My excuse!

We're moved. That was the easy bit. Unpacking all the boxes is the hard part!

This end of the living room is even worse than the one I am flaked out in! (MrC is taking photos from the stairs)

The studio is so solid with boxes, I can't imagine ever being able to sew in it.

The funny thing is that the amount of boxes totally overrepresents the amount of our stuff - the packers use so much paper and bubble wrap, each box is easily a third just that.

mind you many of the boxes in this last pic are fabric and things that don't break and are chocka. Hmm.

Anyway, am I excused for not being a good little blogger?!

I am Versatile, it's official! :)

How cool is this! The wonderful Dreamstress  gave me this award a while ago and I'm sorry it's taken so long to put it up and post something :) This morning is the first time since P2P I feel like I've been able to just sit and blog.

Anyway, I have to tell you seven things about myself and nominate 15 blogs to give it to. I don't even know of 15 blogs so I will do my best!

Seven things about MrsC

1. I love RED. Almost every shade of it. I love to wear it, to live surrounded by it. I find it soothing and inspiring. The only thing better than red, is red and gold together. The bedroom in our previous apartment. Red, gold, maximalism :)

2. I love PURPLE. I love to wear purple, but not so much to live surrounded by it. I got married in purple velvet (among other fabrics and colours) and I love red and purple together. My favourite shades of purple are the redder ones, like royalty wear, although I am also fond of ultraviolets.

Yes it is very, very dark purple silk/rayon velvet. My many attendants (the joys of stepkids and nieces) wore cherry burgundy velvet, among other fabrics and colours.

3. My favourite roses as in the kind you buy cut from a florist not the kind you plant in a garden, are Leonidis and Bluebell (although I think it's odd to name one flower after another!) They are the roses in my wedding bouquet and in my hair. Leonidis is the terracotta one, Bluebell the deep burgundy one.

This image is a little fiddled with in photoshop, and it is the background on my PC.

4. I recently remet my first boyfriend (17) and was rather touched to find how I had it right the first time. He is lovely and very like my husband. I did spend most of the intervening 20 years with the wrong kinds of blokes. Like many fairly smart people, I can be a slow learner...

5. I love weather. I love hail, wind, rain, scorching sun, warm or cool breezes, the whole gambit of it. I would hate to live somewhere where the weather never really did much. I like weather with personality! No wonder I love Wellington and Christchurch! People in these cities talk about the weather because it is interesting, not because they have nothing else to talk about :)

6. Is it a cheat to include the revealing truth that I am a maximalist? Maximalism is a movement my friend Terry and I invented, shocked that it didn't exist already. Minimalists have had all the press. Maximalists believe that "More is More". A maximalist believes that you should add something, not take something away. The mistake minimalists always make when they judge and dismiss a maximalist piece is that it is chaos. IT IS NOT. It is much harder to make something work when it has many components. Well, I would say that wouldn't I..

7. I love Art Nouveau. I suspect that this really is a cheat as of course a hard core maximalist would love Art nouveau. I also love the Arts and Crafts movement.

Right now though I have to run away! I will nominate some wonderful blogs for a versatility award very soon :)

I'm still here!

Sorry my devoted readers, to neglect you for so long. Life has been...textural...lately.
Best news is that we are now the proud owners of one gorgeous inner city apartment, converted from 1920's warehouse and with covered parking. All miracles. The complementary news is that we are soon not to be the owners of our lovely townhouse, and the upshot of course is that the contents of House B need to be moved to Apartment A, but not before the contents of House B have been scrutinised for ongoing relevance in our downsized life, and dispatched to new homes, hopefully occasionally with shekels changing hands.
So, because I have gorgeous photos taken for online listing, I am devoting this post to House B. It is not its fault that it is too far and uphill from the city. We will miss the tuis singing in the trees, the quiet and peace and loveliness of its setting.

This is our front view. We fell in love with the cute cottageyness of the place

Sunspots through the cabbage tree - MrC gets artistic :)

I love this view from our landing down into the front hall. The long interior window is all that is left of the original and unnecessary kitchen door. Reclaiming the space allowed the magic to happen within.

Our dining area with the famous WLW (World's loudest wallpaper). I like this is as it shows the library dresser my Dad made, the chest I painted and the chair I had powder-coated and recovered, twice now.

The other end, living room. It is bigger than it looks but it is not big.

You've seen this room even if you don't realise it - it used to be my studio. Who'd have guessed that under all those cupboards and shelves there lurked a tranquil, tasteful master bedroom? I am very proud of this bed - it is a blow up queen mattress balanced on a bookcase lying on its back, still full of books. Anyone sitting on it would have ended up on the floor with a duvet flung over their head hehehe.

Ironically, the new owners are running their business for this room and they are in the sewing machine business!

The inner sanctum - our room. You can't properly see our dear little chandelier. I love the curtains in this room, the fabric is so William Morris and it was a bargain from D Alexanders back when Doug was still there *sob sob*. Still, party of the fun of a new place is choosing new stuff. And I've already done most of that!

the view UP from the landing to the upstairs. Our room to the right, bath straight ahead, spare room to the left. It shows off the lovely paintings my M-i-L gave us as a wedding present. I had them framed and the Chinese couple who own the framers were amazed a westerner wanted gold mounting. But it suits the style :)

So, that's what we're giving up. when I get some good photos of Apartment A, I will post. It is about to get a semi makeover so that should be interesting!