Monday 26 October 2015

My happy place: The Southern Highlands

We spent the past weekend wandering around gardens and vintage shops in the Southern Highlands. Last autumn we visited Red Cow Farm in Sutton Forest. This weekend we returned to the garden to see it looking utterly different in a contrasting season.














The garden was pretty spectacular in autumn, with an abundance of golden and amber coloured leaves. But I am so glad we saw it again, looking impossibly lush with all its fresh springtime growth. 


Kate  x


Photographs by M o s s & V i n e



Thursday 8 October 2015

Thrifted

October is BUY NOTHING NEW month. I am currently on a year-long mission to refrain from buying any new clothing items; the only new items going into my wardrobe as of June 1st 2015 will be thrifted and gifted. It's working out fine, I already have more than enough clothes anyway- most of us do. The impact of cheap, fast, and disposable fashion on our environment and society is horrendous. The 'buy less, make it last' movement should be a standard mantra, but sadly it is not in our modern world where status and materialism reigns supreme. It is crazy, especially when you can find the things you need- or the things you think you need- through other avenues. Make do, borrow, thrift. Sustainability is everyones responsibility. In the FLOWER INDUSTRY too.

I have always loved thrifting for vases. Some of my best buys have been found in charity shops and on market stalls. I thought I'd put together a post to illustrate the beauty brought to my home through thrifted vases. I've chosen four of my favourites.


What: Vintage depression era glass,
Where: from a market stall,
Featuring: pink and blush ranunculus,
Cost: I can't really remember the cost of this one, but under $20 certainly, 
it was bought for me by my Mum a few years ago now.
See it filled with stunning roses HERE.


What: Vintage brass bud vase,
Where: from a collectables store in Robertson, NSW,
Featuring: my favourite blue hue of hydrangea,
Cost: from memory I paid $17 or $18 for 2.
See the pair of them filled with sweet smelling stock HERE.


What: Vintage milk-glass vase,
Where: a retro collectables store called S t o n e C o t t a g e in Berridale, NSW,
Featuring: creamy white ranunculus,
Cost: this was $15 (I got a small discount because I know the lovely owner).
See it filled with garden-cut spring blossom HERE.


What: Vintage milky-green agate vase,
Where: charity shop in Crows Nest, Sydney,
Featuring: may bush,
Cost: this was $13 or $14.
See it with blush tulips HERE.


It is also possible to create beautiful displays just with what is already in your cupboards, or growing in your garden, like I did HEREHEREHEREHERE and even HERE

Of course, buying second hand vases isn't saving the world. But applying this approach to all of the purchases you make, goes some way to ensuring that you are treading more lightly upon the earth. When it comes to flowers: choose in-season flowers, buy direct from the grower if possible OR take your snips into your garden to see what might be available, invest in good quality artificial flowers, avoid imported varieties which are sprayed with an array of chemicals in order to pass quarantine, take your vase along to a florist and ask them to create directly into it rather than wrapping your flowers in waste heavy packaging, and limit the flower food you use- clean water and freshly cut stems should be enough.

 Below are helpful links with information about sustainability across many aspects of everyday life:






Kate  x


Styling and Photographs by M o s s & V i n e






Thursday 1 October 2015

Links to love: October edition

An English garden in BLOOM.

I have pet and studio ENVY.

This is a FUN idea. But before you go out and buy a whole new wardrobe, THIS should be compulsory viewing. Succinct facts from the film by +1 Million Women HERE. Everyone should THRIFT.


I have nothing to say about THIS except, swoon! And some MORE!

THIS satire account is so on the money, it's scary. SO good!

Such pretty WEDDING INSPIRATION.

I am drooling over some of the furniture in this HOME. That bedside table...magnificent!

I could move into THIS SPACE tomorrow!

MASTER FLORISTRY at its finest.

 I would spend my life scouring flea markets and vintage stores if I could get a set of mis-matched dining chairs as wonderful as the set in THIS HOME.

Crushing on this WEDDING DRESS.



The anthropologist in me loves THIS.

A gorgeous BOHEMIAN STYLE elopement.

STYLING TIPS I am trying to employ in my 'fake it till you make it' approach.

ADORABLE.

What an ADVENTURE.

This is making me want to play about creating WREATHS.

I love this PLAN BEE seed idea. So important. So clever.

RECIPE to try.


Kate  x



Styling & Photographs by M o s s & V i n e