Well the short story is dealing with monsoonal flooding in QLD, renovating our home and working very hard at work.

The flooding short circuited our phone line so no internet for over a month – try that one for size in this day and age.

The renovations on our home are starting to really take shape now, it’s going to be so gorgeous.

I’ve been so inspired over the last year that it’s going to be a fabulous melting pot of influences that will make my home unique, orginal and totally Coastal – in a new and refreshing way.

More work needs to be done before I can start revealing so it will make sense to you all.

Meantime, here’s some gorgeous coastal eye candy to inspire your day, I’m off to do more painting and enjoy having an old friend back – sunny blue skies.

Have a great week.

Image: KT Merry

Oceania wishes you and your families much success, health and happiness for 2013.

We celebrated in true sea sparkle style at Paradise Point on NYE. Feet in the sand, ocean breeze through the hair and a spectacular light show of fireworks across the ocean, its the best place to be on such an occassion – I’m sure you’d agree.

2013 will be an eciting new year for Oceania. We’re having a bit of a face lift (not GC style I must add) Oceania will be extending it’s stylishness to the next level, so we can bring you more of the articles and snippets you love here.

Meantime, enjoy the fresh start to the new year and we look forward to your support in 2013, this year is the year to sparkle.

Finally after a very busy time at work I’ve put the ‘Creative’ tree up with some extra decorative trimmings.

Each year I love to indulge my creative talents to produce something festive and unique with one big remit – it has to be stylish of course!

For me, tinsel is not for 30+ degrees!

So this year I dabbled into modern tropical and then ended up with part castaway Coastal Scandi.

Just goes to prove creativity can take you down very different roads and so did Bunnings (Aussie hardware store) this year.

Scouting for beautiful tropicals to fill my home I came upon an inspired idea.

 I found a bamboo trellis in the shape of a tree – perfect.

So here’s the finished item – I love it!

I love the simplicity, the uniqueness and the creativeness, also knowing no-one else in the world’s got one of these is pretty cool too!

Next up the tree needed a base, something to ground my design – recently painted old wooden step stool to the rescue.

Add some candles and a dash of cute ceramics and Coastal Christmas is served.

And the modern tropical part of my creative festive feast…the modern white ceramic pineapple of course – the pineapple has to be the coastal island symbol of 2012 in design.

I’ve teamed this up with beautiful pink bromeliads and one of them is in a cool op shop find – a white ceramic pineapple plant pot right next to 2 large Ikea glass hurricane lanterns – so beautiful on our winter white dining table.

The beauty of Christmas in a hot country is the fresh modern summer feel you can inject into a very unique Christmas decorating scheme – its a great challenge for a designer.

And for some extra creativity, my classic Aussie white wood cut out tree (a previous find from Freedom) on my newly painted high stool come plant stand – a delicious shade of minty aqua that’s bang on trend.

So there you have it Coastal Christmas style in our modern Aussie beach house.

Here at Oceania, we wish you all a very Merry Christmas and Happy New Year.

Images: Zoe Milburn

I simply must introduce you all to Fiona from Moon Beam Kiss the Sea.

Fiona celebrates the Sea with her genuine beachcomber finds that reflect the true British coastline.

Beautiful fossils, sea tumbled pottery and sea glass are lovely collected and made into adornments from unique buttons to jewellery.

Fiona is from Norwich on the East coast of England. Passionate about art and making unique pieces, Fiona is also a skilled knitter who loves colour and texture and has produced unique pieces professionally from a local studio.

The gorgeous pieces that I keep going back to are the sea tumbled shell fragments and pottery. They are the true colours of the English seaside and I love the way Fiona has turned them into buttons.

The English coastline is also dotted with genuine fossils from millions of years ago. Belemnites must be a local type of fossil to the East Norfolk coast as I’ve not seen them before. I’m more used to Ammonites from the East Yorkshire coastline and I know how exciting it is to find one of these little treasures.

You can discover more of Fiona’s beautiful unique treasures at her Etsy store, Moon Beam Kiss the Sea .

Happy island Styling.

A few months ago a stumbled across an old cane chair that was crying out to be revampted.

I had a vision of white with striking island style fabric.

Months later I discovered the chair in the garage and the spray gun came out (this is my latest decorating weapon of choice) and the old chair was transformed.

The crowning glory was a custom made seat – made by yours truely with a little assistance from a handy husband.

The fabric was an old piece from Spotlight that looks so much like Florence Broadhurst island style.

Voila, a gorgeous island style bedroom/casual chair – love it!

Happy Island Styling.

 All images by Zoe Milburn

We have some great news.

One of our lovely sponsors, Island Collections, has just announced a new movie on YouTube.com.

How exciting, to view simply click on the link below and be transported.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s1P_h-_3F-I&feature=plcp

Happy Isand Styling.

We are delighted to show you Hamptons Style’s latest cushion collection.

These beautiful fresh new designs and colours are the perfect pop of cheery colour for your home.

You can find out more at www.hamptonsstyle.com.au

Happy Island Styling

Well what a lovely way to end the week, beautiful Plumeria Coastal Home is having a Spring coastal sale.

They’ve taken up to 50% of their most popular items, with many items never to be repeated again.

So here’s your chance to get something gorgeous for your home today and at a very special price.

http://coastalhome.com.au

Happy Island Styling.

Shannon Fricke recently styled the Domayne Summer book that’s appearing in home magazines at present.

Domayne has chosen to celebrate the ever popular Bahamian style that India Hicks, Amanda Lindroth etc. are famous for.

Here’s their take on Vintage Bahamas Style:

The shoot was at a home on Sydney’s Palm Beach and is the perfect setting for this style.

I love the genuine vintage wallpaper Shannon brought back from NY, it’s perfect for this styling story.

Happy Island Styling.

Image Source: Domayne

It is the most beautiful and eye catching magazine cover on this months newsstands. The striking yellow dress, the palm trees, a shot of hot pink and the elegant gold heading.

So Oceania, its uncanny.

The shot reminds me of one of my favourite pins of a girl in a long yellow dress on a tropical island.

I am so tempted to buy this edition just for the front cover, I’m sure the rest of the magazine is great if I can just get past such an arresting front cover.

Have a great day everyone.

Happy island styling.

Image source: Australian Traveller Magazine, Pinterest.com