Live Breathe Decor

Like so many others I spent Saturday going to open-houses and comparing the relative merits of properties around our side of Melbourne. Not for me (though it certainly has me thinking about houses for myself), but for my parents, who want a new project. It’s a tricky business, balancing all the requisites in a new house – liveable but with enough scope to changes the spaces, living area must face North, walking distance to river/parks/shops/transport, character or potential to add architectural interest, good-sized garden etc. And even when we found a house that on paper ticked all the boxes, in person it just didn’t give us the right ‘feeling’. It sounds ridiculous, but if you’ve got to live there, I think you’ve got to think with your head and your heart.

In the end we spied a cool but run-down 60s-style house. I loved it, and had visions to the tune of:

architect Ray Kappe's house

finn juhl

I have it all mapped out in my head: low furniture, lots of steel, timber and concrete, lots of sunshine and greenery. Mum loves all this too, but I suspect her dreams are more along the lines of this:

And it may be hard to find a marriage between the two styles!

On Sunday we braved the freezing early-morning wind at the markets – two different ones on two opposite sides of the city – and picked up a little oil painting at each:

Both are perfect for my growing little collection of nautical-themed paintings for my boys’ room, and only $10 each. I love that they are unframed and old and slightly shabby. After that it was most definitely food time, and on a cold Sunday morning there is nothing better in my book than Yum Cha! (where I was much too engaged to take any photos) And how best to top of a busy weekend? Masterchef and Downton Abbey do it for me nicely. (p.s. we are off to see inside the 60s house this afternoon, so I’ll see if the inside lives up to my expectations!) xx