I really love this courtyard surrounded by the winding path to the spa….very earthy but still contemporary. The water would need to be a whole lot clearer before I climbed in though. These images are from the Jeffery Gordon Smith Landscape Architecture portfolio, where there are some great pictures to inspire your backyard design.
If I could have a rug in my dream yoga studio – this would be it. Right in the reception area, just spreading the joy to all those who walk through the door. Liora Manne is the lady who designed it using a process called Lamontage – it is antimicrobial and 100% acrylic plus it can be used indoors or out. Take a look at her range of gorgeous rugs here and gallery here. Swoon!
We have been looking at buying a home for a while since our return from Australia, and so the hunting continues. While clicking my way through quite a few pics, I saw this beauty in Devonport on the North Shore in Auckland. It is sooo me. The colour, the furniture, the kitchen, all of it. It’s for sale if you like it and to view more images click here. The current owner and renovater is an interior designer, so it’s no wonder the place rocks! It’s also been in a couple of home magazines, so enjoy.
UK company Purlfrost has a large selection of window film for many applications; Decorative, Stained, Reflective and even a kids range. My favourite would have to be their Stained Glass range that can be applied anywhere. When the sun shines on it, it would show the best colour onto the wall and ground. Great for a yoga room.
You can apply it easily yourself and they have an installation guide online. Purlfrost will happily ship worldwide, just contact them first and advise what you are intending to order.
These two photos are from a great home renovation in Redondo Beach – see the slideshow here.
The first image caught my eye as the many many tiles make it feel spa like, plus their colour is very calming, they are from Ann Sacks, a US company with a huge selection of ceramic and glass tiles for any area of the home.
I had to show you what a feminine fireplace looks like. And the glass underneath is so much more chic that a tiled, built-up hearth. Wittus, a US company has a large range of very hip fireplaces that they can ship to your door. This one, called the Shaker is made in Germany and designed by Antonio Citterio – of course, something will always catch my eye when it’s near the Woods wallpaper by Cole and Son. The kicker (always one when a designer is involved; it weighs nearly 140kgs and costs US$4,280 – that’s NZ$6000)! Those long lovely legs almost makes it worth the price, but then there’s all that wood to put on…
After watching an episode of Grand Designs I fell head over heels for a cooker hood called ‘Star’! Just look at it – it’s sooo gorgeous and so much nicer looking than those practical rectangle jobs we all have in our home.
The Elica Designer Collection by D R Cookers are to die for…well, to save for more like it! The Star Chandelier cooker hood is about £1700.00 (NZ$3700 – worth every cent I think). They do have more traditional, integrated cooker hoods as well, so go take a look at their large collection right here. You would have to contact the UK company to ask about shipping down-under, but I am sure they would have this service available. Now for a kitchen of our own that needs a new rangehood…
Woohoo! Six year old parties rule. The cake was a hit and here are the pics. I didn’t double it or anything hard, especially as kids don’t really like all ‘that cake’…..but the icing more! Master Six wanted to help and asked for marshmallows only.
Seriously, after their party food, no one wanted cake until I cut it and they saw the colours, then every one of them had to have a piece. So, here are the details for my own. Yes, that’s Miss 15mths giving me a ‘Hi 5′ for her baking attempts too.
Basic Cake:
Oven on 180 celsius, grease round cake tin and pull out containers/cups and teaspoons for colour mixing
2 cups flour
2tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
100g melted butter
1 cup milk
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla essence
1 1/4 cups sugar
1. Mix butter and sugar, then add eggs one at a time. Add essence
2. Sift in flour, baking powder and soda
3. Slowly add milk.
Important Note: Master 6 wanted banana as well so I added one mashed banana and added 2Tbsp more flour. Banana tends to brown/dull a cake though, so if they don’t want it don’t add it – as the colour will be far more vibrant than ours.
4. Separate into as many bowls as you have colours. It was about a heaped cup in each bowl
5. Now add almost 1 teaspoon of gel colour to each one and mix well with a teaspoon. Our colours were: Light Blue, Red, Yellow, Black, Purple, Green and Orange.
6. Just tip out each colour into the middle. Don’t spread it, don’t touch it!
7. Pour next colour into centre of last colour and repeat until complete. If you have a favourite colour, make that the last one as this ends up being the largest show of colour in your cake.
8. Place in oven and bake for 45-50 minutes, then check it and cook another few to 10 mins if it’s still making crackling cooking sounds when you put your ear to it. (don’t own skewer – I know I know).
When done it looks rather dull or dark but don’t worry, it will be colourful inside. Cover with a tea towel until cool. Now ice how you desire and the kids will go wild! Considering I am no cook, I was pretty proud of our accomplishment. Here is the link to the the one that inspired me.
For those folks out there who are lucky enough to own the iPhone 4 – even if there’s a bit of a glitch, here’s the fix for it. Antenn-aid sells cool looking bandaids that attach to the edge of the phone to stop it dropping your call. Get them right here at Etsy - a multi-colored 6pk for only US$4.99 plus shipping, or you can buy a bulk lot and umm, sell them to your mates! Or get the software update apparently, but that’s not fun looking!
via [Not-Cot]
Next time you are thinking about re-doing the carpet, or just because the kids running up and down the wooden stairs is such a dreadful noise…..then think about a bright colour. These green carpeted stairs are awesome. This is totally going in my ‘when I get to reno again’ folder.
image [Richard Birch Photography]
I want the word ‘Bliss’ right above my yoga mat….the yellow is such a joyful colour scheme. Mooza Designs in Sydney Australia use gorgeous japanese and retro paper to paste onto WC (Toilet) signs or make words, names and numbers. Take a look at their shop, you’ll have trouble choosing your colour scheme from the custom range it’s all so joyous!
Today’s adventure wasn’t mine….I went for a bikeride with the family instead. But Design Is Mine discovered this great poster, called Origami Love Poster. It costs US$15 + $5 postage (NZ$27) – take a look over at Amy’s Etsy store Field Trip for more great posters. I want to actually give this a try at folding as origami is something I really enjoy…until I can’t do it!
Holy toledo! Mr Bohaute and I are Apple lovers and covet the iPad. We know it’s cool, we know it would be used alot…but we had no idea you could do this on it. Artist David Kassan paints a model over about three hours on the iPad. The movie is 7 minutes long – you don’t have to watch the entire clip, but it’s worth it. Finger Painting for anyone, anytime, anywhere.
Hidden Bed, a company in New Zealand has the license for this great bed that smoothly pulls down over your desk to accommodate that extra person, or it would be a handy option for a studio apartment or dorm room. I saw them at the mall and had a go at transforming it…..super light and easy to change, plus you can even leave your glass of water without a spill and your laptop open. You could also use the desk as a play area….set up with the train-set in a childs room.
There is an option of king single or double and you also have five different finish options – from white to jarrah laminate, plus extra shelving. The cost for a king single is NZ$4000.00 while the Double is NZ$4400.00; that includes mattress, installation and GST. Take a look at their website right here.
My yoga bag is really old and doesn’t really fit my black mat, but instead of a replacement I’ve ended up with a string around it. Up until now it’s been fine, but I would like to carry straps and notes and other bits all together. After a look around, the Prana Carry All is it for me, the colour won’t show dust or dirt when you put your bag down in public places, and it has room to carry more than your mat. Get it here for US$70 (about NZ$90), plus shipping.
We have had seven birthday parties in a row – each weekend another little boy or girl turns 6 and so we have been wrapping quite a few presents. The sellotape seems to have disappeared and as I am always wrapping at the last minute, we have ended up using duraseal (for covering school books)……I know, bad huh. Over at Blossom Creations, they have a great range of rice paper tape among many other household goodies from your desk to your kitchen. This is the tape I would much prefer to use, the patterns are yet another way to personalise your gift. These cost only AUD$5 a roll or you can purchase in a set. Go take a look right here.
This picture inspired my post this afternoon. I stumbled into Bloesem kids and found delightful wallpaper on the back of the closet. Usually the very beautiful wallpapers cost loads, so this is a brilliant way to use a little bit and not go bankrupt. Stores often have left over rolls or off-cuts and sell them cheaply, so it’s worth checking. The wallpaper on the back of this Ikea shelf is by Boras Tapeter in Sweden, called Linne 3308. Sim Wallcoverings in Auckland may stock it, or they could order it in for you. Go get your DIY gloves on and get papering – it makes such a difference to a dull area.
I love this website, though I don’t get to browse it often. UrbanBaby is based in Sydney, Australia and has the hippist things for babies and kids. My favourite item would have to be the Crazy Wolf. Designed in France, he comes with a doll, a mobile, a hen, a pig and a frying pan – that he EATS up! You can unzip his tummy to get them all out. What a great ode to Little Red Riding Hood. It measures 35cm x 30cm, and the tummy toys from 7cm to 15cm. He costs AUD$64.95 plus shipping. Go see him at their store or buy online.
In a few weeks it’s Master neary 6′s birthday and I have been thinking about a rainbow cake. They look cool, and kids seem to get a kick out of seeing the inside when it comes time to ‘cut the cake’. These pics I used from Omnomicon because they rule!
TO BEGIN:
Make your own plain cake mixture (not chocolate – or just leave out the cocoa in a choc cake recipe)
Then split up the mixture evenly into cups, for as many colours as you have. The better and healthier gel colours, get here or here, though a generous amount of food colouring works well too. (And if you don’t like the food colouring, then this cake’s not for you.) Mix colour in well.
With your cake tin ready and greased, pour the mixture from one cup straight into the middle on the cake pan (don’t smear it around or flatten it out.
Continue pouring the contents of each cup on top of each colour.
Now bake it – at whatever your cake recipe says to.
Once done, ice how you like, though all over icing works best so the kids don’t know how cool the cake is!
If you prefer cupcakes, do the same into the cup-cake pan. Otherwise, below are a couple of other places for recipes:
Water colour is beautiful. I have tried my hand at watercolor before with a disastrous outcome, so I stick with acrylic. While bouncing around on Etsy I popped up on this shop. Irene is an Italian artist and she has a large and gorgeous assortment of watercolour creatures to choose from. They would make a great collection for a sewing room, or a child’s bedroom. Each piece is about NZ$35, plus NZ$8 shipping. Go take a look right here.
We have a bunch of boat sheds on the Orakei basin looking rather dilapidated and in need of a good spruce up, so when I spied these over at Inhabitat, I thought they would be a fantastic replacement.
The Crib prefab can be used anywhere – from your backyard, to a spot on the water to house the boat and chill-out upstairs. It’s inspired by the traditional American architecture of corn cribs, a common farm building used to store and dry corn. The smallest is 175 sq feet upstairs with an ideal garage style front opening (for those water views). Then there’s the additional 125 sq feet of exterior deck space. The larger of the two has 250 sq ft upstairs!. Of course, it’s only in the US, which would make these super exey to ship out and there are no prices on the website. And I should not forget to add, the Orakei boatsheds are privately owned – so perhaps the owners are happy with them just as they are.
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