Homebody

Our little lounge room

We're at home tonight, kicking back to enjoy Earth Hour after a long & tiring day.

We bought our little house in Sydney (about 5mins from the CBD) in December, and it makes me so happy that its ours. I absolutely *heart* my little house. Its 115 years old, on one of the oldest streets in one of the first suburbs in Sydney, so it has gorgeous floorboards and the most divine deep skirting boards. The light streams in here all day, so even though its small it feels so light and lovely.

I have been slowly unpacking everything over the past few months, buying new things here and there, finding spots for everything in our little home. Theres still some things to do - in this room I want to paint the walls up to the picture rail to really make the white ceilings/trim/skirting boards pop. I also want to get a Tulip side table for in here - I think it would be just perfect with the whites.
The art is waiting patiently for a decision on the wall colour, leaning nonchantly against the wall waiting for us to finally make up our minds. The little tiles on it are all letters that can be moved around to make words - when people come by to visit there are often little messages left on it for us. Currently on there is 'holy toledo batman', as well a nice mixture of nonsense and the occasional 'gnu'.

Daydreaming...

Ok, I am going to admit my guilty pleasure here:

My name is Danielle and I am a Ebay Watchaholic.

Sad but true - I like to dig up wonderful Ebay finds, pop them on my watchlist, then never quite get around to buying them. Im not entirely sure why I do it - I think its partly being on a budget (Sydney mortgage = no cash for luxuries), and partly because I just cant decide what I want! I guess its a form of window shopping, no?

For instance, some of my latest interests:

(top) Replica Eames Walnut LCW - went for about $150, they got a bit of a bargain I think

(below) Replica Saarinen Tulip Marble Side Table - went for just over $215, retails about $250 up
(bottom) Replica Noguchi Coffee Table - went for about $250, about average on Ebay

Now given that the house is tiny, there really is no room for random Eames chairs, nor is there space for two coffee tables. But they are all so beautiful, I want them! I think the Saarinen is the most practical one, given that its small and versatile, but Ive lusted after a Noguchi forever, and the Eames is just ridiculously good looking.

*sigh* See my dilemma? I guess Ill just have to keep daydreaming unless my house (and bank balance) miraculously grows!

New Years Resolutions

Our little slice of paradise (emphasis on little!)

Its almost a year since I last posted to my poor little blog, and similar to my last post there have been a multitude of changes in my life, not least of which has been becoming a home owner for the very first time! So my focus has shifted a little from wedding plans to floorplans, flower arrangements to furniture, and modern ceremony to mid-century modern style!

In a nutshell: life is pretty sweet, but I still have some bigs plans for the future and Ive gathered a few thoughts on how to get there. I have been pondering how to fufill my work aspirations, expand my skills and feel good about myself and my place in the world. I think that writing it down (and sticking to my promise to post more often!) is probably a good way to start.

So here it is - my Handy Dandy 2008 New Years/Life Resolutions (backdate these to New Years Eve)

1. Post to blog more often (alright, so right now more often can mean anything under 6 months per post, so I will quanitfy this one at at least twice a week)
2. Design & be creative/crafty for 2 hours per day - either for someone or for myself - with the view to earning enough from design to eventually work for myself
3. Work out how to become a carbon neutral household, or at the very least more environmentally conscious
4. Have a 'screen free' day one night per week - no computer, no TV, no phone

Some of these are pretty simple & shouldnt take long to acheive - for instance I just need to get my butt to the pilates class and rejoin - and some are quite large goals, like being able to work for myself. Some of them I have already started, and some are things I want to do over time to be a better person all-round and more of a global citizen. Im thinking the blog will now document the progress of these, as well as the progress of making my little house into our first real home.

Wish me luck, Ive got a lot of work to do! :)

PS. Im super interested to know if anyone is still out there reading this blog? There was a bit of interest earlier on, particularly with my japanese crafting things, but its certainly been a long time between posts and Im wondering if youre still about. Leave me a comment to say hello if youre stopping by again (or just arriving!)