Santa Berries

OMG these are too cute!!! I think I am going to have to make these for Christmas. Santa Berries from leannebakes blog - not only are they adorable they are too easy! Check out the recipe here! 

David Bromley - Auction of the century

I felt incredibly privileged to visit David Bromley's South Yarra Studio (along with a high proportion of Melbourne) last week for a preview of the works he had for sale through Leonard Joel. After viewing online and selecting everything I aspired to own I went along to have a look in person, only to work out that most things where 3 times the size that I thought. I could not have imagined how large, let alone amazing, the space could be!

The balcony overlooking Chapel St, if only I had looked up one of those times I drove down Chapel St! Below Baby Grand Piano anyone? I would rather like one of these for Ellis House.....

After coming to terms with the fact that I was not going to be the new owner of any original David Bromleys this week I turned my thoughts to the lighting. I loved the way he had put together Chandeliers mixed with industrial lighting mixed with Dutch and Moroccan lanterns, all joined with looped flex across the beautiful ceilings.

And below my exciting purchases, I now have four beautiful glass Dutch lanterns which will be pride of place at the country abode! 

And one very special "Portrait of an academic" I have already began trying to work out the story of this amazing mans past and his life story!

Country Style Christmas Issue

The Country Style Christmas 2012 Issue has hit the shelves and inside is the most gorgeous story on "Seasonal flower arranging"styled by our friends of AURA, Caris and Vanessa from Prunella, the masters of floral art in Kyneton, Victoria and photographed by the legend herself Sharyn Cairns. The photography & styling is just stunning!

Woohoo! Get yourself a copy of Real Living's new November issue!

The much anticipated November issue of Real Living has hit the shelves! It just happens to feature our very own AURA Marketing & PR Manager, Jaine's house! And what a fabulous house it is! Jaine and her wonderful family dedicated months of hard work to transform their home into an inner Melbourne urban oasis - check out the fantastic results below. I am not ashamed to say that I am v jealous of that pool and the gorgeous Kitchen Aid mixer I can spy on the kitchen bench!

Well done guys it looks great we can't wait for the weather to warm up and get into that gorgeous pool!  And of course Jaine's house just happens to be an ode to AURA we are very happy about that too! :) 

Today I love Blue

Could these be any more amazing if they tried? I think not - today I am totally obsessed with Blue, these utterly divine shots by Hans Blomquist, see more of my Blue inspiration here. 

Ellis House inspiration for the day.

Its official I am addicted to Pinterest! I could look at it for hours for wonderful inspiration for AURA and for Ellis House, our soon to be country retreat in Kyneton! I love this shot above, it's sophisticated, classically modern and well slightly European. Will this be my country look? Mixed shades of wood, beautiful mottled greys and stunning chandeliers - hmm I could think of worse looks :)
And below I found this great idea for a bathroom window treatment of using a linen table runner as a curtain - from a cool 50s house for sale.

I have found such gorgeous shots of bathroom renovations, but I am instantly relaxed looking at this shot above, I love the soft sage walls with vintage white trim, the wooden furniture and the rust curtains. Oh how I dream of lying in a Bath with a view! 

Ellis House

So not long now and we will be spending our weekends relaxing in the Country (well hardly relaxing, more like painting, gardening and decorating) and I can't wait! So over the past few weeks as well as trying to nut out the perfect paint colours, I have been busy out and about sourcing wonderful finds for the house. It is amazing what you can find when you start looking! As well as many other things I have been looking for the perfect dining table which will seat 8 for the last couple of months. We really wanted a simply styled French Farmhouse table, with character and history. I found a fantastic 19th Century English table 3 weeks ago, and wasn't sure so let it go - but it was passed in at auction so I tried my hand at auction bidding this week and I am now the very proud owner of a wonderful table with loads of history, which as it happens matches my gorgeous antique Japanese stool.

New Spring Summer Catalogue online now!

What a weekend it was in Melbourne, yesterday was a glorious sunny day spent in the garden. To launch the start of Spring our brand new AURA Spring Summer 2013 catalogue is online now. We are all very proud of the latest catalogue, and loving our new look over the top shots!

Our stunning new Peony Saffron bedlinen, below, as featured on the front cover is selling fast! Shows us that people really do update for Spring!

Peony Saffron with Maison Ruffle in Rose above, and Maison Indigo with Sari in Mango below!

Maison Ruffle in Beetroot, Spots in Beetroot and our new pure cotton Ticking Sheets in Smoke (my favourite that I have already been sleeping on at home) - they are so soft I am loving them!

I hope you enjoy the new collection, full of of exciting new ideas, discovered on our latest creative journey through India and Rajasthan. So many colours, so many new patterns. As we watched this beautiful new collection emerge from the very skilled fingers of the artisans we're so lucky to work with in India - the gifted printers and weavers and embroiderers - we realised mix and match as has always been abit of an ethos at AURA. Contemporary design matched with age-old hand-crafting techniques. Modern ideas matched with old-fashion passion.

We hope you find something you love with this new collection - As I am writing this Blog post I realise just how lucky I am to love what I do everyday....Tracie x x

A Melbourne Gem harnesses Feng Shui

Shot by the incredibly talented Sharyn Cairns and Styled by the Guru himself Glen Proebstel - Houzz has featured my very own house on their website titled "A Melbourne Gem harnesses Feng Shui" 
loving the title!

Ellis and her husband met with a feng shui expert before they moved into their house. "She told us that the place had a great feeling, that it was a happy place. But she also pointed out the changes we needed to make, like changing door-opening directions and moving doors, so that we could keep the good energy," says Ellis. 

Head over to their website if you would like to see more. Thank you Houzz!

Win a $1000 shopping spree with AURA

To celebrate the release of our new Spring Summer collection we are offering one lucky winner a $1000 Shopping Spree with AURA! Thats right $1000 to spend on your favourite AURA products! For your chance to win head over and "like" us on Facebook and click the "WIN" box.  Then visit www.aurahome.com.au and "like" your favourite product. Good luck everyone! 

Celebrations

This is gorgeous - makes me think of so many amazing ideas we could have done on our wedding day - but our day was perfect - this can be for someone else's special day :)

Amazing Green....

Not sure I need to say much except "wow" - beautiful shots by Johnny Miller from here. A new respect of Green today....

My first purchase for Ellis House!

Mum and I headed up to Olinda in Mount Dandenong today, I used to live in Olinda years ago and I remember how beautiful it was going home to the country (I forgot about the rain and fog, gosh it was cold). After many hours of internet searching I have made my first purchase for the new Country house. Here are my beautiful "Coral" (the now colour!) Louis arm chairs, gorgeous oversized wicker basket and cool old style original print. I'm thinking Coral and Linen with soft French Grey and a beautiful Chandelier for Bedroom 3. We are heading up to the house tomorrow for a couple of hours of measuring - fun times ahead :)

Ceramics - will I be any good?

Sometimes you just need to do something creative that's out of your usual day to day life. So for me it was Ceramics. Will I be any good? Or will I be as bad as I was at high school? I don't know I do still have the emotional scars of the clay jumping off my wheel and flying across the room in year 10! I like the idea of 3 hours of concentrating on this lovely piece of clay, with the thought that I may indeed create something gorgeous. Whether I do or not is yet to be decided but I am enjoying trying so far. So thank you in advance to the lovely Ilona at Cone 11 for her patience! If you are keen to learn the art of "throwing" check out her available courses at the Abbotsford convent here.

Escape to the Country - it was worth the wait!

So it has been a bit of a journey over the past year, with a lot of trips to the country for husband and I but it was worth the wait. We are finally the very proud and excited owners of our new country escape, beautiful barn and all!!!

I can only thank my very supportive and patient husband (and AURA team who have had put up with me and live the dream) for coming on this life journey with me.  Oh and thanks in advance for the huge amount of painting that he may have to do later in the year. I have been told very loudly that he doesn't like gardening!

My husbands pride and joy "the barn" every man needs a shed! Without the barn I don't think he would have let us buy it. But I have to agree it is rather gorgeous. Watch this space, I am looking forward to sharing our adventures when the work begins! Lots of painting, decorating and veggie planting ahead.....