Designalogue

Whoops.  Its again been a while! ….. I’m sick of apologising for delayed absences and it makes  a very boring blog – so, lets just move on shall we?

I do promise that my next post wont be all about me! (also makes for a boring blog!)  But for now, please indulge me as I just had to sneak this picture (yes, blurry picture!) in of a project I have in the works:

I am really pleased with how its coming together and even more pleased that its now out of the confines of  my head and in the real world!

The turquoise velvet chair really had my heart a flutter as do the blinds that look so beautiful (um…if I do say so myself!) Still to come is a cabinet that I have designed, made from reclaimed timber in an ebonised finish using all natural finishes including bees wax.

My client and I are also investigating different heating options, and looking at using this groovy number which burns ethanol, a clean heating alternative which doesnt require a bulky flue and doesnt dry the air out. Very cool, but requires some further investigating…

As I am self imposing a ban on my self promotion here for a while…. I will just sneak this link in…… the lovely and clever Tess McCabe of Creative Women’s circle has included me in a profile series she is doing for the CWC blog.   here if you want to read a wee bit more about me!

And for the creative women of Melbourne out there (little red… I’m talking to you!) you might be interested in checking out the next CWC meeting, its always inspiring to here the triumphs and the woes of other creative women face in their own businesses.

Just saying!

Aw, poor Designalogue Blog. You are so neglected by your maker. 3 months since my last post. Oops.

I wouldn’t say you have been forgotten about you dear blog…just kinda pushed you to the back of my mind while I got on with other things.  But blog guilt has  finally got to me, and so here I am giving you a bit of the attention that you desire. (Take what you can get!)

So to news of late…

I recently flew up to  Darwin for a few days to work on a project. For those not familiar with Australia’s geography, Darwin is the city up the top & in the middle of Australia where its hot, really hot all the time and they have  a lot of  big bitey things in the water. (of which I saw none – kinda sadly!) My only brush with the interesting nature of the area was accidentally peeing on a sweet little green tree frog. I didn’t realise the little guy was there until it was too late…… but saved in time before the flush! Lesson learned – when in the tropics, check where you are sitting! Even where you are sitting is in a bathroom on the second floor – wee critters like climbing pipes it seems!

Sadly and well, very inconveniently my camera died. As it turns out little snappy cameras cant handle being dropped on the floor after about 110 times. Up till that last drop, I swear it was totally fine. Life without a camera on hand to snap away is a bit sad. The camera in my Iphone  just doesnt cut it. So until a new camera comes  my way…will my vague descriptions of things work on a design based blog?

Im thinking not.

So no pictures to share of interesting things in Darwin. But hopefully  I will have got around to getting myself a new camera by my next trip up in a few months time. Maybe  then we can have a slide night?

As this is a design based blog, I cant leave this post without a picture or two – so thought I would share some chairs that I recently had re upholstered for a client:

Before – needing a bit of zhoosh!

Before....

& after….

They are part of a project that is coming along so beautifully & I cant wait to share it… but all in good time!

In an effort to be more communicative dear blog, I thought I would share some random pictures of some project goodies that have been keeping me busy and away from the attentions that you dear blog, so deserve.

Now this picture may just look like some bits of fabric to you. But really its 2 sofas, 2 louis chairs & some fabulous scatter cushions.

See it now?

How about this picture?

Well obviously its a nail trimmed bed head and feature wallpaper. But you knew that right?!

What about this lot?

Easy – two  sofas, two chairs and scatter cushions.

And then this picture….do you see a kitchen?

And so with all those happenings in the works,  I’m jumping on a plane and heading out of town for the next week to chill out in Byron Bay.  Where after attending a friends wedding, I totally intend to stare for hours out at the ocean, walk aimlessly along the beach and go in search of  mountain goats around the lighthouse.

I also intend on recreating this photo of myself from the last time I was up yonder.

Ahh, serenity now!

I do love a good apple and in our house we eat quite a lot of them. Personally I favor the Pink Lady but wont turn away a good Fuji. Each to their own, right?

So I assume its a world wide thing, but in case its not… here in the land down under our apples all have annoying stickers on them signifying what I thought was their batch or grower or something, but have just found out they are simply Price look up codes  for the markets to indicate fruit sizes etc. My version was more interesting, but what ever!

A while back, Fella read an article that he couldn’t seem to forget about how someone is employed at the sewage plant to scuba dive into the sewers and remove all the apple stickers that get eaten, and them um, come out again and collect in the pipes and wot not clogging up the sewerage system (oh I do hope that gig pays out sweet moolah)

Being the caring and sharing people that we are, we thought about this situation and thought about what we two could do to help ease the burden of these ‘shit divers’ and this is our solution: The apple sticker board!

I love it!

And credit where credit is due – this is all the handy work of the clever fella! He did it all from the design to getting all handy man and cutting, sanding and painting (my colour choice – naturally!)

I will pubicly admit that I have been quite bossy about the placement of the stickers, and have even ever so eloquently spouted the words “I am a designerrrrrrrr – do it MY way”  demanding that the stickers be placed neatly upon rather than randomly and messily all over and I think its fair to say again publicly – I was totally right – it rocks!

Ah, the 4130′s, what a tasty code that be!

So thats about as crazy as we get in this joint! Party on & seasons greetings people!!

This week a kitchen project I have been working on for a while was almost nearly finished.  Finished enough to exhale and do a round of back patting and hi-fives, but not quite enough to do the celebratory dance that goes with the end of a project or share the happy snaps.  Still to come is a bit of ‘frosting’!

But I am completely in love with these beautiful bamboo shelves and the Egyptian ball pendants, and in the mood for sharing!  so share I am:

Stay tuned for more on this soon!

I swear to you that I ain’t no stage mother – rather just a proud mother of a furry son!

My boy hit the design world big time today – featuring on the Desire to Inspire – Pets on furniture post.

Um, ignoring the fact that to be included on such a post all you have to do is email in a picture of said pet on furniture – I’m a proud mumma of my lazy boy!

After months of cold and chilly temperatures, Spring is just bursting to be sprung!!

There is no escaping it: the air is smelling of flowery goodness and blossom has taken over the trees, even the sky is getting into the spirit and flashing its pretty blues once again! -ah, its been so long!

My teeny garden is also celebrating the change of season & in the process of busting out some much needed colour. Bring it on!

Hello! Just a shout out to let you peoples know I am guesting over at super fab blog Design Crisis today, or is it tomorrow?  Oh the time difference is all confusing!!

Well what ever..you can catch me over yonder talking the bling! So go & visit and dont be shy to come on back here and say hello!

link here for the Design Crisis fabulousness!

I recently came across the Creative Women’s Circle – a group in my Melbourne town that brings together women working in creative industries and small businesses to share information, inspiration and ideas. 

Well – I fit into ALL of those categories, so this coming Satdy morn I am going to tottle down and check this out! If you are also a chick who is interrested – find more info here

This weekends meeting chit chat, also includes a fabric swap, of which the idea of makes me break into a cold sweat! Fabrics are something I get very very excited by! 

I am lucky enough to have spent many a year working closely with gorgeous textiles and have built up quite a booty of delish!  To me, just owning some super Divine goodies is enough! Actually using them would just be wrong! I mean what if it was ruined – it couldn’t ever be used again!? But in the spirit of the day, I am going to go through my stash and decide which of the goodies I can and can not live without, and hope that someone else feels the same and has some awesome goodies for me to nab!

***Update -The meeting has been & gone & was very inspiring! 

That is all!

Um, how did it become May already? I swear it was New year just a couple of weeks back and we here in Melbourne town were in a heat wave. Suddenly its May, and we are having a super freeze. I’m beginning to think that Mother Earth has taken up quick step dancing! or just maybe I am just in a time bubble?!

So in the weeks gone by (though it feels like mere hours!) Ive just been doing my ‘thing’. Some of this involved helping the lovlies at Lump Scultpure Studio put a display together for the big annual designery trade  show “Interior Designex‘ to display how beautiful their light boxes can look beautiful Inside as well as out!  This is the result of that: 

CMD for Lump DX2009

CMD for Lump DX2009

As I only had a week & a bit to gather bits & pieces for the stand, I had to use what I could get my hands on quick sticks! This meant most of the display came from my stocks! (read my home!) But with some assistance from Diane Bergeron & Interstudio. 

The other side of the stand was as so: 

Ah then as quick as a flash, but not soon enough, the weekend came!!

Sunday was a perfect day. Blue skies, 19 degrees (that’s about 62F) and just gorgeous! Fella and I jumped in the car and headed up to a friends farm -an hour & a bit out of town for a lovely Sunday lunch. This is my idea of a perfect day!

To get to the farm we travelled past the areas recently hit by the tragic bush fires. (For what this is in reference to click here) I stuck my camera out of the sun roof of the car to take some crappy snaps of what now is. (I think the pics are pretty good considering the car is travelling at 100kms! (that’s about 62 miles per hour!))

This picture shows a vineyard with the burned hills in the back ground. The vineyard was untouched – the vines just look burnt as its now Autumn here. 

These pictures show how devastating the fires were. Apparently, bush fires are usually close to the ground, leaving the tree canopies relatively unscathed. As the bush was so dry – from a hot summer as well as 11 years of drought, as these images show everything went up in flames.

My heart breaks thinking of the animal life that had no chance of escaping. 

The yellow ribbon that someone has placed on this tree is the symbol that acknowledges these fires and raises money for those who suffered.

Although it is Autumn (fall) here. These trees are red from the fire – not the season. All these trees are native to Australia and dont shred their leaves in the seasons. 

Three months on from the fires and the forests are already greening up with new growth. 

And then to the farm we got! So beautiful! and its one of my favorite places in which to be. An hour there makes me feel like I have had a week away.  

 Ahh the serenity! until…

Why is it that boys feel the need to throw stuff? Apparently this tree was just asking to be target practise! (practising for what?!) I will point out – no animal or bird life was in the line of fire. 

And me and him felt the need to do some loved up posing in the sun set! 

And then it was done. and back to the city we went… for another week to go by quick as a flash!