Retro

I'm hoping this new book will appear under the Christmas tree this year.

Image from HERE

Retro: A guide to Mid-20th Century Design by Adrian Franklin, from the ABC TV's Collectors show fame.

Chris from Brisbane Modern emailed me a special 20% discount offer he received from the author himself (looks like Adrian is writing a piece in the new Australian Modern publication which will be out in early 2012).

The book is normally $59.95 but you can purchase it for $47.96 from HERE. I love a discounted book at this time of the year. Don't you?

This is the blurb about Retro from the website:

Retro may be cool, but why are we now in the middle of a love affair with objects and designs from the mid-twentieth century? What unique qualities do they share that make them so special now? Using one of the most spectacular displays of retro objects ever assembled, and covering all the bases – furniture, fashion, ceramics, technology, metal, graphics, plastic and glass – twentieth-century expert Adrian Franklin provides the answers. Spanning the period from the 1950s to the 1980s and beyond, and with international coverage, the book identifies the designers, manufacturers, brands, innovations, technologies and materials that transformed the world and still cast their magic spell. Authoritative, entertaining and beautiful, Retro is itself an object to be treasured.

Let's hope Father Christmas is reading the blog and gets the message.

Also, thanks for your comments about my Cool Christmas gifts under $50 online guide. Glad some of you found it useful! xx

P.S Again, I wasn't paid to write this. Just sharing the discount love with any retro and mid-century collector readers out there. 

Cool gifts for under $50

Christmas shopping can suck. But it sucks less when you buy cool stuff for other people. Here are a few different things which I found online for under $50 which I know I would get a kick out of buying for someone on the Nice List.


Morris the memo holder. Who wouldn't want something as cute as Morris to hold your old fashioned memos?
He's from the Queensland Art Gallery Shop here. There's also Bianca the memo holder if you'd prefer something female.

Image from here

A pot that looks like a bird. This lovely white earthenware is made by Brisbane artist Sharon Muir and is available online at Artisan.

image from here

A light bulb; everyone needs a light bulb. But make it an award winning Plumen energy efficient light bulb and you will have made the eco design geek in your life a happy person. These are available from Top3 by design and there is also free shipping.

A little Queenslander house model for those with fidgety fingers; you have to build it yourself. It's your chance to build your dream home in miniature from the Little Building Co which is based in Brisbane. They have other models too such as the Surry Hills Terrace and the Guggenheim Museum in NY.

Image from here

A funky tissue box. It hides the box and people will no longer judge you if you buy generic branded tissues like me. Great for your bedside table. This is from the Queensland Art Gallery Shop.

Image from here

For the green thumbs in your circle, go all out and buy them the Fiskars Deluxe Euro Pruner. Sounds much better than No Name El Cheapo Chinese Pruner. You can buy it online from BigW and save yourself  the headache of parking and crowds.

Image from here

Greenbo planter pots. They're designed to sit on your deck or balcony railings and is a clever way to save precious outdoor space. These would be great for a mini kitchen garden. Designed by Miki Ganor. You can buy it online from Top3 by design which has free shipping.

Image from here

I know. It's only one wine glass; a very good one for the times when you want to drink alone or don't want to share the bottle. You can purchase the Riedel O Series to Go red wine glass online from Peter's of Kensington.

image from here

Anything with a cross on it is cool these days.  Cushions with a cross, blankets with a cross, paintings...so, this little tea towel from the Australian Red Cross must be the height of fashion as it is emblazoned with crosses. It looks great and supports a worthwhile cause too. Images on the tea towel are from the Australian Red Cross Heritage Collection.

Image from here

The Royal Flying Doctor Service also have branded merchandise which is quite cool, but I couldn't get a good quality image for the blog. Check it out here. Again it's another worthwhile cause.

Make sure you do all your online purchase as soon as possible, like now, so it all arrives before the big day.

p.s I was not sponsored by anyone to write this post. I just wanted to share the things I've found while doing my own research.

Cool Tarragindi house

Well, this is the final house on the mid-century interiors tour of Brisbane.

This last house was absolutely lovely and had such a great family feel to it. It was actually a house I had admired when it was on the market earlier this year. I liked it so much that I saved one of the images on Pinterest. I had no idea that it was one of the tour houses.

It is located in the southside suburb of Tarragindi, which is about seven kilometres from the CBD. The four bedroom house was designed by Ron Petersen between 1968 to 1970. It is in a cul-de-sac which backs onto Toohey Forest. You can't see the house from the street as it is set back into its bush setting; you must negotiate a green leafy path before you reach the home. The swimming pool is one of the first things you notice as you reach the front door.

I didn't take any photos of this house - too sick with envy to even get my camera out of its bag! Chris from Brisbane Modern Magazine kindly sent me some photos and I took a few from a real estate website for your viewing pleasure.

This is the dining and living area. The dining room is slightly elevated from the sitting room.

A closer look at the living area

This is the photo of the interior when it was on the market. One that I had saved on Pinterest.
You can see that this area flows out into a courtyard

The house had a number of different levels which delineated the spaces. For example, the bedrooms were found in a separate wing of the home, slightly elevated from the main part of the house. It was incredibly cosy for a mid-century house.

This shot was taken from where the bedrooms are located.
Notice the high louvre windows which allow the cool breezes to flow through the house.

This is the afternoon tea that the lovely owners provided to their house tourists.
You can't see it, but to the left of this shot there is a glass roofed courtyard - an amazing outdoor room indoors!
To the right of this shot is a very functional galley kitchen.

This exterior shot of the house was taken from a real estate website
It shows the tiered roof line and also the court yards.
The one at the front flow from the kitchen, the one on the back left flows from the living room

 I hope you enjoyed the tour! 

Visiting Jacobi House

Jacobi House in Indooroopilly is what could be considered the modernist take on the typical Queenslander house. It was designed by Hayes and Scott Architects in 1957.

We visited this home when we did the mid-century interiors tour of Brisbane. The home is built on stumps, has a pyramid roof structure and wrap-around verandahs are used on three sides to capture the breezes. 

Jacobi House 1957

This is the original colour scheme of the house.

It is just a very simple box-like structure, set in amongst the trees near Mt Cootha. The land drops suddenly and when you are standing on the verandah, it is like being cocooned in your own private native forest.

Chatting on the verandah

louvre windows are used to capture cool breezes

There is one main dividing wall which separates the one bedroom and separate study from the main living area. The fireplace structure forms part of that dividing wall and marks the centre of the home.

Central fireplace and notice the VJ ceiling

It is a small home which is owned by a lovely couple who are relishing the challenge of restoring this piece of Brisbane modernism. 

The kitchen is located in one corner of the box

It was such a privilege to view this home. It is really something quite special.

If you are interested, you can see more images and read about the history and construction of Jacobi House here. edit: the old link no longer works but I managed to find the information via this link here.

Run of bad luck

The chandelier is okay, if that was your initial thought when you read the title. This post is about Jason's run of bad luck.

Firstly, Jason deleted all of my emails when I was out one night. I am so cross with him because he deleted quite a few important work ones which I had not yet archived, printed or saved to file.

He saw a dodgy spam email  - you know the ones - which said we had exceeded our email limit. His response to that was to delete all our emails. Jason, Jason, Jason. I am hoping he's never responded to those British lottery or Nigerian emails...

Jason also had his wallet stolen when he was being wined and dined at a Christmas function held at The Villager in the City. Hmmm...and he was still sober when it happened...Money, credit cards and ID gone in a flash. It makes me feel ill just thinking about it...

So, it's been a tough couple of days.

And to top if off, reading the newspapers this morning we found out he was NOT even mentioned in Queensland's Top 50 Stylish people...The injustice. Tough days indeed!

Lucky he knows how to paint and has redeemed himself.

Jason is painting the back railings near the back deck

The garage door has had a repair job and a few tubes of no more gaps to improve its overall appearance.
Much better.