inspiring rooms

 above 3 images : rue magazine

 The wonderful home of Ben Fogel and his wife Marina - it is so colourful!

above 3 images : living etc

sunny sydney

16 house 

Here are some favourite photos of sunny Sydney - a comforting reminder that the sun does actually continue to exist somewhere! (not to mention the gorgeous terrace houses in most of the shots!)

 Tim in Sydney

 Rahulaa

 Kate's Photo Diary

 from someone on flickr

 52 suburbs

Marcela's blog

V&A prints

 I love some of these custom prints from the V&A shop

all images courtesy of the V&A

stuffed capsicums

I've never cooked this before but have wanted to for ages. So this evening I experimented with success! They were delicious. I just made my usual lamb mince pasta sauce (with the addition of some risotto rice for solidity), par boiled 8 capsicums of various colours for 3 minutes (green taste the best when cooked), stuffed them with the cooked mince filling and popped the lids back on, then oven cooked them at 180°C for around 45 minutes. Serve with salad.

teenage bedrooms

With the start of a new year, I feel like freshening up and updating some parts of the house - after all, it is now almost 5 years since it was last painted and it shows! We will start with the kids' rooms - they need wardrobes, new furniture and a new look for their beds (maybe paint over the stained pine bedframes)! I've found some teen bedroom inspiration on the net - enjoy!

 channel 4 homes

 unknown

 ideal home

 ideal home

 channel 4 homes

 channel 4 homes

 above 4: home house design

 house to home

 jogjatec

 style at home

ideal home

ikea

Khadi soap

My husband has just made yet another trip to India and returned in the snow. He bought Khadi soaps - rose water, lavender, fruit, jasmine and many others. (Khadi is the word for hand-spun and hand-woven cotton cloth in India and was the name given to the movement started by Gandhi to encourage use of Indian pure cotton in India during the British rule there before Independence. There are now many Khadi stores all over India selling a variety of hand-made items.) This rose water soap is handmade with only rose essential oils, glycerine and soap base. The label says (these are the exact words and spellings): "rose water soap helps in giving the coolness & freshness of the body by which tention & tiredness of the wholeday does not exit" (i guess they mean 'exist'!). So cute!

xmas wishes

wishing you all a wonderful Christmas and Happy New Year!