retro villa.

i’ve been wanting to share my retro villa experience with you for weeks now. for those of you that follow me on instagram, you’ll have an inkling of what is to come. this experience started as a crazy little idea that i had one afternoon, to visit what i believed to be vintage wallpaper heaven on earth. it soon became all that i thought about. i wish i could remember how i came to discover the retro villa concept but all i can think of is that ebay was no longer delivering in the eye candy stakes so it may have just been good old google that did the unearthing for me. being an avid blog reader, i’m hoping it was more likely a decor8 feature. i had originally decided on staying overnight in copenhagen to maximise the vintage wallpaper experience but it soon became apparent that this little adventure was not going to be good friends with my credit card limit. so an early start from london (alarm set for 3.15am) and then a direct flight to amsterdam in the afternoon fast became the ideal option. i was in copenhagen for approximately 5.5 hours, enough time for me to train into the city, find RV (experience it’s bounty) and then pick up a bite to eat en route back to the airport. with two hours of broken sleep under my belt, enough excitement to last me a lifetime and my minimal knowledge of the danish language (hej & tak), i set off to find heaven. one wrong turn and a helpful h&m girl later and i had reached my mecca. i arrived just shy of opening time so i spent a few minutes snapping photos of the area. copenhagen is a beautiful city, with its cobbled streets, ombre toned buildings and delicious design ethic, which is evident everywhere you look. soon enough i was making my way back to RV to experience what i had only dreamt/blogged/talked about for the past year or so. it was a bit smaller than imagined but an efficiently laid out designer’s/pattern lover’s/vintage adorer’s dream. to my right was a well-crafted wall of eclectic danish design which included vintage fabric cushions, pottery and treats for the home. wallpaper adorned every surface, delighting all of my senses. i was greeted by the gorgeous and enchanting shop owner, stylist and writer, mette-helena who had the kettle on within minutes of meeting me. it wasn’t long before we were deep in conversation about how i had come across RV, my love for vintage patterns and the fact i’d travelled all the way from australia to visit her shop. her story is incredible, definitely one i recommend reading here. i remember being completely enchanted by her story, which i now believe to be one of the main reasons i began this journey in the first place. rolls of wallpaper offcuts were stacked in tubs to the left of me as i entered the shop, just infront of what can only be described as the wall of wallpaper wonder. i have never felt my heart beat so fast, i was speechless. my photos cannot even begin to convey the incredible vision that stood before me. separated into families of colour, i was neck deep in a designer’s dream. i wanted ALL OF IT but knew due to a 20 kilo weight limit and budget, that (this time round) i had to behave myself. i pulled out every roll and let my eyes devour each pattern. i went with my immediate gut feeling, allowing myself to go home with the ones i knew i truly loved. it was like being reunited with old friends when i would pull out a roll and recognise the pattern from a wishlist i’d made a year earlier. i tried to savour the inspiration and soon gave up on attempting to capture everything with a photograph. i had to let go of the fact that i couldn’t have it all and i believe being confronted with so much beauty really taught me to stop and enjoy it, rather than worrying about not being able to take in enough. although i walked away with 26 metres of wallpaper, i knew the experience would be the priceless inspiration that i would still be talking about well into my 90’s. if you're in the copenhagen area, or europe for that matter, go visit this little slice of heaven. to read mette-helena's take on our encounter, head over here. again mette-helena, thank you from the bottom of my vintage wallpaper loving heart. x

love this city.

the ombre effect takes over copenhagen.

love.

understated beauty.

window treasures.

told you, now breath.

because there's more...

and it's colour coded.

the offcuts.

a sneak peek at my purchases.

favourite #1

favourite #2

favourite #3

just rosy.

a little commission that i've been working on for a friend at work. his mother in law turns 75 this weekend and what better way than celebrating with a floral pink ombre number? the original brief was to make a chocolate cake that could kill an elephant. death by chocolate? not a bad way to go. but due to my latest ombre obsession we managed to tweak the idea into something that would tick both our boxes. a liiiiittle bit of red food colouring, raspberry jam, slatherings of chocolate buttercream, lace and a couple of pretty peonies later, and this baby was born.

the fleas.

the last time i was in paris 7 years ago, it was all about the galleries, the patisseries and to put into practice the behaviour of a parisian flaneur that i’d spent the past year at uni year learning about. back then i wasn’t the secondhand treat lover that i am today, infact, i didn’t visit one secondhand shop or market during my 4 day jaunt. i was travelling alone so wandering the streets aimlessly into the night just wasn’t a sensible option. instead i spent my mornings wandering the arcades, afternoons at the louvre and my evenings watching bad french tv in my hotel room whilst devouring several (at least 3 at a time) pain du chocolat. this time however, my girls and i were dinnering late into the evening and rarely in bed before 1am. locals were still ordering dinner at 11pm and the nutella crepe stands were making a killing well into the early hours. i was falling more and more in love with paris the longer i spent walking her streets. my heart was put to the ultimate test when we decided to spend our saturday wandering one of the biggest flea markets in the world. les puces or ‘the fleas’ is an extensive array of vintage/pre-loved eye candy that only my dreams could have prepared me for. even though the majority of what i wanted (all of it, every single thing) was too big to come home with me, i fell in love, over and over and over again. i wasn’t disheartened, only inspired and delighted by what my eyes were uncovering. photo opportunity after photo opportunity had our creative juices flowing from the get go. i still look back at photos (most notably THIS chair) and fall in love. i’d be flicking through boxes of old postcards, love letters and family portraits whilst my girls were neck deep in vintage chanel, fashion magazines and lace. the variety of treasure was beyond incredible, i probably pinched myself about 20 times to prove i was really there. we were creating mental mood boards in our minds of future home displays and collections and eyeballing items that we’d mail home in a heartbeat if the budget permitted. there’s an incredible history and charm exuded by the treasure found at a french flea market that my local oppie can never compare to. covering a gigantic 7 hectares of land, this flea market requires patience, regular coffee stops and a camera. this time i learnt that paris is definitely a city for lovers…lovers of vintage treasure that is.

THE chair that all my dreams are made of.

market reflections.

more chair delights.

beautiful art.

retro colour.

german beauties.

elegant vintage chanel.

pretty tiles.

for the love of eames.

love letters.

pretty patterns.

suitcase rummaging.

perfect displays.

mirror love.

pick a number.

vintage dress heaven.

benday sunday.

i interrupt my regular europe broadcasting with a little slice of the weekend just gone. there was some coasting, vintage café visiting, beaching, lichtensteining and rummaging. the weekend always seems to go so fast, but i guess my to do list just keeps on getting longer. i’ve made a conscious effort since returning from europe to make my weekends a little less busy, a little more lazy and a little less expensive. much to my delight, it’s been working in my favour. the weather has been delightful, crispy in the early mornings but warm and delicious by around lunch time. my cold loving british blood so enjoys this time of year. one of the highlights of my weekend was going to see lichtenstein’s pop remix exhibition at the qut art museum. my lichtenstein love affair began back in high school and has been going steady ever since. dressed in my polkadot dress as an ode to the benday dot, my beautiful friend and i set off for a couple of hours of art time. working in a gallery 5 days a week still doesn’t take the shine off spending my free time wandering around an art space, especially if it involves a little extra lichtenstein love. as soon as the warm glow of the perfect peach feature wall hit my face, it was like i was that 17 year old again, discovering lichtenstein in the 9000 page art encyclopedia for the very first time. the selection of screenprints, brass reliefs and lithographs were hands down the most inspiring collection of his works i have ever seen. i’ve fallen in love with his acrylic canvases in nyc, london and san francisco before now, but never has my heart been so big or have i wanted to go home, whip out my pastel acrylics/silver leaf supplies and get creating. the variety of subject matter was equally as impressive and i now have a cemented respect for the national gallery of australia’s curatorial department. my $20 catalogue purchase will provide me with priceless hours of inspiration as I relive one of the most beautiful showcases of art that i have ever had the priveledge of seeing. a big call for an art lover but my large swelling heart cannot provide any other explanation. if you’re in brisbane before the end august, i suggest you take a peek. with free admission too, there’s really no excuse.

love this place. #vintageespresso

delicious decor.

heaven on earth.

beachy.

beach babes.

rummaging.

british love at rummage.

love at first sight.

perfection.

dutch love.

baked love.

it’s no secret that i’m a sucker for a sweet treat or two. 80% of the time i’m the one baking not devouring but the remaining 20% tries to steal the limelight at every available opportunity. one of the factors in my decision making process for europe was that i’d do a little sweet treat ‘research’ whilst i was there. it was a given that i would eat croissants every day in paris and if approached, argue that it was a right of passage. luckily i was with two beauties that had exactly the same idea, so mission accomplished. however, a few days into my trip i unearthed a little gem by the name of ‘tea & cake london’. anything with a pretty pastel front cover adorned with sweet delights was bound to end up on my book shelf, but this pocket sized delight had my stomach rumbling before i had even got three pages in. i had lots of recommendations of places to go for the perfect cupcake from friends and cake lovers, but instead i enjoyed the rather randomly inspired approach that this book had to offer. it wasn’t long before ‘violet' and ‘primrose bakery’ were set in my sights. it was important that the bakeries i visited reflected and respected the same ideology that my own cake shop would one day represent.

the first beauty, violet, sits nestled amongst the homes of hackney’s residents. with it’s cute cottage business style approach, it was hard not to fall in love before i’d even stepped inside the door. no fancy signage, a small back yard and a spacious upstairs seating area provided the perfect invitation on the rainy day that my cake crew and i decided to visit. i’d wanted a cosy spot where my mum, dad, sister and i could chat leisurely over pots of tea and slices of homemade cake. stepping inside the small front door, i was presented with the most delightful array of hand crafted made-in-house treats. to my left, the small team of bakers were busy icing cupcakes, preparing chocolate whoopie pies for a photoshoot upstairs and packing orders for an obviously well educated cake clientele. a stunning victoria sponge took centre stage on the front counter, but much to my mum’s sadness, was only available as a whole. laden with fruit and piled high with cream, this beauty was a little too much for our afternoon tea sized appetite. a slice of carrot cake, red velvet, chocolate salted caramel and a strawberry cupcake were ordered and we soon took refuge upstairs to indulge in our delights. not before a million instagram photos were snapped of the busy bakers at work downstairs and the incredible attention to detail that had violet pulling at my heart strings from the very first moment. 'tea & cake london' says ‘pop in and you will find claire (a former pastry chef from california) and her helpers sending flour flying from a large open workstation, while a vintage cabinet houses seasonal-inspired treats from rhubarb filled scones to a coconut cream sponge’. a tiny little shop with a beautiful personality and an offering that i think any cake lover will find hard to beat. violet, you gorgeous thing, you had me at hello.

the best red velvet cake i have ever eaten. fact.

proof is in the cupcake.

our afternoon delights.

no explanation needed.

mint and lemon english china, the perfect cake compliment.

back in 2004, a little café by the name of ‘primrose bakery’ opened it’s doors in london's primrose hill. this was the time when the world was going cupcake crazy and many bake at home mama’s and their friends were setting up shop. primrose had one thing right from the very start, be true to the american cupcake origin and you’ll be onto a winner. people soon became besotted by the pretty little delights taking over london’s trendy neighbourhoods. i visited the primrose hill location on a cold and miserable wednesday afternoon, tempted by the formica tables and retro styled interior the bakery was well known for. i was instantly impressed by the pretty pastel tones and sweet smell of freshly baked cupcakes. it reminded me of my magnolia experience in nyc but took the cake for it's proud british flair. saying that, primrose describes itself as being more than just cupcakes. 'we make our own croissants by hand and have a huge range of layer cakes, biscuits and cake slices.' not only do i have the charming experience to remember, but i was able to take away primrose's own cook book, full of the most delicious british treats and an entire chapter of icing techniques and baking tips. impressive. next on the must see cake shop list for next year? beas of bloomsbury, treacle and rose bakery. my stomach is getting ready to rumble.

cute setup alert.

my fix.

perfect.

my bible.