Surprise Dolphin Visit in Wellington

What a great way to finish off the week and our summer season - it has been a gorgeous sunny day today as it was yesterday when a surprise visit of 100+ dolphins turned up in the Wellington harbour. Love it - this is my amazing city!

The video is by the fabulous Ro Tierney who did a beautiful video when it snowed in Wellington last year. You can see it here.

52 Suburbs in Wellington

I love these Wellington photos taken by Louise Hawson from 52 Suburbs.
Hawson, in 2009/2010, realised that she was a stranger in her own home city of Sydney, Australia so she visited a different suburb each weekend and recorded what she saw for one year (hence '52 suburbs'). This was expanded into 52 Suburbs Around the World for 2012/13, which is how Hawson ended up on our shores. She focused on the suburb of Te Aro, which is just down the hill from my home, and with her great eye, she totally captured it - check out her website here and see if she visited your city.
Photographs by Louise Hawson via 52 Suburbs Around the World.

A Breather...

 Life's a bit mad at the moment - lots of great things going on. So for a little breather, here's a beautiful pool made from lava stone found in a London home.
Photograph by Henry Bourne via T Magazine.

Toast SS13

As usual, Toast has pulled off another gorgeous catalogue - they do it so damn well. Here are some stills from their latest SS13 House & Home range.
All photographs via Toast.

Staircase from The Bourne Legacy

The original Federal interior of the Dr Oliver Bronson House - does it look familiar to you?  It should be if
you've seen The Bourne Legacy.

The three storey elliptical staircase

I'm so relieved as a mystery has finally been solved for me - all thanks to Remodelista.
I first saw the film, The Bourne Legacy last year and was intrigued by the house that Rachel Weisz's scientist character lived in - which, to my disbelief, got destroyed. The part of this house that blew me away was the three storey elliptical staircase. It was stunning - I hadn't seen anything like it.
Afterwards I tried to to find information about the movie set - was it a real house or a staged set; to no avail. It really annoyed me!
However, as of this morning, I now know that this house was a movie set based on a real historic house called the Dr Oliver Bronson House, found in Hudson, New York. The original house was considered too fragile to deal with the rigours of filming so a replica was built. Read all about it here on Remodelista.
Photographs by Michael Fredericks via Dr Oliver Bronson House Day Book.

Londontown by Citta Design

Citta Design had their Winter 2013 media launch last week and it looks great. The new range is called Londontown and it became available to the public this week. Watch the inspiration video to meet the design team, hear about their London-inspired characters (Vintage, Eccentric, English Rose, Sloane and Proper Gent) and how the whole range came about.

More from the Desktop

A minimal moment by Norm Architects when they visited the Stockholm Furniture fair last week.

A school style portrait of dogs by photographer Michael Wee for Country Style

New collections and products at Asplund

A stunning photograph of a man feeding swans in the snow by photographer Marcin Ryczek that has gone
viral around the world.

Some more images that have made their way onto my desktop over the last week.

Inspiration Profile - Natalie Sorensen

Hello all - here we are again at the end of another week.
Enjoy this week's Inspiration Profile - her name is Natalie Sorensen and she is a super busy Wellingtonian who runs an online store alongside her full time job. Phew! Check her out.

Natalie Sorensen of LET LIV. Love the striped rug on the right? Yep, it's available from LET LIV.

Name: Natalie Sorensen

What do you do: I am the Director of almost everything at LET LIV. We opened our virtual doors in August 2012 however I had been working on the LET LIV concept for some time.. some would say my whole life!

Where do you live: Wellington, New Zealand! The city which I love and will always feel like home no matter where in the world I go.

What are you working on: We have some big plans for 2013 and beyond with LET LIV, I am never working on just one thing at a time. At the moment though we are about to launch the first item in a range of LET LIV textiles… shh!

LET LIV Moroccan Leather Pouf - Fuschia

Who/what inspires me: I think, like all creative people, I go through stages of being inspired and also stages of being inspired by certain people. Eras and figures of the past are definitely things I look to to be inspired, however we also have a whole new way of being inspired with things like blogs, tumblr's & my guilty pleasure, Pinterest. In terms of LET LIV in general, my Scandinavian heritage has definitely inspired the concept, the product range & how I view living.

I work best: Unfortunately for my early bird partner I work best at night but I am trying to sleep more and work best!

What I do when I’m stuck for inspiration: Have a glass of wine & a chat with my partner,  or my guilty pleasure; browsing through Pinterest. I also find that I can be struck by inspiration anywhere so I always make sure I make a note of it, often in my phone.

The best advice I have been given is: Follow your heart – it is advice that works in all aspects of life I have found.

My latest discovery is:I discover something new that I love / want / need or all three every day almost so this is a hard one for me. I would say that our new cowhide pouches by Mooi are one of my latest discoveries. Vashti from Mooi is one lovely lady and it was so nice to meet someone who is doing something similar to me and being able to work our businesses together. (Watch this space).

Brown and White Cowhide Pouch

Books that I get inspiration from: Biographies are the books I enjoy most, especially ones about people in the past I just find that fascinating & inspiring. At the moment however, I am reading GRACE by Grace Coddington.

Magazines that inspire me: I am a magazine addict, it used to be fashion magazines, however now you can imagine I am addicted to interiors mags. I am the sort of magazine reader that is a flicker though so the more visual ones appeal to me more as an instant gratification thing.  Can’t walk past a new NZ Fashion Quarterly, Homestyle, Your Home & Garden or NZ HOME mag.

Blogs that I enjoy: There are far too many to list & not look insane! On my daily browse list though are; Charlotte Minty (thanks!), The Design Files, Made from Scratch, My Scandinavian Home, Fancy, Studio Home, Miss Moss, The Design Chaser, Yellowtrace, Milo & Mitzy, Design Lovefest and the infamous Emmas Design blog. (That’s just for my first coffee of the day).

My favourite room at home is: We have a living room which flows onto a dining area, kitchen and deck, it just feels so open and comfy. It is just a classic palette of white & washed wood and we have filled it with many an op shop find and of course tonnes of LET LIV!

My office is: Anywhere my laptop is, actually, anywhere I am. One thing that is key in what I do is being inspired and fortunately this can happen at any time, any where!

What am I looking forward to: Ticking some goals off my LET LIV Goal List,  being able to keep on doing what I love and whatever else life will bring this year & beyond!

Quick - go and check out LET LIV here. Or you can keep up to date with Natalie on the LET LIV FB page, or on Twitter, or even on Instagram and Pinterest - you'll never miss out!

LET LIV 100% Cotton Tassel Scarf in Donkey Grey

All photographs are used with permission from Natalie Sorensen and LET LIV.

Happy Valentines Day

Happy Valentines Day all - have a great day with your loved ones.
I've already posted this photo on my FB page, however, it seemed most appropriate to have it appear here for today's occasion. This is Australian stylist, Vanessa Colyer Tay doing a retail window display, using alphabet notebooks to get the message across. It looks great.
Photograph via Vanessa Colyer Tay.

The Joy of Books

If you're like me, who loves to read and visiting cool bookstores - then you're going to love this video. My flatmate showed me this the other day and I think it's fantastic. Imagine the time it took to move all the books around and there is some cool colour coding too. Enjoy.
Video via youtube

Home of Lotta Agaton

Making the rounds on blogsphere is the home of popular Swedish interior stylist, Lotta Agaton. She has carried her signature black and white throughout - I love the dining room (it's those Thonet chairs in black - nice) and all the little details.
Photographs by Pia Ulin via Agent Bauer.

PREFAB Eatery, Wellington

A new eatery has opened it doors in Wellington and it has everyone excited. It's called PREFAB and is located in a great building with a cool interior space. It's big (seats 130), stylish (the refurbished building by done by Studio of Pacific Architecture) and has a fresh, clean and seasonal menu. 

PREFAB was created by a team of Wellington's hospitality stalwarts and in the pipeline, there is an events space opening in May as well as other side projects. Sounds pre(tty) fab(ulous) to me.

Photographs by Michael Hobbs via ACME.