A big hello ... from Gurgaon ... :o)

For all those wondering ,where ever did I disappear ... Ah ! well I am  now officially in Gurgaon ... a long road trip along India ... and now its settling in time for us. I got boxes and boxes load to unpack ... plan out rooms... get the flooded room fixed ... and it may kill me but I am loving every bit of it.While I clicked these images  ... my exhausted lil' one got completely knocked out on the sofa ... after a hectic time ripping open all the frames from the bubble wrap.

All these days  ... ooops  .... months of missing in action ... I apologise to all my friends ... blog followers and visitors ... for all the times they left me messages and mails ... I tried my best to reply to many ... but surely few slipped through the cracks ... I am truly sorry for that ...

Oh! dear and I know I really need to change my curtains for sure ( they are exactly 10 inches short for this house)and I am bored with the same look now ... well! I  have many trips to make ... loads of designing in store and many design stories to share.As crazy as life is (and I love the craziness of it all )... but I am surely ready to get my blog back ... on ... let the stories pour ... :o)

I hope you'll all join me again to share your side of the stories ... :o)

Paper Liason...and an update.

This post is a mixed one...

I wanted to let you all know that my very talented friend, Joelee has opened an online store, which you can visit HERE. You might remember these...

gorgeous roses I posted about a while ago that Joelee made from paper.
Here are some other offerings she makes...

These beautiful roses have been made for a baby boy and I did see a package that Joelee had wrapped with all things baby blue to send off to a new arrival...and it was so sweet. I love that the top layer is clear.Please stop by Joelee's store. She is forever adding new pieces to the store and I know you will love the pressed tin hearts, especially the white ones. They look like old tin sheets - gorgeous. Oh, and if the colour is not there that you seek, Joelee can do it for you!

I couldn't help but photograph this pressed tin one with one of Joelee's little organza roses and one of my Love You tags...this one is for all of you.

I have been getting emails from you very sweet people asking how I am feeling after my recent health scare, so...

here I am!

This was taken about 4 days ago (and at about 10:30pm after a very tiring day, so excuse the hagged hair etc it was nearly bedtime) and I can tell you that we have recently joined a gym (I know I am the Trainer, but we all need extra work don't we?). My migraines have eased quite a bit (yay) and I feel back on track and enjoying the slower..ahem...pace I have been keeping.

..and I do thank you all for your patience with me while I adjust to all of this.
You are all so sweet to check up on me..mwah to you all!

Ness xx

What Do You Think?

While I was having time off, I did do something new...some new covers.

I made up these Swiss Cross covers with a grey cross for the lovely Suzanne at Cocoon in Launceston, which is an amazing mecca for all that is funky and handmade and also another store where you can find Marley & Lockyer products! I made some extras for the Shop too. I love this one on our ticking covered chaise.

It looks great paired with this new Bus Roll cover which is bigger than my previous bus roll cover. I like that the print is all vintage looking as well and ensures that each cover is totally unique.
Then for something a little different for my store I tried screen printing on burlap/hessian. At first I wasn't sure how it would print seeing the weave is quite open, but it turned out great.
What do you think of these new covers? If you like them I will add them to my permanent collection for this year.
They can be found HERE.

I also wanted to mention that two sweet blogging friends are having giveaways!

Maria from the stunning blog Dreamy Whites is holding one where you can win a n Annette Tatum queen size duvet!! The other is from Tina at Rubie's Place where you can win some gorgeous little cup warmers which have been made by sweet Tina and also some beautiful jewelry from Lona De Anna...wonderful.

Ness xx

Some bargain finds...and a winner!

Firstly, thank you all for entering the giveaway. I will announce the winner at the end of this post. While it was running, I took the time to spend with my family and some visitors we had...and I done some shopping!!!

The first thing I bought on our travels was this beautiful wicker heart from The Vintage Rose in Launceston, which is owned by the sweetheart Amanda. While the boys were off at the motor museum, I snuck around to visit with Amanda and had a lovely chat with her and looked through all of the amazing new things she has in store. I bought a few things which I will show you in another post.
It is all whitewashed, so its right up my alley!

I love this old syphon bottle and spotted it after the second passing at the Evandale markets. I cant believe I didn't see it first time around! The man at the stall marked it down to $10.00 for me! I had been admiring one the day before which was not as pretty and it was $70.00.

I love that it has lots of elements in it that I love so much, old glass, text in white, silver and the creamy top. I weighs a tonne and the glass is really thick...and it works still =0)
The makers mark is still visible on the back. I haven't worked out where it will go yet though.
Guess what I did find.....

I have been after one for ages and it was on the top of my 'have to find list'. The wood is just glorious and I have no intentions of painting this piece - ever! I know a big call from me, but look at it!

Have you guessed??

Yup, a glorious bentwood chair! Although it is not an original Thonet chair, for $25.00 I was happy to walk away with it under my arm! There were 4 of them can you believe, but the others were very rickety. This one is really sturdy so I am very, very happy. Now I can check that box on my list off =0)
I found it at an amazing new old ware store, which I will be visiting next time with trailer in tow!!

I will be making the seat for this soon.

These little finials are also on the cards for a makeover. Probably not a great deal will happen to these. I will give them a good clean and take off the old screws and see where to go from there. Cute though.

I also bought this ugly Betty of a chair. The actual chair is lovely if you can look past the horrid 80's paint job. It is sturdy and I can imagine this is going to be a full weekend project.
Next piece is this little caddy thing for my office desk. It will be getting a fresh coat of white paint and will house all of my office paraphernalia...for $10.00 I thought it was cheap storage.

Now I just have to get on with getting them all made over!! easier said than done I know. Our visitors have left now, so life goes back to normal.

Now, on to the winner. After all the email and etsy entries and all of you who had extra entries was tallied, the final number of entries was a wonderful 682!!! I have since been to random.org and put in this number to get back the number 43.

This number belongs to My Uncommon Slice Of Suburbia!

Yay, a winner!! Congratulations and I will be in contact soon. Thank you again to all who entered. I will be having another one soon =0)

See you tomorrow...told you, back to normal!

Ness xx

My Initial Thought

Some people have the best initials. Take Wallis Windsor, for example. Double W's look fantastic when engraved on flatware or embroidered on linen. Heck, just one W looks terrific. M is good, as is T. I think I'm taken with these letters because they're symmetrical. You can flip them on their vertical axis, and they still look the same. J is asymmetrical, something which I admit drives me a tad crazy. Same with a B. But if you have one initial that is symmetrical, like an H, then you can use that letter as the starting point for an interesting monogram. That one symmetrical letter can be the foundation upon which you build your cypher. On my stationery, seen above, I tried to achieve balance with one long B to the right and a smaller J and E to the left. And if you throw a box around anything, it's like instant symmetry.


See what I mean? Old Wallis had great initials. Those interlocking W's were perfect for this appliqued bed linen.


Edward's E was pretty nifty too. Of course, being able to add a crown to your monogram always helps.


Givenchy has monogrammed cotton slipcovers in his dining room at Clos Fiorentina. If you didn't know that this was Givenchy's monogram, it might be a little tough to decipher the letters. Still, it's rather striking, don't you think?


Also at Clos Fiorentina- the "Walter" guest bedroom named after friend Walter Lees. See, there's that W again. Looks fabulous.


And yet again, W rears it's pretty little head in this room decorated by Jonathan Adler.



Todd Romano's monogram is quite clever (seen here on a matchbook). The T bisects a wide R, resulting in a cypher that is tight and symmetrical.


But, after seeing these chairs that were auctioned off by Christies last week, I take back everything I said about B's. According to An Aesthete's Lament, these beauties belonged to Bunny Mellon.

(Windsor photos from The Duke & Duchess Of Windsor: Public Collections; Private Collections (2 volume set).; Givenchy images from Le Style Givenchy; Adler photo from Rooms to Inspire in the City: Stylish Interiors for Urban Living by Annie Kelly, Tim Street-Porter photographer, Rizzoli 2010.)

The ABCs of Entertaining

And just who is that elegant woman, above? She is Genevieve Antoine Dariaux, former directrice of Nina Ricci. Let me first say that Dariaux is the type of woman that many of us would like to emulate when we become women of a certain age. Her hair was impeccable, the maquillage tasteful, the jewelry quite chic, and that dress...sublime. Of course I'm sure it helped to have that Nina Ricci connection.

So who better to write about elegance than Dariaux? In fact, her first book- titled what else, Elegance- was a primer on how to dress appropriately for every occasion. But it's her 1965 follow-up book,Entertaining With Elegance, that I'm taken with. In it, Dariaux advises the reader on how to entertain with grace and refinement, something which the author seemed to do with aplomb. Her tips are organized alphabetically, so if you need help with ashtrays, punch, place cards, and kissing (not the romantic type, mind you, but rather the purely social variety), you'll know exactly where to look.

So far, I've made it through the D's, so I thought I'd post some of Dariaux's nuggets of wisdom. Unfortunately there are no photos in the book, so I'm improvising with some that I've found in other books. And keep in mind that the book was written 45 years ago- you'll especially need to remember this when you read about preparing dinner for your husband!

(For a more modern approach to entertaining, be sure to check out Joe Nye's forthcoming book Flair: Exquisite Invitations, Lush Flowers, and Gorgeous Table Settings which I'll review soon.)



MAC II included chic sterling cigarette holders and ashtrays on this table.

Ashtrays:

In the living room they should be big but shallow, stable, plentiful, and emptied when they are full.

Standing ashtrays are not at all chic.

On the dining table, they should be small, pretty (preferably of crystal or silver) and there should be one for every place setting.



Let's see, Andy Warhol designed this birthday table for a child who was 1,2,3...6 years old.

Birthdays:

While you would not consider placing on a child's birthday cake anything but the number of candles representing his exact age, the question is more delicate with guests of honor who may not be very anxious to reveal how old they are. This is the system I have adopted:

For children: one candle for every year
For myself: the exact number of years.
For my husband: the same as for myself.
For adults in general: twenty-one candles, if you wish to be very tactful.
For a pretty woman: the most flattering number I can think of.
For somebody over eighty: it all depends. Beyond a certain age, coquetry consists of proudly claiming the maximum years of age- so that it is all the more marvelous, I suppose, to appear so young!

Elsa Peretti managed to make director's chairs look chic

Chairs:

Very few folding chairs are equally suitable for indoor and outdoor use, and if you do a great deal of patio entertaining, it would be advisable also to invest in a set of folding canvas desk chairs, Hollywood-director style, which take up very little storage room. A clever friend of mine has adapted this folding X-model for indoor use in her English-style interior by staining the wooden frames a dark mahogany shade and covering the seat and back with black leatherette, affixed by rows of gilt-headed upholsterer's nails.


If you really want to be naughty, you could tell your guests that the evening's dress code is casual...and you can wear this vintage hostess gown. You'd look great, but your guests would really be steamed.

Clothes:

A hostess should never try to be more elegantly and expensively attired than her guests.

Whenever you entertain, you should inform your guests very precisely as to the kind of dress you yourself intend to wear. I know of nothing more irritating than the hostess who says, "Wear whatever you feel like--" which always makes me want to reply, "All right, I'll come in my nightgown!"




The moral of the story is...do as Mrs. Arthur Hornblow, Jr. and set up an elegant TV Dinner for Two and your husband will think you're the best wife ever.

Dinners for Two:

Why shouldn't a woman feel as if she were giving a dinner party for her husband every evening? ...It seems to me very worthwhile going to a bit of trouble in order to give your husband the impression that every time he comes home in the evening, he is going to a party.

When your little stage setting is ready, you should give a thought to your own appearance and arrange to greet your dinner guest (even though he is in this case your own husband) smiling and fresh, with your hair neatly arranged, wearing a pretty fresh house dress.




A drinks table done right.

Drinks:

At cocktail time: Whisky (Scotch and bourbon), vodka, fruit juice and one of the fortified aperitif wines such as Dubonnet and dry sherry, or a sparkling wine such as champagne.

In the evening: Whisky, fruit juice or soft drinks, and a drink such as gin and tonic in which the spirits are very much diluted in a non-alcoholic mixer, or a sparkling wine.

(Images 2 and 4 from The New Tiffany Table Settings; Images 3 and 6 from Tiffany Table Settings)

Just What the Doctor Ordered

Who knew that it would be so easy to fall in love with a medicine cabinet? Truly, I think this is the most stylish one I've ever seen, but I guess that's no surprise as it's in the bathroom of Thomas O'Brien. It's like the hit parade of everything I love- nickel frame, lights on the side, and in the words of O'Brien, it's reminiscent of "a vitrine from a 1930s store". Well, you know that the 1930s reference just sealed the deal for me.

And then take a look inside the cabinet. It's like a mini-Zitomer or something. O'Brien collects fragrances, so there are numerous fragrance flaçons and bottles. I believe I spy some Acqua di Parma as well as Kiehls. It's really making me rethink my 1960s medicine cabinets which are accessorized with Crest, Sure, and Bausch & Lomb-not so peak of chic. I think that I might need to upgrade my sundries.

For a little more in the way of swell bathrooms, I'm including images from O'Brien's soon to be released American Modern. Sure these rooms might look modern, but I'd also add that they're timeless too.




Yet another enviable medicine cabinet. I like how clean the bathroom looks, and I'm not just talking about the decor. Light and white always looks germ free to me. The sink and bath hardware are part of O'Brien's Aero collection for Waterworks.


In the same house, the man's bath features a washstand with tall nickel feet- such a clever detail.


Another shot of O'Brien's bathroom. OK, so maybe I now want a blue bathroom rather than white. The walls are dark blue ceramic tile, and the sink is the same type of marble used in the Empire State Building: Breccia Antica.

(Image at top plus O'Brien's quote from House Beautiful, April 2010; other images from American Modern, Laura Resen photographer)

GIVEAWAY TIME! now closed thankyou to all.

It's giveaway time!!

The prize is this -

ANY 2 of my covers from my Store and 1 set of my mini clay tags. You get to choose.

If you want to have a look at the covers from my shop click HERE. Make sure to have a look in my sold orders as well as not every one is listed at the moment.

The rules -

1. Visit the shop and come back here and leave a comment telling me which 2 covers and set of 1 tags you would choose.

2. Join as a follower of this blog to get an extra entry.

3. Blog about this on your blog for another entry.

4. Add the giveaway to your blog sidebar with a link to M&L for another entry

....simple!

Good luck lovelies.

Ness xx

ENTRIES NOW CLOSED THANKS. See next post for the winner =0)