January 2020
Bonjour and welcome to the first newsletter since the time of My French Door! Linen & Stone has been my new business name since May last year - my moto is to inspire and create, and I look forward to an exciting year ahead.
I plan to be travelling between France, Western Australia and my home in New Zealand, hosting the Bespoke French Village Experience and sourcing authentic French brocante and vintage wares to share with you all. Whilst in New Zealand, you will find us at local markets selling our brocante, original feather filled cushions made from old French tapestries and vintage linen textiles, and jewellery made from old French religious memorabilia. The markets are a great opportunity to promote the French Village Experience and answer anyone's questions about our life whilst in France.
We have an updated website with an online store and classes will be announced each term. Our first shipment of brocante arrives in New Zealand in a couple of weeks and we look forward to filling our next container when we return in June! We have plans for a pop-up store as well, time will tell! Please check out our products here.
https://www.linenandstone.co.nz/products
The first Bespoke French Village Experience 2020 starts in June with the final group for the year arriving mid October. We look forward to having lots of fun exploring local villages, the nearby city of Poitiers, brocantes and vide greniers, experiencing French wine and cuisine and exploring nearby chateaux. Guests unpack their bag and settle into our home and experience French life like a local. There are a couple of spare spots now due to a postponement in August, please check the Bespoke French Village Experience page on our website for details and testimonials, and email or message me if you would like to book, or have any questions! Expressions of interest are now being taken for 2021.
https://www.linenandstone.co.nz/experience-french-village-life-with-me
I write this from our home in Chauvigny after having family stay over Christmas. How wonderful to be here over Winter and the New Year. It is something I haven't done for four years! I relish the time to regroup, plan the year and conceptualise new ideas. It seems so far away from the horrendous fires and tragedy in Australia, Such an incomprehensible disaster.. It has been so emotional seeing the world come together with their love and united support. I have no words. I love this sketch posted by my friend Sue, in Australia drawn by her Kiwi friend Tony McNeight.
Classes will start next month and include the French Provincial Paint Finish class where you bring a piece of furniture and over two nights, transform it with paint. Learn to make your own chalk paint and finish with an antique wash and wax. Also in the programme, is a new course to Hamilton (which I have taught in Western Australia for 12 years) called 'How to Determine Your Own Style' - an interior decorating course covering some basic design principles, colour psychology, pattern and texture, furniture placement, the basic colour wheel and finishing with creating your own colour board. This course is one night a week for four weeks. A showroom visit to Arkanda Interiors in Cambridge is also included. Please see details on the website and contact me if you have any questions.
Enjoy the rest of the holiday period and I look forward to seeing you when I am back from France next month.
A bientot!
X Jo