A sneak peek of our bookshelves

I always find myself squinting at interior design magazines trying to read the spines of books. It’s fascinating for me to know what other people like to read (or flick through!), so I thought I’d share some of the contents of our bookshelves.

This particular shelf is home to many (but not all) of our art books, with roughly half of them being books that I’ve worked on in some capacity (either editing, proofreading, or clearing copyright – sometimes all three!). My favourite book on this shelf is Banksy: Wall and Piece – it’s a first-edition hardcover that sold out rather quickly. I bought it on the day of release when I visited Tate Modern in London, and paid hefty postage costs to ship it home (still cheaper than paying for excess plane luggage!).

I'm hoping to add some more bookshelf shots over the coming weeks...

New to the blogroll - My Vintage Treats

My lovely graphic designer friend Lisa has just joined the blogging world with My Vintage Treats! Lisa will be showing off some of the fantastic vintage pieces that she's picked up in second-hand stores around Brisbane (and perhaps eventually further afield!), and I can't wait to see what else she finds on her travels.

I am most in awe of the Japanese ceramic pineapple that she acquired from the Lifeline store near my place - I visited there yesterday and found nothing of interest!Lisa is a very talented graphic designer, and we worked very closely together on the Queensland Art Gallery's Floating Life: Contemporary Aboriginal Fibre Art publication. Don't bother trying to buy a copy - it sold out well before the exhibition finished!

Florence Broadhurst wallpaper

A HUGE thank you to Terese for dropping off this gorgeous Florence Broadhurst 'Aubrey' wallpaper on the weekend. I'm going to think for a LONG time before deciding what to do with it. One idea is to customise some boring Ikea furniture with it, but I'm not too sure as yet. It's quite a large sample - over a metre long and about 70 centimetres wide.

Anyone got any ideas?

New art

After a bit of a delay, I finally received my new Shepard Fairey print today. For those who missed my initial post, I bought one of the Adopt-a-Pet fundraising prints. Unfortunately I missed out on the first blue-and-red edition, but I got hold of the nice gold one. In person, it's actually quite neutral, which is nice - I was worried about finding a suitable location for it here!

Now I need to save up some money for professional framing. In addition, I've also had a Kozyndan print awaiting framing for about three years. I bought it because it depicts a place very dear to me - Newcastle in the UK, where my dad is from. One day it will live on the long wall that runs along the living room. Here it is, as well as a couple of details.

Kylie and John's 2009 Christmas tree - vote now!

I'm determined to create my own Christmas tree for the second year running. Here is what I came up with last year:

John didn't like that one very much, so yesterday I created this one out of an old design magazine:

He isn't too sure about that one either. I could try creating one a little more tree-like, sort of like this one:

I'm also thinking I might try my hand at making an entirely cardboard one. I really like the one made by the Cardboard Christmas Tree company - how hard could it be to make one myself (perhaps sans pop-out decorations)?

And here is my latest creation - a use for just a few of our many books, with a choice of toppers.

I need opinions! Vote now! The tree with the most votes will become our 2009 Christmas tree.

The typewriter has arrived!

This morning after we went to Northey Street Organic Markets to pick up the week's fruit and veges, we stopped off at Annerley to pick up our orange typewriter. And here she is:

I did a little bit of testing, and I really need to learn how to use a typewriter! It's such hard work when you're used to computers! I'm going to stop playing with it for now in case I break it, and I won't mess with it again until it's had a service.

I thought it would look good sitting with some Penguin Classics, and Darth Vader seems to fit in as well. John may have different ideas when he gets home, though!

Other than that, I spent a few hours today taking some shots for my Apartment Therapy house tour submission. Fingers crossed it all pans out as planned!