a little birdie told me,...

that you can now follow plain jane styling on twitter!

i can't promise that i'll always have terribly interesting things to tweet,...  or that i even know how twitter really works,...

but come and follow me anyway!

(and blogging *should* be back to normal transmission next thursday, when i am home from the show i am working on).

until then, see you @plainjanestyle.

tweet, tweet, tweet!

jane xx

cause you were all yellow...

look at the stars,

look how they shine for you,

and everything you do,

yeah, they were all yellow.

i came along,

i wrote a song for you,

and all the things you do,

and it was called yellow...

---

my youngest child, rafferty (aka, chips), turns three tomorrow.

and in true quirky form, has requested a 'yellow' party.

so, i am making yellow fabric bunting,

some yellow and peach coloured paper tissue pom-poms,

and am thinking that there will most likely be a desserts table of sorts,.... 

and the whole while, i am humming 'yellow' by coldplay.

happy birthday chips!  

you are my 'yellow'.

xx

the brilliance of foresight.

one of the best gifts i have ever been given is a subscription to country style magazine.

it is, without a doubt, my favourite publication of all time.  

every issue is packed full of stories like ours.  young families who have packed up their city lives and have moved to the 'country', sometimes even the glorified country! (like us!)

my dream is to have our house, carrie and our life featured in country style. (i am putting this out into the universe in the hope that it actually happens!)

but in the meantime,  the fabulous thing about foresight, and ordering a subscription, is that i get to enjoy my copy of country style a full week earlier than when it goes on sale!

i know what i'm doing this afternoon.

jane xx

some beige bricks in that block.

so,..  have you all (in australia) been watching the new series of 'the block'?

hmmmm.

first thing that struck me was how unbelievably 'beige' the contestants are.

they are all young, anglo-saxon, attractive, and very, very dull.

apparently, in the 'beauty industry' was popular with the producers!

not a cracker of a start.

their first challenge was to create a 'room' out of a blank set.  4 flats tacked together to make a room.

they had 24hours.

what a terribly amusing balls-up!

two teams managed to leave their tins of paint at the hardware store.  two of the ladies spent eight of the twenty-four hours shopping, only to come back with nothing.

there were no floorplans.

there were no lists.

they were running blind.

usually, straight to ikea.

how. incredibly. predictable.

how disappointing.

i liked one couple's take on 'vintage', but they didn't take it far enough.

i liked that they popped in to see my friend, rach over at nook vintage, and picked up some amazing pony rider cushions..

but, honestly?

the rest was as beige as beige can be.

what did you all think of this beige brick block?

jane xx

just call me chips*

about eight months ago, i bought an old, cream coloured, carpenters table on ebay.

cost me a grand sum of sixty clams!

i sent mr plain to collect it.  apparently it was incredibly heavy.

it arrived home.

it was okay,...  not great though.

so it sat.  in our garden.  in the rain and sun.  for eight months.

on the weekend, i decided that enough was enough.  i was *sure* there was some sort of amazing hard wood underneath that horrible beige paint.

i got the electric sander out, and spent hours sanding off the top layer of splintery, flakey, wood.

some amazing grain appeared.

i then oiled it with vegetable oil (what else!?)

and, voila!  it's beautiful.

(my youngest son is called rafferty,...so we, amusingly, call him 'chips'.  i commented that i was like a 'chippie' yesterday, and he was most offended.  '*i* chips, mummy!' he proclaimed.  that is the story of the post title!  lol)

jane xx

mirror, mirror on the wall.

amusingly, after i dramatically announced a blogging break yesterday, i woke up this morning with something to post about.

gah.

anywhoo!

i am having a bit of a love affair at the moment.

with vintage mirrors.

i am always on the look out for more to add to my collection.  at the moment, there are three vintage mirrors hanging in the bathroom above the sink.

yup.  three.

why stop at one?  we all know that objects look much more dramatic grouped together.

and mirrors are no different.

gorgeous, no?

jane xx

a wee break

hello bloggy friends.

i thought i would pop in and let you all know that i am going to be taking a wee break from daily blogging.

there is so much going on at the moment.  work with the designer is really hotting up, and for the next couple of weeks, i think my mind will be elsewhere.

i will stop by and let you know if i discover something truly fabulous, of course!

see you in a week or so.

jane xx

(however, if you all see something wonderfully stylish in the meantime, email me and i'll do a little blog about it!)

new beginnings

i am so sorry.

i feel as if i have been neglecting my poor, wee blog over the last couple of days.

life seems to be getting in the way.

so much happening.

the designer (this is the name i am using for my business partner) and i registered our new business name on friday.

yippee!

i'll pop back in once i have spoken to him, and tell you all about it.  


in the meantime...





this is not me, and that is not the designer.  they are the ubercool events duo we came in peace.


ubercool as only new yorkers can be.


check em out.


and then think of us when you do!


jane xx

friday lust haves.

everyone has a 'list' of lust-have's, right?

a list of beautiful things that you are constantly on the hunt for?  yeah?

a gorgeous girlfriend of mine sent me a message last night.  a one line message.

along the lines of..

'please tell me that you know fenton&fenton'.

yes.  yes, i do.

anyway, i did a quick google search on the very divine fenton&fenton and, to my amusement, the images contained items on my lust-have list.

japanese fishing buoys.  i am *wanting* a bunch of these to hang somewhere in my house.  i have seen some in a local store, but am baulking on the exorbitant sum of money they are wanting for them!  but they are truely gorgeous.  an amazing sea green, mixed with vintage twine and barnacles.

gorgeous.

cockatoo lamp.  a bit kitch, i know, and mr. plain will *hate* it.  but for some reason i am drawn to it.

a vintage, iron, pot stand to go outside carrie.  i can just see it weighed down with lots of brightly coloured tin cans filled with herbs and succulents.

want.

yellow tolix chairs and vintage industrial trolley.

that's a no brainer.

ikat cushions and mexican suzani.

look at the colours!

if you are in prahran, pop in to fenton&fenton.

just promise me you'll take my lust have list with you?

jane xx

black breezeway - the result

i just realised that i totally forgot to show you all the results of the black breezeway!!!

you'll remember, that originally, i painted the breezeway bananaleaf green (porters).  

didn't work for me.

but the black i am loving!

interestingly, the black brings out the muted colours in the oil paintings.  the pinks and greens fade into the background, and i see more of the cream and grey.

i also hung a little glass jar that jasper found under the house, and plonked a dried agapanthus bloom in it.  i also hung a bone necklace around the neck of the vase.

the black is so calming and peaceful.

consider black in your house.  

jane xx

dreaming of a black kitchen,.

a lovely friend emailed me late last night, moaning about her 'horrible' kitchen.

she sent me photo's.

could i think about what to do with it.

so, it got me thinking about *my* dream kitchen.

glossy black cabinets paired back with white.  semi industrial elements grounded with wood and twigs.


beautiful.


back to thinking about the *horrible* kitchen!


jane xx

seeing the wood for the trees.

we have had such a busy couple of months.

yesterday, we thought that we would take the kids to our local pine forest to pick pine mushrooms.

such a beautiful way to spend a sunday.

take some time out and enjoy the beauty of nature.

jane xx

rustic flowers

the kids two sets of godparents are coming to lunch today.

i have been up early this morning making pavlova and preparing the slow roasted greek lamb (as it has to cook for 5 hours!).

i will post you all the recipe tomorrow.  

i can assure you though that the smells wafting from the kitchen are amazing!

a simple table setting today.

topped with these amazing protea that mr. plain brought home last night.  (the benefits of being married to a garden stylist!)

i think they look super just plonked into this vintage milk jug.

a rustic, country table for a relaxed, happy lunch.

jane xx

no time today!

no time for a post today.  mister business partner (known from here on as 'the designer') and i are off to an auction to snap up some vintage industrial furniture for an event.

fun, fun!  i love going to the auctions!

have a lovely friday, friends.

jane xx

my deco cane lounge may be getting a glam makeover.

so, is anyone sick of me waxing lyrical over the merits of black yet?

oh well.

sorry about that.

i picked up the new issue of inside out magazine today.

loving the black wall on the cover!  but i digress.

i got to page 24.  then i stopped.  as did my heart.

i think you'll all remember the search for the art deco cane lounge suite?  a successful search, as i am now the owner of an art deco cane lounge suite.  recently, however, i have been looking at it, and not *really* loving it that much.  

it's beige.

i don't do beige.

page 24 confirmed the solution.

and, of course, the solution is black.

this gorgeous, glossy black furniture is gracing the patio of brisbane jewellery designer chelsea de luca's divine home.

perfect, no?

makes me want to start painting my cane today!

also makes me want to move straight into her glorious home..

divine, divine, divine.

jane xx