End of Month Review - A quick look back at August

I took some time off in August to spend with wonderful friends.  After two weeks out of the office it take a while to get back into your stride, even so... it's been a busy month, here's what we have been up to...

1// Nicola wrote 10 things you might not know about The Ruby Orchard...We do gift vouchers,  we can deliver, we are on instagram and we wholesale our rustic frames to other shops!

2// Our August facebook album of new products got everyone excited! You ain't seen nothing yet... we have some AMAZING new stock ordered, in production and on the way!

3// Sandi described her perfect day out and about in the midlands.  Sounds like my kinda day too!

4// While I was away at the coast I popped into see Terry making Foreva candles and headed for my first visit at The Litchi Orchard Market.

5// We let you in on who we love to follow and keep up to date with online.  It was so hard to choose our favorites.

6// Our team of furniture makers is growing. We have had some great new pieces refurbed and are now in store.  Preserving the past and creating beautiful pieces from other peoples rubbish is so exciting.

7// I shopped up a storm in J'burg buying new stock for the up and coming festive season.  As always we will post pics on our facebook page as soon as the stock starts arriving!

8// City Girl Searching featured me on her blog in her 'Life After the Dress' series... watch this space... Roxy and I have some pretty plans!

9//  Sandi is a Pinterest addict...Well she loves it!!  Our boards of style inspiration are being updated daily and we have some great plans for using Pinterest to show you how to use our products in your homes.

Cannot believe it is September already... I am trying so hard not to mention the 'C' word!!!

Pinterest Inspiration

Inspiration comes in many forms.  It can be found in a colour, a shape, a shadow.   Inspiration can be found in the pages of a book, a photograph in a magazine or the words of a song.

One of my sources of inspiration (and very guilty pleasure) is Pinterest.  I love it.  I love it so.  I admit to having used up ridiculous amounts of data simply by trawling through the millions of pins that appear daily in my feed. 

I have used it for delicious recipes (ok mainly for the cupcake recipes), for essential oil tips, for the amazing photography tutorials.  I have pinned hundreds of decor ideas for my 'one day' house.  I have a fantastically inspirational sewing and DIY board that I use often , have a dream holiday board, a health and fitness board and many, many others.

Here at the Ruby Orchard we regularly check in with Pinterest for a healthy dose of ideas and inspiration for the shop. We have our own boards dedicated to all sorts of lovely things, like Baking, Bags and Accessories, Kitchenware, Ceramics and many more - filled with lots of the beautiful products that we sell.   We also have 'Boards of Inspiration' - filled with all sorts of pins relating to kitchens, what to create with washi tape, ceramics, windows and doors, upcycling - things that we have found beautiful and interesting and inspiring ourselves.

So why don't you follow The Ruby Orchard on Pinterest, take a peek at our boards and be inspired yourselves!

Preserving the past

We have been spending more and more time at building demolition sites reclaiming the timber that is fallen, broken, cast aside and left for dead.

As I walk through the piles of ceiling boards, beams and roof trusses all I can imagine is a bench for my veranda, a stunning consol for a hallway or a server that would stand as a statement in any home. The wood shows a lifetime of character and aged beauty, so authentic it has to be shared and brought back to life.

At The Ruby Orchard we now have some great wood! It has characteristics that tell a story of the blood, sweat, and tears of those who built the structures. Every reclaimed workbench we find has the scars of hard work and we are doing things a little bit differently in an attempt to stay with the present and preserve the past.

Our furniture range is growing in popularity and our skills and eye for detail are improving with every piece we make and restore, but they don’t hang around for long before they get snapped up.

Here is my Spring 2014 Inspiration and the style you are likely to see at The Ruby Orchard during the next few months.

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From the workshop...

Today this beauty was completed and added to ever growing range of furniture. Our guys, Ray and Zach have been working on this original rustic cupboard for last two weeks and we are so pleased with the results... now it's just time to fill up the wine rack and enjoy the weekend!