Pale Yet Colourful

Sometimes I think people are under the impression that I only create very bright and colourful rooms however, this isn't the case.  I thought I would post this room today as it is one I recently finished for a client who wanted a bit of colour but also wanted a more formal and sophisticated look.  I love the palette we selected for this room and the curtains with the orange banding turned out just as I had hoped.  We worked with all of the existing pieces of furniture and just added cushions, curtains, lamps and recovered the ottoman.  It's amazing how these few things have completely changed/improved the look of the room.  Now we just need to hunt for a beautiful painting for behind the sofa...

New VL & New Office

It's always an exciting moment when our 2 subscriptions of Vogue Living arrive in the mail.  We get 2 so that I can have one at Black & Spiro and 1 at home.  We received the latest issue today and I have to say that it is jaw droppingly beautiful!  My favourite story is on Chrissie Jeffery and her redecorated Sydney apartment.  I remember when her apartment was featured in VL the first time around.  She is extremely clever and very inspiring. 

Talking about redecorating, I recently decided that I don't want to sit at a desk anymore in my office at Black & Spiro so I removed my desk and I have turned my office into my very own lounge room.  I now sit on my Peggy sofa with my laptop on my lap.  It probably isn't the most ergonomically suitable situation but I love it and I feel so much more inspired.  Here's a little snapshot of how the room is coming together.


Hope you all have a great day!  I have a huge week ahead of me and I am determined to get through it with all things ticked off my list by Friday!

What's Next

For me, creating a home with soul is the most important thing I hope to achieve for my clients and myself. 

No matter what colour or style preference you have, it's about selecting furniture, fabrics and pieces which strike a chord with you.  It's also about having your children's artwork on your walls and your grandmother's vase on your fireplace mantel.  It's about personal preference and the use of items which have personal meaning.

I have found that it's the most unusual pieces which stay within the walls of our family home.  For example the Antique Dining table we purchased just before we got married will never be replaced or sent to the shop to be sold.  Collecting Antique furniture does take time and money but I think it's worth waiting for the perfect piece and collecting pieces over time certainly helps when it comes to funding such items. 

Over the coming weeks we will be taking delivery of lots of wonderful new things at Black & Spiro including numerous Antique pieces which I have been collecting over the last few months from far afield.  There will be new fabrics and a wonderful new colour palette which I think will be fresh and exciting. 

I continue to put all my effort into sourcing and creating inimitable things for Black & Spiro and I am sure you will all be very inspired and excited by our new offerings...

I look forward to sharing photos in the coming weeks.

Work in Progress

I thought I'd share a couple of in-progress photos of a house I am currently working on.  The wallpaper in the powder room was just installed the other day and we also recently completed the main bedroom.  We are about to commence work in the formal lounge room.  The colours we have chosen for the lounge room are orange, purple, green and duck-egg blue.  Next time I'm over at this house I will try to take a photo of the outside as it is one of the prettiest houses I've seen here in Brisbane.

Working On

This afternoon I visited some lovely clients who I have been working with for quite sometime. We are just finishing off the final bits and pieces in their home like framing and lampshades.

You may recognise the green vintage lamp on their antique entry chest of drawers which they purchased from the antique shop in Marburg I posted about a few weeks ago. Although I love the colour of the old shade, we are making a new one as this one is a bit too vintagey and also has a few dints. We decided today that the new shade would look best made in a very similar vibrant green silk.

We are also having a set of antique copper etchings framed and hung above the chest of drawers. The etchings are actually of entry facades which is so perfect. We have selected a gold bamboo frame to work back with the gold detail on the lamp base and handles on the chest.

Throughout the house we have used lots of blue and white and we have also added some green. I love this fresh palette. The blue and white plates pictured above are from Black & Spiro. We are hanging them on a wall in their informal dining area.

My client was also inspired by the post I did on green leaf arrangements the other day and has used some golden cane palm fronds from her garden in a blue and white umbrella stand which she placed on the antique oval table in their sitting room.

I know I have said this in the past but sometimes, lately more than ever, I feel I am writing this blog for no reason and I also question my ability to continue to inspire with so many other wonderful blogs out there nowdays. However, when I see that my clients are inspired by my arrangements, selections and finds it really does make me understand why, after nearly 4 years, I continue to write this blog.

Ben & Phoebe's Daybed

I recently helped my cousin and his gorgeous fiance {they just got engaged on the weekend} with the cushioning on this lovely daybed which they purchased from Cotswold for their beach house. We selected an array of brightly coloured exterior fabrics for the scatter cushions and a trusty navy and white stripe exterior fabric for the seat cushions and voila this is the result. I just love it and apparently they do too!!

Thank you Canadian House & Home

I was so thrilled to be included in the just-released May issue of Canadian House & Home magazine and so taken back by the size of the article. Thank you House & Home for the lovely story. You captured my aesthetic perfectly.

PS. No doubt you would all be completely over seeing images of my home here on ABT {huge apologies!!} however, I just wanted to share my excitement about the article and, in particular, I really wanted to thank House & Home for the lovely story and their interest in my work.

images - simon kenny, story - catherine sheilds

Ashgrove House

Images above and below you may be able to spot the floor in the sun room to the left which we had painted in a green and white stripe. We will be doing some beautiful white cane pieces upholstered in lovely bright fabrics in this area in the New Year.

Here are some photos of a job I finished off this morning for a lovely, lovely client at Ashgrove. The brief was to create an area which was fresh, bright, colourful and family friendly. This is what I created.

Clayfield House

Here are a couple of photos of a job I have been working on over at Clayfield. I thoroughly enjoyed working for this lovely couple and their 2 young children. The floral armchairs we made are my favourite thing in this house and work beautifully with the colourful Chinese drum stool which we placed next to the slip covered sofa.

One More Ormiston Photo

Here is one more photo of the Ormiston house which I thought I would share with you. We delivered a pair of these beautiful blue and white armchairs down to the house late last week.

Ormiston House Sneak Peek

I thought I would share a few photos of a job I have been working on lately for some very lovely clients at Ormiston. It's quite a funny story actually. When Brad, Harry and I lived at Ormiston a few years ago this house was one we used to drive past and comment on. The gardens were always so beautifully kept and the house was picture-perfect. I was thrilled when I arrived at the front door earlier this year at my first appointment with the clients to walk inside and see the house we had long admired and to be asked to be involved with the renovation and update of the home.

I helped the clients with the concept for the kitchen. One of my favourite things in the kitchen is the 3 vintage light fittings we found for above the island bench. I took them to one of my little vintage lighting haunts and we spent a good half hour there looking for the perfect lights. Two of the lights match and the third is slightly different. The clients were a little unsure of this at first but after my re-assurance they were happy to go with them. When I visited them at the house last week they couldn't have been happier with the lights. I actually love the size of them. Being smaller they don't dominate the kitchen which I really like.

We installed some of the furniture last week including their old sofas which we recovered in a plain pale blue linen with contrast white piping. The two Antique French gilt chairs I found for them and had covered in a beautiful pale blue and white stripe fabric to work with the blue/white/taupe floral fabric we selected for the scatter cushions. We are still working on a few more pieces of furniture including barstools, dining chairs, lamps etc.

Once we have completed the house in a few months we will be photographing it for our Black & Spiro website. I'll be sure to let you know once it is up on the portfolio page.

Oh, and look at the beautiful afternoon tea my client had prepared for me when I arrived to install the furniture. So lovely!!

The Black & Spiro Website Is Here

Well as my mother always says, good things come to those who wait......

You have all waited so patiently and I am so thrilled to announce that just minutes ago the Black & Spiro website was launched. The portfolio will be updated regularly with new work as I finish each project so do keep watching the site as I am hoping to add new images within the next 4-6 weeks of some beautiful jobs I have been working on lately.

So, here it is http://www.blackandspiro.com.au/

I hope you enjoy the site.

xx

Anna

PS. If you have any trouble viewing the site you might just need to refresh the page a few times...

Oh, and in the portfolio page - just click on each house as each house has a slideshow of images...

Any queries, just email me anna@blackandspiro.com.au

Friday Flowers

Here are some beautiful tulips which I just arranged in a vintage jug for the shop. I love this little corner in the shop at the moment and these fresh tulips fit right in. I hope you have a great weekend. See you next time!

xx

Anna

A Fresh New Life

In my work I try as much as possible to encourage my clients to reuse, repurpose, and reinvent their old pieces or pieces which may have been passed down to them from family members. I often get little old stools or chairs or lamps dropped into me from clients wanting me to choose a fabric which would work with the rest of their things. They usually just leave it up to me and then I deliver the piece back to them with a fresh new look.

I was recently asked by one of my lovely clients to make some cushions out of some old embroideries she had. I thought I would post them here today as I have become a little obsessed with them myself. I wish I could take them home and add them to my cushion collection. I think they look great mixed with the black and white geometric cushion. They even have the old pencil markings on the fabric which we kept.

Images - Anna Spiro

Black & Spiro Today

Some more lovely things have arrived in the shop this week. My favourite piece is the Antique chest of drawers which you can just see the top of in the picture above. I snapped this terrible hazy picture as I was racing out of the shop tonight. We also have some really beautiful blue and white and orange and white ginger jars back in stock too for those who have been enquiring.

Friday Flowers

I was very lucky to be given these pretty mottled roses from a friend today. I arranged them in a pretty yellow vase we have at Black & Spiro. I placed them next to our beautiful vintage lamp and shade {note the beautiful embroidery on the shade} on a table in the shop and then a very lucky young lady came into the shop with her mum and her sister and they took the lamp home for her bedroom. I am sad to see this beautiful one-off vintage lamp go but I know it will be loved and cherished by it's next owner...

Happy Weekend. See you next time.

xx

Anna

Black & Spiro Today

It's been a while since I posted some pictures of the shop so I thought I would post some today. We have some lovely new pieces in at the moment including some beautiful vintage/antique pieces.

News

I was recently very honored to be invited to write an article for Milieu, the Brisbane Reed Gift Fair book, as above. For anyone who might be interested I am also presenting a seminar at the upcoming Brisbane Reed Gift Fair on Monday 6th July 11am - 12pm. For registration call 02 9211 7544. A big thanks to Jaclyn Carlson for asking me to be involved.

Nb. Click on images to enlarge article.

Friday Flowers

Here are some pretty pale pink roses which I placed on the chest of drawers in our bedroom this morning. They look so pretty with my bedroom curtains and Harry's little love heart drawing he did for me a while ago. I am looking forward to the long weekend which will hopefully be full of sleep-ins, breakfasts with my boys, videos, snuggling, morning walks, cooking, magazine reading and of course cuddles with Ned. Hope you get to do all of the things you want to do this weekend. See you next week!

Black & Spiro Today

After a few requests for some more Black & Spiro Tutu cushions, I've finally had some made. There are only 2 currently available in the shop {as per the design above} if anyone is interested.