers, the new pre washed soft linen is just so beautiful.  The crinkled unmade look of  linen  is perfect for the French country look of my bedroom makeover.  An added bonus is the fact that linen duvets are meant to look slightly crinkled and I absolutely loathe ironing. Recently my husband flew back from Abu Dhabi for a couple of weeks, he went to iron a shirt and discovered I didn't possess an ironing board. Since returning to NZ and not having the luxury of a maid,  I've discovered the tumble drier seems to do a good job of knocking out those creases if you whip them out of the tumbler in the last five minutes  (with the exception of cotton bed sheets of course). My husband was obviously not  impressed when I told him my solution as the next day he marched in with an oversized ironing board under his arm...  ...