Aaaaah the great outdoors! Rather the great outdoors just outside the back door. Whether a simple chair in a quiet and secluded spot or a pool party worthy aquatic hangout, Los Angeles landscape design firm and nursery Inner Gardens plants the seed for the perfect garden. Formal and overflowing or modern and restrained Stephen Block and his team give root to your wildest dreams or even your modest but stylish wishes. You’ll find me sunning myself with a book in that Adirondack chair bobbing my foot up and down in the ornamental grass. Care to join me?

I know how much you love a good reader’s home renovation on Desire to Inspire. So many times you ask for the before shots or more often the after photos. This post should just about satisfy both. Back in February Sonia emailed asking for some recommendations and… wait I’ll just let her explain in her latest email to us.

Doctor Who fans will know the secret of the tardis. Bigger on the inside than it appears on the out. Who could imagine such high open spaces could be lurking behind this narrow single fronted house in Port Melbourne? A clever extension lifts the space to follow the roof pitch and seamlessly melds the inside and out. Features that speak to me are the  two “open” bathrooms, the way light is brought into the centre of the house through a series of pitched skylights and a clever open garden room. Link here while it lasts.

I only managed to fit in a few shops when I was in Sydney just over a week ago. Don’t ask… after all your marvelous suggestions I threw my back out and could barely walk. One shop I HAD to visit was Sibella Court’s The Society Inc. Amazing! This wunderkammer of a shop is a must see on your Sydney travels. Two tiny rooms in a bijou Paddington terrace. Two tiny rooms packed to the rafters with the unusual, the quirky, the weird and the beautiful. Like a bowerbird’s nest. Like an old hardware store. Like a step back in time. Like a dream. Only Sibella could pull it all together and make it work. On a wet, miserable day I was giddy with excitement.  (Apologies again for my point and click pics. One day I’ll buy a decent camera. Have promised myself a fabulous rug first :P)

Thank goodness that week is over. I seem to find myself musing over holiday getaways on Fridays. I wonder why? I smell rose and musk, orange blossom and exotic spice. Water gurgles and staff whisper just out of earshot. There is  rhythmic music slowly pulsing somewhere in the riad but here in the salon it is cool and dark, peaceful but oh so decadent. From the rooftop terraces the view extends across the city to the Atlas Mountains. Perhaps it’s time to sun like a cat by the pool. Life is just too difficult isn’t it? Dar Darma in Marrakech via Welcome Beyond.