I have two secret loves, CHAIRS and LAMPS!!!!! At the moment I'm intrigued with Emeco (The Electric Machine & Equipment Co). If you haven't heard of this American company, you will probably recognise their 1006 Navy chair for sure, they claim it's their identity! What I love about these chairs, is that they are made from 80% recycled aluminum, they're handmade, hand polished and designed to last for 150 years. (obviously the designers have children!). They have just launched a new chair called the 'Lancaster' by British designer Michael Young. This chair is beautiful, the combination of the polished aluminum and the ash-wood, modern with a touch of warmth coming from the wood. (available at Living Edge later in year) But the design I've been hooked on for a while is the Emeco stool designed by Phillipe Starck in 2001, these stools aren't fancy, but to me I love the clean molded look of them, perfect to go around an old rustic wooden table!

P.S. If you want to know more about Emeco click on this link, on the official site is a great video to watch about the company, after watching I loved them even more!!!!!!!!

P.S.S. Ok, if you really want to get obsessed with CHAIRS click on this link Chairblog, I know, crazy, a freaking blog on chairs, LOVE IT!

Nicholas Harding

This year I decided I wanted to try and get back into painting oils on canvas, something I've done on and off over the last 15 years and find quite a challenge, but this time I've decided to go back to art classes with Sarah McDonald. She has been wonderful, nurturing me and giving me confidence as we go. So a couple of weeks ago at our class she suggested we all go and visit Nicholas Harding's latest exhibition at Hill Smith Gallery. Now, I'm certainly no expert on art, I just know what I like! But his paintings were stunning, his colours and the way the paint was layered on top of each other, I just wanted to touch them. I watched a video about him at the gallery, such a lovely person and watching him paint with his palette knife was like he was icing the canvas with paint, so much paint being applied effortlessly, mixing his colours on the canvas rather then on his palette. Up close they look like muddles of colours, yet when you stand back from the paintings you some how see the images so clearly with detail!!!! AMAZING!!!! I left feeling so inspired, well I can dream!

I took this photo in Sydney, ahhhh, yes yes a very pretty girl indeed! But what also caught Minnies eyes is the mix of fabrics in her dress and bag, and also how effortlessly she has done her beautiful hair! I'm not jealous, true, I promise I'm not?

I know Christmas has been and gone, but I thought I'd share with you some photos of the decorations I did with my children. We spent months saving our toilet rolls, so we could make our own bon bons, which we filled with chinese fortune cookies. We also decorated the trees we were eating under with giant silver tear drops and silver ball chains. Then of course, PANIC, THE FLOWERS!!! In my mad rush the day before I went to my favourite florist, she mostly sells succulents and tropical flowers, wonderful colours. I'll try and post some shots from her shop soon? I ended up placing a single orchid and a stem of mulberries in about 8 glasses down the middle of the table. Very easy solution, no fiddly flower arranging required! (click on pictures to enlarge details)

This lady caught Minnie's eyes in melbourne recently (she was so shy), she made me think when I'm in doubt just throw it all on! I particularly like her arm with multiple cuffs. Below is another example (click on photo to see enlarge detail), so next time I'm in a rush in the morning with not a second to spare, I'm not going to think, just dive into my drawer and see what I pull out!

These 'Egg Cup' stools are by designer Mark Tuckey, I love love them! I first saw his work in a magazine article last year, he has a showroom in Melbourne and Sydney, the Furniture is all handmade by his small team, his website is definately worth having a look at Mark Tuckey

This photo I see every morning when I get up and every night when I lay my head on my pillow, it is perfectly placed next to my bed. MY MUM! This is my favourite photo of her, I feel like it was taken from a scene in the movie 'Breakfast at Tiffany's', all that is missing is her ciggie!