Displaying posts from April, 2010

The Easter break has turned my week upside down. Retro on a Friday? No time is a wrong time for a blast from the past! It’s a bumper post today. Usual story… some revolting, some revealing, some could have been put together just yesterday (well maybe the day before the day before yesterday). Let’s give it up for the amazing Golden Homemakers 100 Ideas to Beautify Your Home, Gudenian Rockail & Mayer, Marshall Cavendish, London, 1972.

Here are a few things that really do it for me: plywood used as a material for cabinets/walls etc., an incredible view out of floor to ceiling windows, vaulted ceilings, quirky shaped windows, the perfect red door…and I found all these in the portfolio of New Zealand based Parsonson Architects.

I just wanted to give you all a quick heads-up about a new special holiday “bookazine” coming out this October by the fabulous stylist/photographer Matthew Mead. Jo and I have been asked to participate in the mag on a panel of blog experts (check them all out here) contributing either a holiday inspired project, recipe, gift-wrapping technique, tradition, etc. We can’t wait! Anyhoo, Matthew is offering the chance for anyone who purchases the magazine today and tomorrow to win 2 give-away prizes (winner’s choice), and winners will be announced on Saturday, April 10th. So to pre-order the mag and be eligibile for a great prize go on over to Matthew’s blog. You know you want to…especially if you fell in love with his last magazine like I did. Below are some images Matthew took of the gorgeous prizes. Talk about incentive!

I was following the links to our co-contributors on the Inside Out piece and found beautiful gardens designed by Spirit Level Designs, a Sydney based landscape firm of architects, designers, artists, horticulturists and stone masons. What wonderful lush spaces. I love the use of stone and the layering of textures and shapes. These are gardens you want to wander into, to become part of the landscape, to belong. I wish the images on their website were just a little larger so their lush green beauty would jump out of the screen a bit more. Still I have no trouble imagining myself brushing against the leaves by the path or hearing the soft tinkle of water features. Lovely.

Tim Bjørn is one of Denmark’s top photographers, creating spaces that seem to jump off the page (or in this case the screen). Whether cluttered or sparse, everything he photographs exudes life of it’s own and has you craving more.