Beach Bungalow

Sometimes I see images on Pinterest, and I know they're from South African decor magazines - but I can't remember which or when. It drives me nuts because usually the image makes me want to go back and see the whole house. One such image was this one:

The always tasteful Court pinned it - and I had seen this image so many times I thought I knew the house... not so! (yay!) The rest of the house was new to me, and featured on Dust Jacket: a beautiful home on Bakoven beach.

I love, love, love the beadboard.... you can see the rest of the house in its original publication, here.

A Rockin' Weekend

This fashion shoot from South Africa's April edition of Marie Claire totally blew me away!

I hope this inspires you to have a totally bad-ass weekend, to borrow a phrase from my American friends!

You can see more and get more info from here. 

Botanical Prints

Opening this weekend at the South African Print Gallery in Woodstock, Cape Town, is the 2013 Botanical Print Show. If you're in that neck of the woods, go! Here are some of my favourites

If you'd like to know the artist and artwork title, click on the image or go to the South African Print Gallery website.

God's Window

The passed couple days have been heavy around here - and a little distraction is in order. Something beautiful, uplifting and inspiring. So let's fly to Swellendam, in South Africa, to a house and its setting that fills all those criteria.

From Gass Architecture's website,

This new residential dwelling is situated in Swellendam at the door-step of the breathtaking mountains and valleys of Langeberg Mountains – a view so magnificent that the locals have named it “God’s Window.” It was because of this exquisite setting that simple forms and materials were chosen for the architecture, in order to facilitate a subtle intervention – to “lie gently” on the landscape. The buildings were constructed using largely local textures and materials reminiscent of its distinctly Southern African origins. In addition to the architecture itself, efforts were made to make the house and the land itself more sustainable. For example, the land was cleared of non-native invading species, like the black wattle. Also, all the water used in the house is harvested from the site itself, and as a result there is no connection to the municipal water supply line, making the house self-sustaining from a water perspective.

Boston

What is there to say about what happened?

We have been in Boston for 10 years, and love this city. I have never feel it so sombre, but also so united. The Boston Marathon was chosen as a target because its an event where people train through the harsh New England winter in order to be ready. An event where people come together to celebrate that dedication. An event where if you're not running as one of the top athletes, you are running to raise money for charity. An event where life is celebrated - the beginning of warmer weather, athleticism, camaraderie, the fulfillment of months of dedicating your body to meet the challenge but also collecting money to help your fellow human beings. Hope.

This will not stop the awesomeness of the Marathon. All those good accomplishments. People will still come from all over the world. Because even as the bad things happen, good people got up and met that head on, and helped each other. That will never change. In this loss we will still run, and sing louder, and use our talents to celebrate life. Because the good things will always overtake the bad.

This guy said it much better than me.

Love that dirty water.

Good Times in Johannesburg

The weekend is upon us! For some good reading, especially for anyone who will be visiting South Africa, here's a great article on Johannesburg - where I grew up.

The next port of call on our recent South Africa trip was Johannesburg, or the City of Gold as it was once known; the design tour entered the vast, built up city with all eyes open. Miles apart from Cape Town in many ways, exciting pangs ran through us as we drove around taking it all in – you could describe Jo’burg as Cape Town’s cooler younger brother in terms of creativity, it’s much rawer; and Jozi folk take themselves much less seriously than their waterside cousins. 

Enjoy! And happy weekend!

Whistling Thorn Wallpaper

Did you guys see the sneak peek of Ali and Jonny Price's home on design*sponge? A lovely home! And I particularly loved the Whistling Thorn Wallpaper in their bedroom - absolutely reminded me of the grasslands in South Africa, and the aloes that are found everywhere.

The wallpaper is from Anthropologie, but no longer being stocked. Does anyone know who designed this wallpaper? It really reminds me of Maira Koutsoudakis' other wallpaper, I wonder if it's hers?

Karoo Olive Oil

Apparently I'm not so sharp because it never occurred to me that the Karoo would be a great place to grow olives. I recently saw this lovely design on pinterest, and it led me down the rabbit hole...

This olive oil comes from a lovely little dorpie (town) called Prince Albert. It looks so idylllic. Love the sunsets!

Prince Albert olive farms also sell their olives - but so far it looks like only in South Africa. What a bummer. I'd love to know different their olives taste to those from Europe... the other thing I was wondering if they would ever consider having a little guest house. How wonderful it would be to spend a weekend in the quiet?

Check out the Prince Albert Olives website here.

Some Sunshine

And, just like that, a month has flown by.

And here in Boston, it is what the locals like to call "spring" - which is really a torturous mix of days, where a couple are warmer and you can feel the tendrils of summer creeping in, alternating with icy cold days like today, where those tendrils retreat as the cold wind blows and the iciness stays.

But just a week ago I was returning from a little break that the hubby I took down South. We flew to Fort Lauderdale, and drove down, across all the Keys, to Key West. What a good time.

We did some snorkeling (with these guys, and they were great) and did a stand up paddle eco tour of the mangroves, which was simply phenomenal. We went with these guys, and I'd go again in a heartbeat.

There was also plenty of swimming in the hotel pool, reading and naps. Ah, naps. This was the view from our balcony.

We also headed across  to a tiny island off the end of Key West, called Sunset Key, for breakfast. The entire island is a hotel, and it is just blissful. On the way there, we passed by a pirate ship! If you click on the first pic, you'll see it (my zoom isn't quite that sharp)

But what was a real treat, was the architecture....

... and the floor at Sloppy Joe's.

So, would I recommend Key West? Yes!

Back to regular programming tomorrow.