YouShop | part two

You may remember my first post about YouShop, a service by New Zealand Post. It allows you to set up a free account on their website and provides you with a shipping address in the US and the UK. It means you can purchase items you previously couldn't because of their lack of international shipping. By having an international YouShop address, your products will be shipped to the YouShop warehouse in that country, and New Zealand Post will handle the shipping to New Zealand.

My first YouShop order was a Kate Spade purse to hold my business cards. I'd been looking for something for this purpose and hadn't found quite what I wanted. Kate Spade are based in New York and don't ship to New Zealand, so I used my US address. Even better, Kate Spade offer free shipping in the US, so there was no extra cost to ship my purse to Oregon.

I received an email from YouShop New Zealand Post, once my parcel reached their US warehouse, with the cost of the shipping to New Zealand. If you want to have an idea of what this will be before you purchase, check out the YouShop pricing on their website. I simply logged into my YouShop account and paid for the shipping online.

I was kept up to date with the progress throughout the whole process. An email arrived to confirm payment, and another once the parcel was on it's way to me. When my purse arrived in Auckland I was informed that it was clearing customs, and once it had, another email informed me that the expected delivery time would be 1-3 days. It was comforting to have that regular contact and know what was happening, and I was really happy with the overall shipping time of three weeks from purchase to delivery.

I love my purse, it's perfect for holding all my cards, and slips nicely into my well-worn, much loved Clare Vivier clutch. I definitely recommend you all to set up your own YouShop account, and I know I'll be using mine again.

A Designer's Home Renovation

I hope you all had a fabulous Easter weekend and a well deserved break. Mine was very productive, with some long overdue work done on zhushing up our twins' bedroom (more on that later). I also got the chance to catch up on some of my favourite magazines and blogs - all in the name of research! I loved this article on Domino about the Virginia home of designer, Lauren Liess, and her family. They made some fantastic changes to the original 1970's home, I love the light, airy feel it has coupled with lots of warm tones and textures.

Lauren had layered rugs in the living area very effectively. A large seagrass mat anchors the living area (and remember when it comes to rugs, size DOES matter), and a smaller vintage rug connects the two sofas and adds some gorgeous subtle pattern to the neutral colour palette.

A Lucite coffee table allows the rug to shine, and the incredible chandelier is another stand-out piece.

A wall was removed from the kitchen and a large island was added. Lauren chose to remove the large overhead cabinets in favour of open shelving to display their everyday tableware.

I love this collection of paintings over the kitchen sink, largely because it's so unexpected. It's things like this that add personality and life to a home.

In the breakfast room the window on the right was added to create a sense of symmetry and bring more light into the space.

The dining room, on the other hand, was the darkest room in the house, but because they couldn't change that, Lauren embraced it instead. She added a cedar ceiling which now gives the room an intimate, cosy feel.

This is one of my favourite photos, I love the little area under the stairs. The ironworker who custom made the stair railing left it out in the rain to get a vintage, tarnished look. It's beautiful with the wood and white.

This cosy loft serves as the library, media room, and Lauren's evening work room. Enveloped in books, they sit on shelves made from Ikea butcher-block countertops.

Lauren's favourite piece in the house is their brass bed that her husband found on the side of the road. Which just goes to show, that someone's trash really is someone else's treasure.

photos by Brittany Ambridge

Consistent with the colour palette of black, white and warm caramels, the bathroom features a vintage dresser as the vanity. Wood is great in bathrooms for bringing in some warmth and texture.

To see more photos make sure you pop over to Domino.

The Adore Book

Of all the online interior magazines, it's no secret that Adore is my absolute favourite. It's always bursting with colour, pattern and inspiration, not to mention an abundance of beautiful homes. So when founder, creator and editor, Loni Parker, announced last year that she was going to be putting together an Adore book I was one of the first to pre-order my copy. A year later it's finished and looking even better than I hoped. I'm very excited to be able to give you a sneak peek...

A beautiful hardcover coffee table book, Adore is filled with colourful interiors. The book is divided into 10 chapters according to room type, with plenty of inspiration and eye candy to get your inner designer adorning. Adore breaks down why a room works and offers styling tips and colour theory facts you can file away for future DIY projects.

There's even a chapter on creative walls and entertaining to help you get the most out of your space. At the end of each chapter, a panel of homeowners and interior designers share their helpful hints and words of wisdom on a whole gamut of decorating topics.

I asked Loni her thoughts on the book, and this is what she said... "The Adore book has been in the making for about a year now, having started crowdfunding for the book in February last year and finally releasing it in late April, it's definitely been a long labour of love! I've filled the book with colourful interiors from all across the globe, that I personally adore and hopefully readers will love them too. Some photographs have never been seen before – commissioned especially for the book whilst others have been sourced from various sources from all over the world, including some that have been featured in Adore Home magazine's past editions. I really wanted to create a beautiful coffee table book that would sit proudly in anyone's home and be a go to book of inspiration and lots and lots of beautiful images."

I can't wait to receive my copy at the end of this month, and it will definitely take pride of place on my coffee table, once I've devoured the contents. If you want your own copy of this gorgeous book pop over to the Adore online shop, and enjoy!