Only four sleeps!

Only four sleeps until our winter warehouse sale! If you've haven't been to one of our sales before, they are pretty huge and excellent. The sale happens only twice a year and it takes place in the warehouse next to the Lark shop. We have big tables piled up with stock that is end-of-line, slightly not perfect, surplus or one-off samples. Each table is priced, eg $1 table, $5 table, $10 table. The sale is in-person only, not online.

This year there are a lot of cute kitchen wares in the sale, knitted scarves, ace undies and accessories from Swimmer in Japan, greeting cards a-plenty, ex-display Belle & Boo prints, stationery, masking tape, baby things, party things from paper straws to invites, Genki Tees at $10, soaps, cushions, tote bags, some Cath Kidston items and a lot more besides. Most things are $5 or $10. I'll try to take some photos tomorrow when it is all set up.

The sale starts at 9am. Please note that it is CASH ONLY, as there are no eftpos facilities in our warehouse. There are several ATMs on the main street of Daylesford. Bring a big shopping bag and a list of people you need to buy gifts for, as this is a great opportunity to stock up your gift drawer! I'm looking forward to seeing lots of our regular and new customers on Saturday, it'll be fun! See you there.

My vintage pop-up stall!

I have been busy all weekend preparing the stock for my 'pop-up stall' at the Daylesford Bazaar. I have a cute space in there with pigeon holes, a table top and big shelves down below. Since I moved house to a smaller place a few months ago I've been forced to have a massive clearout. We took a whole trailer load of unwanted things to the op shop. I then had to tackle my collections of vintage wallpaper, linens, fabric, books, tins, toys and craft things. I have put aside my very favourite things, but much of my stash is going to be on my stall from this weekend.

There are also some pieces of furniture including a giant old doll's house that I used to have at trade fairs to display toys, and it has cute vintage curtains! I love it but I just have no use for it right now.

I have never had a stall at a vintage shop before. I chose the Bazaar because it has a lovely, rummagey vibe and I like the people who work there. It's not all fancy and over-priced, and in fact most of the smaller bits and pieces in there are under $10, yay! That suits me fine, I am just keen for my lovely 'junk' to go to a good home! I will probably have the stall open for about a month, or until most things are sold.

This is where I am up to at the moment, everything is piled up in my garage, and I'll be setting up the stall this week, I'll post some photos when it is ready. There are so many great stalls in the Bazaar, you might not immediately spot my space in among everything else, but all the price labels say 'Allison'!

So do pop in if you are coming to Daylesford. The Bazaar is on Vincent Street as you head out of Daylesford towards Hepburn. Don't forget our Winter Warehouse Sale is also on at Lark this Saturday, and the Maker's Market and Farmer's Market, so it's gonna be a fab day.

Hello My Deer!

I try not to buy too many Lark products for myself, can you imagine if I did? Nothing would ever get sold. But sometimes a thing arrives that I just HAVE to have. Like this Fawn lamp.

Oh my goodness, how can I resist. He is straight from a vintage storybook. He is coming home with me today!

As you can see in this pic, he is a nice big size.

But don't worry, some of his brothers and sisters are also for sale IN OUR SHOP HERE.

Mollie Makes Giveaway

Over on Facebook today, I am doing a little giveaway for the fab new Mollie Makes crafty magazine from the UK! Hop on over, it is open to all of our Facey 'fans' and will be drawn at random tonight. If you aren't a fan yet, just click 'like' at the top of the Lark page and you'll be included!

As well as a crisp, new copy of the mag, it also includes this cute 'feelgood felt kit' to make a phone cover, aww!

And if you have already seen Mollie Makes, you might have spotted these super-cool crochet 'dress guards' for your bike. As it happens, we are just about to start stocking these in Lark, as I am totally in love with them., I'll let you know when they arrive!! x

I wish!

I was recently asked to make a wish list of home accessories for House & Garden magazine, and it appears in this month's issue. It was a lot of fun thinking about what I would buy for our new house if money was no object. The Ercol sofa is something I have especially wanted for a long time... there is no way I could ever afford a new one, but I recently found an old one going very cheaply on eBay (with 2 armchairs - bonus!) but it needs a big makeover. Watch this space.

The Lark Shop is closed this weekend

We're renovating the shop and office a little this week, yay! Although kind of boo also, because it means we unfortunately have to close the shop for a week, as we need to move a lot of stuff around.

The shop will re-open on Saturday 4th June, bright and early at 9am as it is the day of our WAREHOUSE SALE. The shop will be all bright and sparkly new, and filled with lots of new things!

Our Winter Sample Sale is on soon!

Yay, it's here again! As our old friends will know, just once or twice a year here in Daylesford we throw open the doors of the Lark warehouse and invite everyone in for a rummage through our shelves. As usual this year there will be tables and tables laden with samples, end-of-runs and surplus stock going for a song!

The sale is only in person (it wont be online - sorry!).

I hope you can come - it's on from 9am until we sell out. And please tell all your friends!

Daylesford Makers Market!

Rock On

Are you old enough to remember the 70s? Did you collect swap cards and ride a dragster? And did you own a pet rock?

I am SO excited this week to have tracked down some descendants of the original 70s Pet Rocks that sparked a big craze. The gang has now touched down at Melbourne airport and made its way to Daylesford, where the guys are sitting patiently in their 'kennels' at Lark, waiting to be adopted.

When you adopt a Pet Rock you need to bear a lot of things in mind; it is a real responsibility after all. Each Pet rock comes with a rock care manual that you must read before taking your pet from the box.

We've created a Flickr group as I want to see photos of your little guys once they have left us and find out where they hang out, who they hang out with and what they are up to! Please join the My Pet Rock Flickr Group and post your photos. The best ones might even get a little prize from Lark!

To help other pets too, Lark is donating 50 cents from every Pet Rock adoption to the RSPCA in Victoria.

CLICK HERE to adopt your Pet Rock! Get Rockin'!

Featured blog!

Thanks to Madeleine from Picture Play for featuring Lark and The Lark House on her very pretty blog this week! I love the little postcard she has made.

If you mention Lark on your blog do let me know and I'll give you a shout out here!x

A Weekend of Craft!

Have you booked your tickets yet? Booked a holiday cottage? Packed your suitcase?

The Weekend of Craft is once again on in Daylesford, this coming 4th and 5th June!

This ace annual event, set in our pretty town, is based around the Daylesford Craft Experience, a fun workshop program held at Peppers retreat and organised by Merrilyn Sim of Threadneedle. This year the weekend will be even bigger and better, with openings, classes, markets and lots of late-night crafty shopping!

Here's what Lark will be up to on the Saturday (4th June):

1. helping at the Makers Market

2. holding our winter warehouse sample sale (yay!!!)

3. hosting late-night shopping with bubbly from 4-6 pm

On the Sunday we will be open as normal - recovering from the Saturday no doubt!

Also, and I am super-excited about this, my friend Doug at the wonderful Daylesford Bazaar, is letting me have some space for a LARK VINTAGE STALL to clear out the huge stash we had no room for when we moved house recently. So you can also pop along and hunt for some lovely old thrifty treasure that is just begging for a new home.

I'll post more about the Lark sample sale and the Bazaar stall later in the week. This is just to give you a heads up on the weekend. I personally am SO looking forward to welcoming everyone back to our town, as are Merrilyn and all the other crafty local peeps involved in making it happen. Hurrah!!!

The Lark House

Finally, I can share some photos of The Lark House, which is now available as a holiday cottage. Most of the photos were taken by Rohan Anderson, a friend of ours who is an awesomely talented photographer (and gardener and cook and writer and father ...), I love how he has captured the little details that make the house unique.

As you may know, the house in Daylesford has been our family home for five years, and we transformed it from two rundown (but beautiful) cottages into a large house full of vintage fabrics and wallpapers and treasures collected from local vintage stores and op shops. It is one of the oldest homes in Daylesford, dating from 1860.

The house has appeared in Australian Country Style, the Herald Sun, The Design Files and Apartment Therapy, and it featured in the Frankie Spaces book.

In recent months we have added a garden studio with a working record player, 1950s sofa and a sewing corner.

And also we have finished work on a gorgeous retreat for newlyweds or parents, with a large bedroom, wood fire, sitting room, deck and shower room. This is my favourite room now, you can't imagine how tempted I am to move back in!

There are 3 other lovely bedrooms. These can all be set up as either single or double/king beds.

I had a lot of fun decorating the house ready for visitors. I used lots of the pretty Mae decals on blinds, bedside tables and walls. Love them!

Here is the living room.

Here is the kitchen.

I have provided mis-matched cutlery and lots of vintage crockery, but for those who prefer a modern style, there are also sets of plain white crockery too. There are lots of pots and pans, although I don't expect you will want to be cooking too much on your holiday, so there are also lots of big serving bowls that you can fill with salads and cheese and yummy stuff from the excellent local delis. There is a good coffee machine and a blender for your breakfast smoothies.

And the dining room, ready for tea.

And a local provisions basket to welcome visitors. It has eggs from local chooks, gourmet goodies and seasonal breakfast supplies and Hepburn mineral water.

Anyone fancy a picnic down by the lake or in the forest?

The main bathroom, of course. All of the linen and towels are provided, you don't have to bring anything to the Lark House, just yourself!

As you can see, there are lots of cosy nooks for reading - there are hundreds of magazines in the house, from Frankie to Inside Out, all my faves! And books too, and puzzles and games. Thanks for all the suggestions from you guys on facebook and my blog, we have used many of them to make the house as lovely as possible for visitors.

A little corner for children, who are most welcome. In the toy cupboard you'll find duplo, board games and some storybooks.

The Lark House is in the centre of Daylesford, in the most perfect location for vintage lovers, as it is 5 minutes walk from the Sunday bric-a-brac-market and practically next door to the wonderful Daylesford Bazaar! The main street cafes and shops are just 2 minutes away. Including the Lark shop of course!

There is a beautiful old verandah on two sides of the house where you can sit in peace and enjoy a cup of tea or watch the sun set over Daylesford with a glass of wine.

And at the back of the house, a deck with vines and a barbie, overlooking the large garden. And herbs to pick. There is plenty of room for kids to run around, and dogs are welcome too.

The Lark House is perfect for groups of up to 8 people. I think it would be great for a girly weekend with friends, to enjoy the spas, shopping and yummy restaurants of Daylesford. Or for a crafting retreat.

It's also the perfect spot for wedding parties and large family get-togethers. The first group to stay in the house were grandparents, parents and little ones and they left us such lovely comments!

I hope you can come and visit us in Daylesford and stay at the house. We are already pretty much booked up for weekends in May and June, and we are starting to take enquiries for the school holidays, spring wedding season and Christmas break. The cost is around $80 per person per night. All of the bookings are handled by the lovely folk at Daylesford Getaways, you can find all the details HERE on our website.

As a special thank you to my blog readers, if you make a booking at The Lark House and let me know, I will provide a $50 voucher to spend in the Lark shop during your visit.

Sigh! I think it's time to block out a few weekends for ourselves to stay at the house, I do miss being there!