Saturday 28 August 2010

Bon Weekend and Giveaway announcement

shop view from the press

Hello dear friends,


I hope you are doing fine!
Here we have been busy with our annual end of the summer sale at the shop. Plus we are preparing for our annual company meeting which will be in a couple of weeks time. We also had company stuff meeting us to discuss new products. And we are finalising our advertising moves for autumn. that kept us busy, but in a good way, because it prevented us from thinking of summer all the time! 
So, to the sound of Elvis singing, I am signing off for the weekend. 
God willing, we shall start next week with a giveaway I promise you'll love, and the first of Designers Guild products at the shop. 
I hope you will all enjoy the last weekend of August. 
A bientot,


love, Irene

Friday 27 August 2010

Holding on to Summer

Space doesn't matter much...good taste does!..

...when it comes to finding what really matters...

...beauty and love, and the simple blessings of life...

realities we tend to forget the rest of the year

lightness, simplicity...the essentials

...and joy...this kitchen, this photo brings me so much joy!..

the openness of new possibilities

the pure, unadulterated joy of a child's smile

summer~joy!~renewal


love, Irene

Tuesday 17 August 2010

Selling my DG stuff

I have been trading in Designers Guild fabrics and products for more than a decade. The colours, the patterns, the country style, the kids' prints, the special drawn patterns, had me very enthousiastic about everything Designers Guild.


However, times change and so do tastes and people. So I bid farewell to my colaboration with Designers Guild. A big step, that I didn't take without consideration, but one that reflects my wants, needs and tastes.

Beginning September 1st, I shall be puting up at the shop pictures of finished goods, fabric remnants, fabric and wallpaper samples that are more than I could ever use in projects or at the shop. So if you like making stuff, from pillows to cards, mark your diaries and come back on September 1st for a continuous flow of bargains as I do my vide-grainier of brand new stock!


love, Irene

Monday 2 August 2010

The Novogratz home in the Greek press

Known for their signature eclectic style as well as their successful entrepreneurship, the Novogratz family (of sixx design and Downtown Chic: Designing Your Dream Home: From Wreck to Ravishing) are the epitomy of contemporaty neo-bohemian lifestyle. This is a spread on their pastorial retreat in South Egremont, Massachusetts.








this room is perfect for reading and games



touches of bright colour add zest

{ All pictures: Costas Pigadas / Casa Viva Greece }



love, Irene

Sunday 1 August 2010

American Beauty: Bunny Mellon's garden







Mellon, photographed by Henri Cartier-Bresson in her Oak Spring garden, 1962.



Bunny Mellon
Bunny Mellon and her husband Paul in a 1967 photo (The Washington Post)

Rarely seen and never photographed, the Listerine heiress, widow of billionaire art collector Paul Mellon, Mrs. Mellon, who is now in her 90s, [turns 100 this month] is famously reclusive and famous for her love of the decorative arts, maintaining homes in Virginia, New York, and Osterville that are fully staffed at all times so that she may arrive (via her private jet) on a moment’s notice with everything prepared for her. A stickler for getting things the way she wants, she once built a large swimming pool on her Osterville estate only to decide when it was finished that the deep end was on the wrong side. The pool was dug up and completely reconstructed to her specifications. A great and loyal friend to Jackie Onassis she was (privately) famous for her extravagant gifts to the former First Lady. When Jackie took up watercolor painting, Mrs. Mellon gifted her with a metal paintbox which held, in place of the brush, two gold earring loops and in the place of each color there were two precious stones with hooks for the earring loops — sapphires (for blue), rubies (for red), emeralds (for green), diamonds (for yellow), etc. A number of years ago Mrs. Mellon built a beautiful mansion with courtyard in the East 70s and is actively involved in maintaining its perfect interior design with a full-time personal interior decorator to assist her.
{VIA NY Social Diary}

Bunny Mellon's estate in Virginia. Read full story in Vanity Fair, August 2010


P.S. If you are looking for a book to take you through summer heat in a most pleasant way, I highly recommend Wild Designs.Very pleasurable, perfectly romantic, I was looking forward to take it in my hands every free moment I got. Hint: it involves gardening!


love, Irene

Where royal weddings happen...

an old beauty
once housing the creme de la creme


ready to welcome guests for a grand occasion

the wedding of Prince Nikolaos of Greece to Tatiana Blatnik, PR for DVF
Here is a look of the newly refurbished interiors














{ Αll photos: Poseidonion Hotel, Spetsai, Greece }

Wishing them blue skies...



...to you, too!



love, Irene

Best buys