Herringbone - Sale

 Regular readers know that I love herringbone. And this lounge suite combines two of my favourite furniture styles - herringbone and vintage cane. The suite is an original pretzel suite and comprises a 2 seater plus two 1 seaters. It has recently been reupholstered in herringbone fabric (imported from the US) and is ready for a new home. Since being re-upholstered it has been in storage so it's in pristine condition.

 It's a one of a kind piece and can be purchased through ebay here. 

The Block - Room Reveal - Week 3

 There were a few surprises this week on The Block which meant that the rooms became more interesting. Dan and Dani delivered a guest bedroom which had lots of drama. Navy blue walls added glamour, a designer knock-off pendant light added sophistication, whilst the artwork and linen looked expensive. And they were. Dan calculates that the bed linen cost around $3,000. Is this money well spent? We'll have to see as the show progresses.  

 Dan and Dani have won the lions share of the prize money, about $18k so far, so they've got more to spend than everyone else. Personally, I loved the bold choice of paint and thought their room was the best by far (even though they won by default using their bonus point). 

 Brad and Lara are still developing on the design front. But I'll give them a bouquet for their fresh looking bedroom. A brick bat for the powder room though, where functionality trumped design. The hand basin on top of the toilet seemed odd to me.

 Dale and Sophie showed so much promise with their dining room in the first week but I've been disappointed ever since. Their Guest Bedroom didn't work (photo above). The twigs on top of the bed head looked like they'd been left there by Big Bird. The school desk was too small to be useful. The curtains were an unusual length. Would anyone actually use that skinny built in bench? Overall, a room that didn't function well.

 But I liked their powder room the best. Their choice of basin was both stylish and practical (photo above). 

 The brothers, Andrew and Mike, won on points this week for their kids bedroom (photo above). This room would no doubt appeal to young brothers. From my point of view, the linen was too matchy-matchy. Less striped pillows and a print may have worked better. 

I really liked the height ruler on the wall. It was designed by Mike and Andrew and created by sign-a-rama. Do you think this series is as good as the last one?

Desperately Seeking Sofa

 I'm desperately seeking the perfect sofa. The problem is I want something that's modern with a traditional feel. It also has to look good and be able to withstand the vagaries of small children. As you can imagine I've been looking for a long time. Let me know if you've found the perfect sofa.

(Photo 1 and 2 via fy2k.com.au; photo 3 via ozdesignfurniture.com.au)

Girl Time

Recently, I had a weekend away with four girlfriends at Kyneton near Bendigo in Victoria. There were a few ground rules: no kids, no husbands and no cooking. The plan was that we would try the renowned restaurants in Kyneton as well as visit the Grace Kelly frock fest in Bendigo. What can I say? It was a fabulous weekend. We did a lot of eating including at the bistro of  Annie Smithers (who is a protege of the great Stephanie Alexander), the turkish cuisine at Mr Carsisi and the Indian at Dhaba at the Mill.

You won't be surprised to know that my girlfriends are shoppers who could compete at the Olympic level, so we spent a lovely morning wandering around the Kyneton shops. It was lovely to find things you can't find anywhere else. 

We also admired, a gorgeous florist called Prunella (photos above), where we found this table with garden pot feet. Isn't it great?  We bought provisions from this French patisserie, Monsieur Pierre. 

 The result was that we didn't need to use our fabulously equipped kitchen back at our cottage (see the first photo at the top of this post plus photos below). The cottage is called, Eat Sleep Kyneton. And that's exactly what we did all weekend.

I thought these scrabble tiles in the bathroom were added a whimsical feeling to the cottage. Book at weekend away with your girlfriends, you'll have a blast. We did.

The Block - Week 2 - Room Reveal

I've been slow to post about The Block this week, mainly because all the action around here this week has been on the "Real Block"  (our renovation). In an exciting development, the slab was poured today. I feel as though we've started the real work now. And the pool will be tiled next week, so I'll post some photos then. 
So back to Channel 9's TV Program, The Block. Are you feeling disappointed? I am. Even though I enjoy the show, the room reveals seem very bland. This week Sophie and Dale's master bedroom came in third place (photo above). Personally, I liked it the best as it continued their vintage style. And they used long, flowing curtains which upped the glamour. To be truthful, even though I love vintage and antique items, I felt the door bed head wasn't a good enough piece for a million dollar property. What did you think? Was it your cup of tea? I certainly liked the bird wall mural and thought that the french settee beneath it, added a glamorous touch (photo below). 

But the winner this week were brothers, Mike and Andrew (photo below) . I've started to call their interior design style "Hilton Hotel". The "Hilton Hotel" style  is where every stick of furniture looks like it came straight out of a standard room at the Hilton. There's lots of neutral colours, everything works, and there's nothing offensive to anyone. In short, a perfect room for the attendees of the annual Accountants Convention. But is it inspiring interior design? Not to me. I'd love to know what you think. I'm not going to comment on the other contestants this week as there wasn't much to say. What was your favourite room this week?

The Block - Week 1

 If you're watching The Block, you know that the first rooms were revealed this week. Don't worry if  you missed it, you haven't missed much. The rooms were pretty ordinary but it's the first week so let's give them time to develop a style. The brothers incorporated a  flip out bed into their office so it can convert into a guest bedroom (first picture above). It was in the style of Maxwell Smart. So I guess other guys will think it's a cool idea but for the family who eventually buy the Terrace House I don't imagine it's a big drawcard.

 Brad and Lara have not sorted out their design style yet (picture above). So this week their sitting room looked like they went down to their nearest furniture store and asked for one standard coffee table, one standard couch, an armchair and a light to add some interest. The result was a one-way ticket to Snoresville. But I haven't given up on this couple, I think they could pull a rabbit out of a hat. I liked how they kept the period features of the room.

 Dan and Dani presented a guest bedroom (picture above and below). And amazingly it won the room of the week. Personally, I thought it lacked personality. And I'm not a big fan of mirrored doors. They're so 80's. And it's curtains on the curtains I'm afraid. These curtains are like wearing a dress mid-calf. It doesn't work. They need to use full length curtains and place the rod well above the top of the window. Long, flowing curtains will add some elegance.

 And finally, we have Dale and Sophie's Dining Room (picture above and below). This was my favouite room as it had a sense of style about it. I love the restored fire place (although I would have used marble on the hearth). The mirrors above look great. They also made a good choice with the dining table. Sadly, the chairs are the real low point in this room. They look like they found them in a skip from the building site next door. They really have to go. Probably a modern set of chairs would look good.  I also liked the light that Sophie made. It reminded me of the ceiling of Mrs G's in Potts Point which was designed by Sibella Court.

What can I say about the curtains? Well, nothing really, except see my comments above. I hope that all the couples take a few more risks this week.

The Real Block - Part 1

It's been a long time coming, but we are about to start building. Regular readers (thank you for persevering) will remember that we moved a cottage off our block and then moved a Queenslander onto the block in August 2010 (Moving the Cottage). Since then we've been busy getting all our Council approvals  and thought we were ready to build in September 2010 but we hit a brick wall. In January this year, we finally got our development approval. Since then we've also obtained our final building approval, a driveway approval, pool approval and a plumbing approval. Phew! So now we've got all the paperwork and spent $20k on the paper trail, we are actually ready to start the real work. Stumping has finished, the pool has been dug and the builder will start next week. I'm watching the new series of The Block on Channel 9 and thinking that the contestants have go it easy! We have about 100 times the amount of work to do at our place (which I'm now calling the Real Block)  and there's no way it's going to be finished in 10 weeks. The builder has said 6 months if the weather is good.  I don't really mind if it takes longer as long as I'm in by 1 December, that's my absolute deadline. I can survive in our decrepit rental house with no dishwasher, a dodgy bathroom and boxes up the ceiling until then. No doubt there's going to be bumps along the way!