pool envy...

David Hockney's 'A Bigger Splash'

Summer has well and truly arrived here and the evening air is full of the delicious aroma of sizzling BBQs and the sound of neighbours splashing about in their backyard pools...

There's nothing like diving into the cool depths after a stinker of a day, or so I imagine... Aah, if only we had one of these beauties to cool off in at the bottom of our garden.

Fab or what?! The iconic Kauffman House, Palm Springs

Post splash... Novogratz residence, Great Barrington

poolside beauty courtesy of Elle DECOR

'Pink Pool Innertube' by Californian Artist Danny Heller

Stone clad beauty captured by The Selby

'Peach Sky Empty Pool' by Sydney Artist Paul Davies

One day... In the meantime, we really should become better friends with our neighbours..

que sera sera...

Some time ago, while wasting an hour (or two) browsing realestate.com.au, I came across a little house that made my heart skip a beat...

Undeterred by the sad state of disrepair (it was pretty much advertised as a demolition job), it's location on a busy road or the fact that we're really not in the market to buy anything right now.., I immediately began dreaming and scheming of how to rescue this little yellow butterfly from the wrecking ball and transform it into our modernist dream home.

My (far too practical) husband was not at all convinced though.., In his opinion, my new love could only mean trouble, very expensive trouble and was surprised that after all the Grand Designs and Sarah Beeny property disasters I'd watched, I didn't know better.. So for the time being I dropped it.

Secretly though, I just couldn't let it go and last weekend I finally dragged the family across town for a visit. Seeing the house in the flesh instantly reignited my interest and not just mine either!! Husband was more than warming to the idea...

After spending the next couple of days sketching potential floor plans on napkins and talking endlessly of how best to bring this baby back to her fabulous former glory.., I finally rang the realestate agent this morning and......

It's gone!!! The dream is over..!



Ah well, back to reality, I guess... or until the next diversion.
ps. On the up side, I'm pretty sure the little butterfly is being bought by a like minded soul, so it may be saved after all..

red painted chairs!

Fresh from The Selby, this is the Auckland home of Karen Walker & Mikhail Guerman.

Totally my kind of house.., great furniture, stacks of books and an enviable art collection. Cool, laid back and definitely not pretentious. Just what I expected from Karen Walker I guess...

This it the photo that really jumped out at me, the dining room.  Lacquer red, cobalt blue, crisp white and blond cane set against soft grey walls and a dark floor... Wow, I love it!!

I guess I've always been a fan of a red painted chair, nothing pops quite like it...

Fancy that, the colour of Thom's first chair is...

great old ad courtesy of periodpaper.com

Recently I've been helping my sister with ideas to update their kitchen. One suggestion was to add some colour by giving their existing kitchen stools a lick of bright red paint (not unlike the ones in the Walker/Guerman kitchen). I'm not sure if I quite sold the idea, so hopefully she sees this and is won over...

kitchen update ideas.

grand design indeed...

Last night I caught the new series of Grand Designs on Lifestyle (new to Australia anyway). As a serial renter with aspirations of 'one day' building our own little dream pad, I've always been a big fan of this show.

Last night's episode 'Lizard Peninsular', was probably the most inspiring yet. It featured the home of Kathryn Tyler, a talented young interior designer based in Cornwall...  I just loved it! The modernist/scandi vibe is right up my alley.

Kathryn's use of white painted brick, oak joinery and polished concrete reminds me of the work of  Brisbane architects Owen and Vokes...  Here's a couple of examples of their work below.

They're in my 'dream house file' too...