Man Cave

In the spirit of Father's Day (today in Australia) I have trawled my image library for something suitably male and this wine cellar is the best I have. I have explained before I think that much of Sydney is built on sandstone so in older areas houses have beautiful foundations. In most cases under the house is pretty dark and damp and you need to watch out for dangerous spiders so this wine cellar is fairly exceptional. Love the clever lighting around the floor and the wine bottle pendant. If I had this in my house I would put a big glass door on the cellar so that you could see in and enjoy the sandstone all the time.

Image: via Desire to Inspire

Book Club

I'm off to book club tonight - although some would suggest that it is more a dinner and wine club but I beg to differ - I've read my book this month !! This is the Penguin Wine Hod by UK designer Steuart Padwick. The perfect little side table for those prone to leaving full wine glasses on the floor and then inadvertently kicking them across the room. The 2009 model shown first has four little wine glass slots which would be ideal for a small apartment or balcony.

Images: Steuart Padwick

Wine and wire

I have a couple of posts to write about steel reinforcing mesh. Hmmm I hear you say, but bear with me. Firstly it has come to my attention that steel mesh is being used to great and sometimes dramatic effect to store wine. The wine rack below is from the restaurant Bells at Killcare on the New South Wales central coast.


The mesh is inexpensive relative to other racking options and you just simply attach it to the wall or between posts or pillars depending on your room or storage area.

This wine cellar / study below uses the same approach in the Australian home of a designer for the film industry. Although I know from the magazine article that this is the home office of a female, many men I know would love to hole up in this study surrounded by 1500 bottles of wine.

Images: www.killcarebells.com.au, Mistah, Home Beautiful

Uxus Design

Uxus Design was featured recently on TheCoolhunter.com.au for their work on the Merus winery in California. I love the tasting room below, especially the lighting and the 'traditional but modern' feel.

Image: www.thecoolhunter.com.au

Delving further into www.uxusdesign.com I found pictures of this wonderful family home they have designed. The Mendoza Residence is very much in keeping with my own taste - classic but modern. Great wallpapers also.

Images: Jansje Klasinga via www.uxusdesign.com

Nina Campbell's kitchen

This picture goes back a few years so I cannot be sure that Nina Campbell's kitchen still looks like this - but it once did. I kept this cutting from a London newspaper primarily because of the wine storage. The wine rack is of a scale that it is a feature in itself and gives you the impression that this would be a good spot to be invited to for a long lunch. I do like the rest of the kitchen and think the glass partition at the end of the bench works very well.

Image: source not known