Not such a parfait day

I smashed one of my large Le Parfait storage jars today - I have had it for years and stored coffee in it which ended up all over me. My tights are now infused with espresso. Tiled floors are so unforgiving. Keeping perspective, it was only a jar, but real Le Parfait jars are quite hard to come by in Sydney. I thought this pantry was inspiring. It is in the home of Emerson of US based emersonmade - a lovely cheery shop for fashion, flowers and homewares.

Image: Emersonmade

Perpetual Motion

So I am now back home in Sydney and have just about stopped nodding off in corners - must be my advancing years - have not been quite so jet lagged in some time. I am so lucky to be able to call two countries home and I had a truly fantastic few weeks in Ireland.

I have a massive volume of material to get on the blog and the usual time limitations but here goes. This sculpture 'Perpetual Motion' is by one of my favourite public artists in Ireland - Rachel Joynt. As you know when you are visiting family one is in perpetual motion and I sped past this milestone on the motorway west of Dublin many times during my trip.


It also got me thinking about black, white and yellow - a colour scheme that has been around for a while with Mimosa yellow being last year's colour of the year. This fetching apartment was featured in The Gloss - an Irish newspaper magazine. Love the fact that the accent colour comes from the National Geographic magazine and the original shelving for the china collection.

Images: Rachel Joynt, The Gloss

Battersea book ends

Off to bookclub again this evening - the first Tuesday of the month rolls around fast and brings me to posts relating to books. I check in at Paul Smith's online store regularly as I have a small obsession with his signature stripes. The London landmark bookends made me smile. My first flat in London was in Battersea beside the park and I passed the power station daily for many years. I quite fancy a flick through Paul's book too.

Images: Paul Smith

Scribble

Headsprung in the UK have some great innovative products with Scribble being one. I think a series would look great - especially in the offices of a business that works with typography or pens even. Also a good way of adding curves and movement to a boxy corridor or hallway.

Images: Headsprung

Happy Australia Day

Off to the beach and then barbecue lunch with friends to celebrate the national holiday. Love these built-ins - the wood panelling is so much more interesting than a big wall of matt white cupboards.

Image: James Merrell

Light storage

I have posted about Vitsoe in the past here and love to find applications of this iconic storage system that I haven't come across before. This home is in California and the owner's goal was to have a home with storage and light. Such a great idea I am thinking that this could also be a way of screening a not so great view eg a side fence or something but still letting the light in.

Images: Home Beautiful

Christmas books

Books have always been a big part of Christmas in my house - as children we were always given books and we still, as adults, exchange a lot of books as gifts. I have a lovely collection of Christmas books my boys have been given over the years which I put away each year with the decorations.

If I had one of these wall mounted book racks I could create a little Christmas library and then after Christmas put out all the new books to make sure they get well read. I think these are a lovely feature in a small child's room as so any children's books are works of art in themselves. These are from Pottery Barn in the US. I have not seen similar for sale in Australia but they would not be too hard to replicate.

Images: Pottery Barn, via Little Green Notebook

Funky Munkii

This landed in my inbox a few days ago. I love things that have a twist. This is the Vintage bookcase designed by Singaporean designer Jaren Goh and it is available through Munkii. Have a look at the 'about' tab on the Munkii site - sounds like Vintage has been a labour of love.

Images: Munkii

Storing cookbooks

I get so many fantastic ideas by browsing design blogs and this is one of them. I already own cookbooks that extend to well over a metre and a half on book shelves and the other thing about my books is that they are very heavy when you put them all together. While I do like shelves set into kitchen benches for books I thought this idea of using a vertical shelf in a pantry is genius. Whoever owns this pantry even has some cookbook series grouped together - very organised.

Images: via Fric and Frac, Aero Designs

Desk organiser

As I write this my keyboard is sitting on our 'temporary' desk which we have now had for three years. It is actually not too bad -its a full size plain interior door on legs which as its so long can seat two people comfortably. As the study is still in 'temporary' mode it is also the house dumping ground and holding area, which always happens I find if a room is half done. We long for the day when we have organised the study and put in proper cabinetry like this. The side shelves look like Vitsoe shelving which I love and have written about here before.

A friend said to me once though - if you want to live minimally you need somewhere you can stash things until you've got them organised or thrown them away, so I wonder how we will manage when we no longer dump everything in the study . . .

Image: via Habitually Chic

Edland at IKEA

I never have time to visit IKEA during term time and try to avoid it all costs during the weekend so I usually make time to go during the school holidays. This was quite a productive trip which is good - you never get those three hours of your life back again !!

One new range that caught my eye is the Edland series. It is a lovely soft grey colour, the drawer pulls are ceramic and a nice weight and the drawers are lined with a patterned fibreboard inside. The range is designed for the bedroom but I think it could be used in other rooms especially the dressing table and linen cupboard below. One comment I would make is that these are not heavy weight pieces and would only be suitable for light storage. I'm thinking pink and grey would be a bit different and lovely for a little girls room. More to share from my IKEA safari soon.

Images: IKEA

Play zone

NYC based designers Nathan Egan are favourites of mine and this is another of their designs - this time a kids play room. Having two boys myself I like the way the layout gives each child some personal space to store and show off their favourite things and there is still lots of open play space on the floor for them to play together. I think the Kartell Eros chairs work really well and they are very comfortable - especially for a little person. We are also not far away I feel from having a dedicated laptop or pc for the kids (and mine are only 5 and 3) as already at weekends the pressure on my computer can be pretty intense !!

Image: Nathan Egan

Embrace

I love this table designed by John Green. John Green is a recently qualified designer based in the UK with more than one prize winning design under his belt if you read his bio. Embrace is a new take on that oldie but goodie - the nest of tables. When the two tables are clinched in their 'embrace' the table is designed to hold books or whatever you like underneath and magazines on the sides. When you need two tables the you just slide out the bottom section and flip it over. Ingenious.

Images: John Green

Mirror Mirror

Jim Franco's photographs were posted by the Deco Detective a week or so ago and I had to pluck out this one. Love the idea that a coat rack can also serve as a picture rail and love the little mirror which is an idea I am going to copy as soon as I can find a similar little gem to hang on my hooks in my back hallway. It is a personal goal of mine to get better at checking my appearance before heading out the door (I don't always remember and then look at myself in horror as I pass a shop window). I'm thinking a little mirror like this is just the ticket.

Image: Jim Franco via Deco Detective

NAL

This is the NAL or 'not a lamp' coat stand from Vaugh Shannon a Dublin based design duo. Clarity, functionality and wit in the design of their products is the core aim according to their homepage.

The top photo is the more recent shot and I prefer the cross base to the round one below. I have had the bottom image for a while but had saved it as a Vaughn Shannon design and when I went looking for their site couldn't find it and thought, to my dismay, that the credit crunch had got them. But no, just a typo on my part.

I am quite a tidy person and the NAL appeals because the hidden hooks make the coat rack appear so much neater and streamlined. Great for a smaller space in my view.

Images: Vaugh Shannon

Offside

Or you might get the aspiring socceroos at home onside and get them to hang up something once in a while if you treat them to these hooks for their bedroom. I like the red / stainless colourway myself. You can get "offside' from WA based Scandinavian Exposure who also do a very nice range of other products ( a alot are from Norway ). I especially like the washable Pappelina rugs.

Images: Scandinavian Exposure

Verre

I have my eye on French provincial specialists La Maison at the moment as they have some lovely new products coming on stream including a black console table which is on my shortlist for my hallway. Anyway I spotted this gorgeous Verre cabinet yesterday and have fallen in love with it. I just love the combination of its classic lines and the curved wood on the glass doors.

Image: La Maison

Mighty Expedit-y

You come across stats from time to time about IKEA - the huge numbers of people who sleep in IKEA beds etc etc. Well I can safely say that at least 80% of my friends own an Expedit shelving system (especially those with small children). I am thrilled to see this new desk attachment as we are about to move ours from the living room to one of my sons bedrooms and this little desk (top is 115 x 78 cm) is perfect for them. I am assuming you can attach it to any point on the shelves - mine is a 5 x 5 but will be racing off to confirm soon. PS: its AU$129 - how could you go wrong ?

Image: IKEA

Study style

Still contemplating ideas for our study - to go dark or not that is the question . . . My house is all painted an antiquey white and while the neutrals are lovely I am itching to differentiate some rooms. But I also want to able to work in the study - so how would the light feel if I put in dark bookshelves. The debate continues.

Image: Ryan Corban via Desire to Inspire

Rainbow books

It is my turn to host book club this evening so I thought why not post my 'books by colour' collection. I am not sure why but this look has come up in a number of different magazines I read - is it a trend - not sure. I love books in a room but and like everything else in life, it takes a little bit of work and ongoing attention to keep them looking good.

I am really enjoying Little Green Notebook at the moment which is where I got these shots from. These divinely decorated classics would give any bookshelf a major facelift.

Images: Homes & Gardens, Caren Alpert via Desire to Inspire, Made by Girl, Little Green Notebook