Proud owners

After six months of searching for just the right property at just the right price, I'm excited to say that my husband and I are now the proud owners of this little country weekender:

It needs a truck load of work to make it habitable, but it will be so good to have a 'project' like this to keep us busy. The first thing that will be going is that ghastly pinky purple trim!  Now comes the hard bit...waiting for 2 months until we take possession of the property. But in the meantime I'll be plotting and planning and I'm looking forward to tracking our progress on my blog.

Tiles: Graphic goodness

My love affair with tiles continues. I spotted these tiles at Aeria a couple of weeks ago and I'm still taken with the colours and graphic designs of the 'WPF opulent tiles' (as they're described on the Aeria site):

[Images from Aeria]

Art: Jude Rae

I am in awe of the beautiful oil paintings of utalitarian objects by Jude Rae. The composition of the objects shown in stark simplicity infuse the objects with an innate elegance:

Jude Rae's work will be exhibited at the Jensen Gallery in Sydney from 8 September - 8 October. I must organise a visit to Sydney - I dearly want to see these amazing works first hand.

[All images from Jensen Gallery]

Unusual divider

Look closely at the room divider behind the armchairs...

It's unobtrusive but it still cleverly defines the space:

Timber and twine - an interesting and textural take on defining a space:

You can click on the images for a closer look, or head over to Sam Crawford Architects site for these and other beautiful architectural projects.

[Images: Sam Crawford Architects]

Divine repetition

I received this beautiful Lila Ruby King card from my friend Dot yesterday - I'm in love with the pattern that's created by the repetition of the bird...

Up on the inspiration board it goes! You can check out more of Lila Ruby King's goodness here.

[Image: Lila Ruby King]

Of tiles and catch ups

I had such a lovely 'catch up' with my girlfriend Alex on Saturday. We met in South Melbourne as we both wanted to check out the tiles at Aeria.  I tell you, there are so many beautiful tiles in that one shop! I fell in love with these encaustic cement tiles (the ones on the left) - we're thinking of using them when we retile our front verandah shortly:

I also loved the plain encaustic cement tiles - such beautiful washed out colours:

The plain tiles look quite nice when an assortment of colours is used together:

Then we popped around the corner to St Ali's for the totally delicious pear and coconut bread paired with the best latte I've had in months. I seriously wish St Ali's was my local cafe. Unfortunately, I have to drive about 8 kms to get there!

Then we had a bit of browse around South Melbourne and fortuitously stumbled across (only because the car happened to be parked across the road) the recently opened Warehouse 8 @ 216 Coventry Street. Lots of vintage, industrial, provincial and depression era furniture here:

Their site has lots of information about the items in store - you can check it out here.

[Images: 1 to 4 - Aeria; 5 - Breakfast Out; 6 - Warehouse 8]

Design: Penny Farthing Design House

Everything for sale on Penny Farthing Design House's site looks so gorgeous it truly makes it hard to decide what you'd like to buy. Beautiful prints/canvases, beautifully styled...

Click on the images for a closer look, or you can check out all of their gorgeous wares on their site.

[All images from Penny Farthing Design House]

Create: Shibori

My sister Jacky is a big fan of shibori and I can definitely see the attraction...so I thought she (and others) might be interested in the gorgeous work of Karen Davis and Pepa Martin of design studio Shibori. The beautiful, subtle blue and white effects of the traditional shibori style are given a contemporary twist by this fab duo.  Their site gives a peek at everything from the shibori process through to projects and collaborations.  They're even producing a book titled 'Shibori in the 21st Century' which is due to be released in October. I'll be keeping an eye out for that one.

Here's some of Shibori's work:

The shibori process applied to leather:

These shibori curtains at the Beresford Hotel, Surry Hills are pretty amazing:

They've even created shibori walls! Obviously the possibilities are endless for this talented pair:

[All images from Shibori]

Art: A thing of beauty

I loved this picture in the latest issue of Inside Out so much that I've torn it out of the magazine and popped it up on the wall in my office for instant inspiration. That bird is simply amazing! It's the 'Bird in Flight III' limited edition print by Beth-Emily from Signed & Numbered.  Mmmm, think I might have to do a bit of online shopping :)

Place: Manly

Gourmet Traveller's recent 'Insider's Guide to Manly' definitely put Manly on my 'must do' list the next time I visit Sydney. Here's why:

Some swanky shopping at Mr and Mrs Smith:

And more goodies at Neck of the Woods:

Coffee seated here at Three Beans:

Dining with a great view at Manly Pavilion:

Do you have any Manly favourites?

[Images: Gourmet Traveller]

Another tiled wall

Behind the crisp red door of L'Atelier de Monsieur Truffe (new cafe & chocolatier) is yet another example of a great tiled wall - I haven't visited this cafe yet (it might be very dangerous for my waist line) but I will sooner rather than later. Maybe I ought to make it my mission to visit every gorgeous tiled wall in every eatery in Melbourne!

L'atelier de Monsieur Truffe @ 351 Lygon Street, East Brunswick.

[All images from my favourite online newspaper Broadsheet Melbourne - a must read for all Melbournians]