Australia Day 2016. Zara Home Has Arrived In Sydney.

I think we should have more public holidays on Tuesdays.

The day off to just kick back and enjoy our beautiful city isn’t a bad reward for having survived the Monday at work before it. Except for some reason I’m here on Wednesday feeling like it’s Friday already. Could be because I had such a lovely and busy Australia Day.

Though the grey rain clouds that hung over us at breakfast didn’t bode well for our plans to hit the city for Australia Day celebrations. I don’t think I was alone in constantly checking the weather app on my phone to see if the rain would be miraculously be gone by the afternoon.

And didn’t our collective checking pay off because take a look at how the afternoon scrubbed up!

I’m a Circular Quay tragic. Playing tourist there never gets old for me – especially on Australia Day. It’s a day to embrace Australiana as you bob along in the crowd, stopping every so often as the person in front of you pauses to use their selfie stick. As the bush band plays and the ferries churn the water, how can you not look at it all and be thankful and proud to call this country your home?

It’s as if the city has taken a break from its usual brash self and decided that January 26 is the one day of the year that it can be true to itself. Water fountain stations offer free refills to keep everyone well hydrated in the heat. Volunteers hand out flags with a friendly smile or you could get a tattoo if you were so inclined. The streets are awash with people dressed in green and gold and creative licence is taken with the styling of our flag.

Food trucks near the Overseas Passenger Terminal were doing a brisk trade.

As this pizza truck observed, everyone really was as happy as Larry.

Toasting The Bridge just had to be done….

George Washing Machine (the band) provided the perfect soundtrack for the afternoon.

The tall ships sailed in.

While over at The Rocks, another Australia Day tradition was being enjoyed on deck chairs around a caravan Triple J’s Hottest 100 was being played to a relaxed and appreciative crowd.

So there I was just strolling through the city when I randomly found myself here…

at Sydney’s new Zara Home store at the Pitt Street Mall. Did you even know that Zara Home had reached Australia? They kept that pretty quiet.

Trust Zara to make door knobs a fashion statement…

It’s a beautiful store. Airy, light filled and pleasantly filled (rather than crammed full) with homewares. True to the clothing arm of the retailer, the range is eclectic with a little bit of something to suit most tastes.

Shabby chic, beach chic, minimalist and classic Hollywood seemed to be the main influences I could see. I’ll talk pricing a bit later in this post but overall, things looked to priced between Country Road and Kmart / Ikea. Interestingly, retro, Scandi chic, pineapples, Eiffel Towers and inspirational quotes written in brush script weren’t represented at all…. Nice to see a high street home wares retailer doing something just a little different from everyone else.

Looking out from the in store lift over the back of the ground floor.

The second floor can be accessed by stairs or lift and is mainly the children’s range and basics like hangers and sheets.

The Mickey and Minnie slippers were very tempting except Toddler SSG prefers to go barefoot around the house.

In addition to the Zara Home range of candles and home fragrance, there’s also Zara Home music!!!! The largest piece of furniture I saw on the floor were side tables and I don’t think there were any rugs.

Having had an uneventful four stretch out and about, I decided not to tempt fate and got Toddler SSG home in time for dinner and a bath at his usual time. I also had to urgently find my tube of aloe vera skin ointment. That’ll teach me for forgetting my hat and sunscreen because the day started out so wet and cold the sun ended up being a welcome but slightly painful surprise.

While it was tempting to go nuts at Zara Home, I only bought things that I had a specific need for. So hard at a Zara store but it can be done!

I still have the set of Zara Home coasters I bought in Dubai back in 2011 and they’re still in excellent condition. This set with a beaten metal effect are felt backed and were on sale for $19.95 down from $35.95. Not cheap but reasonable at the sale price for the quality.

I’m a bit behind in framing photos and the ones I particularly needed to get done for the study were some from Toddler SSG’s daycare photo day last year. These frames are silver plated and fit 13 x 8 prints. They cost $29.95 each. I usually get all my frames from Ikea and the Zara product feels and looks better quality. In fact. my favourite element of the current range at Zara Home are the photo frames. And the tea towels but I already have a back log of new tea towels at home that need to be used before I can even think of getting any.

How was you Australia Day? Did you immerse yourself in Australiana?

If you’ve visited our local Zara Home, did you like it?

Sydney Shop Girl

Australia Day 2016. Zara Home Has Arrived In Sydney.

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