Vintage Vogues, Botanical Whimsy & Other Miscellany

Just in time for the weekend comes this quietly beautiful image. It's a vintage Vogue from the 1950s, framed by our wonderful local framer. (Our framer is incredibly cheap: email me if you want his details.) It was part of Santa's kind Christmas stash.

I asked my framer's assistant if anyone ever brought in... you know... prints that were so awful they weren't worth framing. "You mean like the black velvet Elvis someone brought in last week?" she said.  (BTW I love Elvis. Don't want to offend anyone who may have framed a black velvet print of him...)

The Vogue and a gorgeous old New Yorker magazine from the week I was born (another gift) now sit on our hall table. With my collection of shells from around the world. Which are apparently contraband, according to my partner who used to work in the Federal Police. 

Don't you love the Wish magazine that comes with The Australian newspaper on the last Friday of every month? I love a freebie. Grab it this weekend while you can people.

I noticed India Hicks has redone her guesthouse. Look at this banana yellow. Who knew yellow could be sexy in a beach house? Wonder if it was for a photo shoot? (Pottery Barn were there recently.)

Still infatuated with this botanical wallpaper at The Dorset Square Hotel in London. Kit Kemp's taste is impeccable.

Whipped up some curtains for our living room. Only had time to do one, so can't show you the whole room. This fabric was $10/m at Spotlight. It looks just like the Manuel Canovas print that I was coveting in Paris, below... Which was 100 times the price.

This was the fabric. 'Beaurogard'. Beautiful. 

Did you know chintz is coming back in? Yes, truly. 

Best save your granny's curtains, people.

Have you seen Manuel Canovas' new 50th Anniversary collections? They've released new houndstooth. Love the denim blue too.

How about this for a cute fabric? 

Matchbook magazine did a fabulous Downtow Abbey spread in this month's issue. www.matchbookmag.com

Started reading this, on the recommendation of a bloggy friend Paula. (Originally recommended by Slim Paley.) It's set in the South of France. 

Also reading Michelle de Kretser's The Hamilton Case, set in old Ceylon. Thanks for the literary tips Miss Paula and Miss Slim.

Was cleaning up old photo files and came across these, from the Petit Trianon in Versailles. Still can't get over the intricate trelliswork. Wouldn't you love a potting shed that looked like this? {Images mine}

A tent to convert me to camping. By Field Candy Tents. Fabulous. {Images via Field Candy}

Did you see this whimsical interior in Vogue? It's a house in the Hamptons owned by the swimwear designer Lily Madock. 

Am only posting one image as I'm trying not to use too many magazine photos, after seeing my uncredited pix all over Pinterest last week. I always try and credit my pix, but it's still a grey line and The Library is now trying not to use professionally shot photos that have been especially commissioned by magazines. If I do, I will always credit, and will ascertain whether the photographer (like me) would be happy being featured. Usually it's the magazines that are cross, as evidenced by Habitually Chic's having to remove many from her blog. (Although her crediting is not the best.)

On an equally bright note, we've been working on some Lily Maddock-inspired page spreads for a new book mock-up. I can't tell you more as it's still in the planning stages, but you might be able to guess the subject matter from the pix.

Think lavender, wine, olive groves, sweet hillside villages, fields of gently swaying lavender, and charming stone cottages begging to be renovated... Just like this one. {All images mine}

The pix are going to be so luscious I won't even need to write any copy. 

{All pix mine, excluding the cute Citreon, which is my mother's photo.}

Have already made some new friends to see while I'm in this place. I emailed this couple last night to ask about their gardening smocks, of all things, and then complimented them on their house. They were so lovely they invited me to pop in and say hello. I'll do a special post on them soon as they're so interesting, and their architect and design work is so inspirational, but here's their bedroom...

Look at the ceiling! Isn't it fantastic?

Love the interiors of the new Corinthia Hotel in London too. {Image via their website gallery.} Olive and navy are always an elegant combination. But the grey stripes are inspired design.

Doesn't this make you want to have a kitchen that looks like an old general store? It's the kitchen department of Anthropologie in King's Road Chelsea. The old-fashioned cobalt blues and ceramic greens are so gorgeous. They'd even etched 'General Store' into the cabinet glass. {Image mine}

(On a side note, I want to say thank you Anthropologie for stocking my books, both in London and New York. It's thanks to this wonderful store that Chronicle bought 20,000 copies of the latest 'Paris' book, which has set in motion the wheels for doing a sequel. I will be shopping at Anthropologie for the rest of my life now!) 

Another fantastic place, this time a relatively new one. This is quite possibly the most beautiful new hotel in the world. Tall call, I know, but look at it. Pale power blues and emerald greens, with graphic black lines to hold it all together... Traditional and yet distinct at the same time. Look at the old safari hats in the rooms.

It's The Siam in Bangkok. Belle magazine featured it last last year, but I suspect it's going to take off very soon. Here are some more images from The Siam's website gallery (which are available to use)...

Love the greenery everywhere. 

Not sure about The Siam's artwork though. What ARE these people doing?

Shot this in a window near Liberty's in London. Such cute merchandising.

A wider shot. Don't you love botanica?

And lastly, have you seen the new changes to UK Harper's Bazaar under the editorship of Justine Picardie? Justine is a literary hero of mine; such a lovely person too. She's taking it back to the glamour of the 1950s. Look at this sublime page. Oh! I wish all magazines would experiment with white space and whimsical typography...

Wishing you all a whimsical and irreverent weekend. 

x

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Love, Blue Rooms and Hemingway on Valentine's Day

I feel sorry for my partner. Imagine having a design journalist manage your household? ("Are you putting green and purple sheets on the bed? Together? Are you really going to do that to me?") 

Seriously. No wonder he drinks. 

(Side note: He deliberately switches the towels and bedlinen around when I go away for work, just to be wicked. I come home and the house looks like someone's vomited Pantone's mis-tints everywhere.

Anyway, I realise he lives a very difficult life with me as a partner, and so every now and then I try to make it up to him with marital rewards. (No, NOT that kind.) If you've been in a relationship for a few years you'll know these keep the peace. What's that old adage? "A marriage is less like love and more like a business arrangement where you both try to balance the books and keep an eye on the competition."

So, as a gift, I gave him this (above). It's a Fishing Pass. For 12 months' of Guilt-Free Fishing. 

He used January's pass last weekend, and has a February trip to King Island this weekend. A group of his mates have chartered a plane and are flying down to the island to do Secret Men's Business. When he comes back, I'm going to Sydney for a girlies' week. This is how you keep a marriage together, you see. It tends to work beautifully.

While he was away on last weekend's Bloke's Bonding Trip with the political boys, I decided to turn his bedroom into a 5-star, hotel-style suite. As a treat.

(This is our bedroom, but when he snores, I sleep in the Maid's Quarters in the back. So I call this his bedroom.)

The 'theme' was 'Hemingway's Boat'. The book of which I read over summer, and loved.

Repainted the walls, which were splotchy from the last painting effort.

(WHO hung those wonky pix?)

Then re-painted the butler's trays. These were spray-painted with gold paint, then lacquered over with a Feast Watson Choc-Walnut finish, so they resembled the side of a boat. 

The curtains were $20 at Spotlight. Love those Spotlight sales. Hate the navy and gold fabric but it does look masculine and we can't afford Manuel Canovas.

The padded bedhead was a DIY job with leftover Ralph Lauren navy pinstripe linen, bought for $12/m.

Made a little Hemingway side table. We already had the replica of Hem's house in Key West and the bestselling book Hemingway's Boat by Paul Hendrickson, and then I found the boat on sale – the closest I could find to Hem's beloved cruiser 'Pilar'. (Just ignore the dubious painting job on the table.)

The finished product. 

The Hemingway Suite.

(Sorry about the bad hospital corner on the bed there. The whole bed looks dishevelled! I had to get back to work!)

This was my helper. He likes to oversee things. When he's not emitting gaseous smells and humping his Jack Russell sibling.

RR loved the new bedroom. He loved it so much, he decided to write a poem. This is what he wrote:

Our love is like a Hemingway boat.

It always manages to stay afloat...

When he gave it to me, I had to try not to laugh.

"Is that all you have for me?" I said eventually, with a solemn face. "Love is like a boat?"

"Well, I agree it's not Keats," he said.

"Perhaps you need to revisit it?" I suggested. "Perhaps it's missing a verse, a stanza, or something...?"

(Actually, this is the replica card. The original was damaged after the dogs trod on it.)

"I'll write you another poem on February 14," he said generously.

And that, my dear readers, is how we keep the magic going in our house.

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Life & Lessons From 2012...

And so we come to the end of another year. We survived the apocalypse, applauded the Olympics, waved at the Queen on her Jubilee, smiled at the royal pregnancy, cried at the effects of Hurricane Sandy and mourned the Connecticut kiddies. We saw Obama re-elected, Jill Meagher die a terrible death, and Julia Gillard hold her own against some misogynist pollies. It was a year of heartbreak, happiness, more heartbreak, hope, a little more heartbreak and then, finally, a hallelujah that it was all over.  (Incidentally, have you seen 'The Voice' singing Hallelujah in tribute to the kiddies of the Connecticut shooting? It's beautiful. Link here: Hallelujah)

But 2012 was also a year of something else. It was, in a strange way, the year of kindness. Don't you think? Looking back, I think that's the only way we managed to survive 2012. Kindness. Lots and lots of it. Several months ago, checking out of the Gramercy Park Hotel in New York, one of the loveliest hotels in the world, I jokingly asked the concierge how they coped with the diva-esque VIPs? "Kindness," he said with a smile. "We win them over with kindness." I've never forgotten it. Next year, we'll be running our Garden Tours with the same aim. In fact, we've already started implemented it into our company philosophy. {Beautiful 'Looking for Love' Paris street photo by Irene Suchocki from Etsy.}

And now, as we look towards Christmas, and to 2013 beyond it, I'd like to encourage everyone to do one thing on the 25th. Be kind. Compassion. Courtesy. Consideration. Respect. Even humour. They all go a long way in life. Don't let others' negativity and criticism get you down. Keep your dignity. Keep your spirit. Keep your happiness about you. But most of all, be nice. It doesn't take much. Truly. A word. A gesture. A hug. A note. A hello. As Robert Alan once said: "The flower of kindness will grow. Maybe not now, but it will some day. And in kind that kindness will flow. For kindness grows in this way."

On this note, I'd like to thank you all for dropping by The Library this year. So many people have emailed to say hello, while others have been kind enough to comment, and all of your notes have lifted my spirits and kept my soul joyous this year. They've also kept The Library blog going through all the 2am nights. I very much hope that The Library has inspired and enlivened you all in return. 

I know I promised to post some 'insider' tips about Paris, plus details of our lovely new tour, but I hope you'll forgive me if I leave it for a fortnight. It will really need a special post on its own. And it will offer some holiday reading over the New Year!

In the meantime, I'd like to show you a peek at what's happening in 2013, as it's shaping up to be an exciting year. Hopefully, I'll also be able to hold my earlier promise of featuring more interviews and even more exciting interiors and gardens here on the little old Library. 

Until then, wishing you and your loved ones a very happy Christmas. And a heartfelt thank you to each and every one of you. 

With love, from my family to yours. xx

Mock-up spreads for a beautiful new cookbook and memoir from The Landing Hotel and Restaurant in the Bahamas. The Library is very lucky to be involved with this project, which will be the first in a series of exciting new projects, and I look forward to showing you the evolution of this lovely, incredibly luscious book as it unfolds, page by page. Oh – and you'll love who's writing the forewords too! (Clue: An Officer And A Gentleman.)

More mock-up pages from The Landing's beautiful book. {Dummy spreads only}

Dummy spreads from another whimsical but lovely little book, How To Live A Beautiful Life: Following In The Footsteps of Chanel. 

I'm also going to show you this as it unfolds, so you can see how a book is produced, from conception through contents to photography, page design and production. 

" The most courageous act is still to think for yourself. "
Coco Chanel

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