Snakeskin and Rainbow Knits

Several  weeks after I said I would do it, I spent four hours spring cleaning my wardrobe on the weekend.   I do this 4 times a year, partly because I have limited space so I need to remove all woollens and retrieve the summer dresses shoved into unmentionable crooks and crannies.

But the main reason for the clean out is is because a supposedly dried up creek runs under that part of the house (potential purchasers of our house, stop reading now) and my clothes tend to get damp, which annoys me no end. I have to keep moving things around so that things don't get ruined. 

Like everyone else, I could easily do with more closet space.  I could also do with better light in my wardrobe area.    So much so that whenever I clean it out I always find things I forgot I had or which I in fact couldn't see. I am still looking for my favourite black cardigan. ....As I keep saying, if I had more closet space, I would buy fewer clothes, because I would be able to clearly see what I own.  

If there is one type of story I loathe reading, it those ones about celebrity closets.   True, I am a little envious.  But there is something almost obscene, and at the every least, vulgar, about these women sitting in front of their 1000s of pairs of shoes, Louis Vuitton bags in every colour and pairs of jeans for every day of the year.  They may as well have 'I make a ludicrous amount of money' or 'I get given lots of free stuff' tattooed on their forehead.   I have some forgiveness for those who work in fashion, as that is obviously a perk of the job.  But for the likes of Ms Hilton, Carey and Alba, to quote my daughter 'stop it I do not like it'. 

(a wardrobe by NY designer Robert Couturier)

(Kimora Lee Simmons' closet)

(Roomdrobe of Jenna Lyons from J Crew)

Anyway, taking a tip from the ever tasteful Kimora Lee Simmons (see above), I put all the coloured knits I discovered buried in the deep recesses in a nice little pile.  And to prove the point it is evident to me that I tend to just buy the same pinky coloured knits over and over. 

(bright Jane)

(everyday Jane)

And then I found these Bruno Magli snakeskin pumps I bought in London in 2001 when we went to a friend's wedding. Those were carefree happy days.  These are a bit banged up but still look pretty nice I think.  

And then much more excitingly, I found this croc or snake skin bag which belonged to my long dead grandmother, Olive.  It still has a cinema ticket from 1978 in the side pocket. I can imagine her, fully hatted and becardiganned, off to the city to see something appropriate for an older lady, maybe the film of the Agatha Christie book 'Death on the Nile'.  

That reminds me of the time my aunt took me to see the Bo Derek film '10' when it came out in Australia in 1979.  I should mention that I was barely 11 years old.   I could feel her stiffen beside me when the naughty bits came on. She probably should have checked the reviews beforehand.  But in those days it was much harder!   I think she may have even said to me afterwards 'It might be best if we don't mention this film to your mother, okay?'

So anyway, now my spring clothes are out and proud, and waiting, waiting for some spring weather in rainy, cold Melbourne.

(Images: (1) Robert Couturier (2) Elle Decor (3) Instyle.com (4) via Habitually Chic)



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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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Fabric covered thumb tacks....

I have looked and looked and cannot find any decent pins or tacks for my inspiration boards.  It is a real gap in the market.   I was beginning to think maybe it was me, not the global market for ugly thumbtacks, when I found a couple of tutorials on how to cover them in fabric.

This felt a bit Christo-esque and weird, but I think they look pretty good.  

A quick trip to to buy self covering button at Lincraft later, here they are:

I am particularly pleased that I managed to get the babushka face on to one of them, 

The original idea came from here

An Australian adaptation is here.  I think on reflection I really need to make buttons bigger so the tack head fits inside.  Maybe next time.

I do wonder to what ends one would go to cover up ugliness in pretty fabric?  I may have reached my personal limit here. 

And the day after a Federal election in Australia where we probably have a hung Parliament and potentially months of political uncertainty, I think these little pointy tacks, enticing on one side and prickly on the other, are very apt for the times.  

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A Little Workspace in Waiting

I am pretty certain my lifelong love of Rainbow Order for all textas, pencils and pens derives from the set of 72 Derwent pencils I was lucky to receive when I was 9 years old.  This was the creme de la creme of pencil sets, and I can still remember the names of my favourite colours: Kingfisher Blue, Emerald Green and Delft Blue.  Derwent have been making pencils in Cumberland in the UK since 1832 and I love that they are still going strong.   You can see their products here.

(For another thrilling rainbow thing check out Meredy's Rainbow Cake - not sure my baking skills are up to this but still, one can dream.)

At home, our daughter has a little section of the long L shaped desk in our library-study which is hers to use as she wishes.  In an ironic turn of events, I happen to be paranoid about the internet, so our thinking is that when she is older she will have a computer here and use this area for her homework and Facebook (if it still exists although I am kind of hoping it will self-combust in the next 6 years).

When I was greeted by this sight when we returned from holidays I thought first - oh God a burglar has been here.  Then I realised that this was the way it always looked but that I usually avert my eyes.  So, it was time for a major clean up.     

To inspire me, a visit to Kikki K was in order.  This shop, run by Swedish -Australian businesswoman Kristina Karlsson sells beautiful home office supplies.  Yes their magazine holders cost 4 times an Ikea one but they are fabric covered, so they last longer and don't end up with that battered, peeling look which so many Ikea cardboard products can get. 

It is not easy to find children's study areas which have personality.  These are some I like: 

(actually am not so sure about this one - but the curtains are a cute idea)

This is simple and utilitarian.

I love the washing line of photos and the use of the storage cubes on either side of the desk.

This is a bit Martha S but still would be a good place to work for a teenager.

Thank you to Martin the Joiner who recommended we use grey felt pinboard behind the desk in this room.  It has been a lifesaver.  

So one very full garbage bag later, we now have something which approximates an unburgled desk.    The grey letterholder which can hold more than 90 textas, grey pencil holder and magazine holders are all from Kikki K.

My daughter is under strict instructions to keep it neat for at least a little while.   And who knows, by the time she is a hopefully not too surly teenager I might feel less paranoid, and she can have a desk in her room.

 

(Images (3) Country Living (4) Ohdeedoh (5) Cote Maison (6) Femaleways.com)

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All Pared Down

Winter is a great time to pare down.  Forget spring cleaning, who wants to be sorting through old jumpers when the sun is shining?

Winter for me is the time to:

• clean out my wardrobe and donate all old clothes to the Salvos.  I cannot make myself sell my old clothes.   When there are people queuing for stuff at the place I go to in St Kilda, it just seems wrong. 
• throw out old kitchen bits of plastic which the children have grown out of.
• sort though endless bits of paper.
• most importantly, remove bits of furniture which just aren't working.  

I think when you spend time reading magazines and blogs, it is easy to be overwhelmed by the way things look, and to be drawn into a vortex of thinking that you need more Stuff.  More cushions.  More side tables.  More bibs and bobs.  More.  More. More.   Of course that can't be right.   I am certain that most of us need less than we have.  

It is a big trap which I am increasingly wary of.   

As it happens, I feel at my best in rooms like this.  It creates an almost emotional response.   It makes me feel calm.   Not just because of the clean lines but because of the absence of stuff. 

Whereas this room concerns me a lot.    Extreme example I know but there are a lot of overfilled rooms out there.   

This room again, with just a couple of special pieces, has the patina of age and modernity all in one.     

Same story here.  

But this room?  I do realise that Miles Redd is a great designer and all that but really, does any one person actually need five lamps in their bedroom?   There is just so much Stuff in here it makes me feel seriously anxious.  

My daughter and Miles Redd would get on like a house on fire.   She won't throw anything out and hoards and hoards and hoards.   She also loves to cover surfaces with Things.  And she is a lover of Piles of Books too.    All of her stuff was audited and listed by me here.   So it seems we have a little corner of Architectural Digest in our house.  It's called Imogen's bedroom:

(carefully cropped and edited section of bedroom. The whole room is like this but if I showed you any more it would be quite alarming) 

So in honour of paring down, I removed all the bits and pieces from the mantelpiece in the front room, as part of ongoing project to de-clutter it, and came up with this:

(ridiculously small mirror to remind me to save up for ridiculously large mirror to go over mantelpiece)

This is my inside winterscape for the next month - willow and magnolias.   

So this weekend, I will be doing some more packing, storage, culling, cleaning, and folding, just in time for spring, if it ever comes.  

ps thanks for all the lovely comments this week, and also to new readers and visitors. xoxo

(Images (1)(3) Remodelista (2) (4) Architectural Digest (5) Miles Redd) 

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Re Spiced.

We all have those lists in the back of our minds, little things we think 'I must pick that up if I come across it'. 

I have had spice jars on that list for many years.  Literally years.   Small jars may seem like a simple enough thing to find.  But they had to be glass.  And the opening had to be wide enough to fit a tablespoon measure.   And they had to have nice plain lids.  

On the weekend I found my Holy Grail.

These jars, from Scullerymade ($19 for 10). If you live in Melbourne I urge you to visit this amazing copper pot, silicon mould and all things kitchen filled shop.  You will not leave empty handed.

I needed these jars because until yesterday, my spice drawer looked like this:

And now, it looks like this:

I like them so much in their pristine glassy state that I don't even want to label them.  But as a courtesy to the other members of the house it is probably the right thing to do.  And I do find cumin and coriander look quite alike. 

Now my spice drawer resembles a colourful science laboratory filled with mineral sands

I am well aware that the pleasure this clean out gave me is beyond reason and out of all proportion.  I can't explain it.  It just is.    

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Do you need one of these rooms?

My list of rooms which I think I can probably live without:

• Mud room (see above).

• Gift wrapping room

• Second gift wrapping room for gift overflow

• Flower arranging room

• Craft room

• Wine Room (actually we have one of those)

• Box room

• Linen Room

Well that's what I thought. But I have realised today that we did something wrong when we renovated our house pre children.

We did not leave enough room for linen and laundry storage. I mean who does? The laundry is always the one shoved into the corner left over space. And as most architects are men, it is the last thing on their minds (there I said it, sorry but it was true for our architects).

So some days even with only two children, I do feel a little bit like this.

Unsurprisingly Martha Stewart has a lovely linen room and this is what I would like if I had a spare room, which I don't:

If not a dedicated linen room, then a very large laundry with linen space would be wonderful:

Or if not a room maybe just a cupboard (or linen press), which is my current situation:

Or maybe just a little set of shelves:

I must say I need to have a really good reorganise. Tomorrow.

What do you think? How do you store your linens and towels? Where do you fold your laundry? Or is it not worth even thinking about?

(Images: (1) SeattleMag.com (2) State Library of Victoria (3) Marthamoments.blogspot (4) Interiordec.about.com (5) Cookie Mag (6) Simplynaturaldecor.blogspot (7) Apartment Therapy(8) Anhminh.com)

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