Enoki Cumulus

I first spotted these lights when we ate at Gordon Street Garage here in Perth.  I loved the contrast of the industrial warehouse style fit out with these soft whimsical lights.  Designed by South Australian company Enoki, these Enoki Cumulus pendant lights are my new light crush.

They look great hung in a cluster or just on their own. Although they do come in different colour ways I love the simple white.  I would love to hang one in the corner of our spare room.

You can order online and they deliver flat packed which is great!

For a full list of Enoki Cumulus stockist click here

M x

Images:  here, here and here

Home Office

Lately I have noticed I am spending more and more time doing blog work or personal admin after work or on weekends.  My current home office set up consists of me sitting on the couch with my laptop or propped up on the dining table when we are not using it.  Neither option is ideal and after hours of typing on the couch my neck would agree!  So it is time to think about setting up a home office... any thing similar to these would do be nicely.

What do you look for in a home office?

M xx

Images:  here, here, here, here

USA Shopping List - Part 1

We are heading to the States next month and I have been busy planning our trip around furniture stores, vintage markets and galleries.  I am sure I will be tempted by the clothing sales whilst we are there but personally, I would really like to come back with some special bits and pieces for our house rather than clothes.  

I recently saw these beauties and they have gone straight to the top of my list.  Designed by UK designer Lee Broom these hand crafted crystal bulbs won the ELLE Decoration British Designer Award in 2012.

I would love one of these hanging on either side of our bed as our bedside lamps.

M xx

All images from here. 

House Envy

A few weekends ago I flicked on the television during the day and saw that a repeat of Blue Lagoon was on.  I don't think Brooke Shields could possibly be any more beautiful than she was in that movie.  Stunning!  Perhaps I am a prude after so long living in Dubai but I was fairly shocked by all the nudity.. I didn't remember that from when I was a kid! I suppose it was shocking to me as both main characters  seemed so young...  My interest piqued, I googled Brooke to see how old she was when she filmed Blue Lagoon (she was 14 in case you are interested!*) and I stumbled came across this article in Architectural Digest on her Manhattan Townhouse.  OH.MY.GOODNESS. A collaboration between architects MADE and designer David Flint Hicks the house is absolutely stunning.  The clincher for me from the article was this line...  

"One of the team’s first excursions was to the hangar-size warehouse in New Jersey where Shields had stowed the treasure—and detritus—from her own many moves and from her mother’s decades as an obsessive comber of flea markets."

Wouldn't I have loved to have been part of that team that explored that warehouse!!

Read the full article here 

M xx

* apparently Brooke later testified before a US Congressional inquiry that older body doubles were used in some of the nude scenes. 

DIY Inspiration

My love of bed heads is no secret and predictably ones that I could make myself are my favourites.   I love how they can instantly change the mood of the room and it is something you could easily replace, change or alter when you feel like updating your room.   

Who would have thought that dated vertical blinds could be used to make a great new bedhead!  

Read all about it here

M xx

DIY Candle Holder

We were wandering around Bunnings a few weeks ago (everyone does this on the weekend right?) and saw these wooden blocks on the shelves.  I thought they'd be perfect for an easy DIY project.

After umming and ahhing over what to make we decided to make a DIY candle holder.  The original plan was to create two candle holders, each made of two blocks.  After spraying them I decided they look better as a stack of four so I have only one for now.  A good excuse to go and buy four more so we have a pair! 

For colour I decided on black and used Dulux Spraypax in Gloss Black.  I hadn't used a gloss spray paint before and found it does have its challenges...  after spraying the blocks outside it felt like every time I came back to check on them I'd find bits of dust/sand/miscellaneous items stuck to the blocks!!  The downside of living with a sea breeze I suppose!! 

M xx

Updating Ikea Furniture

When I first moved to Dubai in 2008 the plan was to stay for a year before moving to Australia.  So when choosing furniture for my apartment the plan was to stick to affordable basics for my 'temporary' home that I could sell a year later.  Well that one year turned into four years and then we were relocated to Perth and sure enough we still have our 'temporary' ikea couch!

We've actually grown quite fond of our couch over time and as it is also a sofa bed and a storage unit it has been really handy over the years.  Like any soft furnishing it is starting to show its age and has some marks accumulated on it from our beach days in Dubai.  We do keep an eye out for new couches but I am saving that purchase until we buy a house here.   To tide me over until then I have recently discovered a company called Bemz... a Swedish company that has created covers for a whole selection of ikea furniture in really great fabrics and colour choices!

Our sofa is the Manstad model and the below are my short list of my favourite covers:

Can anyone guess I like stripes??

M xx

All images from here

DIY Inspiration

The new May issue of Real Living is a great one! It's full of bright and colourful decorating ideas and things to add to my house wish list.  But there was something on page 53 that particularly caught my eye...

I just love those beaded chandeliers and feel inspired... I think maybe I have just found my new DIY project!

Do you think I am being a bit ambitious?

M xx

Images: mine, here, here and here

DIY Drinks Trolley

I like the idea of a drinks trolley.  To me it evokes something glamorous and decadent,  straight from the vaults of old school Hollywood.  I am sure any drink I would make from there would taste that much better because it came from the drinks trolley. Whether you fill the shelves with bottles or just use a select few along with some vintage decanter bottles there are so many styling options.   

 

So I was pretty excited when on a recent trip to here I found this run down trolley... as soon as I saw it I thought drinks trolley...  a neon drinks trolley!

The best part of my DIY drinks trolley is that it was super easy to do!

Materials I used:
1. fine sandpaper
2. White Knight spray paint in fuchsia

All we needed to do was give the trolley a good clean and a quick sand with some fine sand paper.  We then sprayed the trolley with two layers of fuchsia spray paint and let it dry.  It took less than two hours and all up cost me less than $15.

Anyone keen for a drink?

M xx

Images: here, here

Talented E!

Back in January I wrote about how much I loved the two images below and wondered whether I could come up with something similar using some photos I have taken in my own travels.  

                   Luckily for me I have a hugely talented mother who offered to edit some of my images for me.  Unsure about what the images would look like once edited I sent the below three photos through.  The first two photos were taken in 2012 during a visit to a local Masai village in Kenya.  The third image was take alongside the Nile River in Egypt in 2011. 

  

All three images looked great edited but the third image was my favourite.  I love his relaxed body language and the cool demeanor he projects.  I can picture him just chilling along on the dock each time I look at it.

We just got the final framed product back today and I love it.  The original pictures that inspired me sell for about $1200 each.. this one came in at just under $100!

What do you think?

M xx

Faux Taxidermy

I am not an animal person and have never really been one.  Strangely though, I have a love of dead ones.  Yes, I love taxidermy.  Whilst I am happy to admire pieces in other people's homes I am still undecided whether I could actually have some in my own home... yet!

So how can I get around this?  Faux taxidermy! 

There are some great and affordable faux taxidermy options around.  Here are a few of my favourite ones:

 

 

Could you have a real piece of taxidermy in your home?

M xx

Taxidermy Fact For The Day (TFFTD):
Anthropomorphic taxidermy is where stuffed animals are dressed as people or displayed as if engaged in human activities.  Just in case you were wondering...
 
Images:  here, here, here; here, and here
TFFTD: Wikipedia

Personalised Art

I have been searching for a wedding present for two of our friends and came across these great personalised art pieces from Alexander & Co.  Designed to be a collaboration between yourself and artist Alexander Doll, you choose from a selection of template pieces and then have the option to change a variety of details such as text, location and even hair colour!  Most of the range on the website is American locations which is not surprising given Alexander's Chicago base but Alexander & Co also do custom pieces too so you could choose an Australian location. You can browse the entire range here.

M xx