Happy Spring!!

Oh, I am so glad Spring is here. The cold weather has certainly been taking its toll on our little family with the dreaded flu!! I took this pretty photo over at mum's yesterday. I purchased the little hand made blue and white owl in Aix-en-Provence for mum when I was away recently. She absolutely loves him!! He fits in so well with all her other blue and white things! Happy Spring Everyone!!

See You In The Spring...

Image - Jen Gotch

Earlier this week I posted a beautiful image by Jen Gotch which so many of you loved so to end this week I thought I would post another one I am totally in love with. I absolutely adore the collection of things in this photo and in particular I love the white background with the pops of colour. This photo pretty much sums up my own personal style. As most of you know I love to create rooms with an all white backdrop with lots of colour in the accessories and a few quirky pieces and vintage pieces thrown in. I think I need to put this picture on my inspiration board. I do hope everyone has a wonderful weekend and I look forward to sharing lots of absolutely beautiful things with you next week - the first week of Spring here in Australia!!

New @ Iomoi

I'm really loving the new collection at Iomoi...Pink, Yellow, Bamboo & Pagodas...GORGEOUS!!

My Pretty Flowers

As I have been posting lots of pretty flowers this week I thought I'd post these pretty flowers which were given to me by one of my Black & Spiro girls on Monday. They are sitting very happily on my desk at work with my glass paper weights which I recently purchased in Venice. Thanks for brightening up my week Kelly!!

Michael Devine Fabric

I viewed the {new to Australia} Michael Devine fabric collection today. All the fabrics are divine {pardon the pun} and are hand screen printed in Brooklyn, New York. A custom colour service is even available - how fantastic! This Pagoda fabric was my favourite. I ordered a few meters for some cushions for the shop but I'd love to see it made into curtains. I'll have to try and use it in an upcoming job!!

Black & Spiro Today

I thought I'd show you our gorgeous new armchair which just arrived into the shop. It is covered in one of my favourite Rubie Green fabrics. I had a client call me yesterday saying she nearly had an accident outside the front of the shop as she was driving past when she saw the chair!! How funny!!

More Pretty Flowers

Zinnias Boutique

Country Living

I must be ready for Spring as I seem to be craving vases full of beautiful flowers this week. Here are some more pretty flowers to whet your appetite!

Thanks Canadian House & Home

I was just over at Chelsea's blog, {Frolic} doing my daily check in when I saw that she was mentioned in Canadian House & Home's Best of the Blogs. Then I read on Chelsea's post that I had been included too. How lovely! Thank you for including me Canadian House & Home and thanks for posting the article Chelsea!! Congrats to you and to all of the other lovely blogs mentioned!

Pretty Pink & Yellow Peonies

Image - Jen Gotch/Danske's Photostream @ Flickr

I nearly fell off my chair when I saw this pretty picture!!

Today I Love...

A beautiful blue and white boat house via Skona Hem!!

Get Outta Town!!

Christine Rudolph

Get on your bike and head out of town for the weekend....

See you next time!!

Farewell Morning Tea

One of my lovely girls finished working at Black & Spiro today. It was time for her to move on and I must say I was very sad to see her go. We had a special morning tea for her this morning to bid her farewell. I couldn't help posting the gorgeous cake we had made for her by Sharnel at The Cupcake Company. It was so gorgeous!! I loved the navy and white grosgrain ribbon she used around the base of the cake and the Camellia flower on the top was beautiful!!

Courtney's Absolutely Favourite Things

I'm so thrilled to present our second 'Absolutely Favourite Things' piece from a person I admire very much; Courtney Barnes from Stylecourt.

Courtney's blog is a plethora of inspiration and her knowledge of Design History, Decorative Arts and Art History never ceases to amaze me. I am certainly very inspired by this amazing woman along with many, many other people from around the world and yet despite her popularity and her achievements she remains very humble. Courtney has been mentioned in Elle Decor, Domino, Country Living, Time, The Washington Post, Real Living, 1st Dibs, Apartment Therapy, Design Sponge and many other blogs including mine many times!! I must say she is one of the most gracious women I have come across since I started blogging and I am very grateful to her for always encouraging me and supporting me. Well, without further adieu, let's see and hear about some of Courtney's favourite things...

"This picture is an homage to one of my favorite decorators, Suzanne Rheinstein, and it is filled with a few pieces I love: the vintage highball glasses came from High Street Market and have a chic silver Greek key rim. (They look equally great filled with pink punch for a little girl's birthday lunch, holding adult cocktails, or serving as vases.) When I think of Suzanne, apple-green and English Regency come to mind so here I have crisp hydrangea and an English tray that belonged to my grandparents. Reflected in the tray is the painted sign that used to hang outside my uncle's art gallery. (The mix of black with green reminds me of Suzanne too.) And lastly, some of my favorite fabrics are peeking through, with the linen on the bench being very much like a print Suzanne used years ago for a showhouse."

Thank you so much Courtney for sharing some of your favourite things with us! Your vintage highball glasses are divine but I must say your ottoman is one of my all time favourite pieces!!

'Absolutely Favourite Things' will appear here every Thursday so stay tuned!!

Talking About Pretty Cottages...

How cute is this little cottage??!! I love the vine creeping around the windows and doors and that old iron sun bed looks like it would be a perfect spot to sit on a Sunday afternoon with a few favourite magazines and books!!

Image via Skona Hem

Obsessing Over...

I absolutely adore this old armoire with mirrored doors. Actually I'm thinking this would make a beautiful pantry in my new kitchen!! I'll need to start saving my pennies!!

My Little Cottage

My ideal home is a pretty little old cottage {painted white of course}. Unlike many who strive for 'the big house' I tend to be more of a cottage style of person. BUT my ideal cottage must perfect in every way ie. it's neat, it's tidy, it has perfectly manicured gardens with a perfect white picket fence and inside is, well, perfect in my own imperfect sort of a way. Don't worry I am going somewhere with this!!

Almost a year ago my husband and I purchased a very little {very imperfect & very impractical} 2 bedroom cottage in an inner city suburb of Brisbane with all the intentions of making it perfect. Well, so far we have built the pool which is great but that's it. I have spent all year working with my architect trying to work out the best solution for this little house and at times I have almost thrown in the towel. BUT, I think, just maybe, I might be almost there...well that is maybe I might have a builder ready to start working on this little old lady!

A little while ago I was so thrilled when Courtney over at Stylecourt posted before and after shots of this little cottage {above} which is almost identical to my little ugly duckling. These pictures became my inspiration for my project and I suppose it was this image {top} which kept me going when I started to think 'this is all too hard'. So today I thought I'd post this little cottage and hopefully early next year I will post some before and after shots of my little cottage!! Thanks for always inspiring me Courtney!!

Stay tuned as tomorrow I'll be posting Courtney's 'Absolutely Favourite Things'!!

Black & Spiro Today

Here are a few new things we have in store at Black & Spiro. As we are heading into Summer here in Australia my current favourite thing in the shop are our new, very own, red, white and blue vintage ladies swimming cushions put back with red and white or blue and white ticking they'd be so perfect for a beach house or even better a pool house!! I actually love them placed with our red and white Hawaiian cushions too!!

And Today I Love This Too...

And why would I stop at one "Today I Love" house when there's this gorgeous one too also from House Beautiful via The Inspired Room.

Today I Love...

Oh, I love this house featured in House Beautiful which the Porchlight girls also posted about recently! I love the open shelves in the kitchen {top} which not a lot of people would like but I'd personally love to have shelves like this in my kitchen as I would place all my beautiful old teacups and saucers and other vintage pieces on them.

See You Next Week!!

I thought this would be a fun image to end the week but I cannot be credited for finding it. I found it over at one of my favourite blogs...Nibsblog via Glamour Magazine! Enjoy your weekend!!

Current Project Update

A little while ago I showed you some images of a very exciting project I was working on. I thought I'd show you a recent picture of the house which I took today. It is all starting to take shape and hopefully we will be installing the furniture within the next month. It is certainly one of the most beautiful houses I have ever worked on and I am so excited as it is going to be a very special home for its owners who are such lovely, lovely people. I have thoroughly enjoyed working with them. They have not cut back on anything as it will be their family home which I think they will probably stay in for a very long time. We are using lots of beautiful Antique pieces and lots of beautiful fabrics. I can't wait to get it finished for them as it is a project they have been working on for many years. When I was with the client today she was starting to get so excited and I know she is just so grateful to everyone who has worked on the project as it certainly is turning out to be exactly the way she has always dreamed it would be! I'll keep you posted!!

Felicity's Absolutely Favourite Things

I am so excited to present our first 'Absolutely Favourite Things' piece which is from the very lovely Felicity at All Things Bright & Beautiful. Felicity is an Australian painter living in Hong Kong and her colourful blog is full to the brim with beautiful and inspiring images just as her title indicates. Her blogger help series has helped so many bloggers including myself and she is always so willing to offer her help and advice to anyone who asks. Felicity was the first person to respond to my new series when I sent out the invitation a couple of months ago. Here is what she has to say about her favourite things...

"Ah my favorite pieces - well, I can't really set my 3 children and hubby on the table and photograph them :-) so here are 2 of my favorite pieces.

My mother's cut crystal and sterling silver perfume and cream bottles pictured here (in need of a polish!!) with some other things from her dresser.

My mother appreciates beautiful things and there are so many lovely things in the home I grew up in and these are my favorite because they remind me of her. They are so pretty, lady-like, timeless and elegant all at the same time - a lot like her I guess."

Thank you so much Felicity for showing us a few of your favourite things! I must say I absolutely LOVE your special things but then again I think I just about love anything which is blue and white!!

'Absolutely Favourite Things' will appear here at ABT every Thursday so stay tuned!!!

Image by Felicity @ All Things Bright & Beautiful

Introducing 'Absolutely Favourite Things'

Hello there. I am so excited to announce a new series I will be featuring here at ABT which I have been working on for a couple of months now. It is called 'Absolutely Favourite Things' and it will be a once a week series which will showcase the favourite things of some of my favourite bloggers out there. I have asked each blogger to select a few of their most favourite things and work them into a tablescape/vignette which they will then photograph for us to see. I have also asked them to give us a brief blurb as to why these things are their favourite. There will be one blogger featured each week. I hope you will enjoy this new series. I will be featuring the first blogger tomorrow...how exciting. Until then I thought I'd put together a little tablescape of my own which includes some of my favourite things I recently purchased on my trip away and a few other old favourites. See you tomorrow!!

All Images - Anna Spiro 2008

Today I Love...

Loving these 2 images from Skona Hem! They make me dream about Summer!

Meeting Pia Jane in Paris

I was so thrilled to catch up with the gorgeous Pia Jane Bijkerk when I was in Paris. Pia came to my hotel and we drank some wine and chatted for a couple of hours all about her work and my work and blogging and she gave me some lovely tips for my stay in Paris. Pia is the first overseas blogger I have met and I must say she is one of the loveliest people and so talented. If you haven't already checked out her blog you must head on over and tell her I said hi!!

All images by Pia Jane Bijkerk

A Bedroom By Melanie Brooke

While I was away Melanie, who is the other designer at Black & Spiro, finished off this beautiful bedroom for one of her clients. I had to share it with you as I was so impressed with her work. The room is simple and so very stylish. I love the little injections of pale aqua and green and I love the way she placed the little vintage painting which she found in one of the client's other rooms on the bedside table. I also love the little Eiffel Tower which she has placed inside the other bedside cabinet!! A lovely room Mel! I can't wait to see the rest of the apartment once you are done!!

All images - Melanie Brooke 2008

{And Finally} London...

I was only in London for one day and one night but that didn't stop me...even though it was at the end of my long trip I managed to squeeze lots into my short stay. One thing which was on my must do list was the Notting Hill Markets. I think I must have been one of the first people to arrive at the markets on that rainy Saturday morning but wow, I'm so thrilled I was as I picked up some amazing things and it wasn't long until the crowds started to fill the street.

In London I stayed at the new very stylish Haymarket Hotel which was designed by owner and Designer Kit Kemp. I must say this hotel was one of the most wonderful hotels I have ever stayed in. Not only was it absolutely beautiful, the service was like no other and the staff were so lovely and so kind and absolutely nothing was too hard. When I arrived at the hotel I was given an upgrade to a junior suite {at no charge} and when I asked if I could get a late check out at 6.00pm the next day {which I was more than happy to pay for} they granted it at no charge. Wow, what an end to my trip away. I absolutely LOVED this hotel and I would highly recommend it to anyone visiting London in the future as I personally wouldn't stay anywhere else!! If you live in London and don't need to stay at the hotel I would recommend visiting the Haymarket for afternoon tea which they serve all around the beautiful foyer...so gorgeous!!

All images - Anna Spiro 2008