Yes we’re in the middle of a protracted election campaign in Australia. Still 2 weeks until election day. I don’t want to show political bias so I thought I’d do a post that combined both major parties, the Liberals (right wing) blue and the Labour Party (left wing) red. So without further ado the red and blue room post!

Alexandra Rowley	Roger Davies
John Gruen	Michael Grimm
Roger Davies	Quentin Bacon
Barbel Miebach	Tria Giovan
Daniel Farmer	Sandra Lane
Eve Robinson	Oliver Burns Interiors

And mustn’t forget the Greens who will probably hold the balance of power in the Senate.

Anson Smart

Take the time to check out these super talented photographers’ sites. I’ll be singing their praises in detail soon.

Katrin Cargill is a creative producer extraordinaire. Imagine being a talented interior designer. Then imagine creating visual images for advertising. Then you produce style features for magazines. Your clients include Zoffany and Jane Churchill and you styled that now infamous and absolutely beautiful cow parsley wallpaper shot. You have written 14 books and designed rugs for the Rug Company. Katrin’s mastery of pattern is amazing!

Too busy for much work around the apartment this week. Too few hours in the day but I did complete this little job this morning. I’ve long had a thing for the destination rolls from buses and trams. A number of years ago I got my hands on a few vintage cloth Sydney bus rolls which I stretched and sold. (Here’s a snap of one.) I have a few Brisbane paper rolls now and wanted to frame some. As we all know custom framing is horrendously expensive especially for large pieces.

This is the very ugly, very neglected but very large frame standing in the corner of my secret thrift store. So for the grand total of $39 and some careful disassembling and reassembling I have a framed vintage bus destination roll for my office. By the way that little recovered 70s footstool is my husband Kelvin’s latest upholstery project. So cute! The fabric is from Ikea.

A slightly wonky but wonderful winks this week. (WINKS – weekend links. Here we list what has come in during the week, things we’ve found and things we think you’ll want to see. If you’d like to see your blog or website featured email us and if we think it fits with our readers we’ll link you.) Lots of reader input this time which we love.

• • Sol sent us this picture. “It’s the dining room in my aunt’s country house, in marble that looks like wood, and some ant chairs (though i think they’re knock offs). However I like it a lot and I hope you can use it the next time you blog about Dining In 🙂 We are a very large family, and I love how the zillion chairs look cramped around the table.” So do I Sol and it would be great for the upcoming holiday season!

• • Jennifer sent snaps of her holiday in Sri Lanka! “I love your Sri Lanka fetish! Lunuganga is insanely beautiful!I can vouch that Sri Lanka is amazingly glam. I was there 6 weeks ago.” So jealous Jennifer.

• • Katelyn sent us a link to these great photos on flickr. “hi! these aren’t my pictures, but i think one of you might like this house. a two piece band live there called lullatone. these are my favorite pictures.”

• • Pia emailed with this juicy tidbit. “I have a little something for you, thought your Aussie readers might like. It is the release of a new magazine from the ABC called “home basics” , by shannon lush and jane flemming- i took a quick trip back to sydney in august to work on it and it has just hit the shelves. it is so hard keeping these projects i do secret until they are published, so you can imagine i am excited when they finally come out. i haven’t received my copy yet but i have heard it looks great, so many great articles and dare i say, great shots! I don’t have any larger shots to offer you at this stage but when i do i will get some to you, but in the meantime i’d love to let your readers know about it.”

• • Jo-Anne sent us a link to this great flickr set by Linzie Hunter, Spam One-liners. These are so cool!! Update – Linzie’s work is available through Thumbtack Press

• • And this in from Blissliving Home. Its founder Mei Xu has just announced a Global Design Competition, in which the company will select an original design for a new, complete ensemble for Blissliving Home’s fall 2008 collection. Entrants will be asked to interpret an “Autumn Chic” aesthetic. More info and details here. Start designing!

• Ed Sexton & Doug Taylor form Swank Lighting emailed with this juicy offering. “Hi MidCenturyJo, I’m writing to let you know about our web site Swank Lighting. My partner and I recently acquired all the remaining inventory of the Edward P. Paul Company (BALBOA Lamps). We bought hundreds of pairs of these beautiful art p
  ieces and had them rebuilt with safe new UL Certified hardware and we are now selling them to the public for the first time since they were packed away in their original shipping crates for nearly 50 years. Please visit our web site, read our story about this wonderful 20th century archaeological find, browse our beauties and let me know if you have any questions. Hopefully you will feel that your blog readers will want to know about us. We do ship worldwide. We also recently opened a boutique showroom in Dallas.”
  OMG! What a treasure trove. My name should be changed from midcenturyjo to muranoglassjo. I’m in love!

When God was handing out taste most people say that the designers from the 80s were holding the door for the other decades to pass through first. I’m on a mission to rehabilitate this much maligned 10 years. Not everything was horrendous and as some of you have rightly pointed out good design will out. There are good ideas here, bright painted interiors of cupboards, painted floors, bold vibrant artwork and tasteful rooms that could be from the present. Try to ignore the ruffles and the dried flowers. I love the use of house plants from the 80s. Maybe if we start with that. Baby steps remember.

Images scanned from Better Homes and Gardens New Decorating Book, Editor Gerald M Knox, Meridith Corporation, Des Moines, Iowa, 1981.