Industrial Relation

That stylish library shot in the previous post belongs to designer Jill Brinson. Before she moved she used to live in her photographer husband's studio - a revamped plow factory in Atlanta.

Just LOVE the mix of antiques with industrial stuff. (You can see more at Design Sponge).

The cabinets are a great look for my Hall project. I also have old laboratory sinks for the bathroom and a huge one for the laundry.

Industrial Strength

I can't stand looking at my 'reality post' any longer - its too untidy and depressing and unfinished!

Lets imagine how the hall will look in about a year from now...

Here are a few kitchens I quite like plus a double height space from one of my favourite houses from last year which was in House Beautiful. Pic 4 is for the gorgeous Sub Zero fridge I have been coveting at Winnings Appliances.

I am leaning towards the stainless steel look - yes, thats Martha herself in the dungarees in her city galley kitchen. It IS the country here but you wont get me in overalls - you will get me in a stainless steel kitchen, however.

Love the dark grey shelving inspiration for my butlers pantry. I feel very grown up to have a Butler's Pantry, which is bigger than my whole kitchen in the city house.

Any more killer shots of industrial/country-ish kitchens will be appreciated.

Catherine

Reno In Progress

The original Catholic church hall from the South Coast town of Nowra, now in our back yard.

The southern end of the hall shows how high the ceiling will be.

The laundry has a long way to go, but I like the casement windows we put in.

This is the "bridge" from the old house into the hall.

The kitchen area - shelves are where my oven etc will go - remember this for later. The butler's pantry is the door on the left.

This is the layout for the island bench with sink and stools marked.

A building site is never pretty. Apologies for the lack of visual inspiration but this post is all about real life - call it reality blogging.

Our "recycled" church hall is underway at a snail's pace, but making some progress, nevertheless. So we can all appreciate where we have come, say in six months from now, these photos of the kitchen, end wall and laundry show how ugly it can look before it starts to look like you could actually live in it.

Underneath the floor covering are lovely old boards - hopefully all in good condition. We think the building is mid 1800's which is quite old for us antipodeans.

Will keep you posted.

Brisbane House in Print

The new issue of Aust. Womens Weekly (with Nicole Kidman on the cover) has a story we did about a beautiful Queenslander renovated by the Azzopardi family. It is just near the Brisbane River but hopefully just high enough to have escaped inundation.

The designer girls at Lily G, Melinda and Natalee, did a lovely job helping owner Bernardette decorate the all-white house.

Here are some more photos:

P.S. The pressed metal ceilings are new. Bernardette and Roger liked the raw silver colour they came in so much, they decided to keep them that way. Because of possible corrosion however, they had to paint them silver to protect them. It's a great look.

Here's to Beautiful Brisbane Houses

These photos from stories I have done recently are typical of the graceful, older-style houses in Brisbane built up on stilts to keep them high and dry.

My husband Rob and I had plans to be up in poor old Brisbane this week but the floods changed all that. Hope all our friends and blog-friends are safe and well. We know that old mates Nigel and Ashley narrowly escaped the deluge - the water came up just under their floorboards!

To all the lovely girls I have done stories on in Brissy - I hope you and your families are safe and that your beautiful houses will get back to normal soon.

Jenny at Auchenflower, Bernardette at West End and a very pregnant Melanie at Corinda - Good Luck and take care!

Glad to hear that Anna and Simone - your gorgeous shops escaped unscathed, too.

Pottering Around The Garden

The "purple path" leading to the back door from the garage.

The vegie patch has a great view across the meadow to the mountains.

The "shed" where we keep all our reclaimed windows and doors.

Here are some photos of spots around the garden at Sky Meadow...

I should stop mucking around and go and finish a story that is due on Monday!

Blooming Pretty

Here are some inspirational images from the Bloomingville team. I just love their relaxed, modern vintage vibe.

The cool, muted colour palette is like an updated version of the traditional Swedish Gustavian greys with a dash of lilac. Love the textures of rustic wood mixed with industrial metals as well. Love it all, really...

You can find more here...

In The Vegetable Garden

Terracotta finials ready to top the tomato stakes in my vegetable garden

Jane Campsie in her decorative vegie patch in England

A garden on the Mornington Penninsula, Victoria by Paul Bangay

What better way to start a new year than in the garden. For me, at this time of year the beaches have less appeal down here due to the influx of summer holiday makers. (Apologies -this must seem far fetched if you are shivering in blizzards somewhere in the northern hemisphere.)

I have mentioned in previous posts that my vegetable garden had turned "feral" in the last few months because of the huge rainfall and warm weather, not to mention my busy schedule... Well I'm pleased to say that it has now been tamed. The giant, matted wild rocket, jurassic weeds and towering silver beets have been yanked out and new seedlings bought at the Berry markets today are about to go in.

Months of compost my husband has been diligently turning has been spread on top and I'm trying to follow organic principles and rotate the sort of crops that will go into each garden bed. Does anyone have a fool-proof guide?

My seven year old daughter helped choose the eclectic range of plants - a strawberry seedling, watermelon, butternut pumpkin, broccoli, sweet basil, yellow egg tomatoes, various types of lettuce and more wild rocket, amongst other things!

I am secretly hoping this will enthuse her to wanting to actually eat all of the above, fingers crossed.

I'll also be putting in some decorative elements in the vegie patch to dress it up. Too often people treat their kitchen gardens as a messy "work area" when they can be quite attractive.

I have an old victorian gate, a set of obelisks and some gorgeous Italian terracotta stake toppers (from Heaven In Earth). Jane Campsie's vegie garden in Hampshire, above, is one of my inspirations and a great example of a decorative garden.

Reading and Relaxing

It is a bit of a Christmas tradition here at the farmhouse that we give each other books to read over the holidays. This week I have enjoyed lazing around reading about gardens in the Australian countryside and the latest biography on the most famous fashion icon of last century.

I have the movie starring Audrey Tatou and read many books on Chanel before but the new biography, Coco Chanel: The Legend and the Life

by former British Voguette Justine Picardie, leads your further inside her life than any other that has come before. You do get the sense that Picardie really immersed herself in the research for the book, even visiting the convent in a remote French village where Chanel grew up and seeking out her closest confidentes. She even wrote some of the book in Chanel’s private quarters on the Rue Cambon. Have a look at Justine Picardie talk about researching the book here and falling under the spell of the legend here.

My daughter usually gives me the latest inspirational garden book. This year I pointed her in the direction of landscape designer Myles Baldwin’s Rural Australian Gardens, a journal of this accomplished gardener's travels from the tropics to the alpine regions of Australia to find the best and most unusual gardens.

It is his enthusiastic, chatty and candid commentary on other designers’ gardens which I find quite refreshing. He visits minimalist David Katon’s Southern Highlands garden but one suspects it’s manicured perfection is not his bag.

The beauty of interior designer Stuart Rattle’s decorative garden in Musk, one of my own favourites, obviously took him by surprise. You really see how non-professional gardeners like Stuart Rattle and his partner become bewitched by their gardens and how they become a real labour of love. (No doubt it helps having a friend like internationally celebrated garden designer, Paul Bangay up the road.)

Baldwin presents gardens owned by real country Australians who are passionate gardeners, exactly as they are - rambling, quirky and honest. I like the fact that some of the gardens he chose are not too perfect as many of them them survive in pretty harsh landscapes.

A Happy New Year

We had a lovely but relatively quiet night at the beach with friends. The first day of the new year has been a very hot one back here at the farm where it seems to be much warmer even though we are only a few kilometers from the coast, as the crow flies.

The fireworks in Sydney were as spectacular as ever with the Bridge lighting up. Hope you are enjoying bringing in the new year, too.