Ode to Hydrangea

If anyone asked me what my favourite flowers were, other than roses and cherry blossoms, it would have to be hydrangeas.

With regular feeding, a spot in semi-shade and occasional anti fungal spray, they're dead simple to care for. Want blue? Toss acid into the soil. Want pink? Toss alkaline into the soil... (white/green are a different breed altogether and will not change).

I love their stunning displays during spring/summer, and when not in flower, their big green foliage adds just the right touch of green and freshness to the home. I love their ability to be planted right near the home, but not be in danger of roots systems getting under foundations, like the liquidambars. Pity they don't have any scent.

Planted en masse they are a stunning display of floral pom-poms.


















But it looks just as stunning in a large pot (better large since they can grow very large... or regular repotting).

Remember Nic's front porch (from Making it Lovely)

What about a hanging hydrangea?? Apparently there are beautiful specimens in the Longwood Gardens, PA, USA. I'd like to start a few myself...

Via Flickr

I have just two hydrangeas to start with. One's pinky-orange and the latest is a $1 rescue from Kmart's dismal nursery by my mother in law. It was almost dead when she got it and the little thing now has so many healthy green leaves on it. I can't wait to see its pure white blooms!

I have been working on implementing my plan for the courtyard. So far, my plan has been a good one...

Our new-to-us outdoor setting on a beautiful sunny day. I got this from eBay for $240. The lady said she paid $5000 for it barely 4 years ago! All it needs is a sand, and some outdoor varnish.

I truly truly love my outdoor setting. It's now undercover (where you can spy a trailer in the above photo) to protect it from the extreme rain we've been getting. My dainty pink butterfly plant just perfects the look I want!

It has been raining non-stop for the past month and it's set to be a non-stop rainy season this summer (what summer, the husband scoffs)... so photographs will disappoint! Because of all the moisture, my roses have black spot so I keep plucking the ugly leaves, my beautiful orange-pink hydrangea has fungus on leaves (sprayed, thank God!) and everything's looking sad.

I have been busy though. In the past 11 months since moving in, I've added cherry blossoms, plum blossoms, maidenhair ferns, hoyas (aren't they BEAUTIFUL!), camellias, roses, violas, orchids, an orangey-pink frangipani plant, begonias, lisianthus and a butterfly plant!

I've also maintained my azalea bushes planted in the landlord's side strip where nothing grew due to allopathic pine needles from next door. I do enjoy seeing them grow. But it's such a pain having to regularly de-pine-needle the strip. I feel like chopping those branches off from overhead.

The latest could-not-leave-behind was my first hoya. It was also a Kmart rescue and I can't wait to see blooms. Apparently this is a safe-for-indoors one! Isn't it gorgeous??

Via Wikipedia

Thanks

Thanks for waiting. I have needed the time to be inspired again, to push through some hurdles and begin to create again, to start to imagine once more.

You know how they say that your home is a reflection of you? Well, it feels like the head is clearer, the heart is more open now that we've done some fairly major room-changes and furniture clear-out-and-clean-up.

I must say, while my core tastes haven't changed, I have grown to eschew "new" in favour of "vintage" and "custom" and "one-offs" more and more!

What about you?

Isn't this collection of vintage blue milk glass beautiful? We don't seem to get many coloured milk glass in Australia!

I have been going through some... busy times... juggling a few business decisions, getting busy with my daughter's school... and looking around for a house. It's been a little uninspiring lately... forgive my silence as I take the time to breathe. xxox

My new Fringe USA vase

I finally caved and bought myself a $12 bunch of cherry blossoms branches at the local grocers here in the Blue Mountains.

These blooms somehow last longer than most other branches and I am so happy with them.

Stupid silly me, I sold my one large pastelly pink vase at the recent garage sale so I had to go get myself another large vase. I got one for $5 at the local St Vinnies store which did the job but looked completely ICKY.

But today I had to pick up a wigwam for my daughter from Bed, Bath and Table here and found they had 15% off storewide! So I happily paid less for my wigwam than RRP and picked myself an early birthday present, a glass Fringe USA vase.

Aren't these absolutely gorgeous?? These are my favourites.

I first fell in love with them via Ruby and Rose Interiors' online store a year ago, but due to their prices I couldn't afford them (not to mention shipping for such a heavy item!). The beautiful pieces of glassware are fired at 180˚C with a thin layer of lacquer applied over the decals to protect them.

This is my new vase, the Walnut Bird.



And this is it in-situ:

My vase! (Rubber bands are to prevent ants from getting there.

Makes me so happy and it invites Spring 2011 in! :)

Share the fragrance around please!

In this grim financial times, a lot spread around makes all the difference.

I try not to splurge on flowers and fragrances for the home much. After all, when $15 can buy 4 punnets of strawberries enough to supply Hannah's lunchbox with her morning and afternoon tea munchies for a fortnight, it's a no-brainer to forgo the lovely bunch of roses. So when I have access to the best mother-in-law and her lovely winter-bursting camellia tree, I try to fill my home as much as possible with bunches of the blooms :)



I am also fond of fresh scents through the home but cannot often afford the $40-50 splurge on my favourite picks from the Abode Aroma range. I know it can last up to three months... and that spreads the costs alot, but it's been tight times lately.

I've recently hit on a great way to spread the aroma around the home!

This is my Lime and Coconut Abode Aroma diffuser. (Did you know you can make it last longer by using way less reeds than provided?)

Do you like my fantastically polkadot-ty cruet set? I just love the shapes... like commas!

There were two things that made the lightbulb in my head light up:
1. I wanted that fragrance in my bathroom and other places in my home
2. I had a bottle on my bathroom window sill that ... looked so lonesome.

It's a beautiful wine bottle in the loveliest shade of jewel-blue. I placed it on our bathroom window sill just for some interest in the tiny room. For weeks it's stood there, mighty lonely...

Remember the 2 premises above? Well, I poured a tiny bit of my Lime and Coconut into the wine bottle, sacrificed one reed... and now my bathroom smells beautiful!

But it was still lonely. Looked odd. So I had enough of it today and went through my things to find it mates...

First, there was this:



It looked odd, and I like things in groups of three or fives... So I got out another glass bottle I love and added it to that...



Then that quickly got ditched on account of uglyness!

I knew after that attempt that it needed something blue to highlight the delicate blue tones of the bottle. I raided my dresser and am now happy with my final attempt:

Liz Taylor's Jewels and her gorgeous home

Firstly I apologise for not being as frequent as I'd like in my blogging. I'm not really into re-posting the already-posted-to-death things... I like to make my posts as personal-to-my-musings-and-situations as possible... and sometimes that hits a "bloggers' block"!

I have been rather focused on my family (daughter's been on school holidays) and looking for part time work that allows me to work from home.

But I did want to share a MOST inspirational home with you.



I first discovered Elizabeth Taylor as a young child entranced with Cleopatra (1963).



I remember thinking what gorgeous eyes that seem to drag you in forever and ever. Then I heard in my teens that she had eyes of the most unusual shade of violet. I also read that a genetic hiccup blessed her with double rows of eye lashes! No wonder her eyes were the main star!

And of course we can't have a blogpost about Liz Taylor without incudling her iconic jewels! (Just a few...)

The La Peregrina Pearl; a perfect pear-shaped natural pearl once owned by Bloody Mary, Queen of Scots; a gift from husband Richard Burton. Karipearls includes a great story about her La Peregrina pearls... now only with great pics of the piece, but also highlights her passion for life, her largeness of character and her.. normal-ness!

The divine Cartier ruby and diamond necklace, presented by husband Mike Todd

The 33.19 carat Krupp diamond, an engagement gift from Richard Burton. She is known to have worn this rock more than any other of her pieces.

The 69.42 carat giant Taylor-Burton diamond

The stunning emerald and diamond necklace by Bulgari, a gift from Burton

The massive Bulgari 321-carat Burmese sapphire pendant in a diamond and sapphire sautoir necklace, from Burton

You'd think this blog was all about her jewels, don't you?

Well... it's actually about her beautiful ranch-style home in Bel Air, California, for 30 years until her death in March 2011. Her property sits on just under 1.5 acres of land (very modest compared with other uber-celebs). 7000 sq feet of that was devoted to the house that was surrounded by a bricked motor court, swimming pool, stunning landscaped gardens, a hothouse for orchids and a koi pond with a waterfall.



I couldn't get enough of Elizabeth Taylor's gorgeous home featured in Architectural Home Digest July 2011. For someone who has such fiery tastes in jewellery, her newly decorated home is peaceful, exudes warmth and casual living. Taylor worked with Waldo Fernandez in 2010 and the gorgeous actress passed away during the Architectural Digest photoshoot.



Her house was redecorated in a beautiful shade of blue to reflect the iconic lady's gorgeous eyes. Paired with warm woods, grey-whites and punches of fushcia, the result is a gorgeously calm, bright and beautifully relaxed abode.












The beautiful gardens feature many roses; the hybrid tea rose Elizabeth Taylor, introduced in 1985, abounds.




Since Ms Taylor's death, her house has sold. We have lost yet another style and life icon.

Pics of her home via Architectural Home Digest

George Nelson Clock

Via blueantstudio

I think any one of the George Nelson clocks would go perfectly in my home, with my penchant for white walls and brightly coloured furnishings!

I particularly love:

Via Fancy House Road

One of my favourites, the Ball Clock, 1947

Via Flickr: monitorpop

But I think my favourite sculptural one is the Sunflower Vitra:

Available from Design Public for US$1085

But because we're trying to teach my 5 year old daughter to read time and numbers etc... I'm afraid our very-basic round clock with easy-to-read numbers will have to do for now!