And yes Mary, that empty shelf will be filled before you know it!
image: a tranquil townhouse
Monday, January 9, 2012
bedroom makeover...not quite finished!
It's taken me days of my holiday...days I tell you, to paint my bedroom and install the gallery wall. Nothing, but nothing went easily...including the great gloss enamel 'fall down and splatter the floor and one of my new shoes' paint debacle! And the blunted drill bits when putting up the picture ledges into the brick wall...sigh. Still, it's almost there.
I'll do a full before and after post when I get back from Taswegia (I'll be on a plane just about now!) but thought I'd give you a bit of a glimpse from the doorway just to tide you over...hope you like it...Buffy seems to J
Saturday, January 7, 2012
top six reads of 2011...and what I read in december
December was a very light on month for reading I'm afraid, but I did manage a few, somewhere in between the manic last few weeks of work, Christmas nonsenses and NYE frivolities...here they are:
Great House by Nicole Krauss - fiction
Shoe Money by Maggie Alderson - a selection of newspaper columns
Angel Puss by Colleen McCullough - fiction
All That I Am by Anna Funder - fiction
Freedom by Jonathon Franzen - fiction
Apart from the short collection of columns, all of these books were very good reads. I was surprised by how much I enjoyed Angel Puss, set in Kings Cross, just around the corner from where the first born used to live, it was incredibly evocative of the area and the people who inhabit it. I bought it from a remainders bin on a whim...good use of a spare $4.95!
And now the hard part...my favourite books of 2011. All in all I read 77 books last year (still finding it hard to say last year!). I was only going to nominate five, but a six book collage was easier to make J Bloody heck it was hard...even my very favourite author didn't make the cut this time! Because I read so much, the books I chose were the ones that have stayed with me...the ones I don't have to remind myself what they were about, the ones that made me cry, question, wonder, smile, cringe...the ones with 'staying power'. So, for what it's worth...my recommendations for incredibly good reads are, in no particular order because no way am I picking a no. 1 (oh, ok...Peter Carey!)...
In order of reading:
The Thirteenth Tale by Diane Setterfield
(a famous dying author summons an obscure unknown author to record her autobiography...ancient houses, bookshops, 'ghosts' and heartbreaks);
Parrot and Olivier in America by Peter Carey
(A french nobleman and an english servant travel to the new world...full of beautiful historical detail...I especially loved the early days of Manhattan... wit, friendship and love)
The Tall Man by Chloe Hooper
(a very well written account of a pointless death, life on Palm Island and the brutality of our treatment of indigenous australians, but with a balanced compassion for all sides in this story)
Still Alice by Lisa Genova
(a 50 year old Harvard professor suffers from early onset alzheimers. This book's every word was enthralling, highlighting both the inner and outer 'workings' of the disease with an incredible sympathy for the sufferer and her family as they come to grips with what it all means)
Miss Smilla's Feeling for Snow by Peter Hoeg
(a thriller...not everyone likes this I know, but I found it fascinating and different. The heroine is unusual...a bit like Lisbeth Salander in the Millenium Trilogy...hard to like but you just have to know what happens to her)
All That I Am by Anna Funder
(the story of a group of Jewish Germans and their resistance to Hitler in the 1930s, set then and in the present through the reminiscences of Ruth, an old woman living in Sydney. Based on fact, it's a story of right and wrong, deceit, justice and injustice. Loved it.)
So there you have it! I hope to read more than 77 books in 2012, but I haven't started all that well...I've been painting my bedroom and putting up picture ledges. I'll show you all that when I get back from Tassie...off there on Monday for a holiday...and I'm having dinner with two bloggers on Wednesday...yippee!!
Tuesday, January 3, 2012
the 2011 top "few"...
Remind me. What drug was I on when I said I’d do this!
january: seen on this pretty space; the decorista
It's been an interesting exercise I can say that...
february: seen on sense and simplicity
Because I have the memory of a gnat...
march: seen on beautiful portals tumblr
it was kind of nice to look at all the images I've collected over the year
april: seen on the diversion project; my favorite and my best
I wondered whether my taste had changed
may: seen on my design chic; photo by janis nicolay my pinecone camp
given the exposure to so many wonderful rooms and great ideas.
june: seen on abigail ahern
It appears they have a few things in common...
july: seen on if the lampshade fits; a perfect gray
books, art, textiles and colour (and more white than I would have thought possible for me!)
august: seen on (clockwise from top left): my first little place; from the right bank; i suwanee; the design files
and when they're all in the same room...well, that's just love!
september: seen on an indian summer
and as you can see...I had to do it month by month.
october: seen on mom's turf
And there were sometimes...but not always... more than one
november: seen on brydie brown tumblr
so thank you for looking at these pictures throughout 2011...
december: seen on creamy life; design sponge (the loo was always going to make it!)
it was fun wasn't it...and while I can't make any promises about each and every week... it will continue to be a feature in 2012...it would be rude not to! J
It's been an interesting exercise I can say that...
Because I have the memory of a gnat...
it was kind of nice to look at all the images I've collected over the year
I wondered whether my taste had changed
given the exposure to so many wonderful rooms and great ideas.
It appears they have a few things in common...
books, art, textiles and colour (and more white than I would have thought possible for me!)
and when they're all in the same room...well, that's just love!
and as you can see...I had to do it month by month.
And there were sometimes...but not always... more than one
so thank you for looking at these pictures throughout 2011...
it was fun wasn't it...and while I can't make any promises about each and every week... it will continue to be a feature in 2012...it would be rude not to! J
Sunday, January 1, 2012
Friday, December 30, 2011
last post for the year...I have a date with a gallery wall
I don't know about you, but I need a bit of a break J
It's been a big year for all sorts of reasons...some good, some things I could have done without, and some significant changes on the horizon!
So while I have a bit of a rest from the blog and as many things electronic as I possibly can, there's some work to be done on my bedroom involving a whole pile of pictures and two Ikea Ribba picture ledges...
I'll be painting the lower half of the room and installing a gallery wall...I can hear it calling to me..."hurry up, I've only been waiting about a year for you to get off your butt and tart me up. Neglected, that's what I am!"
In the meantime, have fun, relax, stay safe, hug lots of people. But more than that, congratulate yourselves for being a very fine bunch. Caring, kind, supportive, funny, thoughtful, crafty, nutty, talented, eccentric, intelligent and a few other words that will no doubt spring to mind after I've hit publish. You add another, very lovely dimension to my life. You are admired and appreciated. Lots of love to all of you...even the bits you're not fond of!
See you on the other side (of the wall). I'm going to have to do it now aren't I?
images 1 and 3: pinterest; image 2: ikea
Thursday, December 22, 2011
my christmas 'decorating'...and hi from the slayer
Last week I told you that I'd show you my Christmas decorating...be warned, I use the term very loosely J I also said, if I remember correctly that you should be prepared to be underwhelmed. I'm not going to be at home for Christmas this year. Jess, Ben and I will be having a Christmas Eve dinner at Jess's home in Sydney and then we'll be making the road trip to and from Newcastle on Christmas Day to have lunch with my mum and dad and our rather odd, extended family! I say that lovingly J
Because of that, I haven't done much in the way of decoration in the townhouse, which is a pity. I've got an awesome black tree that looks fab with silver and pearls flung in, over and around it...but never mind. 
While it may not be Christmassy in the strictest sense of the word...this is probably good advice for this time of year. The 2011 birthday present from the first born...it makes me smile every time I come home.
And it's hardly Christmas without the slayer now is it? With lots of love from me and mine to you and yours....see you sometime after the face stuffing and afternoon napping has ceased. Not that it ever does where that cat's concerned! And as I'm on leave at the end of today, I may just do a bit of that myself!
And most importantly...to those of you who are going through a hard time, who are unwell, who've lost people you love this year, who don't know what to do about something or someone, who are struggling...blessings to you xx
all photos by a tranquil townhouse
Wednesday, December 21, 2011
the last top ten for 2011...
Well that year went in the proverbial blink of an eye didn't it J
There have been times when I thought...
and I might give it up and read a book instead
but thank you for encouraging me to keep going
the truth is, most of the time I quite enjoy doing it
most of the time!
And I have to tell you, I've got the most awesome record of rooms I like now
Ha! Who needs pinterest J
I'm going to attempt to select my top ten pictures for the whole year some time over the holidays...
watch out for that one!
Covering my bases with this next one...
Only two more days before I get to have a break...yippee! Thanks to all the wonderful bloggers who have provided so much top ten inspiration this year, and especially to Jules, the fabulous woman who owns this blog ...you never fail in the interiors stakes bloss, never.
kxxx
images seen on: little green notebook/lime in the coconut; rummage; brabourne farm; an indian summer; decorology; elements at home; livet hemma; the diversion project; houzz (2); head over heels; tiny white diaisies; beautifulism
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