Pinning pop-in

Just popping in purely to post these images so that I can then upload them onto pinterest, which I love as an organisational tool. Am very happy creating mood boards for every room of the house.

Can't actually act on any of these redecorating/renovation ideas but virtual planning is almost - if not more - fun as budget is irrelevant. More of a big things, unaffordable pleasures post.

Both these images are from Inside Out's 2012 Renovating and Decorating guide, but don't appear on its website, hence my scanning.

For the record, the bedroom image (it's the bed I'm interested in - Jardan's Leila bed) is from Julian and Louise Thompson's apartment in St Kilda (photography Sharyn Cairns). The bedlinen, which I also love, is from the architect's (Steven Whiting) wife's online shop y10store.com.

Bathroom image is an old one that's got another run, as photographer Sharyn Cairns nominated it as coming from one of her all-time favourite houses (it's in Melbourne and used to belong to Mark and Louella Tuckey, who've since moved to Sydney).

Record straight. Images loaded. Off to pinterest.

Note to self

Found myself a little early for a meeting in the city today so popped into Typo, only to discover a 30 per cent off everything sale (runs till April 3). I would have happily paid the regular $4.95 for a three-metre roll of this fab crossword-puzzle wrapping paper but brought it home for $3.50 today. Bargain.

Elsewhere, I discovered one of my favourite Australian paper-product companies, Earth Greetings, has a new line of birdy bunting notelets out. I can think of many things I'd do with these (use them on blank cards, lunchbox notes to The Child, attach to a vase of bare branches) besides the obvious by-the-phone pad.

A big dose of prettiness for $9.95 - and environmentally friendly as the notelets are screen-printed locally on 100 per cent post-consumer recycled board and waste paper

Earth Greetings has great credentials to go with their beautifully designed products, and its Christmas cards have been my seasonal card of choice for some years now - a girl can only make so many.

Ebony and ivory

The gold ones were too high, so now that there's a bit more room in my wardrobe thanks to the posting off of the giveaway bags I've added these to the shoe rotation. My wardrobe is therefore having an ebony-and-ivory-go-together-in-perfect-harmony moment.

So now I have two pairs of wooden bricks to walk around in. They're surprisingly comfortable as long as I don't step on anything not completely flat as there's no give in the sole. Walking over a grate makes me look a little drunk and I take the right one off when I drive as can't feel the brake pedal properly, but otherwise all good!

Have a lovely weekend. x

ps. I've been to Sweden and have no idea how anyone could possibly totter around in these in Stockholm's designery Sodermalm district. One word: cobblestones...

Ides of March

I have a love/hate relationship with Typo. Every time I'm in the new Westfield I have to go and have a look, but when I do I'm disappointed. Mainly because I want it to be Muji, and it's not. It slightly reminds me of Muji, but only enough to pale into comparision and make me wish we had a Muji in Australia, let alone Sydney. It's also got that cheap Cotton On vibe, yet sometimes manages to turn up something fabulous and affordable, which is why I go back.

These stamps are a case in point. I'm using them more than the similar but smaller set I bought from Muji in London so I have to admit I actually prefer the Typo stamps. But still I pine for Muji. I remember my first taste of Muji, which was in Rome. I came out of the shop with a rather large bag (possibly two) only to be excitedly talked about a few minutes later when my logo-ed paper carry bags were noticed by a bunch of Japanese teenage girls. Yes, an Australian comes to Rome and buys Japanese stuff. Very happy I was about it too.

So was delighted when I heard some Muji products would now be available through an online Australian shop, Amasia. Quickly got Amasia on my screen and headed to its Muji section. And there was a pile of Muji stuff. Just not any of the Muji stuff I wanted.

The ides of March may not have been kind to Caeser, but I'm sure he'd be happy knowing that if he was alive today it'd only take him 15 minutes to walk from the Roman Forum to the Muji on the Via del Tritone. Or he could hop on the metro at Coloseo, jump off at Barberini Fontana de Trevi, saving precious leather on his Roman sandals.

He could even pick up some of my favourite dishcloths for me while he was there.

The ides of March have a lot to answer for.

Black Beauty

She may not have a mane, but my Black Beauty does have gears unlike my first bike love Apricot.

Apricot, a fixed-gear bike, was perfect on flat ground. As much as I tried to convice myself otherwise, getting up even a small hill was a hard slog - and we live at the highest point in our suburb so everything bar the corner shop involved more than a little pedal-power.

I told myself it was good for me, which I'm sure it was, but it was also impractical as I found myself using Apricot less and less and not at all in summer. Why young hipsters actually seek out fixed-gear bikes I do not know. Not being a hipster, either young or old, I don't understand. The only thing about fixed-gear bikes that appeal to me are the price but, apparently, you can still pay ludicrous amounts for them. I don't pretend to understand.

So Apricot has been sold to a film company to be used as a prop (minus the basket, I kept that) something she's well suited for as she's exceedingly pretty.

Black Beauty was surprisingly affordable as there's so many more of these types of bikes on the market now. She came from Woolys Wheels in Paddington, as they have a big range and you can road test before you buy, which I was determined to do this time round.

True love.

Buttered up

We have special butter only allowed to be used on weekend toast. Butter that tastes like butter should - not like the stuff sold in supermarkets.

I noticed this Meander Valley Saint Omer butter a couple of months ago and being the curious soul/glutton I am decided to give it a go. It's the best Australian butter I've ever tasted, no question. The reason it's saved for weekends is because of the price - I've seen it for sale between $7.99 and $9.99 for 250g. A price I'm happy to pay because it's a quality handcrafted product. Should I win Lotto, it would be the only butter allowed in the house but in the meantime bog-standard Allowrie will have to do.

Their creme fraiche is also worth the price, but I found the double cream too thick.

Now, usually toast and marmalade is only made on weekend mornings but for the sake of this blog I made some this afternoon and then, of course, ate it.

All in the name of duty.

Have a lovely weekend. x

Twisted tale

During dinner with friends recently, I was complaining about how I couldn't find a simple hose tidy that wasn't a twee reproduction number in heritage colours, plastic or just plain ugly.

I was invited to take a look at their hose tidy as, if I liked it, they had a spare one as they had been given two by female friend's parents yet were only going to use one. Friend's husband, The Cameraman Who's Always Right, while a generous man in every other way, can be a teeny bit of a hoarder and tried to pretend it was still in storage (they'd been renovating). No it's not, was his wife's reply that came accompanied with an eye roll.

I managed to get it into the car and drilled it into the wall early next morning before he could invent some dubious reason for its return, such as using it to keep his camera cords neat.

Came from a market in Canberra (don't know which one, unfortunately) and I love it.

Scrubber

My collection of natural cleaning brushes is growing. At The Bay Tree last week, I added two types of brushes that I haven't come across before (if you don't count plastic components - if you do, of course, they're everywhere): a scrubbing brush and a thin bottle brush.

Best of all, at Orange Grove markets on Saturday the stall that sells my beloved natural dishmops was back - but without the dishmops as she'd sold out. This stall is a bit like Brigadoon - you never know when the mists will part and reveal her wares to the human eye. Luckily, though, she takes orders.

Next time I see her I'll also pick up one of the Tumut Broom Factory's millet brooms she carries. I didn't have enough money on me on Saturday - they're $45 - as fruit, veg and a bunch of eucalyptus was my priority.

Now I have to use my scrubbing brush rather than just admire it.

Bags it

Picked up this calico bag yesterday as I wanted needed it to carry home all the lovely stonefruit (today's favourite: white peaches) available right now. Much better than the fruit getting bruised rolling around at the bottom of the bigger bag I take to the markets.

I got it at Jodie McGregor Flowers in Annandale for $3.95 and I'll be going back to get a few other designs. They're from Apple Green Duck and available online here.

I already have another of their bags, the hampi, which is cotton and rolls up so I pull it out of my handbag whenever I'm caught short at the shops - much nicer than the ubiquitous synthetic ones. Their animal-print calico bags, I think, would be perfect for kids' book bags.

Hand-on-heart this is not an ad. Just lovely products.

Paint the halls

What do sensible people do a week and a half out from Christmas Day? They don't get the builder in to rip out the verandah lining boards, tile the verandah roof, replace sections of the back fence and panels beneath our deck that effectively create a shed for us.

Removing the verandah lining boards revealed the house's original 90-year-old slate roof along with the accumulated 90-year-old dust. (I'd save the slate roof if I could but it'd be as effective as standing under a deciduous tree branch in a winter's storm.) The front of our house looked as if we were having a white Christmas - that's if white Christmases were black.

Even though this doesn't sound like much fun, it actually is for me. Out come the paint charts and off to visit my favourite paint shop, Annandale Paint and Wallpaper, personally run by a husband and wife team just down the road. It's a double win with them as they stock my favourite paint brand, Haymes, another family run all-Australian company. (I see Haymes is running ads in all the major magazines announcing being given a gong by Choice magazine for having the best coverage. Good for them.)

Anyway, while many of you may look at my paint choices and see sludge, I see a lovely mix of naturals that will have parts of the work disappear into the garden while others just blend in with it. And the charcoal trim colour isn't even there yet. (Dulux Malay Grey, Whisper White and Linseed, for anyone interested.)

Best of all, though, Rob the Builder will also perform a little Christmas magic, by completing all the work before disappearing on the 23rd just like a jolly toy-making elf.

And Santa will have a much better roof on which to park his sleigh on Christmas Eve.

Seedy business

These are surely the prettiest seed packets around. Heirloom seeds, $4.50 each, from Melbourne-based The Little Veggie Patch Co, whose book I've also been coveting for a while too.

The seeds are all heirloom varieties and a quick click on the packets shown on the website tells you all you need to know about the variety and when and how to plant.

Looks good enough to eat. And that's just the packaging.

Images via The Little Veggie Patch Co.

The shoe fits

These are my 'dress thongs'. Country Road prefer to call them their Cadi sandals.

As they're plastic, I thought they might be slippery so didn't buy them the first time I saw them. Next time they came my way I handed over the $39.95 as thought, at that price, it was worth the risk. And it was.

Have worn them twice - my version of a road test - without even a hint of loss of traction.

And just the right shade of blue, which will go nicely with the new nailpolish I bought for my toes today, ie, Revlon's Totally Toffee in a formaldehyde-and-toulene-free formulation.

Should the rain ever stop (it's been a week now) I might get the shoes and nailpolish together. Until then, gumboots it is.

Have a lovely weekend. x

Wax works

Some friends and I got together the other evening to make soy candles in between eating dinner and glasses of wine. All supplies were ordered from here, apart from containers as we brought along our own.

I plucked two tealight jars I'd made that have been hanging on my deck for ages, along with an old Country Road ceramic pot and bits of glass. Others had teacups, great finds from the $2 shop, tins and other pieces of glass.

Now that we know how to do it smoothly, we're going to do it again. Much cheaper than buying candles, particularly if sharing the cost among a group. My lot here set me back $16, which includes wax, fragrance, wicks and delivery of supplies.

Sparkling good value.

Board games

I picked up a much-needed new small chopping board for the kitchen. It's not only lovely because of its looks but its also sustainably harvested Australian hardwood (camphor laurel) made by a small Australian company based in Queensland. It also smells wonderful and, I'm told, has life-long natural anti-bacterial properties.

The only downside was the company's name, Fab Slabs, was branded (in the old-fashioned burned-on sense) onto the board in a not-particularly attractive typeface. It looked to me like a regretted tattoo after a wild night out so I decided to do tame the beast and perform a spot of abrasive surgery and sandpapered it off.

I'm sure it would have thanked me if it could.

Fresh start

At the orthodontist the other day with The Child I pulled out my diary to make the next round of appointments. (I'm old-school when it comes to diaries, I like one I can write in and shove papers into.) Turns out the second appointment needed to be mid-January, so I needed a new diary pronto.

Had been using Frankie magazine's cloth-covered diary this year but didn't fancy the baby-poo brown cover of the 2012 version. Luckily, the orthodonist is just a hop, skip and jump away from Berkelouw Books in Leichhardt so we sauntered over to check out all the lovely offerings we knew they'd have. We both loved this one because of the beautiful colour combinations.

Also liked the idea of a seasonal fruit-and-veg guide literally at my fingertips.

I've covered my own with vintage fabrics in the past, but the internal blandless leaves me a bit cold. Unlike this one.

Another bonus is that the week-to-an-opening view (the only one I use) gives equal space to Saturdays and Sundays as the rest of the week. Highly unusual, I've found. Frankie was a surprise offender here, too, as it left little space for its readers to pencil in all the indie-market openings they're no doubt keen to get to.

Life doesn't stop on Friday afternoon, does it? Or do diary designers really think the people who buy these type of diaries are using them to jot down all their high-level corporate meetings or neuro-surgery schedule?

The Foodies' Diary, $29.95.

Pillow talk

It's time for the changing of the seasonal guard, so to speak. The duvets have been washed and/or drycleaned and aired and replaced with cotton quilts and blankets perfect for spring nights. What I'm also hoping is perfect for spring nights is this pale warm-grey pure-linen bed linen I bought at the weekend from Miss Molly, who had a one-off stall at Rozelle Markets to see how the product would be received. By early afternoon Saturday, I'd been the only buyer so they won't be coming back but they are online, if you're interested.

The lack of sales didn't have anything to do with the product, I don't think, but Rozelle Markets is all about vintage so the environment wasn't quite right.

I've washed the sheets and pillowcases and like the softly crumpled look that comes naturally with line drying and will try it on the bed this weekend. I'm assured the fibres will soften with age, as linen inherently does.

Any bedding that needs drycleaning but is small enough to fit in the dryer, such as feather pillows, I'll clean with this product and leave in the sun for an extra dose of natural bleach. For our large dry-clean only wool duvet I use a local drycleaner that offers a 'Green Earth' drycleaning method that is vastly preferable to the conventional process which uses the rather hideous chemical and suspected carcinogen known as 'perc'. No thanks.

Lastly, the bedside rug has been removed, cleaned and stored.

We're ready for summer.