How do I love thee Rosie ... let me binarise the ways

Ok ... what a brain-melting, blood-boiling, fat-roasting, essence-draining week this has been with sweltering temperatures and attitudes to match.

Through it all, the latest addition to the Temasek household, and frankly, a slightly offbeat and creepy replacement for a pet, has dilligently persevered in completing the tasks she was built and designed for, without complaint and as efficiently as if it were a cool ambient 25 degrees outside, rather than the oven roasting 40s it has been for about 5 days in a row (that's degrees centigrade to any overseas readers who may stumble upon this post).

So everyone, I'd like you to meet Rosie ... our newest and bestest friend:

 
Before you roll your eyes (what ... too late?) and say something like "who the fuck watches informecials in the first place but worse off, actually purchases the product? Its not normal!" or something to that effect ... let me tell you that Rosie was a bit of a joke present in the first place but has turned out to be an absolute godsend.

We're never likely to win any kind of housekeeping award, and Rosie isn't likely to win any awards for her suction prowess, but its easy enough to set her going on a regular basis, and then "finish off the corners" as it were ever so often. Our house has never been this consistently clean before.

We love you Rosie! Never leave!

PS - I can't believe I posted about housecleaning!! Can we just blame the mini Melbourne heatwave for this?

A Bitter Sweet Day (or Two) Out - Wintry weekend in Daylesford

Ok ... whats that saying? When life throws you lemons, you make lemonade? What if it hurls at you a big pile of poo? You make a stack of shit cakes and hope for the best ...

Well you could wallow in shit at home, or you could get your lazy arse off your couch of self pity and wallow in shit somewhere peaceful and pretty like Daylesford.

Which is exactly what we did! And it was fantastic. We haven't really been able to do the spontaneous bush weekend for absolutely ages. And now that we're pet free, it was easy just to find a place to stay, pack up, get in the car and go.

So on a lovely sunnyWinter's morning ...

We rocked up at The Albert on Camp street and after getting the low down hoe down from Ziggy the wrestler, we headed back out to our favouriest bookstore - Paradise Bookstore, to browse rooms full of every kind of book imaginable, including music sheets, comics and even Vinyl.

We then gradually worked our way through the town's eateries, starting with the newest addition to the Vincent Street strip, Wine and The Country, which is very much like our own Seddon Wine Store, a place owners Jenny and Owen seem to be familiar with.

 Jenny is an absolute charmer, and although the decor pulls no new punches as far as modern melbourne cafes/bars/restaurants/pop-ups go, it is a warm and welcoming space.

And strategically placed in the corner are 2 turntables and a microphone! ... ok well no microphone, but a turntable nonetheless and a stack of Vinyl, including Sigur Ros' "svefn-g-englar" - big big tick.

We sat at the communal table and worked our way through a number of glasses of wine and an amazing selection of nibbles pulled from producers in the area, including an amazing chilli and fennel salami from Istra Smallgoods in Musk*, and this delightful soft blue cheese biscuit, which Jenny kindly topped up free of charge.

We sampled pub fair over at the revamped Daylesford hotel including a reasonably cooked Steak served with yummy thin fries and a decent salad ...

and I think a less than impressive pie according to M. although taste buds could have been tempered somewhat by the darkening mood oozing from a fug of alcohol. Sometimes a few rounds in the wringer is what every relationship needs ...

We visited our friends M & S and marvelled at their collection of Hi-fi paraphernalia, including a number of valve amps that I am insanely jealous of.

We took in the wintry sights and stumbled across a Antiques shop in Newellyn, who coincidentally, ran the Antiques shop just round the corner from our house. Its an amazing place to wander round and apparently the nursery out back is pretty impressive too, but the weather was foul, and the warmth indoors made it perhaps too easy a place to spend a couple of hours, so much so, M ended up parting with his hard-earneds for a mantlepiece clock that he is absolutley chuffed with!

In fact there seems to be plenty of these Antique markets sprouting all over the shop. The Mill Markets is one such establishment, where I scored my long sought after tripod! (already filmed a few vids for my Youtube channel - Temasekdan - plug!)

We also managed to revisit the Wild Mushroom Risotto at the Himalaya Bakery - and though the price seems to have increased somewhat dispproportionately (from $10 to $18.90), the dish still remains vibrant and exciting. The perfect lunch for a cold winter's day.

Our second night we spent dinner at Gracenotes Cafe, a quaint little restaurant at the further end of Vincent Street. Its singular soft yellow glow amongst the darkened shops shut for business on the strip seemed warm and welcoming, and although the food couldn't quite match up with the ambience, we had a lovely night regardless with Brighton accents from our friendly host to boot.

I had the chicken with cumin and pomegranate, which was reasonable, rather than mind blowing. The potatoes were delicious and so was the kale, but it needed more of a cummin hit and because there was no richness for it to counter, the pomegranate seeds seemed perfunctory.

M enjoyed his Salmon with asparagus in a Bernaise sauce served on a bed of kipfler potatoes.

And we couldn't go past the chocolate lava cake. Whats a weekend away if you're not going to splurge!!

So we didn't do Cliffy's and we didn't swing by the Convent gallery like we normally do, but it was still nice to just get away from it all. Now I have the monumental task of documenting our recent European jaunt - which I hope to do in parts over the coming months. Its going to be good!

* There are a number of great places to Breakfast in Daylesford. The bacon from Istra is amazing so a visit to their shop in Musk is a must. You can sample their sausages at Bocconcini, which is a lovely shiny cafe on the main street of Dayelsford, crisp white and modern with flashes of colour.

Love the cushions at Bocconcini

My scrambled eggs with Istra Sausage

M's Breakfast with the lot!

And you can check out Istra's bacon at Larder, which is oh so melbourne it hurts! Great space, great staff, good coffee and food ... its a must try!

A Volante Christmas!!

Ok ... hello my dear blog readers, I'd like to take this opportunity to wish you and yours a very Merry Christmas and to thank you for your attention and your thoughtful comments.

We're about to descend into a maelstrom of Yuletide insanity, so we celebrated early with a Christmas present to ourselves.

We happen to wander down String Bean Alley at the Victoria Markets when we came across the Meykers stand housing products by Simon Cunningham (Volant Designs) and Gregory Burton (Visual Fields).

We were immediately taken by Simon's light fittings made with pressed plywood and coloured perspex. If you've been in The League of Honest Coffee in the city you would have noticed his Coffee inspired wall art.

We actually had our hearts set on a particular design which was no longer available when we returned for our final purchase. So we ended up with this:

We love the cream and blue colours against the wood, and its conical shape. This is where its going to go:

Now all we need is to organise an electrician to fix the botched job that currently exists in the ceiling. Cannot wait.

So once again ... Happy Christmas one and all.

Hello, Pretension called and he wants his phone back!

Ok ... I might mistakenly be known as a bit of a stylo-mylo (just throwing in some singlish here), but I believe that there is always room for a soupcon of pretension ... all in the spirit of irony of course! So here's our latest acquisition ... could you plotz??

Treasure Island - bought on a whim

Ok ... this month I found less in my pay packet and nothing left over for savings so what do I do? ... I go and splash out on a framed print that I don't really need and can ill-afford ... but fuck it! Its a Stanley Donwood! If you're a Radiohead fan, then you'll understand why his work looks oddly familiar. He's done a few album covers and logos for the band. So my prized possesion, called Treasure Island, sits nicely on the mantlepiece, caressed by mood lighting from a Freedom lamp:

Oh and its signed ... but unfortunately its an open edition, meaning that its not a limited print run, he may choose to print more or he may not. Here's hoping.

Also in other "art/design" breaking news, we have finally hung the Kimono Belt we bought at 20% off over at Made in Japan. Its a bolt of deco heaven in blue and orange. Photo does not do it justice.

And finally at a recent scrounge round the Smith Street Bazaar, we collected a pair of these chrome leather chairs that now sit comfortably in all their ergonomic glory round the breakfast table.

New Beginnings - Architecture and Symbolism

Ok ... while M is in the kitchen grappling with the finer points of a well fought and earned Sugee Cake recipe, I'm taking this opportunity to put the horse before the cart and talk about New Year's resolutions. Well, what I wanted to actually talk about is symbolism and karma. Just this very day, the finishing touches were made on a brand spanking new roof for our house.

It has taken 2 weeks and a couple of nail biting decisions to get to this point, and I must say it looks (a) like its always been there and (b) absolutely stunning!! Now I can't wait for the rains to sluice all that residual tradie dirt off so that our house can trully work her new weave ... I think the rest of her outfit is going to look a little shabby in comparison!

Anyhoo, we are hoping this clears all that bad juju accumulated over the last few months like a bundle of burning Sage (its my new thing from American Horror Story). And I think its already working. The house feels lighter somehow, like its finally been allowed to exhale (don't roll your eyes at me) and so I know that M's Sugee cake will come out light as a feather, and that all my New Year's resolutions will come true.

Or I could be totally deluded in 2012 ... which means nothings really changed.

(C'mon you know you want to, ready? Everybody say "shoop shoop be doop")

Mondrian - Fin

Ok ... so we've done it.

Moneymoneymoneymoney ... Money!

Ok if money was no object, the lighting possibilities are endless at Tongue and Groove. And Ross, why did you make it so hard to find your damn shop, and that tantalising peak into your workroom is infuriating!!!

Flora

Fauna



Hello Ross, are you down there?

Mondrian Cabinet Pt 3

Ok ... the cold weather has stymied things a little, but we are making progress with the Vinyl Dye.

But we had to concede and hook out our dinky little sander to prepare surfaces ...

Before spraying the paint on ...

And leaving it to dry, resulting in some unusuall kosmik-jive moonscapes ...

The adventure continues.

Speaking of Cosmic Jives ...

Mondrian Cabinet Pt 2

Ok ... we actually spent most of the long weekend unravelling the puzzle of the Mondrian Cabinet, aka how to paint on plastic surfaces designed to keep unwanted dirt at bay.

The prep was great! M's steady hands and technical eye were a godsend.

Our first test with cheapo spray paint, wonderfully called Fiddly Bits passed the colour test with ... erm ... flying colours!!

But the damn paint would not stick! You could rub away with your fingers and the layers simply slid off. So after a little research on the interhole, we discovered Vinyl Dye ... and so far so good. The paint seems to be holding ... fingers crossed. The only downsise is that primary colours are generally not what people want sprayed all over their car seats ... unless you are the feathers in your hair dye your pubes pink kinda guy/gal!! So we will have to order the yellow, blue and red ones in.

Mind you this is potent stuff. I think we're still on a bit of a butane high! I should have asked my friendly neighbourhood chromer for advice when we first started. I'm sure he would have pointed us straight to Vinyl Dyes. But he would have probably spat at me at the end of that conversation, so perhaps it was worth spending money on some fiddly bits first.

We are itching to get this finished and displayed, so while we wait ...

Mondrian Cabinet

Ok ... first drafts:

Those Crafty Scandinavians

Ok ... our quest for a funky TV stand continues ... after traipsing through Knifepoint's homemaker centre (an exercise in futility if ever there was one), and scowering the greater gertrude-smith area of Fitzroy, we ended up on PO's recommendation at Grandfathers Axe in Northcote.

This place is an absolute hive of retro danish and 20th Century modern furniture!!! If you are partial to a bit of scandinavian wood then this is the place for you. And being relatively unworked on, most of the pieces sold are going for a relatively cheaper rate than those found in the more polished design based furniture boutiques like Three Quarters et al.

We found inspiration in this 40s serving tray which has just enough quirk to fit in comfortably with the other appurtenances in our ramshackle living room. But at $450 (for those in the know this isn't too shabby a price) we had to do the whole "walk around the store again twice before leaving empty handed" thing.

So feeling the old retail hunger pang, we drove to Ikea and got lost in a swirl of flatpacked, modulated madness, covered in a sheen of that odd and slightly vinegary smell that Ikea has and with a soupcon of pram rage thrown into the mix.

We were inspired by this simple modular style blue crate intriguingly called PS Bintje - it was basically a stack of crates in varying sizes that could be bolted to whatever permutation you like ... all painted in a cheery blue ... this started us thinking of other possibilities.

The next thing that caught our eye was the chunky Lack Wall shelving in these brilliant colours, black, red, pastely blue, and butter yellow, and that started us thinking of colour combinations.

Then we found the simple frames of the Besta storage unit ... just the right height with 2 shelves and not looking too poxy at all. We tried thinking of a way we could incorporate the chunky coloured Lack shelving into the Bestra Storage unit frame, but the proportions were all wrong, and there wasn't an already pre-cut length to suit.

Then it hit me ... buy the cheapo Besta storage unit, get some spray paint and voila ... we could create our own little panegyric to Mondrian ... and that would sit very nicely under the Primary Colours of our Arkely print.

So I will endeavour to document this transformation of ugly flatpack duckling into funky (and slightly pretensious) Mondrian Swan in the coming weeks. Stay tuned.

This should have been an Easter Post - Our doors are finished.

Ok ... I was intending to post this earlier. We were struggling to have this finished before the parentals came. And now its done!! Completed. We have painted the outside and stained the inside and I must say its looking mighty fine!!