A country wedding / A new life

I am not quite sure how to explain the major life changes I have undergone over the past 12 months.
My husband and I took 10 weeks off to travel to Europe to make some big decisions about our future and returned to Australia to proceed with closing our retail interior/furniture store. It was a huge decision and really quite scary and yet I am happy to say it has been the best decision

I then spent the past 5 months planning a wedding at home for my daughter. Against all warnings from a few experienced local ladies who tried to suggest we go else where we decided to have a marquee in our garden at home. It was a mammoth task and I am now incredibly relieved to have it all behind us.

A few kind readers have asked if I would return to blogging and on a wet and very early wintery day I decided it was just the day to begin.

I would love to know if you are still following, so please leave a comment.

Sally-Ann x

Inspirational flowers

I am so thrilled a friend introduced me to a new book by Saskia Havekes called Grandiflora celebrations. Saskia owns the fabulous florist Grandiflora in Sydney and in her words, "specializes in creating bespoke arrangements and floral installations for memorable events in Australia and overseas". Just the inspiration I need for planning a wedding. Available at all good book stores or contact, Grandiflora.

Blooms of colour

My garden is brimming with good health after some lovely spring rain. Never before have I seen so many beautiful blooms of these pink rhododendrons.

images via me, ada and darcy

More washing...

I have become a little obsessed by lovely laundrys over the past couple of days and inspired with pretty pictures I plan to do some serious work in mine today. It has always been a dream of mine to have two machines and dryers. Think how quickly you could wizz through your chores.

An outside door in my laundry is also on my dream list.

This is definitely my favourite. With these drying racks, washing basin, pretty colours, fresh flowers and little glass canisters for the detergents, I think it could become a place I could enjoy a little more. Colour coordinated washing definitely helps the look!

images via 1.and 2. from marriage to motherhood 3. house of turquoise

Kate's flowers

These are some lovely arrangements by a very talented floral artist Kate Litchfield for a TV shoot of a project near Thredbo. The steel box container looked fabulous with the steel bench top. The fragrance of the jonquils were perfect for transforming the house from a building site to a home.

The flowers in the second shot combined grey foliage with lichen coated branches in the arrangement to give rustic appeal. The dresser was found by the client and was previously a shop fitting. The reclaimed french oak table was commissioned by Cottle House for the room and wishbone chairs completed the look.

The bottom shot included gum leaves with soft, pale, pink, old fashioned roses. All arrangements looked stunning in position and my photography does not do them justice.