Inferior...

...interior. Not mine, of course. I'm quite attached to the innards of my house. The house itself tis but a pile of 1940's vintage sticks and bits of wood held together with some crumbling horse hair plaster and nasty nylon carpet, but what makes it a home is what I've done with it, darl. It's filled with pieces of furniture salvaged from op shops, garage sales and my childhood. There are a few new pieces mixed in, too. Some windows have homemade curtains, the couches have homemade cushions and my drawings hang on walls here and there. The sprinkles on top of the cake consist of collected and inherited ornaments and bits of kitsch. Now I'm fully immersed in the handmade scene there are clever bits made by other clever hands popping up, too. The little toadstools in the pic were made by the fab Radish and Ruth (madeit.com.au/radishandruth). Cute, yes? My point is, the interior of a home should reflect it's inhabitants and make them comfy and happy. Which brings me to The Renovators (and any dodgy home improvement relatives it has). It snuck in behind Masterchef and before I knew it I was swearing at the telly, unable to muster the strength to turn it off.
My main gripe hinges on the concept of interior design generally, I just don't get it. Why on earth would I want a French Provincial interior, I ask you? Unless I live in provincial France, it's just weird. Why would I want a stranger to come in to my home with fabric swatches and a chair catalogue and design the life out of my home? Wouldn't really be mine then, would it? Maybe the whole point of interior design is so I can flip through a glossy and ooh and ahh at the bits I fancy for myself. Maybe.
Then again, my most favourite flipping (or clicking when I'm getting digi with it) is through images of real homes belonging to real people. Have you seen those Jeu de Paume books? They're beautiful. Lots of pictures of real interiors and the text is all in Japanese. Which is quite useful for allowing me to form my own thoughts 'cause I haven't a clue what it all says! I do rather like a Grand Designs DVD marathon, too. My most favourite bits are where we get to see normal folk constructing their dream homes. Quite often they're a bit odd, but that's the point. These homes are not designed for the masses, after all. Frankie (the magazine) did a book called Spaces, which is well worth a sneaky peak. It's all big, beautiful images of the homes and work spaces of creative folk. Lovely.



I've got blog on my mind. I'm desperately trying to shorten my posts and do them more often. I want to give you more pics and more easily digested thoughts. I'll still do the odd marathon rant, no doubt, but there's lots more that gets left off because I get the waffles!
The pic is a new concept I'm going to drop in regularly. I think I'm calling it "I HAVE got enough clothes. Really, I do" and I'll slip in a picture of an interesting outfit I've rustled up from my vast collection of clothes, many of which are vintage. It may just remind me that buying more clothes really isn't necessary. Unless of course it's a special little nugget of gold in an op shop if course. Can't be leaving those behind now, can we?
Oh, and click on Clever Hands for a fresh new crafty tutorial for filling a rainy afternoon!