Tales From the Box

Yes. You read that right. A landing strip. Not the long stretch of tarmac that a plane lands on. But the area located somewhere near the entrance of your home where you dump stuff.

Most people have an accidental landing strip. The kitchen bench, the sideboard in the living room, even a chair in your bedroom. It’s that place where, when you walk in the door, you drop your keys, handbag, phone, jacket, or whatever else you discard upon entering your abode.

And then there are those people with fancy houses and fancy landing strips to match. These people usually live in magazine-land and have fairies that clean and polish their houses at night while the residents sleep.

(from Apartment Therapy)

(from Apartment Therapy)

Well, it always bothered me to have the accidental landing strip – probably because our house (and our use of it) lends itself to several of these drop zones. We would casually drop stuff wherever we happened to walk, and then this would inevitably lead to me running around picking stuff up and putting it away on a regular basis. Rather than this, I decided that one central area would serve us better (and limit my tidying-up time).

So I set about setting up the perfect landing strip. We have quite a large entrance at the Box, so I had plenty of space to work with. We simply moved a Lack shelf (previously used above the TV in the lounge room) and mounted it at about table height. Then on the shelf I just put a container for keys and small bits and pieces and a jar for random coins (they always seem to accumulate). I make sure there is empty space on the shelf for dumping the mail when we bring it in, or for putting things there that I need to take with me when I go out next.

There’s also a chair for my handbag, and there’s usually a few pairs of shoes or thongs under the chair. In winter there are often a few scarves or a jacket or two thrown on the chair as well.

I have added a few decorative items to pretty it up a bit and we hung some artworks to fill the space on the wall above the shelf.

I have plans to hang some hooks on the wall opposite the shelf – these will be used to hang shopping bags, scarves, jackets, etc. And I will probably put a basket under the hooks for chucking shoes into (just so it doesn’t look too messy).

So that’s a landing strip. A place where you “land” when you get home. (Ok, I didn’t make up the name, I’m just trying to explain the concept.)

Making and dressing the bed has become one of those things that I am endlessly fascinated with, and constantly changing. Don’t get me wrong – making the bed is a chore, and I don’t love it every morning. But I love to look through magazines and blogs, getting ideas on how other people dress their beds.

(from Apartment Therapy)

I drool over the countless options and combinations of blankets, doona’s, sheets and bed spreads. Then there are the pillows (both standard and European) and cushions and throws (oh my).

(from House of Turquoise)

As a result of my fascination, I have purchased way too many bedding sets, sheet sets, pillow cases, throw cushions and throw rugs (most of them cheap from Ikea or Target, but still.) I rotate them and mix them up constantly, and I have to really refrain myself from buying more (especially when Ikea releases a new range).

(from Ikea)

(from Ikea)

At the Box, we are a fitted-sheet-and-doona-without-a-topsheet kinda folk. The husband likes a thin, soft pillow and I like a thick, hard one. When the bed is made, we usually have 4 standard pillows (2 each) and 2 European pillows (one each). Then there are often a few throw cushions, and sometimes a throw rug. It depends on the colours I am using at the time, and my mood.

There are times when I really just couldn’t be bothered “dressing” the bed, and I am lucky if I even throw the doona up and straighten the pillows. But then I go through stages when I really take joy in making the bed properly, choosing which sheets to put on, which cushions to use and all the rest. It’s wierd, I know. But it almost feels as good as buying a new pair of shoes. Almost.

Here at the Box, we are self-confessed magazine junkies. We subscribe to several, and buy many more on a random basis. Our choices tend toward the home reno/gardening/lifestyle/decorating genre, and we lap them up like starving dogs. Our current subscriptions are Real Living, Inside Out and Burke’s Backyard. We also regularly buy Australian Home Beautiful, House and Garden, Notebook (which is ceasing publication apparently). and the new Outdoor Room by Jamie Durie.

We get so excited when one of our subscriptions lands in the mailbox – we get all giddy and dance into the house with the crisp new mag, rip off the plastic wrap and sniff the fresh, glossy pages. It’s like getting a present from a secret admirer every month.

We get a lot of inspiration from these publications. We pour over the beautiful houses and gardens, obsess over the lovely furnishings and dream about what we could do with unlimited resources at hand. Of course, we would probably never implement most of what we come up with. But it’s just nice to dream and look at pretty things.

During our trips to China in 2005 and 2006, the husband and I began collecting chopsticks from the various cities and towns we visited. Basically, they were a cheap souvenir that we could easily purchase from anywhere in the country, and they wouldn’t take up too much room in the luggage on the way home.

Our collection has turned into a bit of a novelty at home: every time we have an asian dish for dinner, there’s a little moment where we carefully select which set of chopsticks we will eat with for that meal. It’s goofy but it’s just a thing we do.

So the chopsticks are currently sitting in a container on the kitchen counter, which looks fine. But I have always hoped that I would magically come up with some other genius idea for displaying them. Well, it seems that someone has done the thinking for me.

(from The Kitchn)

I saw this brilliant idea over at The Kitchn (Apartment Therapy) and I am sure we could implement something similar at the Box. Even if we don’t screw the little eyelet things directly into the wall, maybe into a plank of wood which then gets mounted on the wall. Or onto a flat surface that you could then frame? We’ll see.

I always had this ideal that your bedroom should be a sanctuary – somewhere you can escape to at the end of the day that feels calm, serene and peaceful.

(from desire to inspire)

Of course the reality is that most peoples’ bedrooms fall short of this ideal (mine included). I’m sure that the majority of us would sheepishly admit to clothes strewn over chairs or the end of the bed, wardrobes stuffed to overflowing or with clothes falling off the hangers, chests of drawers with clothes stuffed in rather than folded, laptops or paperwork piled up on the dresser or bedside tables, and shoes and socks thrown about wherever they landed. Possibly even some dirty dishes, a coffee cup or two and maybe even a stained, empty wine glass.

Well, this year I vowed to maintain our bedroom as the sanctuary I craved, even if the whole rest of the house went to ruins. I would always make the bed, put away my clothes and keep all surfaces tidy and clutter-free. And I have to say, I have almost always succeeded. There have only been a few days so far in the whole year that have failed to live up to this standard, and all of those have occurred since the arrival of our dear son.

How have I managed this, you ask? (Well, maybe you didn’t ask. But it’s easier to write these posts if I imagine some people on the other end reading this and conversing with me as I write. Crazy? No!) Well, firstly, it’s all about storage space. Have enough of it, use it correctly, and everything else pretty much falls into place.

Now, I have no problem confessing to my shopping addiction, and the excessive amount of shoes, clothes and accessories that have resulted. So I have always needed more storage space than most in the bedroom. We have (thanks to Ikea) a large wardrobe (Pax), 4 large chests of drawers (Malm 4 drawer) and 2 bedside tables (Malm again).

All of these are very full, but very well organised. I have dividers inside the drawers to keep everything neat, and I make sure everything is neatly folded and stacked. I also have dedicated storage for my copious amounts of accessories, scarves and the like (little boxes and special hangers). And I make sure to purge every 6 months or so and get rid of things that I no longer wear, thus making room for the new things I buy.

The main thing I do to keep our bedroom schmick is to have a place for everything and everything in its place. That means putting things away as soon as I am done with them, and reworking my storage if things are no longer fitting. It’s really not a lot of work, and all I have to do every day is make the bed. The rest has just become habit.

But even if it took more work than that, I would still try to do it. Because at the end of the day, when everything else is going nuts, there’s nothing more satisfying than dragging myself up the stairs, walking into my room, and seeing that all is right with the world.

Well, this is embarassing. It has been a while since I posted, promising to blog. And, well, I haven’t blogged at all. The intention was there: I planned, I wrote, I prepared photo’s, I discussed strategy and creative ideas with the husband. But then life, as it frequently does, got in the way.

To be fair, we had a baby.

Which is pretty big (although he is pretty small) as far as interruptions go. But the time has come my friends to pick up the slack and try again. So here it is: my vague and amateurish attempt to blog. Stay tuned (but don’t hold your breath – I’m still learning!).

One of my favourite nursery trips is to the Imperial Garden’s complex in Terrey Hills – which is located about 45 minutes north on Sydney. The complex contains The Buddha Belly restaurant,  Imperial Gardens Bonsai, Imperial Gardens Landscape Design, Mr Bamboo Nursery, Gazebo Direct and Hidden Orient.

I remember treking up to Imperial Gardens bonsai in 1999 as Ken Lamb (Managing director of Imperial Gardens Landscape) was constructing the Balinese pavillions that became Buddha Belly/Imperial Gardens Landscape/Hidden Orient. I usually return once a year and am struck by how authentically the gardens and constructions have aged. The whole area was mostly a dumping area 15 years ago and now feels like a landscape that has been their for 100 years.

We live in the Lower Blue Mountains. That means we travel. Lots. So we are thus used to and experienced in trekking all over to find useful places to source things around our home. I am bringing you some of my favourite and not so favourite garden nurseries from around Sydney.

Thus we traversed the lengthy and expensive toll roads of Sydney’s north to this subtropical seaside suburb of the Northern Beaches. I had previously ran past this on a Metrogaine in 2008 and thought that i should come back. Nearly 18 months later we return on a strikingly humid day too.

What impressed about this nursery is the varied amount of stock on offer and the low prices across their range. I usually steer away from all Flower Power nurseries due their almost default position of doubling the prices relative to what one would reasonable expect from a large chain. Warriewood Flower Power gladly has steered away from this with a generous selection of plants on sale and non sale plants still reasonably priced given their size and health.

Anyway the top 5 reasons that you should go to this nursery are:

1. Tropical style plant stock – good varied ferns, palms, large leafy under storey types.
2. Homewares and outdoor/indoor accessories – most nurseries attempt to have some indoor pots /general nice knick knacks but mostly fail. Not only is the indoor accessories area massive- the homewares are really nicely choosen , stylish and contemporay
3. Native varieties – plenty of choice of varieties and sizes. Different cultivars too – I counted 11 different Lillipilly’s.
4. On sale items – i picked up two 200mm pot banksias for $9.99 each from $19.99 – both over 1metre high. They had 200mm pots of Liriope for $3.25 down from $9.99
5. Lots to see – as nurseries go it is quite spacious, has lots of different areas (natives, formal gardens, tropical/indoor, aquatic, fish, landscape, indoors, mature trees etc)

Photos can only show you so much – so here is a bit of a wander around the backyard (albeit shaky….) looking at what we have done in the garden over the past few years.

Hello all! You might be wondering why I am suddenly contributing to this blog. Well, put simply, it was time for a little feminine influence and flavour. My loyal and hard-working husband has been, so far, the sole contributor to this blog (it really is his baby). This has made perfect sense – not only did he create this little record of our house and it’s growth over the years, but he has also been the one doing most of the physical and creative labour on the actual house itself. Until now.

The time has come, my friends, to show you what the female half of this partnership has been doing (namely interiors, planning, organising, decorating and “supervising” a lot of the outdoor stuff). So we thought it was about time that I added the odd post here and there for those of you who are interested in that sort of thing. You can expect the same pictures, explanations and whimsical meanderings that you have come to enjoy so far (we hope), just from a slightly more girly point of view (mind you, I’m not that girly – you won’t find any frills here).

So, hello, welcome, thanks for having me, and I hope you find my future posts interesting, informative, or at the very least, pretty. Jo xx