Wednesday 23 April 2014

The House of Clicquot meets the House of Hanworth

It was a great night when Hanworth was asked to showcase Veuve Clicquot in a night of celebration (when would that not  be a great night!)


The entire team was on board - even the builders had a briefing!


I took the time to tell them about the great House of Clicquot and complimented them on wearing shirts that (almost!) were the same colour as that of the house!


see!

Fabulous friend Fleur and I got into the spirit early



 The builders also painted the property "orange" as this milestone engulfed HH


Goodbye site shed! This was such a pivotal landmark so its departure was a sign that things are changing

The crew worked hard to make HH look the best it possibly could on the outside


and the crew worked hard on the inside too


Even the bathroom has never looked so good!

That beautiful chevron rug (thanks Gilles and Franck) was rolled out for this special occasion


As these darlings (1989 and 1990 magnums no less) were chilling 


alongside all of these


Then night descended and it was time for the Two Houses to shine


There was even a full moon (as if it knew)


There was Le Grand Dame at "the Grand Dame"


I love this shot  (the Veuve looks divine, but the subway tiles look pretty good too!)


The harpist played

The Ballroom beamed


The kitchen received a real chef and his Caxton Street Catering crew


This was my favourite shot of this night - just look at the reflection of the wrought iron column in the kitchen door and the light on this 1864 hand formed bricks
This was the wonderfully talented House of Veuve Clicquot expert crew - Ralph, Phoebe, the uber impressive and vivacious Bernadette O'Shea and Dominque Demarville, Cellar Master Veuve Clicquot (who sounded just like Manu from MKR- but better!)


And this was the equally impressive Hanworth House Crew - Brilliant B and Fabulous F (in sequinned Camilla no less!)


Fabulous F self declared herself the keep of the keys (for the champagne fridges that is!)


Guests were black tie clad and elegant to boot





I learnt from the master about just how lucky we were to be sampling these beautiful bubbles (Veuve being particularly special to the House of Hanworth)

  
I slipped outside to sneak a peak inside (and I loved what I saw)


The menu was divine


And if your house does not already have a copy of Bernadette's magnificent book, act now - you won't be sorry - Click here for Champagne and Chandeliers


 Thanks to this national treasure for having the faith in Hanworth House to showcase this magnificent night


I loved every minute

x HH

Sunday 20 April 2014

Counting down the Days - 90 to go


Well, already 10 days have whipped past since the countdown began


Just in case you missed the daily milestones - don't fear - the blog is here to keep you up to date on all the latest Hanworth Happenings

Announcing 100 days to go and the Hanworth happening of the day was ...tiles


But not just any tiles mind you - they had to be subway - just loving them


99 days to go and I confirmed that, alongside my love of the skip truck and bin, a concrete truck runs a pretty close second in making my blood pressure soar - and soar it did as the pavilion slab was laid - happy happy days


98 days to go and I took you inside the new wing


And we marvelled at the magnificence of the view some of the residents will get from there. Shame about the very ugly power pole! But you can't have everything!

Day 97 was one of kindness as the beautiful Woods of the East Brisbane Pharmacy bundled up these beautiful goods and just sent them over (just because!) - what amazing community spirit that is


And makes them deserving of one of the coveted  Hanworth House Award for community service - to the East Brisbane Pharmacy - follow them at eastbrisbanepharmacy on instagram - they have divine posts to match their divine products and divine spirit

Day 96 we showed off our new on site pinup boy Michael  for the first time - he is our new front of  House (Hanworth House) man!


Day 95 continued on the countdown pendulum as plumbing supplies took over one of my favourite rooms in the house - OK it was a slow news day!


but we also viewed the courtyard through the eyes of the orchid (purple no less!)


Day 94 and my office has started to look a bit special


and some of my office has been officially declared champagne corner


How beautiful are these little champagne toadstools!


The office celebration continued during Day 93 as our office bathroom finally begins to take shape (I cannot even articulate the relief we will have when our journey to the nearest bathroom is reduced from a good 4  minute walk to a few steps!)


Thanks tiler HH for taking our plea for a close bathroom seriously!

Day 92 and we turned our sights turn to landscaping - and just look at the difference Landscapers HH are already making


And Day 91 and 90 were ones of  great excitement as the builder boys and I (with a little help from the beautiful house of Veuve Clicquot) declared a Hanworth mid week soiree


I told the builders that their shirts were (in a sense) clicquot orange! They believed me!


Even the biggies of the HH builder world got into the spirit


As did I - however, just to clarify, it does not take much  for me to get into the Clicquot spirit - despite the construction surrounds, I felt quote at home!

And slowly as the day wore on, everyone on site focused on readying it for the party which was to come.


The Builder A team had a serious meeting 


And the event planners had an equally serious meeting!


And you may well wonder where Superstar Tea Cosy has been of late...Well after sulking she did not have a thing to wear to coordinate with the Veuve flavour of the week, she finally relented and rolled out her apricot tea cosy



and proceeded to fraternise with all the new kids on site


Well we all knew she could not stay away for long - but I have lots to tell you about the fabulous evening next time - when one Le Grand Dame 


meets another



So, until then...
x HH