'My Nest'..... Vanessa and her Vintage store HoneyWood Vintage

Vanessa From HoneyWood Vintage shares her beautiful Vintage store with us

I am so excited to re-introduce you guys to Vanessa from HoneyWood Vintage. I have a bit of a crush on Vanessa and her impeccable tastes and have featured her home, her peacock chairs and snips of her home many times... so i thought it was about time I featured her beautiful store and Interviewed the lady herself....

So Hi Vanessa......


What inspired you to open Honeywood Vintage?
When I opened the store I was doing a lot of business online and I kept getting requests from customers to come try on items and see the pieces I was selling in person. I didn’t want people coming to my house so in the back of my mind I had started fantasizing about a small space where I could work, take appointments with clients and showcase my collection. It also seemed like all of my time was spent at home in front of the computer and I was very isolated not to mention the house was super cluttered with vintage clothing and textiles.

Why did you choose the building /area?
Honestly price, I had lived in Northeast Los Angeles on the boarder of Eagle Rock and Highland Park for a while and I was watching the change happening in Highland Park. I really wanted to get into the neighborhood before the rents skyrocketed. It’s a very creative, eclectic, and quickly gentrifying neighborhood, lot’s of artists, musicians (Jackson Brown is from Highland Park) and creative types as well as being a very culturally diverse area.. We feel very blessed to be where we are. I really couldn’t imagine being anywhere else other than the desert…

How would you describe the style/vibe of the store?
The vibe of the store is definitely an extension of our own personal styles, 1970s Ethnic bohemian mixed with a Rock n Roll vibe. We love anything that is Artisan created, Mexican hand embroidery, Indian Block Prints, 70s handmade leather, Native American jewelry and textiles. Charlie (my boyfriend/partner)  is a musician and has a pretty deep history in Rock and Roll so there are a lot of vintage Rock t-shirts, motorcycle boots, a few guitars and records as well. It’s very romantic with lots of textures and patterns but it also has a southwestern/desert vibe. There is a feminine and masculine energy which is a nice balance. A lot of our customers come to shop but end up hanging out for hours which is really cool, we love that people dig the vibe and feel really comfortable here. We’ve been told the shop is kind of a mix between Joshua Tree and Laurel Canyon in the 70s.

What is the inspiration behind the name?
People ask that all of the time and that’s a hard question to answer! It seemed like a good combination between hard and soft. I could have imagined a little western town years ago, named Honeywood.

What are your 5 favorite products?
Hmmmmmm, that’s a hard one! Like any die hard Bohemian woman at heart I am a sucker for vintage Indian Dresses, I have been obsessed with them since high school they always sell fast and I struggle because I want to keep them all! I also live in Calamity Pass Trading Co braid wraps (whose home was featured on Moon to Moon here) , I sell out of them and we generally have a waiting list. We are really in love with a brand we recently started carrying out of Joshua Tree called Totally Blown , they are a conceptual clothing company that distresses their one-of–a-kind pieces with shotguns. I am also so proud to carry my close friend Stormie’s beaded pieces, I have been obsessed with her Native American beadwork for years and years and we are honored to carry her pieces in our store. Last but not least we are pretty proud of our own creations my one-of-a-kind Honeywood overnighter carpet bags made from vintage woven textiles and Charlie’s hats, Lone Hawk @lonehawkhats

What’s next for Honeywood?
For over a decade, Honeywood has carried curated bohemian vintage and always will but we are very excited to be branding and making our own one-of-a-kind items, like the bags. Incorporating vintage handmade elements with luxury one-of-a-kind products is rewarding and has been a very organic progression for us. It’s also been VERY rewarding to move away from 3rd party online sites and be able to function autonomously as Honeywoodvintage.com. I also plan to launch my own line of handmade dresses this year as well so stay tuned!

 Vanessa's Collaborations with Free People and Lone Hawk hats

You recently Collaborated with Free People, do you have any future projects you would like to share? 
Yes! I am thrilled about Free People carrying my bags, it’s pretty cool to be recognized on that level. It has really given me confidence to push my boundaries as a designer and produce on a larger scale. Producing quantity while making one-of-a-kind pieces is a big challenge but one that I love and I am familiar with.

Honeywood is also the home of Charlie’s brand of hats “Lone Hawk” @lonehawkhats which has grown amazingly fast. Nine months ago he received a request from a friend in a successful rock band and Lone Hawk was off and running. Lone Hawk has quickly developed a loyal following of musicians and entertainers. Charlie picks only the finest old vintage hats and carefully and lovingly reshapes, restyles and puts his own vibe on them purely by hand so that every piece is one of a kind and of the highest quality. It’s been a really great blend, incorporating some of the textiles and bohemian elements of Honeywood into the hats.

HoneyWood Vintage Overnighter bags and Lone Hawk hats

If you had the choice of traveling back in time to shop for furnishing for your home or Honeywood what decade ?
I think London in the late 60s early 70s must have been amazing! The music, the fashion, Biba, Zandra Rhodes, all of the textures and patterns. I can only imagine how amazing Portobello Market must have been! One of my favorite movies of all time is Performance (1970) with Mick Jagger and Anita Pallenberg, the art direction and wardrobe is to die for! Decadent and rich but relaxed and unstaged.

A big thank you to Vanessa for taking the time out to talk to Moon to Moon.

Images sourced from Honeywood Vintage Instagram 

and Apartment Therapy

My Nest... The London Home of Gudrun and Julian

In this weeks 'My Nest' feature, we are chatting to London based fashion designer Gudrun and taking a little peak inside her earthy bohemian home. Full of beautiful natural fibers and ethnic textiles, her home is perfect retreat to the hustle and bustle of London.....


 
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Can you tell us a little bit about yourself and where you live? 

I live in Muswell Hill, North London with my boyfriend and our 2- year old son. I’m Fashion Designer and my boyfriend is a writer and Managing Editor of a magazine called ‘The Idler’.

How did you find this beautiful home and how long have you lived in it?

We moved in a week before I gave birth. As you can see from the pictures, we’re terrible hoarders, so it was quite a task boxing everything up and shifting it across London. Thankfully we have got some really great friends who rallied round and helped us on moving day. 

 How would you describe your style/ aesthetic?

I am drawn to natural fibres and textures like wood and ceramics in earthy tones and hues. The flat is full of plants and I love handcrafted one off pieces - I have a real thing for wicker baskets, wooden bowls and ethnic textiles. Nothing is particularly valuable or cost a lot but they are really precious to me. Finding little things in markets in France, Germany and around London means that every piece tells a story and reminds me of where and when we bought it. I am inspired by books from the 70s like 'Woodstock Handmade Homes’, ‘The Craftsman Builder’ and ‘Houseboat’ I could look through them all day long and never get bored. I hate that much overused word ‘boho’ but I suspect that our style does fall into that bracket! 

How has your home and style changed since your son was born?

To be honest our style hasn’t really changed since our son was born, but now the flat is full of wooden toys -  his favourites are his little tricycle and rocking horse.  We haven’t gone mad and baby proofed everything. We are lucky as he is pretty relaxed and loves to flick through records with his daddy and actually prefers to unpack the kitchen cupboards and rearrange them rather than play with his toys!  

What are your favourite things about living in this area?

Before we moved here we didn’t know the area at all so it has been a joy to discover it together as a family. It is semi-rural in a way with several woods on our doorstep for lovely walks and lots of great cafes and record shops. We are lucky to have a Steiner school nearby where we go to the Parent & Child group. 

Your ceramic collection is really beautiful, where do you buy these pieces and what attracted you to these colour and textures

Thank you! It has become a real obsession of mine to hunt down pieces that are made from natural materials. I find them in all sorts of places from car boots to charity shops and even occasionally online. 

Do you have a favourite room in your home?

I suppose the sitting room is the one we spend the most time in. It is light and airy with a little balcony that we sit out on in the summer months. It is big enough for our son to roam around on his bike and cart (for the moment!) and is filled with our books and records. 

You have an enviably huge record collection, when did that start? What are you currently listening to? 

The records are mainly my boyfriend’s - he has a bad vinyl addiction! He has been collecting since he was a little boy, taken to shops and car boots and initiated into the record collecting world by his dad. At the moment we have been listening to our friend Flo Morrissey’s debut album which is really beautiful - also old favourites like Judee Sill, Jackson Browne, The Incredible String Band and Cass Mccombs - and of course Raffi gets played on a daily basis for the little man, he loves his songs!

What are you currently reading?

 Well we don’t get much time to read these days! I currently have a pile of guide books on the go to California as we are heading over there in the spring. If anyone has any tips of things to do when we are over there then let us know! 

  If you could travel either back in time or to a far off land to grab some interior items where would you go?

Definitely the 1970s! That is the era that I always come back to. Fashion wise and interiors wise it is full of amazing designs and has a timeless style all of its own. Almost every day I post up inspiration images mainly from the 1970s on my instagram account river_of_daisies. It’s been a real joy to connect with like-minded people all around the world.

Do you have any recommendations of places to shop in London?

  We love going to Portobello market. We lived just up the road from it for years and even though it is not as good as it used to be, it still has a magical atmosphere and we know most of the traders so it is fun to go and chat to them. Julian (my boyfriend) recently wrote a book about the area called Portobello Road: Lives of a Neighbourhood, looking at the last sixty years telling the story of the street. Nowadays it is more famous as the location for the film Notting Hill but of course in the 60s and 70s it was the counter-cultural capital of London with many fashion and music trends emanating from there. He tracked down most of the important figures connected to the street and interviewed them - it’s a fascinating read even if I do say so myself!  

Do you have any wish list items ?

There are always more things that i want to buy for the flat but we are limited by space or lack of it. To be honest I tend to wait and see what I spot out on the markets and car boots rather than having a wish list - and then when I see something I want I can’t imagine how I ever lived without it! Those wicker chairs in the sitting room for example were picked up from a French brocante last summer for a couple of Euros and they are so comfortable I never want to part with them. 

A massive thank you to Gudrun and family for letting us into her home xx

If you have a home you think readers would love tag moontomoon on instagram xx

My Nest... Rachel's Waldorf Inspired Home in the Adelaide Hills

The 'My Nest' series took a bit of a break for a while but it is back.....

So...today on Moon to Moon I am extremely excited and happy to introduce Rachel, one half of The Silk Road and her fabulous Waldorf Inspired home in the Australian hills... Light, roomy and full to the brim with happy house plants and stunning finds from her travels across the globe I have been drooling over Rachel's pad for some time..... so was mega excited when she agreed to share her home on Moon to Moon and Answer a few questions....

1) Can you tell us a little bit about yourself and where you live?

I am 33, married to my soulmate Gawaine and a mum to two incredible girls, Zaala Zahara and Luna Indigo. I am a registered nurse specialised in Emergency & Intensive Care and I am also a remote area nurse for the indigenous communities of remote Australia. That said, at the moment I’m taking extended maternity leave from nursing to enjoy the bliss of being at home with my girls in the Adelaide Hills, Australia. I am also co-founder of The Silk Road, an online shop with artisan made items collected on our travels across the globe.  

 2) How did you find this beautiful home and how long have you lived in it?
We have been extremely fortunate to have been given the opportunity to live in the home that my husband grew up in. It’s an incredibly quirky home that has had a beautiful history; his family filled it with music, house concerts, visitors from all walks of life from around the world and lots of love. For many years it was THE meeting place and I’d hazard to guess that almost everyone in our community has a beautiful memory tucked away of their time spent in this house. We moved in two years ago and although it's much quieter these days, it is very much home for us. 

3) Your husband must have really fond memories of the place. Have you altered it much since you moved in? 

The amazing energy that came with this home and the memories of the space was still fresh in everyone’s mind when we moved in. It could have proven to be a challenge to make the shift in making it our own space whilst being respectful to what the home once was; and give our family time to adjust to the changes we brought. Luckily, our family were 100% supportive and encouraging to change it up and make it our own. 

4) What are your favourite things about living in this area? 

Our close circle and wider network is thanks, in large part, to my husband and his family. He was part of an incredible community-centered school and through it I have formed an amazing circle of friends who I love. Like other Waldorf communities around the world, his network has carried through into adulthood and our daughter has now started her journey here. It is rich in heart and generosity, encourages mindful and slow living, growing your own food etc. I definitely miss my lifelong friends in Queensland that I've known forever but although we sometimes dream of living back in the tropics, we know our little town in the hills is definitely now home. 

5) Every item in your house is absolutely stunning. Could you pick 3 objects with a history and tell us about them?

Many of the pieces in our home have been collected on our travels over the years. We have had some incredible opportunities when it comes to travel and found ourselves in some fairly remote corners of the world. One of the hardest things we have had to transport home was a wooden carving of a Fulani lady carrying her child on her back. She is over a meter tall and we found her in the amazing city of Ouagadougou in Burkina Faso. We still had over a month in West Africa before going home but we couldn’t leave her behind! So we cut up a foam mattress from the local market to place her in a soft protected casing and then she took up residence in Gawaine's backpack as we travelled onward through Mali and Ghana. 

I also love to collect handmade textiles. My favourite piece is an old heavily embroidered young mans jacket I found in Kachchh, Gujurat. This amazing area in western India is home to the Rabari, a semi-nomadic group of pastoralists and anyone who has a thing for Indian textiles knows that Kachchh is renowned for its incredible artisans. This colourful jacket is actually the piece that inspired the creation of TheSilk Road. 

Another special piece is an old silver round amulet I found in the centuries old Esfahan bazaar in central Iran. Historically, the Esfahan bazaar was an significant place of trade on the Silk Road. The amulet was made by the Kuchi peoples of Afghanistan which borders Iran, and it is such a symbolic piece to me of our journey with The Silk Road. 

6) Do you have a favourite place in your home?

The bay windows in our kitchen and living room are such a glorious source of natural light and are integral to our day to day movements in our home. Everything we do revolves in and around these beautiful bay windows. They are huge, with the added benefit of being north facing which is perfect for our southern hemisphere seasonal changes. There is also an old rambling grape vine that twists and winds its way along the entire northern aspect of the house, just about the windows. In the summer months the grape shades the sun with its expansive green vinery, and in the cooler months the leaves turn a rich shade of auburn before falling off. The winter sun then streams in and warms the entire downstairs living spaces. The downstairs of the house has been built with rammed earth which encourages minimal fluctuations in temperature year round; the thick walls of compacted earth stay cool in summer and the sun warms the walls in winter. 

7) What are you currently listening too

Loren Kate, an Australian award winning musician who I have the immense pleasure of calling a friend. She is a remarkable human and story teller. Her music never fails to leave me with goose bumps or in tears. 

8) What are you currently reading?

We have a great collection of books, mostly non-fiction and generally anything related to worldwide cultures, world issues or stories exploring the lives of people who create change in the world. I would love to say I was actually currently reading something of that vein, but I just looked over to my bedside table and there is a very dog-eared copy of the India Lonely Planet. I re-read sections of it before I go to bed each night. India is my heartland, a country that has left such an imprint on me....Plus we have two little people tucked up in bed with us so I don’t read big books the way I used to.

9) If you could travel either back in time or to a far off land to grab some interior items where would you go?

I feel that our home is full to the brim with so many things, and although I love each and every piece that has found its way to us, I feel like we have everything we could ever need and at the end of the day it’s just stuff. As I grow older, I now would be much happier to work and learn alongside NGO’s who are committed to working with artisans to protect their traditional knowledge of crafts or provide skills, a safe place of work and income to marginalised or minority groups. This is what we have always been passionate about at The Silk Road and this year we intend to make a strong shift in this direction.

10) You opened The Silk Road nearly two years ago, how did that project come about?

The Silk Road was born out of a love of wrapping our global wanderings around us. Lou and I wanted to have small collections, sourced fairly and respectfully by us on our travels. We have been committed to sourcing from artisans and we have grown steadily in the past two years. This is in large part thanks to Instagram and the incredible people who have supported our journey. We feel that many of our followers ‘know' us, they have watched us travel around the world with our husbands and daughters and we think (we hope!) they trust that we always source with integrity. We intend to now use our small platform to bring awareness to issues that we feel passionate about and share these stories with those who wish to give back alongside us. We will still be artisan based, but with an emphasis on supporting individuals and communities who are at risk or marginalised.

11) Whats next for you in 2016?

Fortunately The Silk Road has always tied in perfectly with our personal plans, the two are very interwoven and symbiotic. As a family we will be travelling to Cambodia early in the year and then back to India in the second half of the year. We love our home, but we are happiest when learning and living out in the world. 

Thank You so Much to Rachel for taking the time to share her Nest.

You can find The Silk Road shop online or visit their Instagram here

'My Nest' .... Erin Ashleigh

This fortnights 'my nest' is the home of Erin Ashleigh. This beautiful bohemian home caught my eye a couple of months ago and I have wanted to live in Erins beautiful Instagram feed ever since... Enjoy!

Who lives in the house? 

Erin-24, Kody-25, and our five month old daughter, Willow. Also our cat Cleo and a roly-poly bulldog named Baba!

Where is your home?

Our current home is in Perth, the capital city of West Australia. Both Kody and I grew up in small beachside towns amongst nature and we both want to get back to the quietness and stillness of this as soon as possible. However we are making the most of living here for now before we set off travelling, and luckily Perth is quite a beautiful, nature based city. We are also just 15 minutes from Fremantle, which is a dream for anyone who likes art, music, organic food and vegan cafes!

What attracted you to your home?

Ohhh, everything! It is a beautiful old cottage which has not been renovated into a shiny modern box like so many (sadly) have in this area. Dark, creaky original wooden floorboards, detailed ornate ceilings, an old kitchen, beautiful windows and lots of incredible natural light. The windows throw rainbows all over the walls at a certain time in the morning , which is so magical! There is just a general good vibe about it, I feel as though a lot of happy people have lived here in the years before us. 

How long have you lived there/ will you live there?

We have lived here for ten months and we will be leaving in a month or so. When we found out that I was carrying Willow, we did the exact opposite of what most couples would do - instead of settling down, we sold our previous house, and decided to rent for a year while we were deciding what to do/where we would base ourselves. Since then, we have bought a gorgeous old caravan and have decided to travel around Australia as a family. We just really want Willow's life to be rich with experiences, fun, and constant love from both of us.. So travelling around in our little portable home visiting national parks, forests, waterfalls and all the beauty that our home country has to offer, with our daughter, is our dream come true! I am currently on the hunt for a house for us to live in for the next year, with a driveway so that we can park and renovate our little old caravan before we leave. Unfortunately our current home doesn't have any room for him, otherwise we would stay here until we set off on our adventures. I will be so sad to leave this home , it is where we truly came together as a family, there is so much love between these walls.

What are your favorite and most treasured items?

All of my plants and crystals would have to be up there, they are like babies to me, haha! I also have some beautiful vintage kantha quilts which I will treasure forever. A little wooden carving of an elephant which I bought while in the U.S a few years ago. I have also received two beautiful dream catchers recently from soul sisters of mine , they are so special. 

Which is your favorite Room in the house?

My favourite room in is by far the kitchen. It truly is the centre of our home. I love spending time in here, amongst all of my herbs and spices and random witchy potions that I usually have brewing on the bench. Willow naps at about 1oclock in the afternoon everyday, this coincides with the time that the sun starts streaming through the kitchen window.. So I sit in here and bathe in it, diffuse essential oils, read books and just breathe - it is bliss.

Where do you buy most of your furnishings ?

Our furniture is mostly a mish-mash of op shop/ second hand store finds, roadside pickup (We have scored some gems that other people have thrown out), and items that we have bought second hand on Gumtree. Our giant couch is just from Ikea, and I love it, but I am finding it more important as the years go on to only buy pre loved furniture. There is too much plastic-y , cheaply manufactured furniture in the world - it is all being used for a few years and then going straight to landfill. This is a huge problem and I think that we all need to be making conscious decisions in every aspect of our lives to take care of Mother Earth! Sure, you can't walk into an op shop and find something you love instantly, pop it on the credit card and have it delivered to your home that afternoon.. but the amazing, one off pieces that you find are worth it! It took me a few months to manifest our coffee table, but it is a beautiful, handmade wooden piece, and it is one of my favourite pieces of furniture.

How would you describe your style?

Hmmmm… That is a tricky one, I'm really not sure!  I just like a lot of intricate patterns, natural textures like wood and ceramics, and lots of greenery. I don't know where that falls in on the style scales! It's a bit of a jumble really.

What or who inspires your home style and decision making when buying a new piece? 

Something that I have been conscious of lately, being someone who is in love with ethnic and tribal style prints , is making sure that the profits of what I am buying are benefiting the people who are creating the items. Because the "bohemian" style is so in vogue right now, I think a lot of larger homewares companies are taking advantage of this, making profits from patterns and styles that are traditional & sacred to certain people, and mass producing them. I would LOVE to see more online stores opened where the profits go directly to the communities who are hand crafting items :) So this is something that I try to have in mind when making decisions! 

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 What and Where would be your dream home?

I have been dreaming about building an Earthship! Or a tree house built with reclaimed timber and recycled building materials, that would be a dream.  Kody and I visited a giant salvage yard last year and the things that we found were unbelievable - stained glass windows, beautiful doors, claw foot bath tubs. As for location, anywhere lush, green and abundant with life makes me happy. Northern NSW is incredibly beautiful, and I feel so at home there, but I'm sure while we are travelling somewhere will touch our heart and we will want to settle for a while. 

What was the last item you brought?

I found a beautiful print of Manasa, the Hindu goddess of snakes, at a market a few weeks ago, and she had to come home with me. And a flower of life print, because I am thoroughly obsessed with sacred geometry!

A massive thank you to Erin for letting me share these photos and taking time out to answer the Interview questions

xx Gabi xx
To see more of Erins beautiful home visit her instagram feed at.... @erinashleighh
To view more house tours from the 'My Nest' feature visit here 
Have or know of a home that you think we would enjoy please hashtag moontomoon xx