I’ve been ordering my groceries online lately. Advantage: I have more time of a weekend to do store tours. Downside: I don’t get my in-person food fix! A trip to the Entertainment Quarter Village Markets was about to change all that, as I wandered through this extravaganza of fresh produce, flowers and random wares. It was the start of a blossoming romance!
I know I say this every time I do a store tour, but Follow Store in Surry Hills really is my favourite one so far – for real! I wanted to have a movie moment just minutes into the experience and yell “charge it to my card and have it delivered”. I very well would have if I wasn’t concerned the transaction would decline. But really, there’s something special about Follow and it truly struck a chord with me. It’s a giftware paradise and I must now alert my friends; all future gifts will be coming from Follow.
Confession time: I’ve lived in the Eastern Suburbs of Sydney for well over six years and prior to last weekend I had not been to The Norfolk. Even after its killer makeover in December 2010 (I know, cuff me and throw away the key). Plenty of people had told me how much I would love the beer garden there – and after sitting in it for a few hours recently, they weren’t wrong. It’s laid-back, mismatched retro vibe is right up my alley (as are the cocktails)!
1 | I am not sure what you call an Easter version of Kris Kringle, but my office is doing one this week and I was so freakin’ excited to get my hands on one of these awesome paper bags – complete with bunny stamp and pom pom – at Paper2 in Surry Hills. I always say the presentation is just as important as the present itself, so once I fill mine with oodles of chocolate I certainly hope the recipient enjoys it!
I thought I was a fan of colour and extremely adverse to the use of beige until I picked up Happy Home by the founder of Danish homewares company RICE, Charlotte Hedeman Gueniau. It clearly states from the get-go that not all Danish design is about cool and calm interiors and I must admit, the whole ethos of the book being fun, colour and enjoyment speaks to me like the new Pope speaks to the man upstairs (and I sometimes talk back)!
Where does one start when it comes to describing Oz Design? While it’s been around as long as I have (30 years and still doesn’t look a day over 25!), in recent times it’s multiplied its amazement factor. When I walked into the Moore Park store for my exclusive tour, I almost needed the store manager, Joe, to slap me across the face to wake me out of my design-induced coma; the current range is that phenomenal.
1 | My love affair for Adairs just keeps getting stronger – and these deer cushions confirm it; I love them, I want to marry them, I want to go for long walks on the beach with them. There’s a whole range of bedding featuring these deers, fittingly named the Birch Forest collection. Fact: they’re kind of a must for Autumn (and better still, there’s a Facebook competition running at the moment where you can win a set).
For so long, I’ve been eager to become more than just someone who was utterly obsessed with interior design. Recently, while flicking through my Real Living magazine, I came across an advert for iscd (international school of colour + design). I took the first step toward my dream of becoming a fully-fledged stylist and shot them an email.
Every time I drive to IKEA (which you’d know by now is quite often) I go past The Grounds of Alexandria; masses of cars are desperate to park around this newly established haven and it’s always swarming with people. Finally, at the weekend, I secured my parking spot and wandered in to see what all the fuss was about. Now I know: it’s heaven.
I’d known for a long time – being an absolute stationery lover – that an expedition to Little Paper Lane in Sydney’s Northern Beaches was going to be an awe-inspiring experience. I wasn’t quite ready, though, for just how jaw-droppingly amazing it actually was (cue the love song!).
