Retro At The Beach

More inspiration for doing up the beach cottages... Christine Lewis is a friend who has a unique approach to decorating her holiday rental beach houses. She tries to create fun, colourful and often whacky interiors with a retro beach theme. I think she must have been a set designer in a former life, although she denies it! People who stay at the houses just love them and they are pet friendly too.

Love Me Love My Dog

Beach House Scrapbook -Outdoor Showers

The pressure is on to get the little beach cottages renovated in time for summer holiday bookings. I am gathering inspiration, quickly, and thought I'd share some cute beach shower ideas. As the beach is just a few steps away it is a practical and fun addition to the houses.

If anyone else has some beach cottage inspiration - I'd love to hear from you!

More from Anna Spiro story

Here are some more out-takes from the Anna Spiro /Vogue Living story. I particularly love Anna's kitchen cluster wall which has a mixture of her son Harry's drawings and artworks she has collected over the years.

The little antique chest of drawers with a collection of vintage china is a clever way Anna has dressed up the basic white laminate kitchen and linked it to the decor in the rest of the house.

There are some photos we took of her shop, Black & Spiro which are full of ideas and inspiring decorating touches, also. 

Traditional decorator furnishings such as pelmets, lampshades and throw cushions have all been given a contemporary take with bold colours and pattern.

The vibrant turquoise walls in Melanie's office area are beautifully offset by the orange-red lampshades - and Melanie's chartreuse dress!

Lastly, I was touched by Anna's blog post about how much she loved Vogue Living as a young girl. My first job in magazines as a recent design graduate was with Vogue Living in the late eighties and it set me on a path which I keep coming back to. Although I went on to be art director on fashion titles like Vogue, Harpers Bazaar and Marie Claire, interiors is probably closer to my heart (even though I was a dedicated fashion victim for many years). 

Anna Spiro in Vogue

I have been dying to write a "behind the scenes" on the story I did on Anna Spiro from Absolutely Beautiful Things. It is in the September issue of Vogue Living which is finally out.
How did the story come about? It was either great timing or just meant to be that I happened to call Anna when photographer Simon Kenny and I were heading up to Brisbane to do some magazine stories.
I had been following the blog and thought she may have a project we could look at. It was good luck that Anna was just putting some finishing touches to her own house so we set the date for the shoot and interview.
On the day of the shoot, Simon collected me from the airport and we headed over to Anna's home south of the Brisbane River. Anna and I hit it off at the start. While Simon set up his camera, we just sat on the sofa and gabbed, barely catching breath! We had so much in common - a love of hot pink, painted white floorboards and eclectic decorating.
But what struck me most was Anna's passion for her profession as well as how seriously she treats every aspect of her design projects. As I touched on in the Vogue Living article, real interior decorators who have done a traditional design apprenticeship as Anna has, are thin on the ground these days. Anna knows her stuff when it comes to quality soft furnishings, overstuffed upholstery and interpreting her clients' own style.
I love that she is a modern day Leslie Walford (a famous Australian decorator who must be at least 80 by now) but brings a contemporary, 'more dash than cash' edge as well.
Her home feels exactly like the pictures - its pretty, uplifting and fun to be in. I know I am inspired, in fact after our chat I started my blog and she is my blog mentor!
Thanks for sharing your story with me, Anna.

There are more photos coming if you would like to see them...

Looking Up

I am working on ideas for the beach cottage renovation project... actually the builder has already started so its happening very quickly. With the little one bedroom cottages I am opening up the ceilings to give the illusion of more space. I have been inspired by these places with pitched ceilings that are real design features.

More Little Houses

Call us crazy, but my husband Rob and I have just bought three little fibro beach cottages right on the water at Currarong, a sleepy beach village on the northern tip of Jervis Bay. We have been buying and renovating beach houses since we met 14 years ago and ever since we sold our fishermans shacks 2 years ago in the the same village, we have been pining to be back there.
These cottages are icons in the townscape and are right in the main street, if you could call it that. Of course they need heaps of work and we have to get them renovated and decorated by early December in time for the Christmas holiday rush.
I just got the keys to my new shop as well so you could say there is a lot going on.
These are the before shots so stay tuned to see their progress in the next few months!

Painted Floors

A few months back recall seeing a hot pink painted floor in a London kitchen which looked amazing (but I can't find the tear-sheet). Ever since I have been dreaming of painted floors and here are a couple of bright ones.
Painting knotty cypress pine floors is a great way to avoid that 80s sauna look as varnished pine tends to yellow with age. They also look great in a beach house - even better when they get a bit scuffed.
In My House tip: Use paving paint as it gives good coverage and is designed for heavy foot traffic.

Buying Frenzy

I have just returned from the Melbourne Home and Giving/Life In Style trade fairs where buyers and store owners go to get inspiration and to order their wares for the lead up to Christmas.
I am intrigued to see how the trends change. Two years ago there was lots of faded pastels of shabby chic. Now the same suppliers' ranges have morphed into French provincial and its all beige linens, french typography and Louis legs. Not that this is a bad thing - I am guilty of going weak at the knees over anything beige with a red stripe - but I am glad to see that there are more eclectic ranges gaining in popularity.
A few companies with a more directional edge spruiked the industrial look and the eclectic "India meets the middle east" riot of pattern and colour.
I am interested to hear what others think are the next big looks for interiors?