A POC on Your House

I have wanted a piece by local Melbourne label POC since I first saw the designers individual RMIT graduate collections back in 2012 so I was really happy to score this dress from their first POC collection on the weekend at the fundraising garage sale I mentioned in my last post. The garage sale was raising much needed money for 19 year old Isabelle 'Baby Riss' Ruiz who has been diagnosed with the rare, life threatening blood disease aHUS, the medicine for which is not subsidised by the government making it grossly expensive and out of reach. Her medicine costs $600 000 per year! You can help by donating directly over at her Fundly campaign and like their facebook page to keep up to date on their campaign and Baby's health. In terms of the dress I am so happy to have been able to have my money go to a good cause AND get a dress I love and have wanted forever! I love how the local fashion community got together to donate their wears for the cause - it makes me want to support the designers who donated even more.

Outfit details
Denim dress POC
Scarf used as turban Rapp 'Ostra Scarf'
Pom pom earrings Tokyo
Sunglasses Tsumori Chisato from Pet Shop Girls
Furry bangle Bubbles Harajuku
White flatforms Jeffrey Campbell

My turban is a beautiful silk scarf by my very talented textile designer friend Eloise Rapp whose label Rapp just launched an amazing new collection - the lookbook for which is just about the best thing I've ever seen.

Scarf used as turban Rapp 'Ostra Scarf'
Pom pom earrings Tokyo
Sunglasses Tsumori Chisato from Pet Shop Girls

Faux fur accessories are everywhere in Tokyo right now, I picked this up for about $10 and have been wearing it everywhere ever since.

Furry bangle Bubbles Harajuku

Fringing and fraying denim - it kind of matches our wall hangings don't you think?

Denim dress POC

Dirty shoes on the couch - oh my!

White flatforms Jeffrey Campbell

Glam!

Get the look!!!

How to make a terrarium

 In my post this week where I let you all have a sneak peak at our new place I promised to show you how to make a terrarium. Well here is my tutorial on how to make yourself your own terrarium.

Step 1:

Gather your materials. You will need:

• A glass vessel of some kind, we went with a classic round fish tank from the local $2 shop. Ours cost $15.
• Plants. We chose succulents which are known for their robust survival skills. Our local nursery had them for $3 a pot.
• Stones for drainage and decorative purposes, you can buy them at garden supplies stores but we found our stones for free.
• Potting mix.This bag was $4.
• Gardening gloves as its a messy job.
 Total Cost: $22

Step 2:

Make your drainage layer by adding stones of your choice. Some people add charcoal first as it aids drainage but we have skipped this step as we couldn't find any and have read mixed reports on whether it is really necessary.

Step 3:

Add your potting mix to the desired planting height.

Step 4:

Plant your plants, trying to make it a visually pleasing arrangement. Keep in mind they have more chance at survival if you plant them at the same level in which they were originally planted in their original pot. We also planted a succulent cutting we let dry out for the last month allowing for new roots to appear.

Step 5:

This step is optional, but we decided to decorate the top with a layer of rocks. So there you have it, 5 easy steps to make a terrarium for your house for a total of $22. I remember being fascinated as a kid by my Nana's terrarium, imagining little forest creatures living in the glass box having a fantastic time, its nice to have this little reminder of those times looking pretty in my home. I'm hoping to have more DIY style posts over the coming months, some fashion and some interior themed DIY's as I'm always making and creating but never documenting the process. xoxo

Small Apartment Living

Welcome to our home, please leave your coat by the front door on our tree shaped hat stand. There is a funny story about that hat stand which you can read about here. You can also see I have always been obsessed with entry hallway's, having made three posts about them back in 2008 here, here and here (FYI Henry broke my beloved Jenny Kee vase featured in that last hallway post). I guess why I am so obsessed with the entrance of a home is because its the first thing you see when you walk in, and I want mine to have that wow factor. You may recognise the white metal shelf, that piece used to sit in our kitchen in our Melbourne home as a display of all my favourite (at the time) red kitchen stuff, and it used to be much taller. Then in our 1st Sydney home it was in my office as extra storage for all the mess working as a stylist generates. The great thing is the shelf is adjustable and comes in two pieces so we were able to make it two shelves instead of just the one so it could work with our new Sydney pad. The first section sitting in our hallway and the second on the balcony as a plant stand.


If you follow me on twitter then you would know we recently had to move house as our lease was up (never again will we sign a 9 month lease, but being new to Sydney at the time we didn't know any better and needed a place ASAP). Well the new place is absolutely tiny, about a third of the size of our last place and a lot smaller than our old Melbourne apartment, but what initially scared us about this place has made us fall in love with it. By placing furniture in defined zones, downsizing a few items and keeping to a clean white colour palette I think we make the most of the tiny amount of space available. In a way its a very Japanese way of living, our apartment wouldn't look out of place in Tokyo (but the rent in Tokyo would be much cheaper, much much much cheaper!).

Vintage Danish Sideboard bought in Melbourne at Clear iT on Brunswick Street back when it used to also sell vintage furniture, for around $300. Vintage Danish Coffee Table bought on ebay for $5. Ikea Flakati rug $39.99. Vintage white sofa bed from ebay for under $100.

As you can see we have split the small living space into three sections. Living, Study and Kitchen which helps optimise the space. Our furniture is mostly from our Melbourne place which we got trucked up here (moving from Melbourne to Sydney was cheaper than moving from one end of the street to the other, yep when we moved we moved to the same street, and no this is not the first time I have lived on the same street more than once, if it ain't broke don't fix it I say) The only major change is the dining chairs as our old chrome chairs took up too much space so we sold them on ebay and replaced them with classic replica Eames dining chairs from Matt Blatt for $79 each.

The white stool in the mirror is a new buy from Kmart, and for only $5. I have one in the bedroom as my dressing table stool and we have one outside on the balcony as a plant stand.

The mirror is a tried and true decorators tip to help make the space seem larger. We bought the mirror for our last place as there were no full length mirrors in the house and it sat in our bedroom. I'm glad we could make it work in our new space as that thing was a total bitch to take home on the train from ikea, haha. The key to renting and living stylishly is to buy pieces that will fit in with all your other furniture no matter where or how it is positioned. So try to buy matching items in colour, tone or size. Another tip is don't get too attached to a piece because moving around can mean it wont work at all even if you have tried to keep to the aforementioned rule of buying only things that match.Thanks to ebay and gumtree getting rid of unwanted items is easily done, but it can be sad to see much loved items go (on the plus side you get some money for new stuff).


As the space is so small we only have two dining chairs, but we do have four white ikea folding chairs that sit in the gap between the fridge, utilising empty space and perfect for when guests come over.


The new place didn't have a pantry, or any room for our microwave, so we bought this cute little Ikea Bygel kitchen trolley for $49.


Our tv is a few years old and non digital so we have a set top box set up, not very pretty but functional.


The skull that holds our tv remotes is from one of those children's collect the whole series to create the full set thingys from a newsagency. It was the 1st in the series and us such was at an introductory price of $2 and was the only piece we wanted, score!


We made the terrarium (instructions on how to make one yourself coming this week) and it sits on a replica Kartel Componibili shelf from Matt Blatt for $99.



My sister gave me the Sydney bus destination scroll as a house warming gift.


Our study area is bright and full of little pieces of inspiration from our travels.


The teeth in cup is from an art event I held in art school called Swap Shop where the idea was to swap pieces of art for other pieces of art, and this is what I ended up with. The wooden Elephant is from a newsagency (I find some cool things at newsagencies it seems) The vintage Tasco microscope is from Savers.


Missing a few issues here and there but still a great collection of my fave mag, Russh.


The bunny is from Tokyo and the mini replica Robert Indiana Love sculpture is from Typo. Henry and I have seen the sculpture in person in both New York and Tokyo so this is a nice little reminder.


This macrame hanging plant holder is my first ever etsy buy, and I love it. It was a custom order from The Scarf Tree: Modern Macrames and it only cost me $16! My only wish was that the hook was on the other side of the balcony as it sits on the "ugly side" above the air con unit. As renters we're not allowed to put any new hooks in.


Here is the "pretty side" of our balcony. The fern and giant cane Papasan chair are both Surry Hills Markets finds, the later for only $100. The chair is so comfortable, its like sitting in a hug.

So that's our new home, and its sure to evolve and change over time just like my personal style. Already compared to our home in Melbourne its a lot more grown up, there are less bold hits of red and the colour palette is more subdued. I love interiors just as much as I love fashion, and often get jealous of my husband who works as an Interior Architect. I want to spend my days choosing tiles and finding the perfect chair for a client. Mind you he also does tricky architecture stuff I don't know anything about, I just like the decorating side of things. Well I hope you enjoyed the post and if you have any questions about where things are from that I may have missed I'll answer you in the comments below. xoxo

New Year New Wardrobe

Welcome to 2011. I had a wonderful but short break in Melbourne and have been back at work since Monday. Being back at work so soon has been made that much easier thanks to a total wardrobe makeover/organisational revamp that is finally complete. The wardrobe itself, while larger than any I have had in previous homes, didn't have any shelving or drawers. So off to ikea it was to pick up the Antonius wire basket drawers $70 and the circle scarf hanger $8. The two shoe racks (upper and lower) are from The Reject Shop, and hold my 50 + pairs of shoes (most of which are covered in the lower section by clothes) $25 and $20 each. Over the door is a Howards Storage World door hanging rack $25, and on the pole are three hooks I found at a local $2 shop, $3 for the set which are perfect for hanging hats, belts and over sized bags in a space that would have otherwise been unutilised.


I can't believe I ever shared a space less than this size with Henry for four years!


My favourite and most worn shoes all go on display on the top shelf. From Left to right, top to bottom: NEW Rubi Shoes buckle wedges $39, Nu + Nan zipper wedge $90, Tsumori Chisato fringed wedges from Opening Ceremony $650, NEW Target Espadrill Wedges $25 on sale, Chloe shoes which were worn to my wedding (price unknown as wish not to think about it), Rubi Shoes clogs $35, Jeffrey Campbell creepers $110 from Nasty Gal, Wittner clogs $139, Urban Outfitters wedges $100, Topshop buckle wedges $100.


My bags hanging from the Howards Storage World door rack. The fur tail is fake fur and was a gift!


Awesome find of the year, $2 shop hooks working their organisational magic. Ikea circle scarf holder doing what it does best, holding scarves.


My new dressing table was found on ebay and I love it. It deceptively manages to hold nearly as much as my large old 1950's dresser did, but is more compact and chic and Henry is actually able to open his wardrobe door. I'm still looking for the perfect dressing table chair, so am covering a $9 ikea bucket chair with a fake fur blanket we had lying around for the moment. Our bedroom is at the back of our apartment, and as such gets virtually no natural light even with the strange half walls we have (so annoying as there is no privacy when guests are here) hence the lamp. The half wall, whilst  ugly, is handy as it doubles as a shelf, we are thinking of putting some indoor plants on it to make it less stark and give us some more privacy.


My jewellery is normally kept in its dust bags/boxes but I took it all out to show you all. My Estelle Deve necklace, Drown refraction necklace, Marc Jacobs pin from first trip to NYC, Shu Uemera feather eyelashes, Make Believe flower necklace, Does Not Equal arrow necklace, Alpha60 Owl pin, Gala Curios bow necklace, Hand ring holder from Urban Outfitters in NYC with assorted City Chic rings.


Too many perfume choices. My current fave is Vera Wang Glam Princess, which has a pretty ugly bottle but is my idea of the prefect scent for summer.


Make-up is kept in a desk tidy from Ikea, with assorted jewellery, sunnies and hand mirrors all stored here.


The best part of the dressing table is you can flip the mirror down and hide all the make-up mess. The dressing table reminds me a little of Betty Drapers on Mad Men as hers had this function too.

All up this make over cost about $300 including the dressing table. Pretty good don't you think? Its such a pleasure getting dressed in the morning with so much space and everything in its spot.

Our new Sydney pad

If you follow me on twitter then you may have already seen these photos. These are the rental listing photos for the apartment we moved into up here in Sydney. As you can see it is quite a spacious 1 bedroom apartment with polished concrete floors and some industrial fittings (the bench in the kitchen stayed but we took down the tv stand in favour of our own vintage Danish sideboard)


Another amazing feature is our rooftop pool with a view of the famous Sydney skyline (from the opposite angle to this photo!)

However we are having problems decorating it in my usual red and white girly way, which you can see from the photos below (which were taken for Real Living magazine but never published!) really suited our last place.






You could also say, that after living with the red for so long, its got a little old and boring for us and I love a new decorating and styling challenge. I feel like moving to Sydney is in a way moving into adulthood and I want my home to reflect that, especially as I work from home and have clients come by often. So I'm feeling a more muted palette is needed, with a few new pieces of statement furniture and maybe even a little bit of nature to bring it to that next level. We have already sold the red lounge chairs, and we left behind quite a lot of my red bits and bobs in Melbourne so now we just need to slowly add some tone, texture and nature, like in my current inspiration/want it now board!


From Left to Right: Hanging Egg Chair for our balcony (similar can be found at Damayne), Matt Blatt Replica Jens Risom Lounge Chair $399 to replace our old red lounge chairs, David Shrigley doona cover from Third Drawer Down $250 cos its so freaking cool, Fern from local nursery, Pappis box from Ikea $1.99 cos as a stylist I have loads and loads of stuff! Macrame hanging from ebay as have been obsessed with macrame for ages, Redalen bed from Ikea $339 because it reminds me of my mothers old rattan dining room setting straight from the 1970's, oh the memories.

I'll blog the progress of our home style transformation, which will be slow as some of the things we want are a bit pricey, but I'll keep you all up to date.

Big life changes

You may need to sit down because


I've thrown caution to the wind


and moved to Sydney.


Yep, that's right. I've moved cities, hence a really long time between blog posts (sorry guys). I haven't even blogged all my NYC photos yet and I've been back nearly 3 weeks now. Luckily I wore some of my NYC purchases while out showing Henry around (yesterday was his 1st ever day in Sydney, yep the day he moved here). I came up last weekend to look for an apartment and we signed the lease on this awesome 1 bedroom apartment near Surry Hills yesterday, can't wait to show you guys. I can't believe how fast that was and that this all happened so suddenly. I got offered a job with City Chic while I was in NYC, and went through the interview process as soon as I got home and got it, so that is amazing, and now I start Monday. It's an amazing opportunity, working in the buying team (only as admin buying assistant) but there is room to grow and I love the team. I'm really lucky to be getting my dream career all because of my blog, so don't worry I'm going to be blogging more regularly soon (it may take time to get the internet on in our new place so give me time) I will never stop blogging, it has changed my life!

Anyway outfit details:

Brown floppy hat: Fun Accessories $29.95 My favourite accessory right now.
Make Believe necklace: gift from the designers
Dress: NEW from Topshop in NYC $90
Elke Kramer bangle: gift
Leggings: Kinji in Harajuku $8
Brown belt: Came with a dress I bought in NYC so free


Last but not least, the shoes are from Topshop in NYC again, only $90 and I bloody love them. By the way, I didn't only shop at Topshop while I was in NYC, I have so much more to show you but its all in boxes and bags right now.

Williamsburg aka my fave part of NYC

Nicolette (middle) lives in the most fabulous NYC style loft in Williamsburg, exposed brick walls, dark floorboards and a galley kitchen, oh I was in love. This photo was taken on her rooftop with a view of Manhattan and the Williamsburg bridge. Sakina and I were in awe of the view.




5 Leaves, the Williamsburg establishment that was initially set up by the late Heath Ledger. It has a very Australian vibe about it. Looks like it could be in Fitzroy, Surry Hills or Fortitude Valley.


The interior is all muted tones and vintage furniture. Glasses are old jam jars, reminds me of my Nana's house.


I was meeting up with Dylan and Rochelle, who you may remember from a post a while back where I was excited they were finally home after 2 years in the UK. Well as soon as they were home they left again for New York for a few months. This was actually their last night in New York before going home.


One of the best meals I had the whole time I was away, home made beetroot ravioli with burnt butter sauce. To die for.


An empty lot on Bedford Ave, a great place for this random Gorilla sitting at a desk playing guitar installation.


You can tell this is a hipster area by the number of bicycles left at the station.


I met up with my friend Ebony (one of the women behind Make Believe, they make those giant flower necklaces, we know each other because we all lived in Tokyo at the same time) she has moved to NYC with her boyfriend, who is a musician.


Here Ole is playing in his band...the name of which I forget. They were really good though.


Love love love


Beacons Closet is where I found some vintage Miu Miu's for $18. I didn't buy them though as they weren't my size. I do wish I bought this awesome bag I found, I went back a day later and it was gone. It was the perfect replacement to my slowly falling apart fringed bag.


OAK is a store everyone was telling me to check out. It was pretty fabulous, you should check out the online store. I checked out the Manhattan branch too. At the Williamsburg store you need to buzz and then they open the door for you, problem is I couldn't find the damn buzzer, cue much embarrassment. I was pleased to notice they sell Australian label Evil Twin amoungst the Alexander Wang and OAK's own in house label A.OK.


I sure hope so.






I saw a truck on fire. Directly below the train tracks.




I bumped into Nicolette and her partner on Bedford Ave on their way to the Roaring 20's: Jazz Age Lawn Party on Governors Island. Click the link to check out her photos of the event. They both look so chic.


Another blogger I got to meet up with was Queen Gilda, who I have wanted to meet for a very long time because we both share an intense love of Japan, as we both have lived there. She studied fashion at both Tokyo's Bunka and NYC's Parsons so she is definitely going places in the fashion industry. Check out her kawaii thesis collection Revasseue: for lovers and daydreamers. Oh and the girl we are sitting on the stoop with is a lovely reader from Australia, who is living in NYC at the moment, and she had hoped to bump into me around town, and well she did. So nice when people say hi to me, and so surprising when it happens overseas.


We went to the Williamsburg Artists and Fleas market, which is very much like the Rose Street Market back home, with a bit more vintage thrown in. But geeeeeez it was the hottest day in the history of hot days, we also went shopping in Soho, and by the end we needed to buy lots of lemonade and cheap $2.50 Old Navy thongs (flip flops) because of the blisters (well my shoes actually fell apart after surviving intact a whole summer in Aus and trip to Tokyo, New York got them in the end).




I was drawn to this bright table, and the cute dog.


I bought a geometric red ring from this stall holder, similar designs are available from her Etsy store Helveta Vyotlag.