Fabulous Timber Floors Inspiration

I love the look and feel of homes with polished timber flooring and would choose this over carpet any day.

So, its with little surprise our first adventure on the renovation for our new apartment is replacing the (hideous) carpet with some glorious polished floorboards.

With no idea what we wanted, outside of polished floorboards, we definitely learnt a lot this weekend!

We had the choice of several types of Australian timber flooring including Blackbutt, Spotted Gum, Tasmanian Oak and Jarrah. The international options included American Oak, Northern Box, Merbau, Southern Box, Kentucky and Hevea. Each wood has a different Janka rating, a measure of the resistance of the wood to indentation. The toughest options were Blackbutt and Spotted Gum.

The alternative to timber flooring we discovered, is Bamboo. I never had considered Bamboo as an option for flooring, but with it being a sustainable resource its definitely an attractive option.

Decisions, decisions! We momentarily decided to go ahead with the Bamboo flooring but, made the last minute decision to go with timber flooring instead. The type? Spotted Gum - a gorgeous timber with loads of character, with an almost ashy look.

It was important to ensure we had a durable floor that was going to last for many years to come and wasn't going to date. The Bamboo was beautiful, but didn't have the gorgeous natural wood-grain that the Spotted Gum has; below is a comparision of the two:

{Bamboo}

 {Spotted Gum}

So very exciting, the first thing for our apartment is organised! We are getting it installed before we move (not for 4 weeks) but I will be posting pics once it's in.

All images from this post were sourced from photographer James Merrell's portfolio.

Natalia Vodianova, Vogue China

Loving this shoot done for Vogue China (may, 2010) with the ever beautiful Natalia Vodianova. The blue / grey mood of the shoot is exactly how the weather feels here today. But that said, I adore this weather and am relishing rugging up and finally getting out some warmer clothes!

Image source: Live Journal, Vogue China, May 2010

Happy Friday {Full of Pretty}

Happy Friday lovelies! Lots to celebrate today - Friday, of course; the beginning of a long weekend here; and Sydney's never-ending summer.

This weekend also marks the start of planning our renovation and first up is the floors.

We want to put beautiful polished floorboards in, but the problem is that we have an apartment underneath us, so we have to come up with a solution to get around this so we don't upset our new neighbours with noise from the floors! Will update you of our progress next week.

Do you have anything exciting planned?

Image credits:

Pink Lemondade

Lucas Allen

A Diary of Lovely 

Gathering Spriggs

Everything Fabulous

Dustjacket Attic

Laundry Love

Now it may seem like a strange to have a post called laundry love, but I am one of those insanely strange people who loves her laundry! Am I alone?

After the past year living in an apartment with no laundry I am eagerly anticipating our new apartment with a lovely large laundry where I will be able to soak and wash until my heart is content (joking).

....But I do think you will agree these laundries are fabulous!

{my favourite}

Happy hump day loves!

All images via: Secrets of Domestic Bliss

Colour Inspiration {California Breeze}

Some unexpected colour inspiration for your Tuesday. At the moment I am loving the gorgeous colour California Breeze by Benjamin Moore.

At last year's Kips Bay Showhouse, Bunny Williams showcased a range of furnishings from her BeeLine Home Collection, which were beautifully complimented by the walls painted in California Breeze.

An striking colour palette, one which I will definitely be considering for my new apartment (not sure if I am game enough though!)







Image credits: House Beautiful

Photography Inspiration {Mark Lund}

Happy hump day lovelies! This week has felt extraordinarily long, probably because I am anxiously waiting the outcome on our new home!I'm looking forward to sharing it with you soon.

I have a special treat for you today - the delightful interiors portfolio from New York photographer Mark Lund.

On his blog, Mark describes his interior lifestyle photography as 'playing upon the modern idea of "home"' and I can really see this feeling coming through in all of his shots. The warmth and 'homeliness' in each of the shots is nothing short of fabulous!

Lund's most recent work includes the new Liberty of London for Target range and the latest IKEA advertising catalogue. 

Check out his full blog here.

Have a fab Thursday!

All images via Mark Lund.

Heavenly Shades of {Blue}

How heavenly are these blue interiors? I would love a big deep bath like this one!

Hope you have been having a lovely week so far and a warm hello to new visitors on the site! 

Image credits:
Homes & Gardens

Award Time!

I am super excited that I have been lucky enough to receive the Sunshine Blogging Award from the lovely Dawn at The Alternative Wife! If you haven't been to visit Dawn yet, go now! Her blog is filled with the prettiest fashion, beauty, art and design inspiration.

Being so new to the blogging community I'm thrilled to have been made to feel so welcome :)

Here are the rules that go with accepting the Sunshine Award:

1. Put the logo on your blog or within your post.
2. Pass the award on to 12 bloggers.
3. Link to the nominees within your post.
4. Let them know they received this award by commenting on their blog.
5. Share the love and link to the person from whom you received this award.

With so many beautiful blogs out there this makes it very hard, but here goes - these are the blogs I would like to pass this award to:

Pink Lemonade Design

A Punch of Colour

Freckles Chick

A Diary of a Lovely

One Simple Addition

Love. Obsess. Inspire.

See Hear Say

Beautiful Things to Share

Little Reminders of Love

Ink & Post

Mimi & Meg

Simply Seleta

Topsy Turvy

I would also like to thank Anna from Around my Table, who has awarded me with a Beautiful Blogger Award. Thank you Anna, you are too sweet!

Hope everyone had a lovely weekend!

Photography Inspiration {Max Attenborough}

Hello lovelies! I do hope you have been enjoying your weekend so far. Husband & I have spent another weekend wrapped up in our search for an apartment, but this weekend we found some goodies. I hope I will have more news next week!

I stumbled across Max Attenborough's photography portfolio after seeing one of his images in a lovely blog (forgive me, I cannot remember which one!) couldn't resist sharing them with you.

I adore all of the styling he has done in the shoots, they are refreshingly innocent and he captures the composition flawlessly.

Enjoy the rest of your Sunday darlings!

Image credits: Max Attenborough

Back to Basics {Primary Colours}

These bold spaces featuring splashes of colour captured my attention immediately. 

I love the use of primary colours to create such delightfully warm interiors. Have you used primary colours in your home? 

Secondary colours tend to feature more prominently in my home, namely green; but I do tend to play it a bit safe when it comes to experimenting with colour!

Have a fabulous Thursday!

Image credits:
House & Home
House & Home
Plush Palate