Skateboards as art

We currently have two artist skateboards on display in the living room. One is a limited-edition glow-in-the-dark board designed by Dalek (one of about 150, I think), and the other is an autographed Neckface board (acquired during his 2007 visit to Brisbane).

Lately, I've been thinking that we could do with a couple more of them on the same wall – probably four in total. After all, skateboards can be two things for us: affordable art, and icons/relics of John's past. I’m sure John would particularly like some decks by Barry McGee, Mark Gonzales or Ed Templeton.

Here are a few that I wouldn't mind hanging on my walls:

Artist: Jeff Tremaine

Image: Disposable: A History of Skateboard Art

Artist: Barry McGee

Image: Disposable: A History of Skateboard Art

Artist: Mark Gonzales

Image: Disposable: A History of Skateboard Art

Artist: Mark Rivard

Image: Sharpie Blog

New on the blogroll: designed to a T

I've very excited to announce designed to a T as the latest addition to my blogroll!

Terese is based in Sydney, and she is going to be chronicling her own DIY experiences, including some step-by-step 'how-to' guides (which is fabulous for novices like myself who just make stuff up as they go along!). For those of you who remember my post a few months back, Terese was the lovely person who gifted me a huge Florence Broadhurst wallpaper offcut back in November - and I still haven't been game to do anything with it! Maybe after I learn some new skills from designed to a T I'll be ready to tackle it!

Perspex initials

A few months ago when we were at Reverse Garbage, I took a liking to these perspex letters. I was lucky enough to find some with our initials on them, so happily took them home. Then, we put them somewhere REALLY safe - so safe that it took me about six weeks to eventually find them (high on a shelf in the garage).

Today, I finally wandered around the house trying to find them a home. I had a feeling they'd end up somewhere in the main bedroom, and here they are - on the side table in our reading area. John may decide to move them when he gets home, but this is where they live for the timebeing!

What do you think - worth the $3.50 each I paid for them?

More pictures from my Apartment Therapy photo shoot

I thought I'd upload a few extra images that I took for the Apartment Therapy House Call. Although many of the images weren't of great quality (since I'm not the world's greatest photographer or interior stylist!), these are some additional favourites of mine.

I really quite like this one...

Living room from a different perspective...

View of the living area from the dining room...

Some of my favourite things from some special friends...

Suitcases and other cute things in the bedroom (including the red suitcase, which I've had since I was little - it still holds my childhood drawings and paintings)...

And, finally, another nice shot of the office!

Thank you to everyone who commented here and on the Apartment Therapy site - the feedback means a lot to me, and hopefully our home will continue to improve over the years to come!

Flying Ducks featured on Apartment Therapy!

I am very proud to declare that, as of today, our place has been featured as a before-and-after House Call on Apartment Therapy! Click here to see it.

I am extremely pleased with how it looks, and surprised and excited to receive such positive comments from the AT readers so far (because, let's face it, I'm not an interior design expert by any means). A huge thank you to Jenny Butler for arranging the tour!

Pretty Tuesday flowers

We had the not-so-appealing task of grocery shopping this evening, and I not-so-discreetly pointed out to John that there were bunches of flowers on sale at the registers. He chose these pretty yellow chrysanthemums - aren't they lovely?

Some goals for 2010...

I thought that, given it’s the beginning of a new year, I should outline some of my goals for the home for the next 12 months. I’m certainly not the resolution type, but I figured that making a public declaration about these things would mean that all (or at least some) of them would get done!

Goal number 1: Learn how to sew
I’ll be getting a few beginner lessons from a friend (thanks Shilo!), and then hopefully once I’m confident I’ll dare to make some cushions with my Florence Broadhurst ‘Spring Floral’ fabric.

Image: Signature Prints

Goal number 2: Get plantation shutters installed
This goal doesn’t really require a lot of effort on my part, since all I have to do is wait for the installation guy to show up in March. Thanks to a pre-wedding gift from my parents, we’ll be getting shutters a lot sooner than we anticipated, so it’s very exciting indeed! We’ll be getting the white sliding version from Cosmopolitan Shutters.

Image: Cosmopolitan Shutters

Goal number 3: Have some art works framed
As mentioned back in November, I’ve unframed, limited-edition prints by Kozyndan and Shepard Fairey that I would dearly love to hang on my walls. Of course, professional conservation framing is expensive, but I’m committed to getting them done this year!

Goal number 4: Finish the bathroom
Although the structural renovations are complete, there are still jobs to be done! As the bathroom was the first room in the apartment that we painted (not to mention the first time either of us had really painted walls at all!), we didn’t do a brilliant job. We’ll keep the 'Desert Bake' colour on most of the walls, but will re-paint the main wall in the complementary colour of 'Cherokee Smoke' (it’s a kind of smoky cream/white). Then, we’ll hopefully had some nice new towel rails and get rid of the ugly portable one that we’re currently using.

Goal number 5: Paint the cupboard doors
Some of the gloss-white paint is peeling to reveal, you guessed it, beige. Yuck. There’s a couple of weekends’ worth of work to do, but it’s not a big deal.

Goal number 6: Finally, learn to take better photos
I’m considering buying a better camera, perhaps a digital SLR, at some point in the future, but for now I’d like to get better at using the one I have. I think I have improved over the past six months, but more improvement is needed (and an improvement in photos will improve Flying Ducks as well!). I actually quite like these few shots that I took recently for Apartment Therapy.

New on the blogroll: Sirens & Sailors

My long-time friend Emma (who I must admit I haven't seen in person for a very long time!) has just started her new blog, Sirens & Sailors. Emma is going to be tackling the challenging topic of decorating as a renter. Having lived in a number of rental properties over the years myself (and having been a particularly lazy rental decorator), I can't wait to read what she comes up with!

My dream for the future: concrete floors

Currently, our apartment has a fairly dark blue-grey carpet. We didn't choose it - it was here when we moved in two years ago and, not being in the financial position to change it any time soon, we simply decided to work with it and change the rest of the interior elements to suit.

When the carpet is finally ready to be removed (still not for many years, I expect), my ultimate dream is to polish the concrete underneath. After all, cool concrete floors would be PERFECT for such a humid climate, and I'm amazed that more apartments here don't do it (most have concrete floors concealed underneath carpet or tiles). It may not happen - maybe we'll end up with floating wooden or bamboo floors instead, which will also look great - but I'm still going to dream. Behold, some amazing interior concrete floors!

Image: The Style Files

Image: Concrete Flooring

Image: Archi Expo

Image: Concrete Flooring

Image: Young House Love

And, now, imagine how totally awesome our place would look if the carpet was replaced with a nice, cool concrete floor...

Update on my ebay purchase

As hoped, my bright red milk glass vase was waiting for me when I got home yesterday! It was immediately apparent that the vase was not going to be quite large enough to use as a feature on the dining table, so I was left to find it another home.

I have a red milk glass dish, so i decided the two should become friends. I did have a cute little red-and-white polka dot cup sitting next to the dish (as seen here), but I think the vase is a better match - what do you think?I also switched the record cover in the frame to John Wayne's musical score for War of the Worlds - awesome! Although, much to my dismay I discovered that we only seem to have one of the two LPs, so I might dig around at the Lifeline Bookfest in a couple of weeks and see if I can find a replacement.
In other news: three posts in two days - I'm on a roll!

New on the blogroll - Heart of Light

Thanks to my lovely colleague Megan at the National Gallery of Victoria, I am now familiar with the amazing Heart of Light blog by Rachel of Los Angeles. Rachel's blog entails a combination of food (oh my God, the food is AMAZING!) and inspirational DIY projects. Oh, and the photography is simply STUNNING - it makes me think that I should really consider investing in a digital SLR for my own blogging activities, as it would sure make it look a whole lot better.

How ridiculously delicious does this gingerbread snacking cake look (not to mention the pretty accessories accompanying the baked goods)?!

Images: Heart of Light

This has also inspired me to pursue some baking myself in the not-too-distant future. After all, I was the lucky recipient of a Frankie Afternoon Tea book for Christmas (thanks Rebecca!), not to mention the previously blogged matryoshka measuring cups. Would anyone care to join me for a baking (and eating) session one weekend?

New ebay purchase on the way!

Yesterday morning I managed to secure this delightful red vase on ebay, and I'm crossing my fingers that it will be waiting at the front door when I get home today!At this stage the plan is to alternate it with the black-and-white retro jug that currently resides on the dining room table (seen previously here). So, John need not be concerned that I've purchased 'another red receptacle', since I don't intend for it to take up any additional space!

Study mess - hidden!

I tend to write and study (not to mention spend way too much time on the interwebs) in the living areas of our home rather than in a confined office. For quite some I've been planning to buy some kind of cabinet to hide all my materials - since I generally study all year round, books and papers can pile up around the dining table quite quickly!

Early last Tuesday morning we made the trek to Ikea to see what was on offer. I'd been planning on getting one of the wider and lower PS locker cabinets, but in the end we settled on a slightly taller and narrower version. After spending about an hour scratching my head at some of the diagrams (seriously, this one has to been seen to be believed), I managed to assemble the thing and drag it into the dining room!

Currently, it's housing books on Australian sociology, about three years' worth of Peter Alexander pyjama catalogues that I can't bear to part with, and random DVDs and stationery.

I've put a couple of black woven placemats on top, and now have a new place to display lovely little trinkets!

Here, we have the vintage Artin flip clock that seems to have FINALLY found its permanent home (after moving from room to room for about six months), my Qualy sparrow with his paperclip nest, and a selection of Kikki.K stationery (another addiction).

And, here, we have a retro milk glass vase recently purchased at a thrift store in Toowoomba for roughly $1, and two retro-look glasses filled with sandalwood and amber candlewax (another great Christmas gift from my parents).

I am most pleased with my new study area, and hopefully it will also motivate me to be a little bit more organised as well!

On a side note, a big thank you to Ikea for their new accurate stock inventory system on the website - it's a huge improvement on the old 'the item is in stock' system (which usually meant that it was in the warehouse out the back and unable to be purchased).