Good Things Autumn 2012

Our garden is mostly a winter garden, due to all the camellia trees, and they are just coming into flower now:

It is only when I attempted to paint a camellia that I realised a flower like this was not just pink, but also purple and grey and white and blue and even orange.  If you like camellias I have a board devoted to them on Pinterest. 


I have been on a cleaning and sorting frenzy recently, mostly because nothing has been done in that department for at least a year.  I have now done the linen press, the wine \ storage room, the Cupboard of Doom, the hallway bureau.  Plenty still more to do like garden shed, garage roof storage, chests, etc.   Anyway, I came across some old children's jumpers.  All coincidentally in pink and green, my favourite combination.   Like so:

(via Style Files)

(via Decorpad)

I can't bring myself to sell second hand clothes.  I either keep them because they are tiny or sentimental, re-use them for something, or give to the Salvos. 

I think I will make another patchwork blanket from them, like this one I did for my son:

It is a bit worse for the wear but he does love it.   These blankets take a long time to put together, I think it  is something to do with the stretchiness of the knits.  Maybe I need an overlocker?  Anyway, I expect it will be draping our dining room table for the next 6 months.


Autumn has been very late this year, too much chlorophyll in the leaves or something but finally the maples are beginning to turn orange.

I have been also doing a huge amount of new cooking.  With ingredients I have not used much before, like farro, and freekah, and lentils, and millet flour, and red and black rice, and steel cut oats, and amaranth flour, and coconut oil and cacao nibs and spirulina and activated nuts and bee pollen and more - the list is endless.   I have been completely inspired by these cookbooks:

Brilliant tip - you mix the kale and coconut and roast it for a bit and then add to your carbohydratey item like rice or couscous or farro.   Divine.

MaAny of you will know that Supernatural is by Heidi Swanson, she of 101 Cookbooks blog, and the one above left by Beatrice Peltre of La Tartine Gourmande (see my side bar).   I have a bit of a prejudice against cookbooks by bloggers don't ask me why I know it is irrational, but anyway these are both brilliant and highly recommended.   It all started for me when I stopped eating sugar, which is about 12 months ago.  Because when you stop eating something you have to fill the gap with other food products, like eggs and bacon and also some healthy things.  I think I will do a little post on this at some point.  I sound terribly pious and boring not eating sugar, but really truly, it has been No Problem At All.  And has sorted out some real health issues for me.  And given me very clear skin. 


There was an article in the Age late last week about a deal a fashion distributor has done with some denim designers including Paige and AG Adriano Goldshmied.  From now on, sites like Revolve will not be able to ship these jeans to Australia and we will have to pay double or triple the price from shops here.  These are my two favourite jeans makers.  This story got more than 900 comments, and I can assure you they were not in support of this move.  I don't mind paying a bit more to buy in a shop around the corner, but double? Triple?


Just as well I bought these jeans a few months ago. They are a dark teal colour and I love them, Very comfortable and soft and strangely flattering, which is not something one can often say about 'cigarette' jeans.  These are by Adriano Goldshmied.

I can't do bright pink jeans though.  I just can't.   I remember them last time round, in 1983.

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Down the Path

Down the (newly granulated) windy path, and past the forest of iron bark gums*:

Up through the bend, under the shade of wattle trees: 

Across the railway sleepers and down the little steps:

Lies a green circle of grass, for playing soccer, running under the sprinkler and lying in the sun.

(tanbark will soon be overrun with lots of Australian native grasses)

And on the other side, a dark little shed, just ripe for conversion into a little study.  Or studio.

A place to work, if we have to.  Or write, if I want to.

George Bernard Shaw's writing room.

This is where GBS wrote many works including Pygmalion. So many writers need solitude and separation from the real world.  This writing hut is so clever, because it pivots on a kind of Lazy Susan to make the most of the sunshine and also to change his aspect.  It has a little sloping roof to deal with snow.   He called it 'London' so his staff would be telling the truth to visitors when they were told 'He has gone to London'. 

Virginia Woolf's writing shed (converted from a toolshed) at Monk's House in East Sussex

English firm Scott's of Threapston makes a writing shed based on both Virginia Woolf's and Shaw's.  This is the interior of the Woolf style (from Remodelista).  I love the forest green austerity. 

Something more dramatic (and unrealistic) via Remodelista

This is actually a little home.  via Busyboo.com

Of course I would have to shingle the roof.  Or would I? (via a million boards on Pinterest)

This was made using recycled wood and cost $35.  Via Canadian House and Home

What do you think?  I am guessing the shed needs to be lined, and floored, and electrified (you can tell I am no carpenter).  Has anyone ever done this?   Any tips? 

* We have just had the garden redone at the beach.  It was not a dramatic change, we kept all the trees but did some little paths and a fire pit sitting area, and the grassy bit.   But it makes such a difference. 

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Our Bedroom in the Style of Miu Miu

For all the happy chat of pink and dreamy bedrooms, I have a husband who will not put up with a girly bedroom.  I don't think I mind that much, I rather like our austere blue and white bedroom but it does mean that it can be hard to redecorate.     I decided recently that I am rather taken with the combination of blue or grey and yellow in a bedroom.  

Like this:

Or this:

Or this:

So, I thought I would have a lampshade made up to match the mustard yellow shade which is on his side.  It is not that easy to find a large drum lampshade.  I have literally looked everywhere, and there was hardly a drum shape to be found. And when I did find one it was too small.  I eventually found out by chance that the local Chinese reproduction junk shop (called Chinatique) will custom make lampshades. 

So I provided them with a crisp mustard coloured linen, and two weeks later, my economically priced lampshade was ready.   Richard from Chinatique is my friend now.  And he does business the old fashioned way, and likes to seal the deal with a cup of jasmine tea.

Whilst my shade was being made up I had second thoughts.  And I was still not 100% sold on my blue and yellow idea when I came across this Miu Miu ad in the September US Vogue.   Apart from the wierd-a-rama green and purple eye makeup \ no eyebrows look and completely impractical breast exposing yellow bow dress, don't these colours look amazing together?

Am I so shallow that I need a fashion ad to justify my colour choices?   No, not at all.  But isn't it funny when you have an idea and see it reflected back at you in some other place?   

It means I am either the Zeitgeist Lady or just very unoriginal. 

Anyway, this is the new lampshade:

And here is a poor quality image with the old 1950s shade on the left.   Am still pretty unthrilled with elements of this room mainly the bedside tables.   But that as they say is a work in progress. 

I have never ever decorated with yellow before. I have to admit, it makes me happy.  

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Office Brown to Wishing Chair Whimsy

I tend to launch my shopping raids on Ikea in military style, swooping in with my printed out page of catalogue, storming the ramparts of the yellow paths which force you to walk past every single room display, searching in a focused, targeted way, more often than not dragging unhappy children behind me who only came because they thought I might buy them one of those enormous stuffed toys from the children's section.   If I plan carefully, I can do the whole in and out thing in 45 minutes.
  

My distaste for the whole Ikea experience means that if I have gone there to buy something I Will Not Leave Empty Handed.   When the shelves I wanted for my daughter were only available in pale dirt brown (I think they call it Birch), did I sensibly retreat?  No, I allowed a 7 year old girl who wants dinosaurs to come back to life persuade me that it would look fine in her room.  Well you know, it didn't look fine.  It looked terrible. It looked like someone had accidentally dumped a piece of 1970s office furniture in a pink elves' forest. 

So I decided to refurbish it.  

I chose last weekend to do this task, armed in advance with lots of advice from the man from Paint Spot.  Never mind that I had the worst hangover 'food poisoning' I have had since university. (Never, never, ever, drink aged Riesling. I think that was how the Germans managed to overrun Alsace those two times last century.)   

One thing I know now is that it is not easy to paint a veneer.  It needs to be sanded (which I did, lazily), it needs two coats of undercoat, it then needed a further two coats of our chosen paint.  I thought I could get away with two coats in total. I was wrong. 

And then I wallpapered the outside. I know that that is not the usual way, and that people  usually wallpaper the inside of shelves, but that meant that the pattern wouldn't be seen that much given all the books intended for the shelves.

And are you wondering about the green? I was.  It is called Green Thorns.  It looks almost florescent in a darkened room. I confess my idea was to go with pale pink or cream but I felt my daughter should have some say and this is what she chose.   And she was quite adamant so I went with it. 

And here it is all filled up.  I call the dolls on the top the House of Representatives.   They sit in judgment on what goes on in this bedroom.   If you look carefully can see Julia Gillard and Julie Bishop.  

And here is a shot of a sequined basket I found for her a few months back.  I think I like it more than she does! 

A perfect accompaniment to dreams of the Wishing Chair.   Wouldn't mind one of these myself. 

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Inspiration Boards for Children

I have been looking for a place to keep all of the various odds and ends which seem to scatter themselves around the house and thought I would do an inspiration board for the children.

I wanted to use Homasote, as demonstrated by Ally in her divine board.  Unfortunately Homasote is a proprietary product only made in the US.

If you want to give a manly supply person from Bunnings a good laugh, call them and ask them if they stock Homasote, as I did.     I then looked at soft board and other types of board.  I then gave up and bought two cork boards from Office Works for $20 each.

They were the wrong size (rectangular rather than square), so I had to cut them down.

I felt that our scary saw was worth a photo.  I have used it before  but I have never before noticed the supreme irony of its packaging.  Yes that is right, it has a graphic image of a crocodile on the cover, and yes it is called 'The Irwin'.    I felt that was rather bad taste but at least the animal featured is not a sting ray.

Once I cut the cork board down I stapled my fabrics around the back, making sure to pull them very tight as I went.

This fabric is an Alexander Henry by Kelani. I thought it had a touch of Jonathan Adler about it.

And here they are completed.

I haven't finished pinning bits and pieces to them, but here they are now.

This was really quite an easy project, and the children love them...

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Mirror Mirror on my Verandah

Just a little thank you to all those readers who suggested that I get some mirror pre-cut at a glass shop. I am obviously a bit brain dead so it had never occurred to me that a glass shop would do this. 

In an effort to make my front verandah less stern, I have put in a mirror, a bench and some cushions and a little table painted the colour of a weak cafe latte and some cacti.

This frame is actually a large Christmas wreath left over from December which I found at Perfect Pieces.  

The glass man cut some mirror to fit and stuck it on.

Hopefully the ficus will grow over the side wall of this part and turn it into a lovely sunny reading bower.

This is now just the place to enjoy this wonderful book by Edward Hollis, which contains some nice biting architectural criticism, and the gripping history and people behind buildings from the Parthenon to a casino in Los Vegas.

Which is much more preferable to the Melbourne F1 Grand Prix which I can hear in the distance as I write. 

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