Tory Burch and Quadrille

I know the Vogue 2012 spread of Tory Burch's Southampton home has been doing the rounds, but I've just spotted some Quadrille Fabrics in there...as well as that fabulous 'coral' lamp.

Okay, not so easy to spot but here's a close up...

The wallpaper and lumbar cushion are in Home Couture Persepolis, and the chair cushions are in Quadrille Volpi.

Architectural Digest June 2010

Hound Hill Design

Sarah Whit Interior Design

I am also inspired by the 'green on green' garden. If only mine would morph into this.

 I don't think it would be quite the same with the trampoline and the collection of tennis balls strewn across the lawn!

Images 1, 2 & 8 via Vogue; 3 - 7 via Quadrille.

Paper Decorations

We had the most wonderful weekend away - well, just over 24 hours but that's a week in 'no children time' - at our friends' wedding.

The wedding was held at the bride and groom's home, with the ceremony in their garden.

A huge amount of effort and planning must have gone into it and honestly, it was so perfect.

Instead of flowers, all decorations were paper.

Even the order of service was on a paper windmill.

Fresh flowers at a wedding are lovely but I think paper decorations are such a clever alternative.

This wedding was so much fun...lots of old (as in 'long time', please...) uni friends. It was so lovely being in the company of people you've grown up with, on and off over the years. We're all living in different places, doing different things but there's that ease of history where things don't require explaining or justifying. There's an acceptance about who we all are and what we're doing and it's very, very special.

It feels good to be happy for what your peers have gone on to do.

Magic.

All images via Pinterest.

White Out

No, not the weather fortunately! Today Auckland is sunny and warm and all is right with the world again. We are having the exterior of our house painted and there's only so many eaves that can be painted in humidity and rain.

Nope, that's not my house. Ours is currently B-R-O-W-N. There's really no other (polite) word for it, although a lovely friend called it "coffee". Think instant, not flat white.

It's brown.

So I typed 'Herne Bay' into the www.realestate.co.nz site and virtually every house currently for sale is some shade of white. So, yes, as I know this is not 'the forever house', we're going Herne Bay White too.

A local resident pushing the envelope of acceptable shades of white.

And I've called in the garden man for a Herne Bay 'green on green' garden too! 

Pete and I are off to Wellington to attend a wedding of an old uni friend. We've been told "it will be like all those 21st's we went to, only more sophisticated". Well, yes...

I hope you all have a lovely, happy weekend. Annie x.

All images via realestate.co.nz.

Rain Rain Go Away

This image pretty much sums up Auckland's weather today...

...and in searching for 'Auckland rain' images - there's a lot of them - I came across LPK Photography with its quirky photographs of downtown Auckland. I found rain, of course...

...but several other pics that I thought were fun...

FREE is a very good word in New Zealand language...even the dog's keen.

We're a sophisticated bunch in New Zealand!

This just has to be my favourite..."does my bum look big in this?"

Well, hopefully tomorrow our 'Big Little City' will look a little more like this...

I hope the sun is shining wherever you are...particularly if it's meant to be summer! A x.

Image 1 from here; all others via LPK Photography.

Aravina Estate

I saw a beautiful, floral table setting over at The Verandah House yesterday and it reminded me of the tables at the Aravina Estate in the Margaret River, which we visited in January.

Okay, so not such a lovely pic as this...

Rather fabulous yes?

...but the approach to the restaurant is through a walkway of the most splendid, similarly coloured hydrangeas...

In Western Australia, where it is very dry and hot in summer, these hydrangeas are such an unexpected treat.

The Aravina Estate vineyard is the former Amberley Estate and the new owners have renovated the restaurant and landscaped the grounds to include a children's playground and cricket pitch. Actually, I'm not certain they intended there to be a cricket pitch, but this is Australia, in summer, so a cricket pitch it is.

Our girls spent enough time at the table to place an order, dash, return to eat and then return to the cricket pitch. Pete and I ate like normal people and even shared uninterrupted conversation. I know!

Let's just say that everybody was happy.

All images my own except 2 via The Verandah House.

Icing On The Cake

We had a lovely, quiet weekend at home. Perfect.

It was sunny and warm, so there were a few bike rides and dog walkings around Herne Bay...and ALWAYS past 'the cupcake shop', Icing on the Cake.

It's not worth the battle trying to get them past this place...not that there's usually much argument from the parents on this one. They also do fabulous birthday cakes - best not to show the girls and heighten their expectations, but Lily would love these...

An Angry Birds cake...so silly it's funny.

...and Arabella would think this was the best present ever.

A horse that is, not the cake. There's going to be some disappointment next birthday!

I hope you all had a lovely weekend too. Annie x.

All images from Icing on the Cake.