Seeing Potential

Last month I was visiting a few suppliers. Home Furniture on Consignment, (HFOC), in Alexandria, is always a must visit for me. Specialising in lightly used, pre owned, designer furniture & furnishings, HFOC is a showroom that really excites.

When I stopped in for a quick browse, there on the top floor, hanging on the wall just as I turned to leave, was that rare gem I always hope to find when I visit.

I purchased this 1989 original Eva Hannah painting for our family room. When I spotted it at HFOC, I thought  it was a gorgeous large painting that would suit the old skool 70's vibe I was reinterpreting for our home.

The dreamy view depicting the canals of Venice bought back wonderful memories as well as future aspirations to travel. I knew it was meant to be on my walls.

The power of things that we love, evoking such emotion, is key to creating meaningful healing spaces. While the colours of this stunning artwork completely heal my home, it's the emotion released within that makes me smile when I see it each day.

A few weeks ago I stopped in at the Moulton Gallery just near my office. Eva's work has been exhibited there over the years. I got chatting and to my surprise was told that my purchase was worth more than 10 times what I paid and apparently from Eva's Boudoir series.

Though it's not really about the money. For me, it was a lovely reminder. I've learnt to accept that my ability to identify potential where others may not see it, is the essence to my skill. Acknowledging this has taken many years to fine tune. When it comes naturally it can be hard to appreciate. Having gratification like this is always so rewarding.

B

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Love Lace Exhibition

I've wanted to venture to the Powerhouse Museum for a while and on Friday I finally got the chance. My impromptu visit was one of those rare win win outings where the kids received as much enjoyment as I did.

For my three little people, the Wiggles exhibition was fabulous, but for me, discovering the 'Love Lace' exhibition completely refuled my love & appreciation of art. It was a serendipitous delight having only hung one pair of my newly sewn lace curtains two nights prior.

It was an incredible exhibition and curated perfectly to capture the mystique & subtle concealment of lace. An attribute I am completely enjoying with my new curtains.

Here are a few of my favourites from the exhibition;

Tablecloth by Mary Hackett of RMIT University Melbourne Australia

Tree by Waltraud Janzen of Kempten Germany

Third Space II by Andrea Eimke of Teenui Cook Islands

Lace Fence by Joep Verhoeven ofnRotterdam Netherlanda

Heirloom by Shona Wilson of NSW Australia

I'll try and take some photos of my new curtains to post soon.

I hope you are all relaxing and enjoying a lovely Easter break.

B

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My type of Oasis

This image has been floating around blogworld but it just says it all without words.

Image from Renee Finberg

Super cute roman blind too.

I need to dress up some white timber venetains and this has given me an idea! Ummm the mind wanders...

B

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Manifestation and Creation During Pregnancy

Last night I reflected more on the wonderful creativity I enjoyed with my Mon Komo project that I posted about on Sunday. Today I want to share a little truth that came out of this experience. At the time of installing the Mon Komo display suites I was just a few weeks off giving birth to our third child Darci. With all three of my pregnancies, I experienced an influx of creation and manifestation in my life and particularly within Touch Interiors (my business).

With our Hugh, my first born, it was making the leap of faith that Touch could support both staff and an office outside my home. With our Ash, it was deciding to dedicate a large volume of unpaid time to tender for (and winning) the design and procurement of a 105 room resort in Western Australia, then seeing the project through to completion. And with our Darci, it was certainly my colourful, vibrant Mon Komo experience.

During my first pregnancy, a wise holistic friend warned about my 9 month opportunity to create extraordinary things in my life. She encouraged me to be conscious of my heightened ability to manifest and create during this time. This made perfect sense to me. If my body could do the extraordinary job of creating another human being, just imagine what I could create in my professional life at the same time.

These days I tell every pregnant woman I meet to honour their creativity and take the time to explore what it is they wish to manifest and create in their world. I truly believe in this and I am very grateful to my friend who planted the seed, giving me the consciousness to achieve what I did during the miraculous gestation period of my 3 children.

Here's a treasured photo. It was taken just across from my sisters property in Bellingen when I was pregnant with Ashley. I know it's a bit personal, but hey everything in this blog is. It truly captures the essence of this post, so I wanted to share the sun rays with you.

If you have manifested some wonderful things in your life lately I would love to hear about them.

B

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The Urban Devlopment Institute Of Australia Awards My Clients

One of my clients, Kyko Group, were recently awarded the prestigious 2011 UDIA (Qld) Boral Awards for Excellence. They won for their wonderful work at Mon Komo, winning the Multilevel Development category sponsored by The Laminex Group.

Winning this very sort-after award is certainly a big coup. I was so thrilled when I found out about their achievement.

Around this time last year I was putting the finishing touches on 4 display suites that Kyko Group invited me to design & install for the Mon Komo development. You could say it was a dream job with a dream brief, working with dream clients who entrusted me to unfold my vision.

As with the majority of our commercial projects, things had to happen fast. From initial brief to final installation we were able to design, procure and install in just under 8 weeks. Once the job was confirmed we flew up to Brisbane to get our impressions and measurements. From that point I recall getting very little sleep.

The satisfaction and creativity this job provided was so concentrated and rewarding it fuelled my fire to give it all I had. To work so intensely and passionately on something that you love, within a relatively short space of time, is my true bliss. I am still revelling from the experience.

My brief was to design 4 Caribbean inspired display suites that addressed certain special requirements, enhancing the floor plan of each apartment. All 4 suites had to be very different and specifically designed to appeal to a particular demographic. It was so FUN!  

I would love to share more on this project so I will do a post on each display over the next few weeks.

Until then here is a  quick snapshot of each display that I designed for the Mon Komo development.....

Our Caribbean Carnivale Display





Our Seaside Dreaming Display





Our Island Breeze Display





Our Travellers Sanctuary Display

And I must say Kyko Group did an outstanding job on these apartments. The finishes, the design and the construction were extremely impressive. Well done Kyko Group for a well deserved win.

B
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