Rooms with mood.

I am a light person.
I like the sun. And shades of white and blues and things that are...on the lighter side of life. I think it speaks to the breath-of-fresh-air farmy-ness in me. That's why I like spring. And clean kitchens (but that's another story for another day).

But there's something to be said for the moody, dramatic look. Perhaps in my next life I'll come back as a real sullen diva. With emotional ties to the baroque era perhaps. Maybe I'll be deep and moody. Because, well sometimes it's nice to have your bedroom, living room and kitchen in particular looking a little more dramatic and OTT. What do you think?

Cue the drama, baby.

Tips to Bring a little drama in:

1) Accent a feature wall with deep hues - think maroon, plum, navy or burgundy. Grey works too, although not quite as warm.
2) Highlight your inner-baroque by sourcing large ornamental mirrors, candleabras, grand pianos, rose bowls, ornate furniture, dark woods, dramatic lighting and chandeliers. 
3) Accent with gold or silver detail to add some gorgoues contrast. 
4) Be intentionally over-the-top with layers on your bed or sofas - lots of cushions, duvets and quilts.
5) Bring in warmth by showcasing lots of books, glinting picture frames and a wooden heath or fireplace.
6) Also, wallpaper can be a great tool to give off a moody look and feel. 

Remember,  drama can be simple. But red wine also helps.

x

The Joy of Ingredients

There's something that is so simple and beautiful about thoughtfully styled ingredient photography. And it's not often that we see these great pics. Normally, we're just feasting on the final product without really taking into consideration the individual elements, which in many ways, are just down-right splendid in their own simplicity!

For someone who loves to cook off the cuff ( and most of the time just scratching around the pantry or garden to see what I can use), and who loves to add my own against-the-rulebook ingredients to a recipe,  ingredient photographs really make so much sense to me! I love how they break down often complex dishes into its tiny little elements, reminding us that most of the time, cooking is actually suuuuper easy!  

Here are some of my favourite ingredient phtographs. And again, it's all in the styling! I can spend hours wailing away my time by guessing how many combinations of dishes I can make with each set of ingredients! Day dreamin' i tell you...

 

Images via: frenchcuisse.com ; monikahearts.tumblr.com ; ourseasonaltable.com ; herriottgrace.com

Blown away by BREAKFAST

I'm a great believer in breakfasts. Good breakfasts with a view. Not the kind of breakfasts you find half way into your morning, crawling about the canteen at work. Not the ones that come in 125ml tubs or wrapped up in silver foil, waiting to take a breath of air.  Nope, that breakfast is not found here.

Judge me if you will, but I'm a big breakfast girl. A breakfast of real food. Of butter. And salt.  Nuts. Fruits. Of glorious bacon that sizzles in the copper pan. My breakfasts are made with thought and attention, and delicious freshness straight from the earth. (Sounds all ah-may-zing and romantic, but 9 times out of 10 it's freshness from my fridge...but real goodness none the less!). In fact, I will get up early, even on a Sunday to truly prepare a breakfast of champions...even if just for myself. It's a ritual in many ways, and the mystery and delight that I get from it is like a form of yoga - of meditation- that gets me geared up for the day.

So here are some great breakfasts that make me roll out of bed a fair bit earlier than is conceivable to most. I guess it's because I'm a morning person - or maybe it's the other way round!..maybe breakfast has made me a morning person :)

I love ingredient photography like this. It makes me feel a lot more connected to my meal when I can see what has gone into it...Simple and gorgeous styling and photography.

I love eggs. They're an amazzzzzingly nutritious whole food that are a staple on my breakfast plate. Forget about all that cholesterol propaganda - it's nonsense anyway! Try this lovely breakfast cup recipe that is gorgeous to look at and soooo lip-smackingly divine to start your day with! (and if you make a dozen at a time, there's really no stopping you from having them throughout the day! Yum!) If you're wheat sensitive or intolerant like me, make sure you substitute the bread or pastry with something that works for you. I find using a combination of almond meal and coconut flour gives me the right consistency when making a pastry in this form.

Watch this fantastic video that shows you how to make bacon wrapped eggs (without the toast in this case):

A List to rival all Lists

I have two weeks of leave. TWO {entire} weeks {to myself}. Oh the excitement is welling up in me like a Zuma's 5th bride on her wedding day.  Oh doI have things planned. Big things. Housey things. Things that will eat ferociously into my bank balance until it's dry and empty. But it will be rewarding...(in a way that only housey, homey people will understand.)

So what am I planning to do?
Well, my excitement has got the better of me, so here's my To-Do list.

a) I'm planning to go here, to the Milnerton market, with my friend Donne, to rumble through some people's unwanted clutter. Because one man's trash is another man's treasure...and I'm a big believer in finding cool stuff underneath a heap of not-so-cool stuff. Because it's  fun. And dusty. And mostly very cheap.

What am I looking for? oh, I don't know...mostly some old books :

via

or old plates:

via

or an old ladder...

via

Oh,. look it seems I'm in the market for anything old.

b) I'm going to make some frames. From scratch. In my dad's wood-working-workshop.
c) I'm going to buy some glorious, beautiful wallpaper, and get all sticky and messy when I put it up to make a feature wall in my lounge. It will be all gunge and glue, but it will be awesome. There's a lot of merit in having beautiful wallpaper.

Via

via

d) I'm going to stalk down some instagrams, some nice old images from my hard drive and put them up. (In the frames that I've made from scratch in ,my dad's wood-working-workshop.) And then I'm going to put them up on the floating shelves that I plan to also install.

via

e) I'm going to cook, and write. The two other things in my life that make getting up worthwhile and keep me awake at night.


f) I'm going to be visiting some foodie spots like this one in Newlands... Josephine's Cookhouse...I am so excited for that! The Southern Suburbs, bless her, needs more of these little gems.


g) I'm going to grow some more veggies...to make my 'eating whole foods' journey that much more palpable..what can I say - I want to live off the land!!

Kapow.  I love lists. I'm a list-er. Somehow, they make me happy.
But not as happy as this small fact:
My last  day at the House of Quiet Disillusionment - T minus 5.

K

When I grow up...

We've all been asked it. From when you first walked into the doors of kindergarten holding your favourite teddy bear, to the day you walked out of those big University doors holding your scroll. We've been lectured to on the topic,  we read books about it. The question  can get us down,  or it can make us very very happy. You've been asked it by your best friend, by your headmaster and by old, wrinkled, brill-creamed grandmother. We ask God about it (all day in my case) and the answer can prove to be a fork in our roads. Some people care more about it than others. Some should care more.   

This question can be the master of your fate. 

"What do you wan to be when you grow up?"

The sad truth is that I'm all grown up, but it's a question I have failed to answer completely. I'm in that space where I'm as big as I'm ever going to be (thanks for skipping the party, growth spurt)  and I'm still trying to figure out exactly where I want to be in life. 


And I am making progress. 


If I pool together all my interests - my love for food, for eating, my love for photographs, for words, for making things look pretty, my love for organisation and for information, my love of technology, of magazines, of layouts - I come to something quite interesting, and something that could really really excite me...
Food Styling and Photography. 


And you know when the penny drops, and something just clicks. 
Well I think I may have found an avenue that I can grow up in. 


Here's a little video I found that also really excites me. 

Back from Hibernation.

I have been gone a while. Okay, that may be some what of an understatement. Where have you been? I hear you ask? Well, no where really. And that I guess, was the problem.
I was lost in the dark tunnels that lead from one nowhere to another nowhere. Lost in passages that are not dictated by time, or light or love. I was lost to a broken version of myself.  A version of myself that was turning me into a cavity for emptiness and indifference to settle in like a good tenant.

No matter, The darkness has been broken. Change has come.

And I guess, we all need to go through a time of darkness, to see that there is indeed a light at the end of the tunnel, and that no matter how cliched it might seem, that we are the makers of our own destiny and that the depth and breadth of our love tank is determined by how much love you give to others.

I was lost, but now I am found.

And I am back.

I have re-ignited passions - for food, for laughter,  for life. And that is what I am going to continue to share with you here. Because I want to become a warmer, more loving version of me. I want to be the best of me.

And to do that I need to share what makes me happy. And I have realised that one of my passions is making things look good. Whether it is food, homes, bedrooms, office spaces, designs, art pieces, words. Make them look good. Style them.

And one day I will pursue the dream to perhaps be a food stylist and photographer. Just putting it out there. And i think I can do it. So from now on, I'll be posting a little bit of my inspiration, and a little of my own work.

All I'm going to say today...