52 suburbs

my good friend jacq recently told me about this fantastic new blog 52 suburbs by sydneysider louise hawson. i've only just got around to adding it to my favourites list on the right & couldn't resist posting about it at the same time. it's a simple enough idea.. visit one suburb per week, but louise's photos, eye for detail & great titles / commentary make for one awesome blog.

louise says she plans on expanding her horizons, one suburb at a time..

My plan? To nose around one new suburb every week for a year, in search of the beauty in the 'burb. (Beauty in this case meaning old, original, retro, rusty, repurposed, nostalgic etc)

it reminds me a little of another favourite san fran girl by bay & i guess sydney and san francisco are quite similar, but louise definitely has her own signature style.


update: inside out blog has just featured the 52 suburbs blog too.. you can see it here

zig-zag temptation.. yes, another one.

what can i say? grand final day came. the saints lost. our hopes were dashed. sad face.

now, i never get sick. not a sniffle. sure, i was in hospital recently, but that was for jaw surgery, so when i came down with a cough that made me sound like a demon on the weekend i assumed it was somehow linked to the saints loss. anyway, i've been lying around feeling sorry for myself.. in bed.. on the sofa.. where ever. it was on the sofa, staring blankly at the floorboards, that i started thinking again about what kind of rug i would like to anchor the sofa / tv space. it needs to be big. big enough for the sofa to completely sit on.. none of this half on, half off business. a good 2400 x 3000 size. (that's 8'x10' for you vivi).  the only rug i've seen that i've actually liked is the madeline weinrib zig zag rug that i first saw on the making it lovely blog in pink. (first pic below).

so as much as i love it in pink in nicole's living room, pink wouldn't work for me. as boring as it first sounds, light grey is what i'd choose. rather than the colour, i'd let the zig zag pattern be the feature. that way i can add (or take away) any accent colour without having to replace the big ticket items like the sofa or rug. the bottom larger zig zag pattern is from jonathan adler, which i think i like even more. yet another thing to add to the wish list. eventually.

oh how i want to be in stkilda

when the saints come marching in.. go saints! mirka & i will be dressed up in our team's colours.. the mighty red, white & black and watching the game on tv. i'll be keeping an eye out to spot the husband's happy face in the crowd. he left at 6:30am this morning to line up in the queue to secure a seat.  i actually did this sketch on the mini chalkboard when the saints were playing the tigers, but one cat is as good as another.. crushed.

circus

..and some more yellow. the photograph of the circus here today poster was taken in n'arlins. we didn't spot the circus anywhere, but it did make for an interesting photo. the bottom left photo is of the entry to the helen gory gallery in prahran. i took the husband along to an exhibition opening a while ago. we didn't buy any art. it was so crowded, we could hardly see any of the artworks, but with free drinks and good people watching opportunities, you've gotta love an opening night.

hello yellow

i don't really have any yellow in my home, but i do love it.. such a confident & happy colour.. no wonder the world of interiors has been obsessed with it for the past few years. the talented kingsley sent me a photo of one of her recent before & after projects.. the lamp that is, not the vespa.. that would be quite the before & after project!  once upon a time it was a boring old silver antifoni lamp from ikea, but just look at him now.. mr antifoni is quite the handsome fellow, no?

i took the photo of the vespa while on holidays in perth a year or so ago. i always thought that if i had a vespa, i would want one in canary yellow, but had never seen one. so you can imagine my smile when i saw this one quietly waiting for it's owner to return.

update: i forgot to mention that the lovely black & white cushion you can see next to the lamp is made from the fabulous florence broadhurst japanese floral fabric available from signature prints in sydney. yet another project made by kingsley, quite a few years ago now, but it still looks sensational yes?

wild things

one of the biggest adjustments i've had to make in this past year is not being able to go to the movies at the drop of a hat. we used to live a 2 minute brisk walk / dash to the george cinema in st.kilda & always had a book of 10 movie vouchers ready to go. door to door, that is, bum in seat, including a quick choc-top purchase, took at the most 5 minutes. now, going to the movies requires some serious planning. we tried taking mirka along to a mums & bubs session one evening, but we were the only ones there with a baby and it didn't feel like the other patrons knew it was a "& bubs" session. our little gracie girl did fall asleep, but we felt like bad, bad parents having our baby out in her sleeping bag on a cold winter's night. anyway, where am i going with this? ..when we had a lovely house guest recently, we took the opportunity to run away to the movies. man, i even love the previews! i was totally taken away with the where the wild things are trailer. looks magic. anyways, if i can't get to the movies, i've found the next best thing. urban outfitters have some awesome where the wild things are stuff. of course, i'll have to order it through my official u.s. mail forwarder, vivi in new orleans, but if that's what a girl's gotta do, then that's what a girl's gotta do.

otto has arrived

after more than a year waiting, our very own otto, number 385 premier edition, has arrived. well, like i said before, i'm not much of a coffee drinker, but the husband was so excited about otto's arrival that i felt obliged to drink some of the many he kept making. he made a special trip to st.ali in south melbourne for some good beans, but only used those once he practiced with some sacrificial beans from the supermarket. this time around he ordered kenyan coffee. lucky he didn't send me because i would have found it hard not to order the guatemala blend, just because i'd get a kick out of saying guatemala. small things. small minds. you know. amusing.

the talented kingsley

the talented kingsley strikes again! while shopping along brunswick street in fitzroy last week, we spotted a cushion in douglas & hope that we took a liking to, but one of the fabrics wasn't quite perfect. "don't buy that one" said kingsley... "i'll make you one." and make me one she did.. well two in fact and lucky me because i la-la-love them. thanks kingsley!

happy details. mirka's first birthday party.

devil in the detail? the captain is all about the detail. after i fell in love with this image, i knew i would use it as inspiration for our little girl's first birthday party. i could not find the tissue balls anywhere in melbourne or available online anywhere in australia, so i had to order them from the u.s. ..i had them shipped to vivi in new orleans who was then super enough to get them in the quickest mail available to australia. the husband thought i was a bit mad.. not that he said anything, but i could just tell from his lack of saying anything.. but arrive in time they did and after i had assembled them the way i wanted, the clever husband found a way to hang them. they looked totally gorgeous for the party and now i'm in quite a predicament... to take them down seems such a shame & i just know the room will feel so empty if i do... or risk being one of those sad people who leave decorations up well past their time. perhaps i could just leave them up for spring... and then the silly season and christmas is just around the corner.. and of course they would be perfect for new year's eve..

oh yeah.. and i ordered the sweet little cupcake toppers from details details. it's funny how different details come together.. i didn't realise how perfectly they worked with the invite i made with papers from zetta florence until i put these photos together.

a good start

i do love to throw a party and for me, it all starts with the flowers. it's hard to go past pinks for a little girl's first birthday party, but i wanted it to be 'little girl modern' and not too 'wishy-washy pretty', so i went for a selection of pinks, (soft & bright), whites and greens. to my delight, the markets even had a bunch of gumnuts, or 'honky nuts' as kingsley calls them.. apparently it's a western australian thing. just who's calling who honky here?! sitting at my desk even now, four days later, the little jars of flowers everywhere still look & smell gorgeous. i think it's mainly the freesias i can smell. heady.

happy anniversary

big, big weekend. first up, happy belated anniversary for last week husband. this time five years ago we were traveling around italy & having the time of our lives. so much gelato, so little skill in ordering it in italian. five years already. must be for keeps. love.

the grass is greener in st.kilda

walking along fitzroy street this morning, i smiled when i saw this delivery truck.. how much fun is the fake grass cladding / decoration / signage? i like

concrete softness

i saw these over at design mom & thought "yes please"... designed by benjamin hubert for decode london, the desk lamp on the left has also been nominated for the 2009 british design awards. i love that concrete has been used in such a beautiful way & i love, love that desk lamp. it's just a shame that it retails for 450pounds. youch.

12month portrait on the eames rocker

another month. another portrait on the eames rocker. surprisingly, this time mirka didn't seem to mind sharing the spotlight with coco the monkey, like she normally hates sharing it with maxwell the mi5 agent. anyway, here is the birthday girl with her new maracas. i'm afraid it's a big mirka-centric week this week, but i promise to do a design post tomorrow.. or sometime. you know. 

one year old today

one year old today. amazing. i'm sure it's nothing new for all parents to feel like this, especially for number one, but hey it's my blog. mirka grace, you've changed our lives forever, so much for the better. well, except for those times when you wake us up from a deep sleep and i walk into the wall as i try and make my way to you still half asleep.. and always on the night when we've gone to bed later than normal after being lulled into thinking you've locked in your routine & will sleep through til 7am the next day. so yes, we miss those saturday morning sleep-ins, but how could we imagine life without your funny, sweet little ways.. your funny "ha!" laugh, more often than not at yourself while playing peek-a-boo, the way you crinkle your nose and do a big cheesy, toothy smile when you're on the verge of giving us a big belly laugh, but waiting to see if what we're doing is really that funny. your favourite place in the world is on daddy's shoulders. oh yes, you are too good for your bugaboo pram. not that you complain, but why would you pram it, when you can be taken everywhere on daddy's shoulders?

kingsley is back in town & she gave mirka & i some absolutely beautiful flowers. i rarely buy roses for myself when i buy flowers from the market, but these roses are such a beautiful soft pink, i think i'm hooked.

happy daddy day

even though our little mirka muppet is only one year old (tomorrow!) it's the happy husband's second father's day. gracie girl was born on father's day last year, giving mirka & the husband a special father's day bond for life. pretty cute card huh? not without tears.. mirka did not like having her foot painted, so just as well we got it in two takes. love.

otto hero espresso machine

so i'm not actually much of a coffee drinker. i know that's more fool than cool to admit in melbourne, but that's the ugly truth. anyways, i am a lover of good design & the old atomic coffee makers, so i was very excited over a year ago when i discovered an aussie was making a new & improved espresso maker called otto or the little guy. it's based on the iconic atomic and winning industrial design awards in the process. what a perfect gift for the design loving, coffee drinking husband i thought & signed up for the first release. well, let's just say it's been a while in the making and i made the mistake of recently telling the husband one was on its way. ever since, every morning, its "when will otto arrive?" & "how much longer for the little guy?" he even asked mirka if she is going to be jealous once otto arrives and daddy gives him all his attention! the good news is it's finally being released & you can get yourself one at a discount as a 'friend of otto' until tomorrow evening. click here & enter 'friend' in the code thingy. eager.

does etsy get any better than timber toast?!

i must confess that i first saw the timber toast on another blog while down the rabbit hole, but don't ask me where. i clicked. i added to favourites. rest assured husband.. it's not in the post and on it's way. it was already sold by the time i saw it. i know doing an etsy favourites post is a bit lazy, but they do look nice, no?

blue baby dress
timber toast!
scalloped timber mirror
birdie necklace

it's all about the frills i tell ya

good old etsy. always good for a little online window shopping pick me up. i la-la-la love the racer back singlet with frill detail around the neck. i was going to do a quick post on that alone & then i thought to myself "why don't a do a little etsy love collage?" so here it is. i love all of these items. captain approved.

racer back singlet
metal number 7 sign
grey felt black bird cushion
white card file
bad beaver vase
shimmery clutch 
yellow bangles