Mirror mirror...

How wonderful does mirror look when used to add some glamour to a room. I love that you can use just a touch or go all out and fill a room and it will always look amazing. I am really loving these beautiful mirrors above!! I would love one for my bedroom.

Old photo's..

I loved this grouping of photo's of my girls and my husband and I. My daughter was taking a photo of some earrings she is selling and had this shot in the background. I look at photo's of my girls when they were little all the time now, and boy do I miss those days.

For all you Mum's out there with little one's enjoy all the hugs and kisses and giggles you are getting now because all of a sudden they are teenagers and life takes a different turn.

I have to admit I find it quite hard at times to parent my 3 teenage daughters and find myself wishing I could just be their friend and throw responsibility out of the window. But they remind me occasionally  that they actually appreciate it that Gavin and I do keep them in check and they acknowledge they need boundaries.  They have plenty of time to follow their dreams & let their hair down later on. 

They are beautiful girls and I love them all very much... xx

Pretty in Pink.

There's not a lot to say, except sooooo pretty! There's a pink lover in all of us....

IT IS TRUE

Front page "The Sydney Morning Herald"

Now which one will I choose??

These gorgeous  cabinets are available through Vanilla House. Available in 3 colour ways. I'm not sure if I will do the top one or bottom one for in my living room. Let me know if you have any suggestions. x

The Gallery Soho

Best fruit toast I've had in a while. Recommend giving The Gallery SoHo, Old Cleveland Rd, Coorparoo a go. They use their own coffee blend - recommend dbl shot if your having long blk.

Polli new to Vanilla House

Maja Rose and Tess Lloyd met in 1999 while studying Industrial Design at the University of Technology, Sydney. After graduating into professional roles, the designers sought the fulfilment of creating their own products. Soon they were selling their fun, light weight polypropylene baskets at local markets, and Polli was born.

Having a sustainable sensibility from the start, Tess and Maja would carefully save all of the off-cuts and cut-outs from the baskets, hoping to reuse them in some way. Combining their love for recycling and fashion, the off-cuts were twisted, knotted and looped together to make a range of brightly coloured earrings to sell alongside the baskets. The earrings quickly began to outsell the Polli baskets, so Tess and Maja began making using other materials and designed a larger collection of jewellery.

As demand for Polli grew so did the need for a team and a studio space. The Polli team is a group of creative women who work primarily from the Stanmore studio in Sydney. However team members are also spread across Australia and even in New York. Polli is now stocked online and in a range of gorgeous stores and galleries across the world. 

Taken from Polli website.

Its time for bed.

I would  be happy to sleep in any of these amazing settings. I love my bedroom and in all the houses we have renovated I have created a real sense of luxury and comfort in the Main bedroom's.  

Fabric for Cushions.

This is one of the fabrics I have chosen for my sofa's. We bought the biggest sofa's on the market I'm sure and they are the very very comfy but will take quite a few scatter cushions to fill them. The touch of  green in this fabric is so soft and pretty and will go back with the touches of Green I want to do in accessories. I have ordered another pattern that is the darker blue with white and 2 plain blues that match the shades shown here. I will guess that this process will take at least a month till I can show images of them finished. But in the mean time I will start looking for a Cabinet to display lots of pretty things in and redressing the coffee table.

I am trying to source some beautiful images to be framed for my walls that will compliment the colours I am using. I love Classic prints and if anyone has any suggestions or images please let me know. I find it very hard to know where to find great prints at reasonable prices.

A splash of Purple!

I would never think to use purple in a room as its not a colour I am drawn to for wearing or decorating with but I love this. It looks so glamorous and back with the silver it really pops!

To You!

Just a touch of Blue!

These beautiful powder blue rooms are so calming. I'm really loving the crisp pink and green accessories  above, it gives the room a very girly feel. 

I have to finish quite a few rooms in my house, and have got a huge pile of my favourite mags to search through for inspiration. At the moment I am seeing too much beige around the house and feel that I need to add some colour and beautiful accessories.

Owning a store a lot of my customers assume I must have a Beautiful home, full of all the lovely products I sell. This isn't quite the case in this home we are in now as I just haven't had the time to really sink my teeth into adding all those finishing touches that complete the look. 

 I am very excited to finally start getting serious and hope to keep you updated on my progress. I will post some before and after photo's and you never know you may see something that inspires you!!

Be inspired to create your own!

I am loving this memory/inspiration board. I think I will have some of these made for Vanilla House! Stay tuned. They would look beautiful in a bedroom..

The Birthday Party!!

Well we did it! Celebrated 5 years of trading. Tonight I had some wonderful help from Sharnel Dollar Designs and The Lemony Cupcake company. Both were so wonderful in helping me put on a party for my customers that I just couldn't have done on my own. 

I also want to thank my beautiful 3 girls Elle, Abbey and Alex who worked with pride and excitement. And my wonderful Niece who has been with me since I opened Nelly, thank you for all you do..

Gavin thank you for all you do for our wonderful customers, and me. Some may not know that you are a  highly ranked Police Officer and that all you do for Vanilla House is done in your spare time. But I know you love this store and our customer's as much as I do!! I love you.. 

And to my customer's with all my heart thank you, without you Vanilla House wouldn't exist.. xxx

Following a dream!!

I can't believe I have been in business for 5years!

I get asked all the time by my customers how I came to starting Vanilla House and if the shop was something I had always wanted to do.

It all started with me telling my husband that I seriously needed to open a business because I just couldn't keep working in jobs that I didn't feel any excitement or passion about.

My dream had been to be a proud owner of a Cafe/Deli and that's where I thought I would end up. But my husband knew me better and realising that I was very serious about becoming a business owner quickly brought to my attention that I would have to raise very early from my most beloved sleep to open  my new adventure each day, as customers like their coffee and brekky first thing!!

I couldn't disagree with all his realistic arguments against that idea but he didn't leave me feeling deflated he took me off to a little store that had a bit of home ware, clothing, baby & gifts and told me that he could "really see me doing something like this". I had never even considered owning a Gift store but in that moment I just knew he was right and to our astonishment Vanilla House was born and we opened 8 weeks later!

Now we are celebrating our 5th Birthday and I still love it! I have made so many wonderful friends and feel blessed beyond measure of what a fantastic experience this has all been.

I am learning so much and I know I still have so much more to learn.

We really can follow our hearts and live our dreams!!!

Ruth xx

Fresh Flowers to enjoy on the weekend!

I really enjoyed putting this flower arrangement together today, I wanted to spoil myself and my girls we all love fresh flowers.

Blue's and White in Store!

Breakfast at Tiffany's special edition. 

The Turquoise pieces in the display cabinets give a lovely costal feeling to the store! I love bringing the beach to the suburbs..

This Cake and setting looks so good! I think I will cook this on Sunday.

How yummy is this!!

Cake
200 g flour
175 g soft unsalted butter
200 g sugar
2 large eggs
1 teaspoon baking powder
2 teaspoons vanilla extract. (Not to be confused with vanilla essence. Extracts is important so that the cake should get its proper taste and aroma, or use two vanilla sticks  that you scrape the seeds out of.)
1 / 2 teaspoon baking soda
1.5 cups sour cream
40 g baking cocoa

Chocolate Frosting
75 g soft unsalted butter
1 tablespoon light  syrup
175 g dark chocolate
1 1 / 4 cup sour cream
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
300 g powder sugar


The ingredients should be at room temperature before you begin. When the butter is soft it is easier to work with. You need two greased round  forms of approx. 20 cm (8 in) in diameter.

Cake
Stir eggs and sugar until fluffy and then add  butter. Mix all the dry ingredients together and pour over egg mixture while gently mixing the batter. Spread the batter into the two forms. Bake at 180 degrees C (355F) for approx. 35 minutes.Test with a cake stick, as soon as the mixture no longer sticks to,  it is ready. 
Cool cakes on a rack for approx. 10 minutes before taking them out of the forms.

Chocolate Frosting/Cream
Melt the chocolate, cool slightly and mix it with soft butter. Add syrup, sour cream, vanilla extract and powdered sugar.

Decorate the cake with chocolate cream and add real or edible flowers. Bon appetit!
Recipe: Evy Kasseth Røsten  Photo: Franciska Munck-Johansen