Fresh decorno.

Again, I know it’s been a long time between drinks. But I’m the closest I have been to signing off on my kitchen. Which for me is big news, HUGE. The cabinetmakers are locked in, and we’re just deciding on the final height of drawers and that kind of thing. It’s very exciting, but nerve racking too because these are things that you can’t easily change and any mistakes I’ll just have to live with.

So seeing as there is still no kitchen I’m still not living back in my place. On my way home tonight I just got it in my head that there would be something good waiting for me in the letterbox at home. Even though I hadn’t seen any on the racks, I just had a feeling that my new Belle magazine would be waiting for me. I was right ... fresh decorno.
Decorno is decor porn. It’s not my term, but the name of a favourite blog of mine that is now semi-closed.
At this stage I can’t find a cover pic online, but it’s the holiday issue and I hope to find a few treats to add to my Christmas list!
I’ve only a had a quick flick because I’m also watching ‘Rush’ as I write this post and look at the pretty Belle pictures. Of course the cover by-line on David Hicks’ new Melbourne home had me flipping ahead. So far I’ve only looked at the pictures, but there’s more than one Platner and Saarinen table in there.

Banana cake bliss.

Hey there, I know that it’s more than a little while in between posts. I wish I could say it was because I off having a fantastic holiday somewhere, but unfortunately it was just that life got in the way.

I want to share this delightful banana monkey cake with you that I came across on smitten kitten via goop.

I’m by no means a domestic goddess, but I obviously think that presentation is just as important as the core of the thing when you’re trying to show someone that you care. This a perfect example. I also think that a store bought cheesecake can be made more special by sprinkling broken up chocolate Flake on top (especially the Snow Flake white chocolate variety) – it shows that just because you were time poor, it doesn’t mean that you don’t care.

For example, a colleague of fine has been unwell, so I sent some décor magazines over to her, but I made sure that I put them in a cute linen wrapped box. I wrapped ribbon in a great matching colour around the box a few times and finished with a perfect bow. The box was just from IKEA, but it’s a nice sturdy one that she can use to keep details of her upcoming renovation in. Just that little bit extra is what showed that I was really think of her and wishing her well, not that I just bought her some mags while I was picking up my own newspaper.

That’s what this cake is to me. Sure if I were to bake it I’d just do my regular banana cake recipe, but by taking it just that little step further like smitten kitten has shown me, it would really make someone’s day.

Good deal.

If you’re considering a purchase from Witchery may I suggest that you pick up a copy of the September marie claire magazine beforehand. Their 15th birthday ‘collector’s edition’ has a Witchery ‘boarding pass’ inserted that on redemption will save you between $20 to $1000 on a purchase of $40 or more.

Personally I don’t need a reason to buy a mag, but if you do feel the need to justify it, this magazine will actually save you money. The Witchery offer is valid until September 30.

I haven’t spent much time on this issue yet myself, but I can say that I generally do not feel dumber after reading marie claire, which is something I have felt after other guilty pleasures.

A good day.

A good day is when I go to my letterbox and there’s a shelter magazine in there and no bills. On the weekend I had just such a day – yay! The Oct/Nov issue of Belle was waiting for me and the cover looked great, and it’s the Australian Issue.

I’ve only had the one flick through so far and it looks pretty good, it feels like there’s some good stuff in there to spend more time on ... but one article that really stood out to me was ‘Smoke & Mirrors’. It was covering an apartment in Elizabeth Bay, Sydney, that I had seen back in March on realestate.com(.au). I was looking for inspiration for my own place at the time so was looking at listings of other one bedders in trendy inner city locations hoping to find some solutions that may work for me. I loved this apartment so much that I saved all the images into a slide show (sad I know!). So imagine my surprise to them find the exact same photos in a leading shelter mag!

You know I was starting to think, “what do I have to offer to anybody who stumbles across this blog?” I’m not the most knowledgeable design expert or the most entertaining writer – but I know what I like and am a visual person. I think that this post sums up my profile blurb perfectly. I’m delivering what I intended to.

The key to this apartment is a mirror box in the middle that houses the kitchen, wardrobe, storage and laundry. This is what divides the space, with only the bathroom treated as a closed space. The decorating is fantastic, don’t get me wrong, but what really made an impression on me was the total solution that the mirror box provided for the space. It was such a glamorous choice because let’s face it, so much of our homes are devoted to what we need to get done and sometimes that can overtake the asthetic, but not here. That’s what I love.

 

 

All the images to this point are ones that appeared in Belle, these are other images from realestate.com(.au) that didn’t appear in the mag. There was also a few other images in Belle that weren’t used to hawk the place.

The thing that intrigues me is the series of events. According to Belle the owner is an architect who has lived there for six years, but there wasn’t any renovating of the space of done – just decoration and some repairs to the mirrors of the box. So I don’t see the need for professional photography to add to his professional portfolio. So did Belle shoot the home and the owner then used the pics to sell? Or did he call in a photographer friend to capture his home in the best light to sell and then Belle happened upon the pics? Having sold the apartment, they wouldn’t have access to the place decorated as it was. I hope that it’s the latter, that Belle just wanted so much to share this place with its readers and not that their pics were used ahead of publishing for real estate sales.

One of the big drawcards to this apartment is the private courtyard which is huge. I’ve since seen another apartment in this block, which also has a mirror box but the decoration and no outdoor space leaves it lacking in comparison. But it is still for sale, and based on what can be done with the space I recommend checking it out – it’s really not hard to find!



All images by Sharrin Rees and via realestate.com.au

TV ratings.

A show that is actually on TV at the moment is Parenthood. I’ve quite liked the first two episodes, it’s a nice ensemble cast, but I have to admit I like it because of the movie. I like to compare and contrast the TV characters with their movie counterparts. Looking at last night's ratings though it's a little disappointing to see that it's struggling.

Yahoo7

We used to have the movie on video tape when I was younger and I can’t tell you how many times I’ve seen it. There are so many storylines going on and it’s entertaining on a number of levels, I saw it again just recently and I remembered everything but seeing it again different things made more sense to me now.

via media.avclub.com

Universal via blogs.chron.com

I have always watched a shed load of TV and movies, from when I was much younger until now. I don’t actually think it’s a bad thing for a child to spend a lot of time watching TV – the key is what they’re watching. Sure I also watched absolute crap, but some of my shows that I watched for entertainment were actually educational. I remember multiple flashbacks to SeaQuest DSV during senior Biology. But what I remember learning from Parenthood is what an amalgam is.

via zuguide.com

Another good head of hair.

I know that it’s not a recent pic or anything, but I also like the hair styling here on Christina Hendricks. That side swept front section softens the look and I think makes it wearable & versatile for those of us in the boring old real world.

Getty image via ninemsn

It doesn’t hurt that I’m a Mad Men fan, have been ages – not just a recent convert. This show for me harks back to modern greats like West Wing, The Sopranos and Six Feet Under. Lovely hour long shows with incredible production value. Big Love is another that I’m partial to that just sits there quietly going about its business.

Perfectly primped.

Exciting news, I am back online at home - hence two posts in one day (opps it's after midnight so not the same day!). And somehow I managed to find my way onto a new site called Primped that has loads of great hair & beauty images. At first I was just looking for hair inspiration because I’m due for a cut (OK, overdue for a cut) ... but then as I browsed the images I had to put together a post on this.

Because it’s an Australian site there are more Aussie beauties and fashion shows than you’d find on other sites, which I must admit I quite like. Great commentary on the pics, and I quickly realised trhat they play favourites – one of which is January Jones. Being a Mad Men fan I’m OK with that.

Inspiration for my next visit to the hairdresser, both the balayage and cut...

I’m going through a middle part stage, I get a little stick about this from a colleague who thinks that women should avoid the centre part, but based on these pics I think that I’m onto something...

Special occasion hair – the Jennifer Love Hewitt look is the most likely for me...

Just generally hair styling that I like...

 
Then there’s the make-up looks that I thought were worth bookmarking.

I never knew that pink shadow makes green eyes pop, but as K Stew proves it does.

All images via primped.com.au.

Weekend grooming.

I still don't have my home internet connection issues sorted, fingers crossed that I'll tick that box during my lunch break today. The weekend was a quiet one so I thought I'd take the opportunity to road test a nail bar that I hadn't tried before, and I treated myself with the mani-pedi double. They use mostly OPI polish which is a tick from my point of view, but then there was also a little cross because they didn't have my signature shade or my preferred back up. I had to try a new shade from what there was on offer - I went with The Thrill of Brazil. It's a little more orange with the red, it's OK for a change but my signature shade is in no danger of being replaced.

Is it wrong/insulting to take your own polish to a nail place? I was overall happy with the job but I prefer my signature shade for obvious reasons and the fact that I can do my own touch-ups if required. And I've got a chip on one fingernail and it's only day 2.

Elevated IKEA.

I am not an IKEA snob. It definitely has it’s place and life is easier now we have IKEA. But there are times when you don’t always want your home to scream IKEA, which is where personalising IKEA purchases makes such a difference. A great example of this is over at Aubrey & Lindsays (which I found via A Life More Fabulous). They have done a great job customising a chest of drawers into a piece that really looks smick. They've listed full instructions and I highly recommend visiting their blog, I think this great work deserves extra traffic. Definitely something that I may pull out at a later date.

Magazine habit.

I know that my magazine habit may be considered by some (OK many) to be a problem. I once calculated the cover price value of my collection and I suddenly realised why I couldn’t afford the beautiful things that the magazines showed. I also face storage problems for my collection, but I treat magazines like books – other people don’t throw away their books do they?! So why would I chuck out my beautiful, glossy magazines. My subscriptions change quite a bit, I can’t resist a special offer I admit. Many titles have come and gone and come back into my subscription list, but at the moment the usual suspects are: - Belle - Vogue Living - Inside Out - Real Living - Marie Claire I don’t actually think that is very many subscriptions to have. I mean sure, I also buy other magazines ad hoc because I am so easily seduced by the cover credits – but that’s normal. And I’d like to point out that many titles I subscribe to only publish bi-monthly. I don’t generally keep weekly gossip mags, if it’s held together by staples then it’s not for me to collect – I need to draw the line somewhere. Although I must say that Grazia is the leader of the weekly mags because it doesn’t feel like I’m getting stupider just be reading it. Yes NW is fun but it’s like fast food, you enjoy it at the time and then it makes you regret it.

Anyway I opened and read the latest Inside Out (Sept/Oct) magazine on the weekend and I wasn’t blown away. It seems that Vogue Living has been getting that honour lately. While I enjoyed reading IO there wasn’t a real WOW story for me that I kept my finger in while I kept reading so that I could go back to it and pour myself over the images for a little longer. The cover image looks a little icy and I’m afraid that was my reception to the issue as well.

Sorry.

I'm lacking an internet connection at home at the moment, hence flurry of posts and then nothing. Work is really tight at the moment so I haven't even had a chance to put together a post here. I must investigate a new ISP...

Grooming.

Off to get a manicure, in my signature shade of course - OPI Got the Blues for Red.

Manicures & pedicures are one of the best treats to give yourself, I like to indulge monthly. Of course it's way too cold for a pedicure and to keep the toes uncovered for the polish to dry, so I'm skipping it tonight. (Image from Amazon)

Nailed it.

Mr Schuman got it so right.

"What a great way to look this summer: so simple and yet so refined.

I love that her shorts aren't too short and that her top isn't too tight. Nothing screams in this look and yet the presentation is very strong.

This is a great example of elegance successfully achieved through understatement and flawless execution."

(Source: The Sartorialist)

My place (in my dreams).

So just for something different, one of the reasons that I started this blog is because I’m renovating my home. I know, no one’s ever done that before! Anyway... I moved out of my place for the new bathroom construction ... into my parents place. They were away, but then they came home. After a few weeks together, tonight I have my solitude again ... taking over my late grandfather’s house. It’s kinda weird to be here, but nice in a way too.

Seeing as I’m in the middle of renovating I have a pile of inspiration pics from printed magazines, other blogs, online designer portfolios, and of course online mags – with the ubiquitous Lonny shots. Like I’ve said, I suffer from having too many options and the constant fear of going with something that is going to look tragic in a month’s time or worse ... right from the start! Ugh! The pressure.

So in a bid to minimise regret, and to be realistic about the bones of my home, I’ve decided that I need to go with a simple, classic, layered look. So I’m taking my inspiration from Laura Day's home as shown in the Lonny April/May 2010 issue cover story. I like that it's elegant, and that it's a little fun as well. Who wants to live in a museum? Not me, but I also need to start accumulating beautiful pieces to build upon. This inspiration could set me on the right path.

Things I love about this room:

• The fucking insane sideboard – two of my faves (not overdone metallic, black zig zag)
• The neutral layered colour
• The metallic cocktail tables – the organic shapes, the colour, the low shine, the treatment of a functional piece of furniture as sculpture, the fact that they’re “cocktail tables” and not boring “coffee tables”
• The multiple light sources – mostly the chandelier, not too olde world but still glass/crystal, not to modern and cold
• The James Nares artwork – always liked his work, and here they are perfect injections of colour
• The non-white walls that are just a perfect shade

The whole home is lovely, and I want one of those Kartell stools too - but of course I can't decide which colour.

I want to live here. Simple as that.

(All images via Lonny.)