Category Archives: Uncategorized

A while back I blogged about the dilemmas of a Moroccan-style bathroom in a post YSL world. Well the concept for that bathroom is developing but as intimated a little more along the lines of Lord Leighton’s Victorian oriental fantasies … Continue reading →

Recently on Kim Hill’s morning radio show, it was revealed that her great-grandparents had been servants in England. There is nothing unusual about this. In the 19th century a vast percentage of the population was employed ‘in service’. It was … Continue reading →

The builders are at last in residence and we have squeezed into the remainder of the house. The Studio is piled high with furniture and paintings and the Hallway is choked with even more paintings and even more furniture. The … Continue reading →

This is Peter and I snapped in the library by photographer Brian Culy. You can read all about it in the June/July issue of Home NZ out now. Then, once you’ve all got your own copy in front of you, … Continue reading →

You know that moment you walk into the door after being away. For me it’s like a snapshot of your own life. How does the house look (house being a reality of its own but also a metaphor for how … Continue reading →

I was looking through an Elizabeth David cooking book the other day. My brother gave these Penguin paperbacks to me in the early ‘70s. They were to improve me as a cook, but also I suspect as a person. What … Continue reading →

I mentioned ‘leg love’ a while back. I have this passionate, almost uncontrollable fixation on the legs of tables and chairs. (I realise this sounds rather weird and even kooky.) I find unusual leg shapes utterly fascinating. I basically bought … Continue reading →

Regular readers of this blog might think that we are obsessed with curtains. It is true that while Peter has been opening up the eastern side of the house to sunlight (Summer Look) by removing curtains and filtering light to … Continue reading →

These were the immortal words that Bette Davis spat out in her 1949 film – Beyond the Forest and that Liz Taylor later incanted as the opening lines of Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf. It was pretty much what was running through … Continue reading →

A stylish friend with a small potentially chic apartment in Wellington is in the market for window coverings. She was advised that curtains needed to be floor to ceiling and of a plain neutral colour. This is both good and … Continue reading →