Please Support Your Local Stores

We were driving down the design district in Los Angeles the other day and we were struck with how many "For Lease" signs were out there. It seems like almost every other shop is closed! Then we read in the LA Times that Cook's Library is closing. For those who do not live in LA, Cook's Library is an independent bookstore that specialized in cookbooks. It's one of those places that you can spend hours in--the staff is incredibly knowledgeable and helpful. In the LA Times article, the owner was lamenting about how they would spent a considerable amount of time with a customer on a book, only to have that person ask them to write the title/author down so that they can buy it at Amazon.com. That is so wrong!

Which leads to an appeal we would like to make to you today:

PLEASE, PLEASE SUPPORT YOUR LOCAL BUSINESSES.



Source: New Yorker Magazine


Yes, we know sometimes you can get a better deal on the Internet, but the stores have so much overhead they can not maintain business on the same margin. They HAVE to charge more. You are paying a little bit more to be able to see the products, touch the products; and most of all, have some personal attention.

We especially feel the small businesses need the most help--the mom-and-pop stores that work so hard and put their life saving into a business.

We need businesses like this to make our community more vibrant and intersting. What would life be if there are no small, charming stores to shop in; or if there were nothing but chain stores. Don't you hate it when you go to different cities and all the shops are the same ones you can get at home?

So let's all pledge to do a little bit for our local business community. Times are tough, but if we each do a little that would help so much.

Digging Beauty
Digging Fashion

Modern Home Office

Working from home is such a popular trend nowadays. Most people we know either work from home part time or full time. For us, we practically live in our home office. This is why we think it should be both nice and functional, with an emphasis on functional, as it is so important for getting our work done.

Here are some modern offices that we thought are really cool:

Source: Point Click Home

Here are some cool stuff from DWR for the office

Red Clock

Business Card Holder

Modern File Tray

Modern Desk

The Garden....

Todays post is about the landscaping for my house. This was included in the contract as all houses in the estate need to at least finish the front graden in order to get back the 5k bond from the developers. Believe me when I say that 5k has already been spent many times over!
So, this afternoon I met our young landscaper to once more go over the plans he drew and what he had 'in his head'. Can I just say, never before have I been so clueless, confused and so overwhelmed with all these decisions I needed to make. He had all these different coloured rocks, big ones that are going to be a feature, smaller rocks and 4 different coloured mulches. Which combination did I want???? Haha, how do I know, I think we just stood there for at least 15 mins both scratching our heads. He spoke about all the Australian natives he is going to put in and how the plants are going to be set out. I have no idea of the plant names but I know I am having Kangaroo paws right up to my front door with white pebbles and native grasses framing the driveway. I hour later, both of us still very confused, it all fell into place. I just said to him plant what you like just make sure it looks pretty and the plants attract the native birds. The pictures below are probably the best indication of the type of plantings I am having. I will say that I picked white granite boulders with very dark/black mulch to give the garden that striking colour difference, Plants are mainly silver, dark purple, red and yellow colours. I have no idea whats going to happen but for once I have to just sit back and trust him that it is going to look nice.

Image from Peaceful Landscapes

In this picture shows a native grass which is similar to what is going to be planted.

The following pictures I have no links so my apologies to the landscape companies I took these from. I Love this grass...I think its this one that will frame the driveway...


Rock gardens...

These are my granite rocks...I really like this look.

Update on house progress...The floor sander is trying to sand all our floors today but he was at the end of his patience when we rolled up. The poor guy was trying his best to do his job but made difficult as the tradies kept coming in and making a mess. Hopefully he will have peace and quite tomorrow as the first coat is suppose to go on. I can see the end now and I cant wait to move in and start a difference focus for this blog. The house is looking like a home, all new and sparkling (only because the windows have been cleaned LOL)

Mrs B

Blackbutt Flooring....

Our blackbutt flooring...this is what it looks like with just one sand. We are going with a satin finish, just a more natural look.

Could not resist hehe ...another pic of our front door.

Just got back from the house. Our lovely landscape man is meeting us tomorrow (had to cancel as he was held up at a job) but we saw our beautiful blackbutt flooring .. it has been given a very light sand for the first time. It will take 5 days to complete the whole house as it has to be done in stages. I am so excited that I couldn't help but post pictures. Feeling much more positive as the house is starting to look less like a bomb site and more like a home we can actually move in to. Getting closer to moving in....but still feels like a dream.

Mrs B

Designers to Watch-Robin Standefer and Stephen Alesch

Have you ever read about someone's life, and say, man, that is one bitching life! We do. A lot of it is from fashion and design magazines. You know, the ones that are always about some pretty young thing who is, invariably, married to some hedge fund manager; has a pied-a-terre in Paris; a loft in New York; a country house in Connecticut?

Well, aside from reading these for fun, we also love it for inspirations as well. It's kinda like a break from the mundane of our everyday's life, right? Like, five minutes of fantasy before we get back to figuring out how to pay our mortage this month?

Which brings us to the topic of this blog--we were reading in W Magazine today about Robin Standefer and Stephen Alesch as an emerging design team which we never heard of. Orignally started out as designers of movie sets, they are now a hot ticket in the design world. We just love their originality! What was interesting about them is that neither was trained in interior design. They just do what they love, and the rest just follows.

That's something to be inspired by, isn't it? Do what you love, and the rest will follow. Repeat that three times, will you?

Here is a picture of the couple from the NY Times. Read the article.

Here is a picture of their kitchen from New York Magazine.







To see more of their work, check out the web site or follow their blog here.

Upholstery from Nathan Anthony

We use a lot of Nathan Anthony products for our home staging projects. They are reasonably-priced; the turn around time is pretty fast; and they come up with new stuff all the time.

Quality-wise it's reasonable. We would say that it's in the mid range... It's not super high end. The prices reflect that. It's the kind of furniture you buy when you want to be stylish and happening while you are waiting for the big bucks. Generally a queen bed goes for $1500 or so, and a sofa between $1500-$1800 depending on what fabric you choose.

Here are some of our favorites:

This bed reminds us of the one Charlotte has in "Sex in the City". Remember how she has this beautiful creamy bed with creamy lamps and white roses? That apartment was so awesome...

Isn't this banquet awesome? It's one of those things that works so well in a round room. We probably would break it up a bit though with some chairs.

This bed is a HUGE seller! It's so pretty in person ...

You can browse for most of the collection on Nathan Anthony's web site. You can use their fabrics which are shown on line, or do COM (customer own materials). A good place to browse for fabrics is our fabric store. There are over 100,000 fabric patterns on the site.

Nathan Anthony only sells to the trade though, so if you need pricing & stuff like that, drop us a line...

Trina Turk Fabrics for F. Schumacher

Designer collaborations are everywhere nowadays. You see Pierre Hardy designing shoes for the Gap, Alex McQueens for Target--all designed to bring high-end designs to the masses. Although we have to say, we're not that impressed. Has anyone seen the Vera Wang collection for Kohl? Cheap looks cheap, no matter what name you put on it.

For Schumacher though, the designer collaborations are quite successful. A good example would be the Kelly Wearstler fabric collection for Schumacher, especially the Imperial Trellis pattern. It sells like hot cakes. Come to think of it, it's the only pattern that seems to do well.

Trina Turk just did a collection of indoor/outdoor fabrics for F Schumacher that we thought is quite pretty. It has her signature of bright, bold colors and retro look.

Here are some samples of it. You can view the rest of the collection here.


This is a clever use of the fabric shown at the Pasadena Showcase House 2009.









Most patterns retail for $78-80/yard. You can get it for considerably less at our fabric store.

Pretty Fabrics from Thomas Paul for Duralee

We love Thomas Paul. Started out as a pillows line, Thomas Paul has now taken off like a rocket with a rug line with Chandra and recently, a licensed fabric collection with Duralee. His stuff is casual, colorful and reasonably-priced--a perfect combination when you want to brighten things up a bit without spending tons of money.

Here are some samples from the lines. You can see the rest of the book here.









Thomas Paul fabrics run about $50/yard retail, but you can get about 30-40% off the retail prices at our fabric store.

The end is near...

Sorry I haven't posted a while and commented on all my favourite blogs! I have been so preoccupied with other things in life, dwelling on a few 'well meaning' comments by neighbours about why hasn't our house been finished yet. I think I can almost see the end in sight. We have had so many tradesman at our house, frantically trying to finish it off before our builder goes away on another overseas holiday. We have to be in before he goes...that is a given. This is such a critical time for a house build like this as the attention to detail is so important. If he rushes the jobs, it will show. We haven't waited 16 months to get a second rate finish to our house. Renderers are almost finished and the house looks so much better. Our beautiful, beautiful front door was put on today. Look at the finish, I have never seen such a finish to a front door. It is like glass and the colour is just stunning in real life. Our builder really has got some really top tradies working for him. This is what keeps me positive.
So, a few more pictures...

Front of house with our new front door and render almost done...

Our shiny green door, I still cant get over the glass look it has...I cant wait to see how my native garden is going to look at the front of the house.

Side of the house...

Our back garden...fence almost completed (the coulor of the fence is suppose to be the dark colour as in the previous picture) I take terrible photos!

Kitchen pictures for borg (member of my house forum)

I didn't go for an undermount sink like so many kitchens have now. I was so concerned about my granite , banging heavy greasy pots on it that I decided to go for the sink as shown in the picture.

I love my bins...

My tandem drawers ...the small one inside the bigger one.

More kitchen detail for Borg...

Mrs B