The Smell of the Sea

I first saw this print at the Young Blood Designers market earlier in the year where the Bespoke Letterpress Boutique was selling its beautiful letterpress cards and prints. Loving the fish I hopped from foot to foot, will I? won't I? and because the market was really busy I thought I'd better keep moving and decided - I'll get it online.

So I checked in from time to time but it was never there until yesterday I got wind of The Bespoke Illustrators Project and there it was. 'The Smell of the Sea" is by Ines Fernandez, all the details of this great initiative are there if you follow the link and if you leave a comment you get a chance to win the prints including the fish.

Images: Bespoke Letterpress Boutique

Favourite houses: James Robertson House

There are areas of Pittwater about 40 km from Sydney's centre where people live on bays and beaches that are only accessible by boat. Many commute by tinny or ferry to Palm Beach and on into the city to work. This house is one such house. James Robertson house is an award winning design by Dawson Brown architects on Great Mackeral Beach. It is built right into the rocks in a series of pavilions - this only a selection of the images available - google James Robertson house if you want to see more about the building. Love the views and reflections. The sculpture over the dining table is an aboriginal fishing basket.

Images: Architecture.com, Casey Brown, Belle Magazine

Tip of the day

Reading one of those '500 designer tips you you should know . . ' type of articles, one suggestion was to paint the wall behind a collection of pictures or objects in a dark shade for added impact. Especially good if you have a collection of black and white photos to display.

Images: Heiberg Cummings, via Mrs Blandings, David Prince via Desire to Inspire

Blue is for girls

This kid's bedroom is by Lotus Bleu - designer Jeannie Fraise - who also has a shop and online shop here. You do increasingly see kids bedrooms that are a bit more thought through with parents buying furniture and soft furnishings for the long haul rather than buying too much purpose built 'kids' furniture and (my pet hate) Ben 10 or Barbie duvet covers etc.

I love the colour scheme and fabric choices here - it is still girly (even though the walls are blue) and suitable for a young child - but who wouldn't be happy with those cushions in pretty much any other room in the house when she is ready to put her own mark on her personal space ? Smart choices in my view.

Images: Lotus Bleu

Third in show

I love an awards ceremony so I flicked through the prize winners of the UK Homes and Gardens 2009 Fabric Awards. How the judges choose I do not know given the huge ranges of new fabrics and wallpapers that are issued each year and so many gorgeous designs to choose from. The Lotus papers by Farrow and Ball below came third in the 'blow the budget best wallpaper category' . It comes in a huge range of colours - some subtle and some dramatic - and they have pictured it with my favourite Pols Potten chair.

Images: Homes and Gardens, Farrow and Ball

Holiday weekend

I'm off to the country for a few days as it is a long weekend here. The weather forecast is a bit mixed so we're packed for all eventualities (reminiscent of holiday in Ireland packing -swimmers and fleeces). There is not much in the way of broadband where I am headed so I'll be back next week. Enjoy the weekend !

Image: Ferm Living

The China Syndrome

I can't really explain it but I get a great kick out of all the recent projects reusing china and plates like the immense wall of plates at Milan Design Week and the 're-purposed' plates and cutlery at Eat Green Design. The recycled old saucer butterflies by Lightly are so more-ish I just want to buy them all whenever I see them.

So this photo caught my eye as I am a committed utensil rail person and what better way to get with the trend than to hang some pretty china from my existing rails ? I could actually do with a nice sauce boat as last weekend we ended up serving a sauce directly from the pyrex jug it was made in due to lack of suitable equipment . . .

Images: Emma Mitchell via Desire to Inspire, Lightly, Megan Morton via the Design Files