Wednesday, April 25, 2012

Master Bedroom


I used to dislike my bedroom. I hated the $800 kilim rug that I bought thinking it was a mistake and it looked dirty and old.  The rug used to be under the bed and it looked small and unattractive. I hated the length of the drapes and I was kicking myself for not measuring it correctly. It's crazy how a bit of accessorising and rearranging can transform the look of the whole room. Anything ugly or unattractive can be made right with the right accents and arrangements. 

First of all, I rescued back my ex dining table slash ex garage workshop table and brought it back to my room to be used as a writing table. I accented it with a chair that used to have no purpose. I added a stripy pillow to connect the strips of the rug.  I moved the rug from the bed to anchor a smaller space. I added a floor lamp with matching shades to match the side bed lamps. (they are from Ikea, shhh..)
Finally, I put some art on the wall - a painting I bought from the Philippines and on the other side two smaller frames which I bought from Vancouver & San Francisco to give a sense of scale to offset the bigger head board. 

I love my room now, if you can see the balcony, I also added some hanging basket with red flowers. It makes the place look more welcoming and very European. I have seen red flowers being used a lot by balconies in Europe. Here's my inspiration, town hall in Munich. I'm not saying my house looks like this amazing gothic building - just that I have obtained this tiny inspiration to be added to my house. 


Tuesday, April 24, 2012

Range Rover Evoque with Victoria Beckham

I love the new Range Rover Evoque - a collaboration with quintessential British style icon Victoria Beckham.

Appearance at Shanghai Motor Show

Inspiration for a rainy day

a mix between vintage, retro, patterns, colours, modern & contemporary. Perfect balance


photos from Casa Vogue

Sunday, April 22, 2012

Vancouver, Canada

I had the opportunity to visit Vancouver last week. It is one of the places where I would not purposely go for a visit but is grateful for the opportunity to have gone for business. My knowledge of Vancouver is limited to the fact that it always competes with Melbourne, Australia for the World's most liveable city title.

View from Glanville Market.

Awesome time to be in Vancouver, the city is full of cherry blossoms, which I learn were gifts from Japan in the 1930s. 

Snow capped mountains view from downtown
 

Thursday, April 5, 2012

Harvey Nicols, London

The biggest attractions for me in London is not the London Eye, Buckingham Palace nor the Big Ben, it's Knightsbridge home to Harrods & Harvey Nicols. Just the shopping experience for both exclusive department stores justify the trip to London. Look at the window displays at Harvey Nicols:




Sunday, April 1, 2012

Audi Q3




I am in the market for a compact SUV. My car is about 6 years old and it's boring to drive. It seems that Australia is the middle of crossover, compact SUV craze where all car manufacturers are launching this segment in bucket loads and getting really good responses. (think BMW X1, VW Tiguan, Madza CX5 and the newly launched Q3)

I thought I had my mind set on the X1 but the newly launched Q3 seemed to be a choice worth contemplating too.

The only thing I disliked was how it priced its Q3 models. It is enough to turn me off from purchasing a Q3. Entry level model retails for approximately $44k in MANUAL and if you wanted auto, add $10k (S-tronic) to it. Majority of cars sold are automatics, so this pricing sucks.