voyeuristic fun

We always enjoy a bit of a browse thru apartment therapy - great website, with never-ending inspiration and ideas (interiors and lifestyle-wise).  They post regular 'house-tours', some really nice, others ... well, other.  This one, posted from LA a couple of days ago, is right up our alley.

Fella named Mark who bought his 50's house and became only it's second owner.  He has been very strict about keeping it totally original, and it has paid off magnificently.  There are 20 or so photos on the house tour - you should take a look!

mmmm, dark ...

As a 'look' for the interiors of our place, we have been leaning towards the lighter end of the spectrum. 
The main walls are pale mud (mud-bricks made from the clay out of the dam), and this summer we plan to make time to paint out the rest of the place in white.  Most of our furniture is teak, with a mix of olive-greens for upholstery and the ceramics and bits'n'pieces we're collecting up.  We have gradually been stashing away a bunch of chairs in beech and maple timbers to brighten up the front room - which will hopefully give us a pretty breezy feel.
But, gee, seeing this interior makes you think ...

A country house in Nordsjælland, Denmark, the styling is pretty amazing - a timeless sort of 'lodge' look.

You should take a look - the place is pretty nice.  The photos (by Birgitta W. Drejer) are from VartNyaHem, via MyScandinavianRetreat.  We'd live there if we had to ...

"Here's a story, of a man named Brady ..."

Despite the near-continual re-runs that made the Brady family a part of many of our lives (in the same way generation Y will remember the Simpsons forever), we sometimes forget ...

The perfect family, sure ... but later we realized that it was the perfect house that was the best bit ... the central lounge, Mike's fantastic home-office ...  that great open-plan kitchen and dining area ...

Too cool - I think Mike Brady was the inspiration for a generation of architects ... maybe?

Would love to live there ... maybe we should hang onto the plans in case we somehow end up with a construction budget and a nice spot on a sunny suburban street ...

Thanks Sherwood Schwartz ... RIP.

another nice interiors blog ...

KYP friend Catherine sent us a great link a couple of weeks ago - you should check it out ...

 The blog is called The Brick House - it's a sort of 'renovation diary' combined with a generally amazing collection of interior ideas and inspiration by a Californian gal named Morgan Satterfield ... along with some decent DIY tips ...

It's fun checking progress and development on their house - with a nice collection of furniture which evolves as the diary goes on.  She is also working on an ebay store for some her renovated finds ...

We kind of suspect that it was the Brick House entry on woven wall-art that prompted Catherine to send us the link tho ...

You should take a look sometime.  Oh, and thanks for the link, Catherine!

new chairs ...

So our farmhouse decor is decidedly stuck on a theme - pretty much everything in the lounge and dining areas is woody and/or forest-green.  It's a scheme that gives the room a calm sort of cave-ish feel, and it definitely links nicely to the eucalypts that grace the view from every window.
It sort of just worked out that way, started with our super-amazing dining chairs, who have reigned for a few years now ...

... and we have let fate keep it rolling - the right piece, with it's original upholstery in the right green.

So we felt pretty lucky to come into possession of a set of dining chairs this week fitting the criteria.  They're a style we have always admired - Model #26 by Parker, made in 1963 - and of the set of 4, there are 2 needing serious restoring.  In the interim, of course, the other 2 were looking for a home (guess it will be temporary - once the damaged pair are back to full health they may have to join a matching table we have in the shop).

We have seen these chairs a few times over the years, and always thought they were enormous ... almost too big for a regular room.  Just last week we brought in a new dining table however, and the table's pretty much big enough to bring any chair down to scale.
So there you go - another bit of 60's green fabric that means we need to make space in the house.  Thanks universe!

refreshment

After a couple of years of talking about how the shop needed a freshen up, we took the plunge last week and did it.  Took us a few days (and many van-loads shifted into temporary storage), but we emptied it out and gave the store a re-paint. 

Walls, floors, ceilings, all white ...

So nice and clean we were tempted to just keep it that way ... maybe just pop the mac on a desk hooked up to our website so visitors could pick what they liked and we could deliver direct from storage.

We spent the weekend re-stocking, though.  Pretty pleased with the outcome.

Now we just need to keep it tidy.  Love a challenge!

nice rooms

just a couple of pictures we like ...

 ... nice little office setup, put together by a Swedish - Louise Svensson for GUTS.  We came across it amongst some great finds on emmas designblogg - a Stockholm lass who sources interior inspiration and posts some neat selections and links.

Okay - how's this for a loungeroom?
By B&Bitalia - via the fantastic doorsixteen blog - also well worth a visit.

flipped

Between Grand Central Station and the New York Public Library, in a city not necessarily renowned for it's great coffee ... D'espresso cafe ...

The interior was designed by Nema Workshop, and looks fantastico - a library tipped 90 degrees onto it's side.

Parquetry floor on the wall, bookshelves on floor and ceiling.  The coffee wouldn't even need to that good.  This interior features on plenty of blogs - try thecoolist for more pics.

have you met ...

A pretty nice range of interior products and sweet ideas ... haveyoumetmissjones is worth a look, whether you are window shopping or doin' it for real.  Here are a few pieces we would like to try living with ...

See?

nordic but nice

we were just googling to find a little more about the origins of some Swedish glassware we picked up, and one click led to another ... we came across a blog by a Canadian (we believe) couple, with super-scandinavian tastes.

Hindsvik are a couple (Daniel and Valeria) who specialize in kind of earthy industrial homewares via their etsy store ... nice things ... their blog's also really nice - with a bit of attention on their progressing home decorating project - it's looking pretty great from what we've seen.

They made this unit for their entryway from metal pipes and fallen wood ... inspiring!  Here are a couple of items in their etsy shop at the moment ...

They have lots in stock - and we love just about all of it ...

Pretty nice, worth a look, for sure.

... a few of our favorite things ...

Wah - back to the big city again after a couple of days at the ranch.  As usual, we were sad to pack up the van and head back to town - it's all chaos and traffic in the city, pretty harsh contrast to the 'roos and trees.

Thought we'd start posting a few pics of our favorite bits and pieces from the farm ... no reason ...

Our porcelain rabbits - Mr Toothpick and his assocate ...

The dining chairs ... they are the coolest shape, and we've never seen them anywhere else.  The farm had always been the (neglected and seldom visited) holiday house, furnished with everyone's 'throw-away' things.  When we started heading up there in '08 our first priority (aside from getting solar power so we could see what was going on) was to donate everything to the local Salvos.

These chairs came from some neighbors in Northcote, and we fell in love instantly - NO WAY could we sell 'em.  Inspired by their moquette upholstery, we have ended up doing the whole interior in a mix of mid-century pieces - all in green to match the chairs and what's outside every window ...

Over the next few months we'll keep popping up snaps of our collection.  What the heck, it makes us happy ...

And walking out the door ain't so bad either ...

... enough already.  Back to work.

new curtains!

Good old internet shopping - we got some cool vintage barkcloth curtains in the post today.

 The plan is to use the fabric on some deserving chairs at some stage, but 'til then they're a welcome addition to the place.

In other news we are pleased to announce that we found a new addition to our woodgrain porcelain collection in the form of a pretty funny toothpick holder ... classy.

... and I found the first piece of my collection of iittala tapio glasses - been seeking them for a while, so pretty pleased to have found one - another 7 and there's a set.

There's just something about that bubble.

dining chair revival

We have had this set of 60's Danish dining chairs hanging 'round for months now, just waiting for some love ...

 The seats were originally done in woven rattan, but all 4 were pretty badly broken, and re-caning is a bit beyond us despite our enthusiasm for restoring and reviving.

So stripped them all last week, and gave the frames a good sanding and re-oiling while we podered our alternatives ...

We found a supplier of nice narrow seat-belt webbing, and couldn't resist giving it a try ...

And what do you know?  They look amazing (in our opinion, anyway), AND they're really nice to sit on, too.

Now it's just the fun of answering the "What are you planning to do to finish those chairs?" questions ...
Thankfully, once people sit on them the 'get it' ... so the chairs are in the shop and waiting for a new home.  In the words of Murdock from the A-Team, "I just love it when a plan comes together!"