Orla Kiely’s classic retro inspired Multi Stem pattern is one of the favourites in our online homewares store.

The Multi Stem pattern is simple, stylish and it works so well in the home. It is now also available in our gorgeous laptop bag and iPad case range.

Pattern love… Orla Kiely Multi Stem

I’ve been drowning in paperwork lately and I love my home to look aesthetically pleasing so I’ll confess that I’m notorious for throwing things in cupboards when I tidy up so the surfaces look clean and lovely.  Behind closed doors lurks a horrible cluttered mess that does my head in!!  For a few months I’ve been thinking I need to get myself some help in this area but that inner voice kept saying ‘don’t be silly you can sort it out’.  Well this week I took the plunge and hired the lovely Rebecca Mezzino from Clear Space Organising Services to visit my home for 3.5 hours.  What a blessing! Why, oh why did I wait… she’s seen it all, you don’t need to be ashamed of your space – professional organisers are here to help you set up systems to have your house running smoothly.

Everyone’s situation is different so this is what we managed to work through in our session:

• Paperwork, we sorted and set up a new paperwork system that allows me to process paperwork daily in an efficient manner (and no losing those important bits of paper).  This involved setting up my action filing system in the hallway (I call it my hallway hub!) where it is accessible and also discussing a reference filing system for paperwork that needs to be kept but has been processed.

Hallway Hub – Beautifully Organised

• Walk through of home to look at our storage spaces and issues.
• Storage ideas and a plan for the playroom/kids room… we have two small bedrooms which our children have as their shared bedroom and the other is their playroom.  The wardrobe in the playroom is cluttered with toys the kids don’t play with and can’t reach.  Rebecca told me to reclaim the space above my eldest child’s height and use it to free up vital everyday storage in our living area – best advice!!  She also gave me the concepts I need to teach my children how to clean up their mess and get them involved in the de-cluttering process.
• Living area storage – we have a large cabinet that is hiding a lot of mess and probably looks like it has much more in it than it does because it isn’t well organised.  It holds all manner of things so I now have a plan of action for what should be in there, what should be moved out and what can be moved on.  A fantastic concept for this space was thinking of this storage as our most precious real estate, if it isn’t being used and accessed regularly should it really be taking up valuable space in this area?
• Daily routines, we talked about routines for the children but also how it’s important for me to have my own morning routine.

If you’ve been considering getting a professional organiser into your home I can thoroughly recommend the experience… you will feel as though a weight has been lifted and you’ll have systems that you can start implementing straight away.  Rebecca Mezzino of Clear Space Organising Services is a professional organiser in Adelaide, if you aren’t in Adelaide you will still find her Clear Space Facebook page a valuable resource for organising your home and she is also working on an iPad app for organising kids which I’m sure many readers will love!

Save your sanity at home… hire a Professional Organiser!

As a huge fan of Selling Houses Australia I couldn’t wait to get my hands on a copy of Interior Designer Shaynna Blaze’s first book ‘Design Your Home’.  On the popular Lifestyle show Shaynna always offers great tips for sellers and also home owners who are looking to enhance their space.

Her book is a practical guide to understanding design rules (and then she explains how you can break them!) as well as a visual feast of varied home solutions to suit every budget.

Design Your Home by Shaynna Blaze

The best bits:

• Shaynna acknowledges that our homes cannot always be showroom or photoshoot ready, we have to live in our home and enjoy our space with our families.  She offers practical solutions to getting on top of the common trouble spots in our homes.
• Shaynna refers to apartments and how different they can be from traditional homes.  As an apartment owner myself I often find interiors books have amazing tips but they just aren’t suitable for apartments (for example the entrance hall… what entrance hall?!)
• The principles discussed in Design Your Home really can be applied to any home regardless of style or budget, that makes it a great read for all home design enthusiasts.
• It’s a visual feast… Shaynna has included plenty of great photos, some may not be to your personal taste but they are beautifully presented and give readers the visual understanding of the text.  

My verdict:

A fabulous book full of practical ideas which are suitable for a wide audience regardless of their space and budget.  Design Your Home goes beyond looking good on the coffee table!

‘Design Your Home’ by Shaynna Blaze sells for RRP $39.95 and is stocked at your favourite book shops or you can purchase online via Shaynna’s online store.

{BOOK REVIEW} Design Your Home by Shaynna Blaze

Raw Cacao Bliss Balls

A healthy treat that tastes amazing – yes please!!

Ingredients:

1 cup dried fruit (try 3/4 cup medjool dates  + 1/4 cup of sulphur free dried apricots)

1 cup nuts (I used almonds and cashews)

1/3 cup coconut oil

1/3 cup organic raw cacao powder

1 tablespoon chia seeds

1/2 cup shredded coconut

Method:

Soak medjool dates (if using them) for 15 minutes in warm water to soften.  While waiting blend nuts on high speed until they reach a fine crumb/meal texture.

Remove nuts from bowl and set aside.

Blend dried fruit, cacao powder,1/4 cup of shredded coconut, coconut oil and seeds until it reaches a smooth texture.  Add the ground nuts and blend together until combined.

Once the mixture is completely combined, remove the mixture from the processor with a spoon and roll into small balls.  Coat in shredded coconut and store in an airtight container in the fridge.  Leave them for at least a few hours so they reach a firmer texture.  These can also be stored in the freezer.

Delicious!!

The fabulous part about this recipe is you can really get creative with the fruit and nut selections and you can also add your favourite seeds, superfood and protein powders to make them even better.

{RECIPE} Raw Cacao Bliss Balls

Is there such a thing as the perfect home?  It certainly wouldn’t be the same for all of us and we have to learn to live with compromise in our homes… that’s just life!

But if you could dream up your ideal home… what features would it have?  Mine aren’t based around designer fittings and finishes… more practical type solutions that come from living in an apartment (with 2 children!) and facing various storage/space issues.  I know that I can create a home we love by decorating with confidence, it’s just these little (or big!) things that would be wonderful.

Here’s my wishlist:

• A butler’s pantry… I want a huge pantry (or perhaps it could be called the second kitchen) where all of my food is stored in labelled containers and is easy to access.  I’d like a spare fridge/freezer and sink so I can hide the dishes when entertaining!  It might look a little like this:

Inspiration – a Butler’s Pantry which is the size of my current kitchen!                 {Image Source: Pinterest}

• A modern meets country style eat in kitchen. There’s a reason why they say the kitchen is the heart of the home… we spend so much time cooking and cleaning in the kitchen it makes sense to have a table in the middle so everyone can be a part of the action. Ever since visiting a country home in Somerset many years ago I have been dreaming of a kitchen like this:
  

  Stylish Eat In Modern Country Kitchen {Image Source: Pinterest}

• A laundry that is larger than a broom closet… even after living in London where the washing machine lived in the kitchen I still yearn for a decent sized laundry.  It would have room for a front load washer and dryer, a big linen/broom cupboard and a super organised washing sorting system.  I would also like fairies that come and put the washing away but I’m yet to meet anyone who’s lucky enough to have one of these!
  

  Dream Laundry – no explanation required! {image source: Pinterest}

• A separate home office with ample storage and loads of natural light.
  

  Home Office Inspiration – flooded with natural light {image source: Pinterest}

• A small but stylish home exercise room attached to the back of the garage.
  

  Stylish Exercise Room {image source: Pinterest}

• A veggie patch/herb garden for cultivating lots of beautiful produce.
• A bali hut at the end of the garden as an outdoor relaxation space.  A swimming pool would also be nice but only if someone else cleans it!
  

  Bali Hut – a beautiful relaxation spot. {image source: Pinterest}

• Larger bedrooms for the kids… we are lucky that our children share their small bedroom and get along well.  The teenage years will be a different story!

What’s on your wishlist?  Can you achieve these things in your current home or is a move required?

Dreaming of the ideal home…

Since focussing on healthy eating earlier this year I have a new best friend in the kitchen… coconut!  I now use coconut oil in a lot of my cooking (did you know it also makes a great hair treatment?!) and my children are loving shredded coconut in treats I make for them.

I had no idea that I could even use my Thermomix to make coconut butter until I purchased Sarah Wilson’s ‘I Quit Sugar’ cookbook.  When I saw how simple it was I knew that I had to try it in the Thermomix and really if you have any kind of blender it’s worth giving this a go as a healthy dairy alternative. (Just play with the mixing time, the Thermomix is ultra high power so you may need to blend for longer with other mixers – up to 15 minutes)

Coconut Butter made in just 3 minutes with a Thermomix

Makes 1 Jar.

Ingredients:

• Packet of Shredded Coconut (you’ll need at least 200g)

Method:

Place the shredded Coconut in the Thermomix. Set temperature to 37 degrees, speed 8 for 1 minute. Scrape down the bowl. Mix for a further 2 minutes/temp 37 degrees/ speed 8.  This is where you may need to play with mixing times/speeds if it isn’t quite runny enough. You may need to blend for a little longer at a higher speed. Place the butter in a jar immediately and allow time for setting. The butter can be safely stored at room temperature or you may prefer to store in the fridge (it will get very hard in the fridge so keep this in mind for prep times). Either way it will need a little warming before use.

Using Coconut Butter:

• a fabulous dairy spread alternative, beautiful spread on toast or home-made fruit loaf
• use it in baking instead of butter (this is what I’m looking forward to testing out!)
• add it to icings and frostings
• store it in small chunks (use an ice cube mould to store in fridge) and eat it as a little indulgence

Enjoy!!

{RECIPE} Coconut Butter in Thermomix

Who says kitchen organisation has to be boring and confined to plastic containers?!  Since I am the chief product tester for our online homewares store it’s only fitting that I road test some of the gorgeous tins we sell at SE10 Gallery…

Here are my favourites and what I use them for:

Folklore Nesting Tins – was $34.95 now $24.95

The Folklore Nesting Tins are a cute set of tins that look lovely on any kitchen bench or shelf.  These were the very first set of tins I owned and I still love them!  The great thing about having different colour lids and sizes is that it’s easy to remember what’s stored in each one.  My favourite is the yellow one… that holds my secret Haigh’s dark chocolate stash!!  I use the other two tins for storing tea (both loose leaf and bags).  The seal on these tins is nice and tight so I’ve never found keeping things fresh to be an issue.

Orla Kiely Canisters in Blue/Poppy – $49.95

The other tins which take pride of place on my kitchen bench are Orla Kiely canisters – I have used these stylish tins to hold my protein powder and the loose leaf green tea I have daily so that tin sits close to the kettle.  You can use tins to store biscuits, coffee beans, tea, chocolates, treats and so much more.  If there’s any food lying around your kitchen that looks needs a new home, ask yourself can it go into a tin?  They are a fabulous way of storing every day items in style!

A tin obsession

Do you use Pinterest for inspiration for your home?  I’ll confess I’m a little addicted… whenever I have a new idea for my home I search for images on Pinterest to reassure me that it will work!  What’s my favourite search term at the moment?  ’Telephone tables’ of course!  Here’s a snapshot my Telephone Tables Pin Board, helping me to refine my Feast Watson Re-love Project piece ideas and how I’m going to transform it.

Telephone Tables Pin Board on Pinterest

There are so many different ways in which you can utilise Pinterest, it can be a fabulous source of inspiration but you can also use it also a bookmark tool for recipes and all those great ideas that you come across online.  We also use Pinterest to showcase our online store’s product range so pop on over and join us  in the pinning fun!

Using Pinterest for Inspiration

I adore smoothie’s in summer… they are the perfect way to start the day!  Breakfast is the most important meal of the day, would you honestly sit down and eat 3 different varieties of fruit, 1/2 a pot of yoghurt and some seeds with a glass of milk on the side? Probably not! Smoothies are so much fun, use this recipe as a starting point and dream up your own combinations. Add some oats, seeds or protein powder when you need a boost and mix up your fruit combinations to find your favourite… here is mine.

Are you really busy and need help organising your meals?  This tip I found on Pinterest makes for very easy smoothies, take your prepared fruit and separate each smoothie portion into freezer bags.

For this recipe I have used:

• 1 peeled banana
• 4 strawberries (washed and hulled)
• 1/2 peach cut into slices

Freeze your smoothie fruit for the week ahead

Ingredients:

• Bag of frozen fruit
• 80g vanilla yoghurt
• 100ml of almond milk (or milk of your choice)
• Sprinkle of chia seeds

Method:

Throw it all in your mixer/blender and blend on high speed for at least 45 seconds.

The end result: banana, strawberry and peach smoothie

I serve mine in a plastic salad dressing shaker so it can come with me as we leave the house each morning.  See no excuses for skipping breakfast in the mornings… this only takes 1 minute!

{RECIPE} Banana, Strawberry and Peach Smoothie

I am delighted to announce that I am one of the lucky design personalities involved in Feast Watson’s Re-love Project.

From 14 February to 9 May, nine worn pieces of timber furniture will be transformed into unique statement pieces.

Those who love design and the re-loving process can follow the transformation on Pinterest and at the end of the project, each completed piece will be available for sale on eBay for ten days, with all proceeds donated to Salvo Stores.

My piece of furniture is affectionately referred to as the ‘Gossip Table’, it is a telephone table and chair known as the place where the lady of the house could be found gossiping in the days before cordless phones.

 

Feast Watson Re-Love Project – The Gossip Table

The  designers participating in the Feast Watson Re-Love Project come from a variety of creative backgrounds, each with a distinct artistic signature and boasting an impressive repertoire of industry experience:

• Emma Blomfield: Emma’s passion for establishing a different niche within the industry was the catalyst behind her launch of Nest. Focusing on e-decorating, Nest is an interior decorating business that offers clients access to affordable, professional and inspired design ideas and solutions.
• Ella Leoncio: Ella is a Project Architect and a design blogger with her own highly successful blog, Pages from my Moleskine. Embracing the “to live is to learn” approach to life, Ella continually listens, observes and questions the world around her for artistic inspiration.
• Camilla Molders: Camilla is the owner of Camilla Molders Design and she strongly believes that the essence of “home” should reflect an individual’s personality and that their living space ideally needs to evoke a sense of sanctuary and balance.
• Jennifer French: Jennifer is Director and Principal Designer for Inside Out Colour and Design. Whether it’s embracing monochromatic minimalism or bucking trends with a brazen spectrum of colours, Jennifer strives to find the best combination of tones and hues for all surfaces.
• The Team from Made On The Left: Made On The Left is a non-profit organisation based in Western Australia that is committed to promoting talent across the region. The creative team for the Re-Love Project is made up of four talented women: Nicole Moffat, creator of label Tall Rabbit; Jacquie Hughes, creator of Empire of Delight; Rebecca Antos, creator of Little Sparrow Design; and Marie Joubert, creator of Mea Culpa, a boho-luxe jewellery and accessories range.
• Simone Barter: Simone’s natural creative flair has been evident in her work as an interiors and props stylist for over 15 years. Based in Noosa and the creator of blog site style.life.home (www.stylelifehome.com.au), Simone’s specialty lies in the ability to declutter and decorate a space in a way that brings a stylishly relaxed ambience to any room.
• Sarah Whiting: Sarah launched her interior design business, Sarah Belle Design (www.sarahbelledesign.com.au), in mid-2011. She embraces a natural, organic style to her creative approach and favours design layouts that promote a free-flowing aesthetic appeal and feature bright pops of colour contrasted against neutral finishes like timber grains and stones.

Feast Watson’s Re-Love Project… introducing the Gossip Table