Japanese Paper Curtains

Saw this awesome project on the paper place blog for making curtains from Japanese tissue papers. I love the way it filters the light, and alll the different textures and patterns. This stuff also comes in a wide variety of colours - I think it would look beautiful in pink. Now, I just have to get over my fear of the sewing machine. (Photo from paper place blog)

Domo Arigato, Style at Home!

My origami books are appearing in the April 2010 "Style News" section of Style at Home magazine (available on news stands right now!) The photography and copy are just great, and I'd like to thank the folks at Style at Home who made it all possible - a hearty domo arigato to all!

Keep Calm...

I've now joined the zillions of people who have a "Keep Calm" poster. What can I say? I just really like the sentiment, and I'm in love with that pink colour. I am embracing my love of pink! I got the poster from SFgirlbybay, and she has lots of other cool colours to choose from. Speaking of things I love in my house, my pom-pom fringe patchwork pillow is way up there. I got that one from ruby + stella home a few months back, and I'm as pleased as punch with it.

I got tulips yesterday too. I love tulips.

And, while I'm professing my love for everything on my mantle, I can't forget this little guy. I got him as a Christmas gift while I was in Austria, and I think he's just great. You can put incense inside him and watch the smoke come out of his pipe, but I like him just the way he is - standing there playing his violin, cute as a button!

Illustration by Gosia

I mentioned a bit back that I found lots of amazing vendors at the One of a Kind Show. One of them was Illustration by Gosia. She does amazing paintings and sculptures, and I was lucky enough to score the painting above - I just love it!

The photos I have taken don't really do it justice. It's so sweet - just like Gosia. It was a pleasure meeting and chatting with her. I hope that this painting is the first of many of her works that I will own. Check out her Etsy shop for even more goodies!

Origami Books

Just finished listing a bunch of origami books in the shop. I love when I find a new angle to photograph a product from, like the photo above. Nearly done the back-log of listings - promise some more interesting posts soon!

Rupert Bunny

Australian painter. BEST NAME EVER.

Slowly but surely...

Books are being added to the shop...

Mini Kitchen Makeover

Sigh...it all started with a leaky tap. Okay - so we replace the washer. Oh - the taps don't come apart? Hmm, well, lets just get new taps - these ones are really old and ugly anyhow. What's that you say, the taps are so old and corroded that they are stuck to the sink. Well, lets get a new sink too - this one would look pretty gross with the shiny new taps. What - the sink is actually glued to the countertop???!!!! What were these people thinking??? Okay, well I guess we'll get fitted for new countertops too. And that is the story of our upcoming mini kitchen makeover.

Someday, we are planning to rip out the very old kitchen and start afresh with a design that acutally works - but for now, we'll just be refreshing the sinks, countertops and adding a fresh coat of paint to everything. Martin has requested a chalkboard wall (as in the image from Apartment Therapy, above), and I would love to do a budget revamp of the peeling vinyl floors in smart, stripy black and white (as in the photo from Design Sponge, above).

Basically, my kitchen inspirations are all white and vintage-y, with a touch of country rustic. I especially love the one above - imagine cooking in there!
A peek in at a very sweet little kitchen - love the contrast of modern metal legs with old fashioned bead board cabinets.

This one is great too - lots of storage in those tall cabinets, and who wouldn't love to have an Aga? (The final three images are all from Living Etc.) I am going this afternoon to pick out all the bits and pieces from our local hardware place, and hope to have everything in place within the next couple of weeks. I'll post some before and afters when it's all done. And to think, it all started with a leaky tap...