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This post has been a long time coming, and I know there are no excuses, but at least I can say... we've been busy!!! Back in February we were presented an offer we couldn't refuse, which involved taking up a retail space and opening Few and Far in the beautiful town of Leura, in the Blue Mountains NSW.

If you haven’t been lucky enough to have already met our newest member and friendly face ‘Caroline Miller’, we thought we’d give her a little introduction here on the blog… a little bit about her and her floristry skills, as well as some handy tips for styling and keeping flowers fresh in your home! Caroline brings a wealth of knowledge and experience from the floristry industry which can be applied to decorating and styling your home.

Talk about a problem that's good to have! It seems Christmas has come again, and we are completely stocked up with an amazing variety of new pieces and things to get excited about!

We seem to be forever waiting for shipments these days but at last one of the most exciting ones in a while has finally arrived. It seems like an eternity but early in the year we organised some furniture in reclaimed pine. What we love about these is the combination of look and style. The reclaimed wood is exquisite with all the scars and marks of a working life, rescued and configured into modern furniture shapes. Well modern these days is very vintage retro inspired at that's probably where these pieces fit.

Hope you love them as much as we do.

Two words… breath taking…

Casa Lola in Trancoso, Brazil is owned by interior designer Jan Eleni Lemonedes, her husband Ronnie Stam and their daughter Lola. The careful mix of glass, wood and cement used to construct the home and the thoughtful addition of decorative pieces collected on their travels, creates the feeling of a rustic, bohemian chic hideaway. Definitely my idea of the perfect home – I could daydream all day long about owning this home!

If the Christmas period hasn’t been busy enough, try throwing a container from India into the mix – which arrived the day before New Years Eve… It was expected to arrive mid December, which would have been much easier, but for added challenge, it turned up on the doorstep of our warehouse on the 30th December 2013. It’s usually all hands on deck in the stores at this time of year, so we had to improvise and call in a few extra hands to help out!

We are big fans of our furry friends at Few and Far, and applaud their patience as they sit outside the store, waiting eagerly for their owners to return (well actually… some are patient, and some not so patient – but always cute!). Some of them get to come inside, and some wait patiently at the door, testing their limits as to how many steps they can take inside before being noticed…Below are some of the visitors we’ve had recently. We’d love to meet your furry friends!

“So do you get to do all the buying and traveling to all of these exotic places?”. That’s the question we get asked quite often, and when the answer is “yes” with a wry smile, most people follow it up with “Oh you lucky things!”.

Jen Bishop from the blog Interiors Addict has posted a lovely feature on our home!!! Her blog Interiors Addict has more than 20,000 readers per month. ‘It’s a blog about interior design and styling, homewares, furniture and the personalities behind them. It’s for interiors industry professionals and the everyday person who wants a stylish home, whatever their budget.’… We are so flattered. Thanks so much Jen – very much appreciated! Have a read of her post here: http://theinteriorsaddict.com/colourful-home-showcases-couples-travel-treasures#more-8331

Well it’s been a crazy last few weeks to say the least. Danny and I have been so busy with styling work, graphic design work, unloading containers and preparing our new and exciting newsletters (which look great so if you aren’t on our mailing list you should be!!!). I have been busy working on the new restaurant in Huskisson ‘The Waterhouse’ which is due to open in October – Belinda, Glenda and John from ‘Supply’ have taken over ‘Seagrass’ and have an exciting new plan for the space… I will post up some photos once it’s complete! Danny has designed their logo and brand identity – which looks so fantastic – he really is very clever!

A couple of weeks ago, Danny and I were lucky enough to attend a design seminar by interior designer Greg Natale held at Coco Republic in Sydney. It was basically a presentation of Greg’s work and projects that he has done, but also about some of the processes and techniques that he uses to create them. While his style is not really my cup of tea, I really enjoy attending these seminars and talks to broaden my mind and to ensure that I am always considering all styles and why/how they all work.

Life at Few and Far has been very busy (no, we never stop!). Danny and I have just returned from another trip to India to bring back more goodies and treasures. And wait until you see the many BEAUTIFUL pieces we have found! Most of them one off pieces, they each have a story to tell and an interesting past.

Just a quick entry to let you all know that our new shipment of Chinese furniture will be arriving next week! And yes, next week of all weeks – Indigo Love needs to be dismantled and pulled apart, repacked and stored until the new shop will be up and running (which we still don’t have a construction certificate for! Time is ticking…)

Boy have we been busy! Danny and I have just returned from a quick trip to China to find more beautiful pieces to bring home! It seems that every time we go, there are always pieces that completely ‘wow’ us and we get so excited about how good they will look in the shop and in some of your houses! It’s always nice to know that each piece is original and tells a story too, it makes our purchases so much more meaningful.

Well we just thought we’d share a photo shoot we did. We grabbed most of the stock we have and set them up in one of our family’s houses (My brother Craig and his wife Kylie) in Manyana on the south coast. It has a beautiful polished concrete floor with beautiful light all day giving us the blank canvas we needed to show our wares in a way that could do them justice, away from the shop where they compete for floorspace with other stock.

Saturday the 14th of May will be our BIG day! And the weather is looking… acceptable. Possibly blowing a gail and freezing cold, but not raining, so that’s great news. It’s been a whirlwind getting organised and trying to manage and run both of the shops. Talk about hectic. Our only day off will be on Friday the day before to make sure that all the small things are taken care of and everything will fall into place.

I just thought I would write with my excuse as to why we haven’t written a blog for SO LONG!!!! I’m very sorry! BUT, the exciting news is that we now have 2 stores! We have just opened another exciting venture – across the road in Huskisson (sorry to all of you who wanted to know if we have a store in Sydney – we’d love to open one – maybe this could be our next adventure – but Danny just said he would kill me!). Harsh. Our new store is called ‘Indigo Love’ and is a hand picked collection of mens and ladies clothing, footwear and accessories, and also an assortment of cool little homewares and curiosities.