Office Minimalist

Voila! A Giveaway!

Posted by Mr Wong at 12:01 AM 0

Bonjour!

Three weeks ago, I took a blog break. I told you I was going to spend some time planning my country French garden.

It really wasn't a fib.....I did do some planning for my country French garden.

But I forgot to tell you I was doing the planning while in FRANCE!

I spent the last three weeks in France. France in the spring time is lovely. We spent the first week in Paris. The next two weeks were spent in the French countryside, from Normandy, to Provence on a two week river cruise.

Over the next few weeks I will take you along with me through pictures.

In the meantime, I promised you a giveaway and while I was in France I picked up a few things just for you!

The winner of the giveaway will receive 4 French decorating and gardening magazines. The wording is all in French, but the pictures are just beautiful.

When I was in Provence, I stopped at an olive farm for a tour. I picked up a couple of jars of Olive Tapenade made right on the olive farm by a wonderful family of three generations. They are included in the giveaway. The giveaway also includes two bars of French Soap.

Lastly, the giveaway also includes a Five Euro bill and a 50 Cent Euro coin. You can start a vacation fund with these or use them in crafts. They are actual Euros...

To enter the giveaway, simply leave a comment on this post. The giveaway will end April 12th. A winner will be chosen by a random generator.

Au revoir,

Penny

Two glamorous, unique spins on classic rooms

Posted by Mr Wong at 8:23 PM 0

I want your opinion on these two renovations I found in House Beautiful. One is a kitchen that's decorated to feel more like a formal dining room. It's pretty neat - what do you think?

One side of the kitchen

The other side of the "kitchen"
This room is large so I think that's one major factor to this working. I really like the identical sideboards on either end of the larger table.

The second room I found is this rancher renovation turned into a modern open layout home.

What do you think?

via House Beautiful

Vintage beauty - inspiring photos from "Robes of Earth" on Flickr

Posted by Mr Wong at 7:43 PM 0

I discovered Robes or Earth's photostream on flickr while searching for photos of apothecary cabinets - and I think you'll agree that it's a find! The photos are from amazing museums around the artist's home of Melbourne Australia - like "an open-air recreation of a coal mining settlement in the 1880s in rural Australia" - Coal Creek. The photographer - Penny Elizabeth Neal is also a salvage artist and craftsperson and creates amazing pieces of jewelry from vintage finds, which she sells on Etsy.

In fact, she has three Etsy shops -
Sparrow Salvage - the new shop with a more sparse, primitive feel.

Little Brown Sparrow (the old shop) for found-object jewellery, paper collage and more, all made from salvaged and antique things...

The Dark Woods for ragged taggle clothing, jewellery, goods and chattles with a dark, sparkly, earthy faery edge.

Check out the candelabra covered in wax!

The gorgeous shot of the apothecary cabinet

Check out the Robes of Earth Photostream. You'll also see some photos of her studio where she creates her little treasures.

A few of her Etsy creations: