Monday, June 28, 2010

Monday shop post: Melbourne Style

Melbourne Style is the place to pick up a great gift with a Melbourne (or Australian) flavour.  It's in Clarendon Street, South Melbourne, just around the corner from one of my favourite haunts, The South Melbourne Market. As any good Melburnian would know, the market is the home of the beloved 'South Melbourne Market Dim Sim' (my husband regularly gets his fix there).  Anyway, back to Melbourne Style...they've recently released a series of 12 Melbourne silk scarves - my favourites are:

Melbourne buildings, featuring "colourful sketches of Melbourne's Town Hall, Magistrates Court, GPO, Flinders Street Station, St Pauls Cathedral, Manchester Unity, Le Louvre, Baptist Church, Shrine of Remembrance, Immigration Museum and State Library" - all iconic Melbourne buildings:

Melbourne Tree, featuring "a tree design containing a variety of local Australian birds, and embellished with a mad mix of local floral blossoms from banksia to wisteria.The names and addresses of a dozen of Melbourne's legendary parks and gardens are rendered in fine script between the branches":


Roo Map, featuring a "kangaroo motif rendered in a collage of 19th & 20th century Melbourne street and botanical maps and underlaid with script text recounting data on the life cycle, habitat, export, and use and abuse of kangaroos":


And the scarves come packaged in these bright boxes (tho' must admit that lime green is not a colour that I particularly like):
All in all, a much nicer souvenir than a cheesy snow dome or tea towel.

My other (non-Melbourne related) favourites at Melbourne Style include...this fabulous bamboo rocker:

and these steel rabbit sculptures by Melbourne artist Peter McKlisky (which come in various sizes):

[Images from Melbourne Style]

Friday, June 25, 2010

Friday far away: Dry Paddocks


My occasional 'Friday far away' series is a way for me to keep track of some of the very beautiful places/accommodation that I come across in my web surfing travels - they're places I think 'yes, I'd like to stay there one day if I'm ever in that neck of the woods'.  Well, reading this month's Australian Country Style magazine I came across another place I'd like to stay the next time I visit New Zealand, i.e. the boutique accommodation Dry Paddocks that's situated in the winery area of Waipara Valley - in the North Canterbury region of the South Island (approx. 45 minutes from the city of Christchurch).

The corrugated iron exterior with the snow capped mountains in the background:





The lovely neutral interior looks very inviting and relaxing. A great base from which to explore the wineries:












[All images from: Dry Paddocks]

Thursday, June 24, 2010

Blue and green

Loving this vivid blue that epitomises Sri Lanka...



(Galle Fort, Sri Lanka)

Drinking this amazing jungle green tea by Larsen & Thompson...


And then reusing the lovely green vessel as a vase...


Also coveting these green books wrapped in green string and finished off beautifully with a green tag...


[Images: 1 & 2 - Sri Lanka in Style; 3 - Larsen & Thompson; 4 - Me; 5 - Moss Industry]

Wednesday, June 23, 2010

Peacocks and owls

This post is especially for my lovely big sister Jacky. She adores anything to do with textiles and birds and she makes the most beautiful little fabric owls (I'll pop in a pic of one at the end of the post to show you just how gorgeous they are).  Anyway, I'm getting off the point...the point is, how amazing are these birds created UK artist Abigail Brown?!?  The peacock is very, very proud...



(a close-up of the peacock's 'feathers')

And the owls are very, very wise...



(again, a close-up to just see the magnificent detail in these creatures)

These beautiful fabric creatures are available to purchase from Abigail Brown's site.

And last but not least, here are some of the gorgeous little owls created  by my sister:


[Images: 1-4 - Abigail Brown; 5 - Art 4 Moi]

Monday, June 21, 2010

Monday shop post: Tarlo and Graham

Each time I visit Tarlo and Graham in Chapel Street, Windsor, it's like taking a step back in time:

Rolling pins that would look right at home in Mrs Beeton's kitchen...

Be instantly transported back to the 1920s - can't you imagine some pretty young slip of a thing reclining on one of these cane lounge chairs on the lawn of a stately home, sipping a gin and tonic or two...


Sometimes it feels like you're visiting your kooky old great aunt who has a thing for birds and taxidermy...

Masses of wooden spools rescued from a factory from a bygone era perhaps? Or collected from various places over time? I wonder.

Other days it's like raiding your eccentric uncle's marvellous back room...








Tarlo and Graham is all that and more. You never know what you're going to find once you step inside the door - and that's the joy of it!

Check out Tarlo & Graham's site for more delightful eccentricities.  And they've just started up a pretty snazzy blog too.

[All images from Tarlo & Graham]

Friday, June 18, 2010

Friday far away: Clove Hall, Penang

Back again after a rather busy few days - I haven't even had a chance to check my emails since Tuesday!!  So of course, with things so hectic I am dreaming of a holiday to some far flung place (preferably warm & sunny) and I have started to do some 'research' (read web surfing) to narrow down the choices for a holiday later in the year.
In the course of my internet travels I happened upon Clove Hall in Penang - a beautiful heritage listed privately owned boutique hotel. This gorgeous colonial gem is owned by Christopher Ong, who also owns/operates the marvellous Galle Fort Hotel in Sri Lanka.  If I ever venture to Penang, this will be on my 'must stay' list. Here's why...

The Cinnamon Suite (my fave):





The Cardamon Suite:

The Saffron Suite:

The Star Anise Suite:

The public areas:





The exterior - verandah and pool area:



Hope you have a lovely weekend. I'll be finishing a piece of 'art' I'm creating to hang over my fireplace and helping my husband renovate our son's bedroom - that means helping him put up cornice & paint the walls (I will share the results with you once the room is complete).

[All images from Clove Hall]

Tuesday, June 15, 2010

Not so plain Plain English

Plain English "makes beautiful bespoke kitchens in London, Suffolk and Gloucestershire" (according to their site). I truly wish the site said they make beautiful bespoke kitchens in Melbourne, Australia. Here's just two examples why.

A London villa kitchen...







And a Chelsea studio kitchen...









For more examples of the gorgeous shaker style bespoke kitchens crafted by Plain English take a look at their site (much larger/clearer images).

[All images from Plain English]
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