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.

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.

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:

Omnomicon

Tastespotting

AT posted a while back about designing and printing on different mediums, and it’s not all that expensive. Often I have wanted to take a great image and put in on a plate, or a handtowel, but never got around to investigating further.  Below is a list of places where you can make it happen…..so what are you waiting for!

1. Spoonflower – design your own fabric
2. Teeny Tile – custom print tiles
3. The Wallpaper Maker – print your own designs on wallpaper
4. Ponoko – laser cut materials like felt, plastic and wood
5. Absorbent, Ink – screen printing onto glasses, coasters and handtowels plus more

After the bodywash container broke yesterday, I had to find an alternative to store it.  And this is it.  The Penguin Multi-Purpose pump can be used anywhere and for almost anything.  One in the bathroom, the kitchen and laundry will make it look like I had a plan in my interior aesthetics, when in fact it all just fell in my lap!  It has a half litre (500ml) capacity and the best part is the easy view window….(it drives me crazy when they run out and I don’t know about it).  Available in Blue, Green, Red, Black or Nickel, they cost NZ$20 each.  The bad part is the ridiculously crazy overseas shipping prices, and it doesn’t say that they even ship to NZ or Australia, so make sure you have a friend in the US to post them on.

The colours of this house caught my eye today.  I really like the modern charcoal panels with a rich coloured wood.  I think it softens a hard, modern design.  And who wouldn’t love a bright orange door!  To see more of this place, take a look at Shed’s website.

via [Inhabitat]

Loving this chair – the wood really warms this up without it looking like a bargain store find.  The Magis Steelwood chair is made with a white steel frame and natural beech legs and seat, and comes in a few different variations. However, it costs loads – you can buy it from Nest in the UK for NZ$704 plus NZ$170 shipping.  Definitely not a bargain store find!

While we are still in temporary accommodation, I did not bring books for bedtime.  And so each night either myself or Mr Bohaute makes up a story for Master 5 & 3/4.  He absolutely loves them and I think they just might be more fun than us reading from a book, as he gets to imagine the story in his mind! I am quite surprised how fun it is, and have started typing them out after I’ve told the story as it’s impromptu all the way.

So I smiled when I came across this great bowl from Ayda Anlagan, the designer of this and other great story bowls. They can be purchased through her website or, here for about AU$29, plus shipping. What a great way to add another story to a child’s world.

via [If it's Hip It's Here]

Wow, it’s been a while. I have been busy moving…again (I know! Three times in 1 and 1/2yrs) – but this time it’s to Australia! We are now living in the Gold Coast near Surfers Paradise for quite a lifestyle change.  Still house hunting, but have found a few goodies that would make great house warming gifts.

I discovered the cute M-Cups Measuring Cups in a few stores here.  Useful and can be left on display if you don’t have loads of kitchen storage. This set of 6 dry-measure cups nests neatly just like traditional Russian matryoshkas. They accurately measure 1/4, 1/3, 1/2, 2/3, 3/4 and 1 full cup, and they’re built from heavy-duty, food-safe, long-life engineering plastics.  You can get them in kitchen stores here in Australia, or online for much cheaper here and here starting at AU$14.95 – cheapest I have found.

Or, if dolls aren’t your thing, then what about the flower measuring cups – once again they nest, and includes one of each: 1/4 cup, 1/3 cup, 1/2 cup, and 1 cup. Are dishwasher-safe and the cups measure approximately 6″ long.  You can get them online in the US for US$9.95 here.

I like the look of this glass benchtop, and even better, hot pots can be placed anywhere.

The Californian company behind these is Jockimo, and their ColorFuse™ products include color and air bubbles captured inside of the glass creating a three dimensional aspect to the panels. Texture, color, finish, laminating, edge polishing and back lighting are available.  Unfortunately, there does not seem to be a distributor or dealers for down-under installation.

Vapur in California have come up with a re-usable water bottle that can be folded flat when empty.  It stands upright when full, folds flat and rolls up small enough to put in a pocket or purse, has a Carabiner for easy carrying, a writeable text area for your child’s name, is dishwasher safe and also can be frozen and used as an ice-pack.  It comes in three colours and is only US$8.95 (NZ$12.00).  You can purchase it from their website right here and they ship worldwide.   The Vapur sure would save some space in Master Five’s school bag.

Whoa, how about these kitchens to inspire a change on your reno.  My favourite is Duality – the silver version – it works well as a room separator and you can view the other room while ‘in’ the kitchen. And for those who use and have a load of cookbooks, the Library kitchen is perfect.  Phillippe Starck designed these for Warendorf (formerly Miele kitchens) in Europe.  No ideas yet when they will be available, but they WILL be available – at least in Europe.

via [Apartment Therapy]

I am always on the lookout for lunch boxes with many compartments, so myself, my husband and my son has a selection of goodies for the day ahead.  The Goodbyn Lunchbox is cool and you can fit a banana inside which is a bonus, plus it comes with over 200 stickers to personalise.  They are US$29.95 each but Goodbyn don’t ship down-under, however, this website will send it for a ridiculous US$35 making this one expensive lunchbox (about NZ90).  That’s a pity, as I wanted to buy each niece and nephew one for Christmas. We’ll just stick to the Sandwich Keeper Plus for now.

Joseph Joseph always has clever ideas for the kitchen and here is their latest range.  Not sure when it will reach NZ but you can get the range now in Australia from the Gifted Store.  I have their nesting bowls that I posted about a while back and they are great to bake with and an awesome way to keep all the baking gear together.

via [Core 77]

This awesome piece of kitchen equipment, designed by Gabriele Meldaikyte, was designed for people with only one functioning hand.  Not only does it work for people with a disability but also works perfectly for me (and many other mums out there), as usually my dinner preparation starts at about the time Miss 4mths old loses it, and I have to carry her around the kitchen while I prepare the evening meal – thus, having only one hand to make dinner……I want one of these soo bad!

Both left and right handed people can use this product.  It includes pins for gripping fruit, graters, tube and container openers, fruit and vege cutting and peeling equipment, a food box, equipment for peeling egg shells, an area for keeping bread stable while cutting and buttering, and non-slip rubbers.

The worst thing is, we can’t get it yet…I hope it will be manufactured and available for sale soon….like next week please!

via [Yanko]

Hi everyone.  I know it’s been a while since I’ve posted but blogging about bits and pieces I love is not the priority when Miss 4mths old is sleeping, or lack there of….anywaaay

We need a bread bin.  After staring at the ugly bright orange bread bag today I remembered this cool bin from Eva Solo.  It’s way over priced, at AU$250.00 (buy it in Australia here), but the plain and simple muted colour is perfect for the benchtop, either in pearl or metallic.  Let me know if you have found something similar for a much better deal.

Ok, I got a little carried away looking at all the houses at Sagaponac and only because I wanted to show you this one. Now there are several I like that are totally cool….go take a look sometime.  This home is the Ban + Maltz Furniture House inspired by Mies Van der Rohe’s unbuilt Brick Country House.  It has 4 bedrooms, 4.5 bathrooms over 3800 square feet.  What’s clever about it is the primary structure – the house is made of modular cabinet units providing loads of storage, supports the roof, and encloses heating and cooling systems. What I would give for that much storage!

via [Apartment Therapy]

If you think you’ve chosen the tiles for the kitchen or bathroom, think again!  Moving Color is the company behind these temperature sensitive tiles.  The base colour can match almost any colour you desire;  they change colour based on body or water temperature or whatever they are touching!   The temperature change point can be requested by you, so the dynamic colour change begins at the selected temperature and changes over three phases, each one is a 6 – 10° rise in temperature. Once the temperature peak is passed, the base colour returns and remains the same until the temperature drops.

The tiles can be used on floors, walls and counters and they are a green product, because they use glass that is 20 – 80% recycled. Also they come in eleven different glass textures.  How much you ask?….about US$15 for a tile 4 x 4 inches, so US$180 a square foot and they also do larger 18 x 18 inch tiles.  Nice and expensive way to make sure the shower isn’t too hot for the kids!