She Brought Natural Wild Charm into a Century-Old Western-Style House: Old Walls, Fresh Flowers, Old Times, Even the Toilet Turned Red

Paeonia made a tour through Guangzhou and Shenzhen, flipped Shenzhen's card first, and today it is finally Guangzhou's turn~ Guangzhou babies, grab your front-row seats!

I have to thank Guangzhou's heavy rain, because the roads were all flooded and I could not get a taxi, so Paeonia could only walk to this floral art studio. And I finally got the chance to step into the "Dongshankou" I had been longing for.

Red-brick old western-style houses, courtyards full of greenery. What I want to introduce to you today is everyone's old friend HeartBeat. Those who have forgotten, please go take a look here (Review | Here is a little report on Guangzhou's floral world, please sign for it)

They had just moved into the old western-style house in Dongshankou not long ago, and Paeonia could not wait to go see what it was like, which also counts as scouting the way for everyone~

{ Paeonia Girl Vol.789 }

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The Secret Garden in the Old Western-Style House

"Miss Xishan, Young Master Dongshan." In today's Dongshankou, the young masters are nowhere to be seen, but the red-brick walls left from a hundred years ago hide the unique charm of old Guangzhou.

Vines have climbed over the high walls, and big trees have blended into the blue sky. Dongshankou is trendy yet not pretentious; the old western-style houses that have weathered the years carry a flavor of everyday street life.Itscharm lies exactly here: the red-brick walls that seem out of place in the city are street life on one side and art on the other.

On the occasion of HeartBeat's fifth anniversary, Ivy moved the studio into an old western-style house in Dongshankou.

Red walls and white railings, the courtyard gate gently opens.

Flowers and plants fill the courtyard,

facing Guangzhou's intense sunlight,

and abundant rain, growing freely.

From the moment Paeonia stepped through HB's courtyard gate, it felt like falling into another time and space, a hundred years back, as if pushing open the pomelo-colored wooden doors and windows would reveal young masters and young ladies enjoying poetry, wine, flowers, and tea.

The city makes people speed up, but walking into this old western-style house makes people slow down. However, when Ivy first found this old house, it did not look like this at all.

A dilapidated old house that had been unmanaged for many years revealed a sense of decay from inside to outside."After friends came to see it, they all left in silence, questioning me one after another: do you really want to do this?"

But Ivy still took this run-down old house without hesitation. This persistence came from a bold declaration she made during university, and it sounds a little unbelievable.

At the time, Ivy, still in university, wandered into Dongshankou for the first time and left her dream there.

"At that moment a voice inside me said: one day I must have a studio in Dongshankou, but at that time I did not even know what I wanted to do in the future."

So when Ivy considered changing studios, she did not consider other places at all and ran straight here. She found this house with the first place she looked at and fell in love with it at first sight, as if it had been waiting for Ivy to arrive all along.

But old houses come with many problems: unreasonable structure, peeling walls, and renovations that are especially laborious.

The entrance area was made into the flower shop section.

Farther in is the coffee area,

a collaboration between HB and the coffee brand HAY COFFEE,

where you can sit down and chat.

The second floor was converted into an area for floral art classes and sharing events.

The third floor is super suitable for photo backdrops.

When influencers came to take photos, they did not even spare the toilet,

and HB's toilet also became popular for a while in Guangzhou's influencer circles.

From signing for the house to completing the full renovation took a full 8 months. A friend said,"It waited for you for more than half a century, so what does it matter if you wait 8 months for it?"

And facts proved that more than 200 days and nights of waiting were worth it. The old western-style house and HB are from the same family in soul. The old furniture left by the landlord, paired with HB's flower vessels and decorations, blends perfectly.

As the years turn,

the old sofa's color has formed a gradient,

yet it is a perfect match for the exquisitely jade-like flower vessels.

The color of the cabinet has been eroded into uneven shades,

and with a vintage speaker and candlesticks placed on it,

it gains the charm of old Guangzhou from the last century.

The rust-speckled candlesticks,

the matchboxes and magnifying glasses remembered from memory,

what settles through the years is all art.

The red bricks exposed on the wall

are the natural peeling from renovation.

Good things can withstand the test of time, and so can flower shops. HB has been established for five years. In those five years, how many flower shops opened and closed; many people with flower shop dreams came full of ambition and left in embarrassment, yet HB grew from a small space of just over 30 sq m to today's standalone western-style house.

Ivy joked that the reason she wanted to move to a larger space was that Paeonia Girl's fans were about to overrun HB's previous studio (so the fans were this wild in private)!

To receive so much affection, the most important thing is of course Ivy's sustained passion and tireless cultivation in floral art over these years.

Like many girls with flower shop dreams, before opening a flower shop, Ivy was also an office worker facing reports every day. She had no lofty titles, nor had she been tied to floral art since childhood; she simply came across floral art by chance and fell in love with it.

There are not that many so-called dreams in this world, only ordinary people's humble yet heartfelt love and steady, down-to-earth effort.

Guangzhou is a place where the changes of the four seasons are very subtle, but for a floral designer, seasonality is very important. She did not slack off because of this; instead, whenever the season changed, she ran to other cities or into the mountains to feel the changes in climate.

Spring is pale blue grape hyacinths.

Summer is a flower basket surrounded by fruits and vegetables,

in bright yellow longing for cool green.

Autumn is an oil painting in rich, heavy colors.

Winter, among snow-white spiraea and anemones, looks forward to vitality.

Every time she arrives in a city, she goes to the wild to gather wildflowers and wild grasses,

and seemingly inconspicuous flowers and grasses can all gain new life.

A blooming peony may be only a bud,

some two-colored coreopsis have already drooped in despair,

yet every stem stays true to itself, with no need to pretend.

Flowers and materials that have yellowed or have wormholes

will not be discarded; their most natural state is preserved.

Many people ask Ivy where her creative inspiration has come from over so many years (such a cliched question, and Paeonia asked it too). Her answer was unexpected to me, yet also entirely reasonable.

Ivy believes that the most important way for a floral designer to draw inspiration is to observe nature.Indeed, 90% of people have never even observed what plants are grown downstairs in their own residential compounds. If you cannot even discover the beauty around you, how can you create beauty?

When teaching students, Ivy also encourages everyone in this way: start observing from what is around you. If learning floral art is only a hobby, she also hopes floral art can give everyone eyes to discover the beauty of nature.

Just as we like Ivy, she also has floral designers she likes, and taking collaborative classes with them is also a process of learning and progress.

Not long ago, a collaboration with R and Xuanmao from the Rose Society.

Friends from Bugis Island can review it,

(Review | From carefree young ladies to flower shop owners, this pair of twin sisters are determined to travel the world with fresh flowers!)

British natural-style floral art master flowertrip·Jo is Ivy's idol,

this is the spark between a little fangirl and her idol.

Collaboration with other floral designers is also a source of inspiration for Ivy. She wants her spirituality to always remain, to stay curious about nature, and only by constantly communicating and learning can she improve.

Speaking of future development, Ivy said moving to the old western-style house is only a beginning. In the past, because the space was too small, friends who came from afar did not even have a chance to sit down and chat, which was very regrettable and a pity.

Now that there is enough space, she wants to build HB into an aesthetic sharing space. Besides browsing and taking photos, everyone can also attend some lifestyle aesthetics sharing sessions about design, floral art, or art. In Ivy's secret garden, empty yourself and enjoy a stretch of leisurely time.

So that Paeonia fans and HB fans can go have fun to their heart's content, HB will next launch some interesting small merchandise, hoping that after people come, they can pick up one or two souvenirs belonging to HB.

Glass bottles found while organizing the old house,

with flowers and plants soaked inside, made into floating plant specimens.

I tell you very responsibly that Ivy wants to give a batch to Paeonia fans first! Scan the QR code at the bottom of the article to get the perks!

As for the recently popular floral art crossovers, Ivy currently does not have the energy to think about them.Flowers are her most important thing, and focusing on doing floral art well is already not easy.

To stay away from the noise of the outside world and hide in the old western-style house to focus on floral art requires the courage of "though the enemy surrounds us in thousands of layers, I stand firm and unmoved," and even more the free-spiritedness of "when life is good, enjoy it to the fullest."

Ivy sees clearly and lives with understanding, and only those who truly love can understand that "when cicadas sing, the street feels even quieter."

Ivy's little fans, do you want to go browse again?

Before going to Guangzhou, collecting a round of perks first is the proper thing to do.

This time Paeonia has joined forces with HeartBeat,

to prepare a round of great gifts for you all!

Plant specimens, HB custom canvas bags, and floral art experience classes,

honestly, Paeonia wants them too

How can you get them? Look below!

Store address: No. 22 Meihua North Road, Yuexiu District, Guangzhou

Business hours: 10:00-18:00

The images in this article are provided by HB (from Ben, Lecui Xing,

HB-Yaoyao, Jelo, portrait photographer Keyuan, Abu, and other photographers)

Copyright belongs to them

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