Love an Adirondack chair

The popularity of Adirondack chairs has been going strong for quite a few years now. Here are some of my favourites - some vintage, some new.

There are two old chairs from the 50s - the white one with floral decals I have long admired and belong to Nowra girl and supreme gardener/house renovator Gai Daly. The other was a find from Black & Spiro (thanks Anna). 

The best new ones I have found are made by a local Mens Shed down here on the South Coast (that's the dark grey one on my verandah). They are just a bunch of retired blokes who get together to chat and make stuff and have come up with a style I think is about the nicest I've seen.

I will hopefully have some in my new shop in Berry which opens in August.

My Own Lime Moment

I had a lime moment a couple of years ago when we did up our fisherman's shacks at Currarong, (on the ocean near the top of Jervis Bay). Everyone thought the bright chartreuse I painted the dining room at Sirena was pretty wild back then. Now its kind of normal.

Next door, we painted the exterior of Nautica in a Porters Paints colour called Lemon, Lime & Bitters. We have sold them now but we still miss them!

Citrus on the Coast

For years I have been a big fan of red, white and blue or aqua and white by the beach. Lately I'm just loving a dash of lime!

Designer Jane Coslick from Georgia USA kinda does what we do - buy up and renovate old beach cottages. She has done a lovely job with her mostly white interiors, adding a citrus accent here and there. 

I like that she is not afraid of colour, or of kitsch for that matter. The two things always look great at the beach. Here are some of her interiors.

More Fibro Beach Shacks

Fibro Beach Shacks

Old fibros make the coolest weekenders. They were built, usually by weekend tradesmen paid in slabs of beer, from the 1920's right through to the 1970's. There is something about them that is special. They have a relaxed beachy vibe that new houses just can't match.

I did a story last year on a Canberra family who built a no-expense-spared, high tech beach house down near Moruya (just 2 doors up from Flea from the Red Hot Chilli Peppers). They had it for about a year and decided to sell it because it was too sterile and too big. They ended up buying an old fibro instead.

Unfortunately as beachside property prices go through the roof there is a lot of pressure to demolish them. People who own them down here on the South Coast just love them. Some receive complete makeovers and others just get a coat of paint and some funky furnishings. Here are a few of my favourites....

More Foxglove Spires Inspiration...

Here are some more pictures I took at Foxglove Spires. 

Garden Inspiration

Spent some time on the weekend doing a bit of winter gardening, that is, planning for new beds, looking at new roses and re-stocking the vegie patch. 

Winter is the perfect time to look through design books and be inspired by other gardeners creativity. By far the most inspirational gardener I have ever come across is Sue Southam whose book, Velvet Pears, which came out recently, is a must read. 

I first met Sue a couple of years ago when I went to interview her for South Coast Style. She lives at Tilba Tilba which is about 4.5 hrs south of Sydney and has devoted most of the past 25 years to her rambling and magical garden.

Here are some pics from the story I did on her in the May issue of Country Style Magazine.

By the way, I look forward to the next book which will hopefully show more of her amazing house.

Welcome to In My House

I am always wandering about what's new and what's next for interiors...

In all the years I have worked for glossy magazines I have collected quite a lot of inspirational things as well as plenty to say about the environments we create for ourselves.

I have also renovated many properties of my own (along with my architect husband) so am happy to share my inspiration, ideas and thoughts on what's great about doing up and decorating houses.

This is my house in the country near Berry, about two hours drive south of Sydney, where I am sitting writing this. Let me tell you a little about it. It is a heritage listed victorian farm house which was built by a dairy farmer back in 1901.

We have owned it for a few years now and are gradually doing it up - in between renovations to some of our other properties and those of clients.

The bathroom was the first thing we fixed up - its essential to have an inside toilet and somewhere to bath small children. My husband (the architect, Rob) found the bath, an antique porcelain French trough, in a secondhand building supply yard near our house in inner city Sydney. Apparently they used them as ballast in old ships. We decided to line the walls in gal and had a local sheet metal factory make it up. The rest of the walls were lined in tongue and groove boards like the rest of the house.