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Tuesday, 23 October 2012

Collect.

So on Thursday lunchtime I discovered that I had had my first article commissioned for the magazine Tasmanian Style. I was a bit excited and may have had wine at lunch to celebrate. By 8.30pm on Thursday night I realised that it had to be submitted to the editor by Sunday......I had yet to write one word. Oh, and it was to be about our house and the photographer was coming at lunchtime on Monday. Panic stations. We had intended to go to a swanky fundraiser on Saturday night......we cancelled.

I still had to go through with the dancing, sailing, party pick ups and drop offs scheduled to occupy almost every minute of Saturday, day. But somehow I wrote the story.....let's face it it is one of my favourite subjects.....and for one hour yesterday my house was heart stoppingly neat:




You would have been hard pressed to even find one weed in the front garden......OK, maybe that's a slight exaggeration. Needless to say that it wasn't long before the toys and general paraphernalia starting being redistributed back throughout the house.

After weeks and weeks of trekking out to Gowans Auctions, as is my habit on Thursdays, I finally found lots on which I wanted to have a bid. I missed out on this box of Lily of the Valley plants:


Yet had success with these faux ancestors:


Which I promptly hung in the bedroom:


I am seeing silhouettes and cameos being my next big collecting addiction and have had them in the back of my mind ever since I clapped eyes on this stunning picture in Janelle McCulloch's gorgeous book Coast: Lifestyle Architecture:


Obviously, I have a long way to go.

So I will now need to focus my attentions not only on my initial:



But also on butterflies:




As well as on small antique gilt mirrors: 


The sighting of any of these objects is guaranteed to make my pulse quicken and my palms sweaty. Can you believe that my husband doesn't like going shopping with me?

Rx
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25 comments:

  1. Faux Fuchsia23 October 2012 at 15:37

    I LUFF your house!!!!!!! Gorgeous! Congrats on the article x

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    1. Romy23 October 2012 at 17:21

      Thanks...thanks...thanks! I can't believe how neat and tidy we managed to get it.....I was wishing I'd taken your advice and kept up on my decluttering! Rx

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  2. AndreafromMaple23 October 2012 at 16:21

    Your house looks fantastic. I love the book shelves and books in colour coordinated arrangements. The cameo collection is going to look a treat in your bedroom.
    PS When will the article be published as I will get my Mother in law to send me over a copy?
    Cheers

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    1. Romy23 October 2012 at 17:25

      Thanks! The books took a whole afternoon to colour coordinate one afternoon when I had children home from school sick. I'm excited about the cameo collection......it will probably take years to fulfil as I think the last time I saw a silhouette at Gowans was about 3 years ago! Next issue of 'Tasmanian Style' due out mid December! Rx

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  3. KAR23 October 2012 at 16:23

    Oh loving those mirrors, and the whole house - absolutely stunning and original. A big congrats on the article, will we get to read it at some stage. Please. Kx (The Blog a House Built)

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    1. Romy23 October 2012 at 17:30

      Thanks! Our house has been almost 8 years in the making probably due to the fact that most of our furniture has come from auction and that is not a fast process...but very satisfying as everything has a story! Also, our furniture shops in Hobart, on the whole are not very tempting! Yes, will do something with the article down the track, promise! Rx

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  4. Heidi23 October 2012 at 16:49

    Oh wow! How exciting!! Your house looks amazing, and how nice to have it preserved for all posterity in an immaculately presented way. Love all your collections. Re the Silhouettes, you can get them done on etsy of your children and you too. I've had this person marked for a while to do them for my bedroom (as it's predominantly black, white and grey, they'll go well). http://www.etsy.com/listing/53362645/paper-silhouette-handcut-and-mounted Let us know when the magazine comes out..... x

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    1. Romy23 October 2012 at 17:34

      Yes, not immaculate very often....I love it when it is and spent the afternoon yesterday languishing in the neatness drinking cups of tea and reading 'The Smell of Summer Grass'. This is not something I usually get to do! Unfortunately my children seem united in their determination to strew their stuff from one side of house to other.
      Thanks for the link for the silhouettes, what a gorgeous idea and with four of my own family that will swell the numbers of my collection dramatically! Rx

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  5. Heidi23 October 2012 at 16:49

    ps and that Toile on your bedhead is seriously beautiful.

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    1. Romy23 October 2012 at 17:38

      Yes, should probably have mentioned that I have also have a toile fetish going on as well as everything else! It too makes my pulse quicken. I have a chaise at the foot of the bed upholstered in the same design and a blue and white toile sofa on the upstairs landing. Maybe I can find another chair to toile up......Rx

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  6. Mother Down Under23 October 2012 at 21:11

    I love your house...so beautiful!
    I love when my house is clean...in fact this is my project for tomorrow...give the house a good scrub and a tidy up and then sit and enjoy it for a while before the boys come home!

    Congratulations on the article!
    Does Tasmanian Style have a website? I hope we will be able to read it!

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    1. Romy24 October 2012 at 13:32

      I hope that you are enjoying your neat house as I type this and that cups of tea and good books are involved! Rx

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  7. A Farmer's Wife23 October 2012 at 22:13

    Your house looks gorgeous. I just adore that clean and styled house feeling. (For the whole 5 minutes it lasts before it gets messed up again....)

    Take care.

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    1. Romy24 October 2012 at 13:33

      Merci! I adore it too yet unfortunately my children don't....no sooner did I have it all neat than my 5year old brought down a trolley full of his favourite toys and arranged them all over the sofa! Sigh. Rx

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  8. Anonymous23 October 2012 at 23:25

    Dear Romy
    It all looks gorgeous! Specially love the pink toile bedhead and the colour coordinated bookshelves. But also your collections. It's such fun to collect - I could so easily be swayed to swap to butterflies and cameos too. My ongoing collections just now though are: small icons and religious pictures (so far, Russian, Greek, Hungarian and Polish)and a wonderful oil painting of an angel fishing - old, from Cuzco, strangely enough bought in a village in France; tiny handpainted Limoges and other old porcelain lidded boxes (pictures of flowers or birds); candlesticks; Murano glass; fans; Herend china and of course toile de jouy; and books.
    When we were sitting at a cafe on the edge of the Place du Tertre last June while my husband was painting a water colour of the Sacre Coeur, a silhouette artist began cutting small portraits first of me and then of my husband. This was a surprise, but they were quite clever so we bought them. Perhaps the start of another collection too. Best wishes, Pamela

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    1. Romy24 October 2012 at 12:21

      We are going to Paris next year so may have to go and loiter at the Place du Tertre and try and get the children silhouetted....it would be a gorgeous souvenir. I love collecting and think it says so much about yourself and your personality although I'm not going to try and analyse mine here.....my sister squirms at butterflies and can't believe that I think dead insects pinned on a board are beautiful. The fact is that I just do! Rx

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    2. Anonymous25 October 2012 at 21:53

      Dear Romy
      The silhouette artist wasn't in the big crowd of painters and portrait artists gathered in the main part of the square. He found us. We were just sitting on the terrace of the bar/cafe (at the far edge of the Place du Tertre) where you have a good view up to the Sacre Coeur. In fact he was attracted over to us because he was interested in my husband's painting in progress and then commented that it was much better than the work done by the professionals who are based there. He wasn't French, we can't remember exactly where from but probably central European or maybe one of the republics formed out of the former Yugoslavia. Probably in his early 40s. He was very good. So hope you come across him. Best wishes, Pamela

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  9. paisleysummer24 October 2012 at 07:11

    Very exciting. I love auctions but can't seem to get to any, anymore, Probably just as well!
    Penny x

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    1. Romy24 October 2012 at 12:22

      Yes, auctions can become insanely addictive, I find myself going EVERY week just in case I happen to miss out on exactly the thing I've been looking for although don't ask me what that is! Rx

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  10. JMac24 October 2012 at 11:31

    The gorgeousness of your library is hurting my eyes! I love it. There is nothing better than when the entire house has been detailed (however short lived) - and what a great reason to achieve it. Looking forward to seeing the article. My house will be detailed within an inch of its life next week in prep for my inlaws visiting to action the kids while we run away to Derby Day. Hooray.

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    1. Romy24 October 2012 at 12:26

      Yes, in my case very, VERY short lived....we are back to books and toys and the debris of day to day life EVERYWHERE. A trip to Melbourne to drink champagne while the sun shines sounds like a perfect incentive to detailI your house. Can you tell that I'm a tad excited by the concept as we too are bound for Derby Day.....maybe we could organise a rendezvous?!

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    2. JMac24 October 2012 at 16:19

      Yes, a rendezvous! I'll email you.

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  11. Emma24 October 2012 at 11:55

    Romy!!! Your house is stunning, your bed head and butterfly collection has me squealing. So excited for you that it is going to be featured in a magazine. xx

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  12. Romy24 October 2012 at 12:29

    Thanks, Emma! I forgot to mention that way back when I was a child I collected Lady Diana memorabilia (embarrassed about it now yet my daughter loves it) and then when I grew up (sort of) and was flatting in Sydney I used to collect coasters from restaurants, bars and pubs.....mercifully my collecting has come of age! Rx

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  13. Jane5 November 2012 at 22:38

    Too much here to comment on properly, Romy. Am excited about the article - congrats! The butterflies have my pulse quickening. And I can help you with making the family silhouettes - I have a craft book here which I've been meaning to use for ages which shows how to do it. Let's get that crafternoon organised! J x

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I LOVE hearing your thoughts! Rx

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