another lampshade

Yesterday I made a couple of lampshades in a beautiful fabric that I am really loving right now. I'm planning on using this fabric elsewhere in our living room so I think I may just have to keep one of the lampshades for ourselves, also it goes so well with our revamped lampbase. One for shop, one for us! Ooh, that could be a dangerous habit to get into, now couldn't it.

I really love the way the lamp looks at night, the lovely slubby textures of the linen blend fabric are accentuated when the lamp is on.

We will also have cushions in this fabric in two sizes in the Olive & Joy store and we will hopefully be up and running by the end of November! Exciting :) 

Images: Olive & Joy

bye bye birdy

Look how big she got! Time to give her up though - our friends are back from holidays and picked her up tonight :(  Luckily they only live just around the corner, so I can visit anytime. I enjoyed this experience, but she was a little bit of a needy birdy, she loved company. I am looking forward to not getting pooped on every day! What I found that was funny is that I am hearing bird sounds everywhere I go now - really hearing them. My brain must be so tuned into the whole chirp, chirp, chirping sound.

Blogging is such tiring work for a little chick. How cute is this, she wiggled her way into this little crevice to take a nap. She loved the faux fur of the throw rug - she almost blends right in. Night, night Chloe.

Images: Olive & Joy

chick-sitting

Quite by surprise, we are chick-sitting for the next 5 days.  And loving it! Her name is Chloe and she is about a week old and boy is she cute (by the way, the sex is not confirmed, for all we know this could be a rooster called Chloe, lol). We have had her for less than a day and she has grown in that time, I am sure of it. I had to do a quick internet cram session last night on how to care for little chicks as this all came about very last minute.

Our cousin's little girl brought her home from kindy yesterday, but they had already planned to go away on holiday so asked if we could care for her in the meantime. Don't get me started on how little information the kindy armed them with for looking after a baby chicken. I was petrified last night because we didn't have a heat lamp to keep her all toasty warm. I didn't sleep that well last night - if she was chirping I thought she was cold and when she wasn't I was worried she had died from cold. We have kept her in the downstairs bathroom with the heat lamps from the exhaust fan on and a hot water bottle and it seems to be keeping nice and warm in there. 

We even went outside for a little play whilst we changed her litter. One of our cats Bella is quite amused with this new addition. Don't worry I kept her in my sight at all times, no chicken dinner for you Bella. This little chick is becoming quite attached to me, she has little happy chirps when she sees me but then when I leave the room she chirps at top of her little birdy lungs. Oh dear I think, she thinks I'm her mummy. Appropriate considering my dad has always called me Chooks. When she gets big she is going to live on acreage with other chickens. 

Images:  Olive & Joy

triangles

I love triangles - I'm seeing them everywhere at the moment. I had a little play the other day printing triangle shapes, or rather the space around triangles, onto fabric. Not sure if it will turn into anything but I had fun doing it. It was nice just taking the time to explore an idea. 

Images: MWM Graphics; Olive & Joy

my 'new' old desk chair

Our office has a sunshine-y new desk chair!  A 'newly upholstered' chair to be more exact - as I'm guessing this chair was made in the seventies (the original regulation-brown upholstery gives it away), so it is likely it is older than me. It was manufactured by Featherston Interiors which was a commercial design firm headed up by Australian designers Grant and Mary Featherston. Grant Featherston also designed the green chair that you see in my blog header above. I love the little cut-out detail on the back of the chair, and it's super comfy too which is always a top priority for me. 

The poor chair sat in storage for a couple of years until I happened upon just the right fabric to recover it. I had imagined the chair in a bright yellow fabric, and the yellow fabric on Ikea's (now discontinued) Kramfors sofas was always a favourite of mine but the price of buying sofa covers to reupholster the chair was a little crazy! When the sofa was discontinued however I lucked out and bought the covers for a bargain price. 

It goes to show, that if you have patience and think outside the square, anything is possible. My upholsterer had some difficulty with using the covers to reupholster the chair but they got there in the end. 

As you can see I haven't had a chance to work on decorating the study. Although if you saw it yesterday it looked like a bomb hit it, this is a major improvement! I can think clearly again now, which is such a relief. Tidy home, tidy mind they say. 

Images: Olive & Joy

feeling moody

This weekend I created a moodboard as part of a course I have been taking part in. I wanted it to reflect what I would like this here blog to look and feel like - a relaxed but stylish feel, some pattern by way of beautiful fabrics, vintage furniture, inspiring spaces and of course a little bit of home. It was quite the exercise in restraint and a good method of self reflection. A way to cut out all of the visual noise of seeing so many inspiring things everyday (not that I'm complaining) and really narrow it down. I was surprised at my restrained use of colour. I am so drawn to colour usually however I was obviously feeling in a fresh white mood today. I love it so much I now I want to live in my moodboard. That's possible right?

Image: Olive & Joy

business cards

My business cards arrived for the Olive & Joy store this week. It somehow makes everything more real to have business cards. Along with spare rooms filling with products. I so want to show you some of them but cannot just yet! 

Back to the business cards though - I'm pretty happy with how they turned out. The colour isn't quite spot-on but I think it will still work well. I wanted to marry the vintage and designer feel of Olive & Joy by using a typewriter font with a patterned fabric-like background, in my signature green colourway. 

I don't know if the square shape of the cards is going to make them stand out from the pack or just be plain annoying for people! We will have to wait and see.

Image: Olive & Joy

the winner is...

Congratulations Lauren! I just noticed Lauren has a brand new blog please do go visit her over at Squid & Fancy blog. Lauren, I will be in touch soon to arrange to send you your Cross tea towel in Red. Thank you everyone for your entries - you came up with great suggestions for new tea towel designs! 

Top image: Olive & Joy