New York treasures for home

New York treasures for Charles Whyte HQ. 

L-R: 36 alphabet discs from PB Teen, Jonathan Adler Cheval salt and pepper shakers, 

Anthropologie 'J' and 'E' hooks, clock doorknob and chalkboard jar. 

A couple of years ago my brother returned from a holiday to the US with friends and disgustedly told me that a girl he was travelling with got so excited at Disneyland that she ran ahead of them all day exclaiming how excited she was. At the time, my brother and I rolled our eyes together and I empathised with him wholeheartedly. How annoying indeed.

Fast forward a few years to my New York City holiday last month and I found myself frequently so excited that I wanted to run into places and I had to stop myself exclaiming "oh my God, this is so exciting." Times a'changing and so are we all. If my brother ever reads this, he will give me heaps. Que sera sera!

One of the things I was so looking forward to on our holiday was the chance to visit some of the US stores that I'd heard so much about through blogs, the internet and TV/movies. Homewares stores are my kind of Disneyland, especially in a country that does everything bigger.

Armed with my list of 'must visit shops' and the Google maps on my mobile, I rushed around the city and finally got to see for myself amazing stores like ABC Carpet & Home, Jonathan Adler, Anthropologie, West Elm, Crate & Barrel and Pottery Barn. The prices were so good in most places compared to here in Australia. It killed me not to be able to buy everything. Here are my main finds for our house, after the shower curtain that I blogged about here. 

The Jonathan Adler store in Greenwich Village is so gorgeous and colourful, it was impossible for me not to be happy in there. I'm a big fan of his book 'Jonathan Adler on Happy Chic Colors' so I knew I had to take something home with me. 

I finally settled on the Cheval salt and pepper shakers because they screamed JA to me. And they were small enough to cart home. With only a tiny hole on the top of each, they look just as comfortable in a living room as a dining room so it's a cheat's way to get a piece of the happy chic aesthetic. 

I would have loved a couple of these Jonathan Adler horses but at around 35cm high and $US295 each, it wasn't going to happen.

The cheval shakers have found a home on the mantle and inspired a few other changes here too. A pop of red worked for me for about a day until the clutter of extra frames irked me and I moved the two red pieces to a new picture ledge in the kitchen. Not very "happy chic" of me, I know, but the red wasn't good with the yellow and pink touches in this room. If you look closely in these pics, you can see another Jonathan Adler influence though in the form of his Greek Key print that I painted last year (full post here). 

Anthropologie is a store I've waited years to see and because of that, my expectations may have been slightly overinflated. It was more rustic than I anticipated but I loved the home accessories and the prints used in the clothing (not so much the styles, a little old for me perhaps?).  I went to both the Rockefellar Centre store and the one at Chelsea Market. The 'J' and 'E' hooks, clock doorknob and chalkboard jar in the top picture are all Anthropologie finds. The hooks have found a home behind our bedroom door. I love, love anything with vintage typography, especially initials. They probably deserve a more public home but we didn't really have a space and at least here they can be put to use to hold towels and things. 

Hanging towels on the hook behind our door wasn't working anymore because of my scarves. I should have tidied them for the photo, oops! Keepin' it real for ya. At least you can see that hanging a damp towel over my scarves wouldn't have have worked. Gotta look after the scarves people and keep them smelling sweet! And now there will be no mixing up our towels with a hook each. 

Speaking of vintage typography, I continued the theme with the alphabet discs I picked up at PB Teen. I'll be using these discs (by Chronicle Books, see here) around the house as labels or decoration and as gift tags. Think I'm too old for PB Teen? Ah, uh. I've heard plenty of people online lusting after the colourful bedding, cute cushions and even beds from PB Teen, particularly their 4 poster bed. When I saw a store on Second Avenue (at 76th Street) just a few doors down from the Upper East Side apartment we rented in our second week, I had no problem paying a visit. It's a very small store but full of treasures for teens and non-teens alike. There's more range online, so have a look and tell me you wouldn't be happy to own some of it. 

As for the Anthropologie jar, it is hanging out on our kitchen bench. I wrote 'bribes' on the little chalkboard label and we pop favourite lollies in there for each other if we need to bribe the other to do something! The Anthropologie clock knob hasn't been put to use yet but I have no doubt a home for it will be found one day, giving us another means of remembering a wonderful trip. I just love having little things in our home to remind us of special people, periods, events and especially holidays. Are you the same?

Coming home

An amazing dish from 'The Pint of Milk': sauteed exotic mushrooms, walnut sourdough, taleggio and truffled chestnuts $14

As we head over the Queensboro Bridge bound for JFK in a yellow cab, I soak up every last glimpse of the Manhattan skyline. For the first time in weeks, I am truly still. No plans, no must-sees, nothing new to take in. Flashes of the past weeks fill my thoughts in a pleasant blur, yet I’m not sure I’m ready to leave the frenetic energy of this awe-inspiring city behind.

“I’m really sad to be leaving,” I say aloud as my eyes glaze momentarily.

“Me too,” says the Mister beside me. “But it was a really great holiday.” He squeezes my hand.

A day later, another cab drops us at home in Footscray. It’s Sunday morning and the street is deadly quiet. Nothing moves, just our breath as it hits the cold air. Our car is still here! Inside, everything is as we left it. Not perfect, but clean, and it feels like home. The deep chill in the air has permeated inside, yet somehow I feel cocooned and warm. I love seeing all my things again and, for the first time, feel as though we have plenty of space. I remind myself, not for the first time in the last few weeks, that we are lucky. So easy to forget.

While nothing changed on the home front while we were gone, the rest of the west seems to have progressed at a rapid pace. In the weeks since returning, I’ve been like a kid in a "candy" shop checking out all the fabulous new places - Common Galaxia in Seddon is hitting all the right notes for me and just down Victoria Street, A. Bongiovanni & Son is winning my heart by making it easy to source speciality groceries (too many wonderful baking supplies for my own good). The Mexican taqueria chain, Guzman Y Gomez has made a quick bite before a movie much more attractive at Highpoint. The Reading Room at Victoria University in Footscray is now providing a coffee fix and eats to the wider community, not just students, so of course I had to sample their tasty wares. I made the effort to (finally) try The Pint of Milk in Newport and was not disappointed. I can't stop thinking about the nutty, earthy dish I ate there (pictured above). I’ve revived my sense of community by getting re-acquainted with my not-so-old favourites: Besito in West Footscray, Elceed in North Melbourne, and neighborhood favourites West 48 and Ebi Fine Foods.  Is the west really going off or am I just trying to tell myself that I don’t need New York, there is plenty happening here?!

I've discovered that it's possible to wish you were still on holiday and be happy to be home at the same time!

Going dotty in the bathroom

Confessions of a dork: I went to New York and brought back a shower curtain. Not even by accident. I had it planned on my list of things to buy in NYC after seeing the huge range of shower curtains on US websites. I've been trying to make do with our less than perfect bathroom and knew a vibrant shower curtain would add the little something required. 

Here in Australia, we are lucky to have more than five shower curtains to choose from in any one shop. They don't seem to be objects of desire here and I'm not sure if that's just a preference/fashion thing or because we have more space for separate showers (not over a bath) that don't require curtains or because all homes here seem to be modernising to minimilist bathrooms without a curtain in sight. Whatever the reason, the floor to ceiling walls of shower curtains at Bed, Bath & Beyond on 6th Avenue made my jaw drop. I'd already found and fallen for the classic Marimekko Kivet design at Crate&Barrel and snapped it up on sale with a curtain liner and set of roller rings. Even on sale, it was over $60 for the three items but totally worth it as I've never found one I like better at home. 

So, what was the bathroom like before the arrival of the cute, spotty curtain? First, let me say while our bathroom is very uninspiring and I'd love a new one, I know there are far worse bathrooms around and I'm thankful that at least this one is functional. It just needs a little sparkle while I save my pennies and consider whether it is worth the investment to renovate. But let's rewind to how it was when we bought the house in January 2010. 

First to go was the small mirror. 

With both of us trying to make ourselves decent at the same time on weekday mornings, it was a necessity to get a bicycle mirror built for two. 

We lived quite happily for awhile until the purple tile strip just had to go and get the Dulux Domino treatment that had already worked a treat in the kitchen and dining area (see post on that here). A light sand, a few strips of tape, two coats of paint et voila.

The plastic, cream taps have always hurt my eyes and the Mister successfully changed the bath and shower ones over to a simple silver type when he installed a new shower head. Unfortunately the taps at the basin proved tricker to remove. We need to get a plumber in but we haven't got there, mostly because we are not sure if it is worth it unless we were going to get a new vanity and if we do that it opens a can of worms in terms of where we start and finish. Seems a waste if we might get a new bathroom in the next two years. So for now we make do with a cream vanity with ugly cream taps against white tile (cream on white, ahhh!). 

An easier fix on a vanity is door knobs so I hit up Provincial Home Living as I've done whenever I needed knobs around the house (for the kitchen dresser, the hall stand, the lamp table in the living room). 

As for the terracotta tile, there's no easy fix but as a distraction I've used an Ikea Sveje rug in here (we put a bath mat on top when we shower). 

This brings us to where we were a few weeks ago. At this point we had a clear shower curtain with a white damask print from Freedom.  

You may just be able to make out the huge brown bottle on the bath. That's an old apothecary bottle I picked up in a junk shop near Eildon after a camping trip in January. Think it was only around 10 bucks - score!

After almost 24 hours in transit from New York, we stumbled wearily into our home sweet home and within a day I had the new shower curtain ironed and hung. 

Is that dotty or what?!?!

It provides a little more privacy than the old one too. 

Like the rest of the house, it's a work in progress with a few ideas yet to be actioned. I keep thinking of the tip in Deborah Needleman's Perfectly Imperfect Home to consider the bathroom as a room rather than an afterthought. Love that idea.

And while my bathroom is never going to win any awards, I'm enjoying it much more. Best of all, my 4 year old nephew Hugo appreciated the changes. He walked out of the bathroom on his recent visit from Brisbane and said "Aunty Ellise, I see you have new curtains in your bathroom". If a little boy has noticed, I think it can surely be claimed as a win!