Paddington

By pure happenstance last year I stumbled upon a fabulous website called The Society Inc.  I instantly loved what I saw...the whole look and feel of the site was creative and fun, yet old and junkie at the same time.

So when it came time to go to Australia Lorraine asked if there was anywhere I wanted to go...the zoo, the harbor, the beaches?  My only comment was, "I want to go to The Society".  The Society Inc is a small shop in Paddington, a suburb of Sydney.  The area is a mix of high end shops and beautiful row houses complete with iron filigree work (see below the map).  You can easily see why anyone would want to live in the area.

 We actually went to the shop twice since the first time it was closed!  Wow, was that disappointing.  On our second trip back we got there before the shop opened so Lorraine just walked right up and knocked on the door.  She told them she had some Americans that wanted to come in...funny, I probably would have sat in the car and waited till they opened, but not Lorraine!  It worked though...we went right in.  

Small...I mean really small but worth the 2 trips to the city.  Inspiration from top to bottom.  These pictures are from the main room.  It is currently done in a nautical theme called, NbyNW.

This is taken from the website explaining what The Society is all about-
"The Society inc. changes 4 times a year, each time a new 'theme' transports the customer to different societies based on a story which is created from historical & imaginary places.
The Society inc. becomes filled with local and global textiles, furniture, homewares and beautiful things collected to compliment the themes.
Each theme is accompanied by a seasonal paint palette designed by The Society inc. for Murobond Paints."

And just our LUCK the owner and designer behind The Society, Sibella Court was there so we got a picture.  That was Lorraine's idea too (genius that she is).  Sibella told us she paints the front door a different color every 3 months, each time the "theme" changes. 

Notice the flag painted on the floor...no detail was left undone.

I didn't take a picture of her workroom that day but I found a picture online.  It had this fabulous wall of cubbyholes that were filled to the brim with little bits of everything imaginable.  I stood there like a big goofball for about 15 minutes looking at all the stuff in the cubbyholes. 

My very favorite thing was these paintbrushes hanging in the doorway.

Sibella also mentioned that Keith Johnson (Anthropologie's buyer/style guru) of "Man shops Globe" on the Sundance channel had just been to the shop to film an episode.  I believe it will air mid July.  So I have until then to find someone with that channel!

Sibella's book, Etcetera: Creating Beautiful Interiors with the things you Love  is sold exclusively at Anthropologie (you can buy it online if you don't live near one).  Fabulous book, great for you and great for a gift.  Reminds me of the 7gypises in Paris book because it has a textured cover and velum inserts. 

Here are a few pictures of the inside of the book I found on the web.

Go here and here to read (and see) more about Sibella and her home (that happens to be above the shop). 

True vision. 

PS) were off to Calgary tomorrow, we will be at The Scrap Yard for 2 classes on Saturday.  We have never been to Calgary so were excited to go, meet some fellow gypsies and have a fun day teaching!