Vintage Glass Love

I love this little collection of bottles- perhaps not on a bedside table (ours are always piled high with magazines!) but maybe in the bathroom instead... Just needed a little inspiration today x

Danish Delicates

Isn't this the most beautiful jewellery you have ever seen?

And like nothing you have ever seen before?

These beautiful porceline pieces are intricately painted by Mette Scherning who handmakes each piece in Denmark. Meet Scherning in store now...

content or content?

I often get asked this question, and my answer is simply both!

Originally the short list for shop names didn't include "content" as a possibility - in fact I was sold on a name and changed it at the last minute... My mum and I were flipping through some mag's looking for inspiration and she piped up "what about contents, or content?". We came up with quite a few names that day but "content" grew on me - I liked that it had a dual meaning. The rest, as they say, is history.

In the shop I answer the phone con-tent, as in what's inside, as opposed to con'tent, as you may feel {are you with me?} I guess the shop is about the content of your life, not just your home, all the things and the people you live and work with. I see the shop as a creative space which offers things that make life better, more beautiful, and more inspiring. I hope you agree...

3 things

Three things that I never tire of seeing in design and decoration-

* stripes- I have a thing for them! It amazes me how many new colour and style combinations are dreamt up every season. Stripes can transport you to Paris, to your Nan's Farm House, to the Hampton's, to the Missoni design studio, and back home again in the flick of a pantone colour swatch.

* sea-scape's- I love "shack" style and everything to do with living by the ocean! Sea side colours are probably my favourite palette -  collecting shells and drift wood, the way the water changes shades through the day, sunburn, and that air that makes you hungry...

*collections-  Collections usually have that thrift shop style, a clutter of objects on a shelf or a table, a splatter of cushions abandoned on the couch that speak volumes of a home that's lived in and has a story to tell. 

She's Crafty!

For the longest time I have loved to sew... Mostly by hand because if the sewing machine starts to choke on my gorgeous fabric it can end in tears! Well it seems sewing is now very much out of the closet and the clever people over at Sparrow Kids have put together these divine little kits for you to diy yourself a project.

There's a corsage, a daisy chain necklace,

an egg cozy, all felt and oh so easy.A great pressie for little people and big people alike and a perfect inside thing to do while its too cold to stay outside!

Orla Kiely Goodness

I accidently stumbled upon the work of UK designer Orla Kiely while searching for Cath Kidston fabric on ebay. Her bold graphic style prints, have a gorgeous retro feel to them, and a colour palette to match! She does a classic "repeat" pattern which I just love...
Fresh out of The Royal College of Arts Orla was comissioned by Harrods to design a range of hats, kick starting her textiles career. Her bags and soft accessories are perhaps what she is best known for, but her range now includes clothing, paper goods and ceramics.
So you can imagine my delight when (tired and at the end of my concertration span) at a trade show in Sydney this year I saw - oh my gosh- it is her - Orla Kiely paper goods tucked into a little stand! And it finally arrived to me, from the UK via New Zealand, safe and sound into little 'ol Launceston this week. YAY!!!!!! Sadly the textiles, clothing and homewares are currently not available in Australia, but her stationery is a beautiful start...

know your product

Like alot of businesses the fast approaching end of June means only one thing - stocktake. I like to think that I have a pretty good attention span when it comes to doing most things but stocktaking my little shop has been all over the place!
You see we do things the old fashioned way here - sure I have a computer but that's for email and internet... And every year I swear I'm putting in a computerized point of sale after losing count of gift wrap so I can walk up and zap things and ta da- its counted!
Anyhow after enlisting my other half's help last year, and the pain it caused him, he took it upon himself to find a better way using his computer geek savy without turning my shop into a multi national type bar coded sticker nightmare. And so we have excel. Hooray!!!

we have the technology

If you had told me three years ago that I would be standing here in my little shop, typing away to no one in particular, creating a blog I would have said no chance -I don't even like computers! Truth is I didn't even know what a blog was (Kerry F it's all your fault you know)...
So here goes!
Hi! Hello! Hi!