Wedding Cake Work of Art

A girlfriend of mine, Esther, who lives in the Southern Highlands and whom I met 5 years ago at my first mother's group, has always had a great talent for baking and creating sweet sensations. I, being of the savoury bent, have always been in great awe of anybody who can bake without using a cake mix and who manages to make icing that doesn't resemble spack filler.

Esther has taken a great interest in cake decorating, particularly sugar flowers, and to my envy has been attending classes in Sydney. Firstly with Jacqueline Butler of Petalsweet, and then with a lady in the NSW Guild of Cake Decorators. She clearly has a natural gift for it, and it's one of those genes I think I'm missing, because I simply don't have the patience or skill to master this art.

Esther asked me to be a pretend bride and ask her to create something for a wedding. So I sent her some images of various Martha Stewart cakes I loved as inspiration and naturally requested something blue and white. Here's what she came up with.

Images from Esther Scott

How stunning is it? Look at the delicacy, the detail, the colours. Can you believe those exquisite and life-like flowers are made from sugar? Can you believe this is the work of someone who has only been practising this art for mere months?

Esther is hoping to start a business and is fabulous at making creative kids' birthday cakes of every shape and size as well. So if you need a beautiful cake made and would like to help her get started, let me know and I'll put you in touch with her.

PS The lovely Steph from Bondville (she was one of my 15 Versatile Bloggers, see here), has featured Poppy's 2nd birthday party in her post here. Thanks Steph, it looks beautiful.

Bamboo Blinds and House Update

We are now getting to the pointy end of the renovation, when I am having to make rushed and panicked decisions and the budget seems to be spiralling out of control and I feel like my head is going to explode! It's 6pm and I'm already half way through a bottle of wine! 

I'm an impatient, cranky, irritable mother, a testy wife and generally unpleasant to be around! I have said it before and no doubt I'll say it again - I want my life back!

This is when things become dangerous and the results threaten to diminish. All the trades are coming in and out so quickly trying to finish off, and I am having to produce things and make decisions on the spot and then I don't have the luxury of time to spend on research and quotes (say 3 months for lights, and about the same for taps) in this pressure cooker of a renovation.

Pool cabana is coming along nicely

Pool waterline tiling nearly done

This tile is amazing. It is pearlescent/metallic and takes on different tones depending on the light

Best part is that it absorbs heat during the day and glows at night! Disco cool.

Deck fencing coming along. 

Today I regretfully cancelled my beautiful aqua bamboo pattern Kravet wallpaper, not only because I had pressure from the builder to decide if I was going to do a tiled wall behind the bath or the original timber paneling but due to budget constraints. Feeling the pressure from all sides I gave in and agreed to have a tiled wall behind the bath and skirting and just paint the walls, although my original vision had been to have white painted timber paneling, aqua bamboo pattern wallpaper with my bamboo inspired light fitting from the US. But this is not to be. Plus I am saving about $480 on the wallpaper and $1100 on the hanging. So at least there's a plus. But my disappointment is huge. This is where I feel the dream is starting to slip away and I am making compromises just to get the wretched house finished.

The builder and the painter seem to be clashing about who is making more mess, the plumber has declared that he can't fit my latest 3 sets of imported taps from the US because they have come fitted to a bridge which has to be mounted behind the gyprock, so that's a waste of about $780. In haste, I rushed out a bought the first taps I could find at Bunnings. Can you believe it - talk about the sublime to the ridiculous! Someone has scratched my newly revealed marble vanity top and the marble tiles in the bathroom are looking worse for wear. In summation, today I'm over it.

On a brighter note, I am starting to think about blinds and window coverings. My husband turned up his nose when I suggested this, so I thought I'd better find some inspiration images to convince him. Along with my original sisal dream I have wanted to put bamboo or matchstick blinds in some of the rooms. Certainly the library with my RL inspired scheme. They go perfectly with all shades of blue, and I'm using plenty of blue in this house.

via Katie Rosenfeld Design

Thomas Pheasant

via Home Bunch

Lynn Morgan Design

via Lonny

via The Lennoxx

via Living Livelier

Sara Gilbane

via Traditional Home

via The Enchanted Home

Only problem is that I imagine they let quite a lot of light in, so perhaps not ideal for a bedroom if you want complete darkness and I may have to add curtains.

So now I just need to source them and get some quotes. Anybody have a good supplier of bamboo blinds?

I was passing by Adairs yesterday and this bedhead caught my eye. It only comes in a queen, which doesn't suit me, but I thought it was a nice dark brown timber and perfect for a coastal or country setting. 

Decision Made..until the next one....

DECISION #1: Marble

Can't thank you all enough for your feedback and input into my dilemma yesterday. You all overwhelmingly are in favour of me waiting to get the piece of marble I really want. Great advice - phew! Thanks to all of you who gave tips, advice, recommendations, useful links etc, it was a huge help.

Viera from VT Interiors offered these two links which were very helpful if you're ever considering a marble benchtop.


www.cotedetexas.blogspot.com/2011/09/white-marble-for-kitchen-yes-or-no.html

and


www.thingsthatinspire.net/2011/01/selecting-kitchen-countertops-search.html

I spoke to my kitchen man this morning and he is going to see if we can use another marble wholesaler, and hopefully find the slab I want sooner rather than later  ie honed, no veining. At least hopefully I'll have some choice and fingers crossed won't be serving the turkey on Christmas Day off a sheet of plywood!

Watch this space!

Here's how I'm hoping my kitchen will end up.

via Houzz

via DecorPad

via House Beautiful

via Cococozy

via VT Interiors

via Caitlin Creer Interiors

via Casual.Classic.Home

DECISION #2: Runner

Most of you were in favour of no runner for the moment, just wait and see how the stairs work when we are in. However, some suggested that it will be slippery and show the dirt, so I may have to look for a carpet alternative.

AWARD: Versatile Blogger

On another note, I was delighted to learn that I was awarded a Versatile Blogger Award from the lovely Tina at The Enchanted Home. I have been following Tina's blog for some time and marvelling at the extraordinary house build she is doing in America. It is the most spectacular build with the most incredible attention to detail and the scale of the project is mind-blowing. Tina has always been a very generous and gracious follower and regular commenter on this blog, and her dedication to blogging is astounding. If you haven't checked out her blog you must visit The Enchanted Home.

One of the rules of the Versatile Blogger award is that you must tell 7 things about yourself and pay it forward to 15 more deserving blogs. So firstly, here's the 7 things:

# 1. I used to work as a pianist for Club Med, cruising around New Caledonia. I also had to teach waterskiing and choreography.

# 2. Four years ago I flew to London for 48 hours to audition for the Andrew Lloyd Webber/Cameron Macintosh BBC reality show "I'd Do Anything" which was a competition to find the lead role of Nancy in "Oliver". The winner wins the coveted role and a run in the show on the West End stage. Needless to say I didn't get past the first round!

# 3. My first job out of university, where I studied a Bachelor of Commerce at Bond Uni on the Gold Coast, was working for celebrity agent Harry M. Miller. I fell foul of his infamous client Lindy Chamberlain when I accidentally faxed a 20 page confidential document to her then ex-husband Michael, during their divorce proceedings!

# 4. My last supper would be a bottle of Sauvingon Blanc from Marlborough in NZ, with a dozen Sydney rock oysters (half Mornay, half natural), a fresh fig and prosciutto salad, salt and pepper prawns or calamari and a bowl of hot, crunchy chips. With a delicious cheese platter to finish and a bottle of Noble One.

# 5. When I was 18 and living in London I pretended to be a journalist from Cosmo magazine so I could meet and interview the star of then West End show "Miss Saigon", which I had seen 15 times and had a desperate crush on the male lead. I pretended he was a contender for the Bachelor of the Year contest and got the interview, which was done in his dressing room at the Drury Lane Theatre. Sadly, he turned out to be gay!

# 6. I worked as a freelance TV presenter for years (between styling jobs), starting 8 years ago with Bright Ideas (remember that one) then presented advertorials on GMA, Kerri-Ann and more recently have done ads for Real Insurance. It's the frustrated actress in me.

# 7. My parents, grandparents and uncle/aunt all met and were married in Jamaica in the 60s. My parents were both part-time models, and ended up as extras on the set of the first James Bond movie ever, "Dr No", starring the then unknown Sean Connery. They appear in the airport scene, although to this day we've never spotted them.

So now to my vote for 15 versatile blogs - there are so many I follow and so many I would like to include, but here's my selection in random order. Please stop by and say hello.

Coastal Style

Down That Little Lane

My Life My Loves

Desire Empire

For The Love of a House

Veranda Interiors

Fox in Flats

Tinc

Things That Sparkle

The Lennoxx

Seaside Style

Party Resources

Bondville

Mrs A in the Cove

Glamour Drops by Blue Fruit

TECHNICAL PROBLEMS: I'm still getting reports of technical glitches with my feeds and email subscriptions (ie no photos, copy missing etc), so I am trying to work out what's going wrong. If you experience any problems with the posts please let me know.

Polished or Honed Marble? Decisions...

FIRST DECISION: Marble

I have been looking forward to the day I go to pick my slab of marble for months. It is the one thing I am most excited about in this house renovation and despite the advice against, I have always been unswayed in my determination to have a marble kitchen counter.

The day finally came on Friday and I trekked out to the western suburbs to spend what I thought would be a few hours examining and analysing dozens of slabs of heavenly marble to pick the perfect slab that would be right for me.

When I arrived, I asked to be shown the slabs which measured 3m x 1.2m in honed Carrara marble. Imagine my disappointment when I was told they didn't have any in that size and only had something in polished marble, and not really pure grey and white, but with some brown streaks. I didn't have 20, 10 or even 5 to pick from, just one. No choice, that's it. Arghhhh!!!

So in a panic I rang my kitchen man who rang the granite/marble man to find out how much it would cost to have the polished marble honed, and it would add about another $1,500 to the counter cost. Then the stone guy suggested I could just get the polished anyway although it's much more likely to stain, scratch, etch, mark etc and that if this eventually drove me nuts I could have it honed in situ at a later date. Neither of these options really appealed. Otherwise I could wait for the next shipment at the beginning of December and see what comes.

Here's a beautiful polished slab of Carrara marble (very reflective - you can see the other slabs in the surface)

Here's the one I'm looking at - which has some brown veining (I'm told that's good because it's a bit like Arrabescato)

Plain white and grey Carrara - no brown veining

My only apparent option - with brown veining

So now, I am wondering what to do. Should I spend the money and have the slabs (we need 3 in total) honed, which apparently is the best option for kitchens, or go with the polished, save some money and see what happens. I do love the look of polished I must admit.

Anybody with any experience of marble counter tops either honed or polished? Your advice and input would be greatly appreciated.

Secondly, should I go with some brown veining? It's very subtle but not my ideal. Or wait until early December and risk having no kitchen benchtop when we move in?

I am going to paint the cabinets against the wall in Dulux Vivid White and the island cabinets in Dulux Spanish Olive.

SECOND DECISION: Sisal Runner

Now I am also looking at flooring for the bedrooms, library and stairs. I have always wanted to have sisal and got some samples today ranging from $55/sqm to $150/sqm. I was shocked to learn they charge $130+ per step to lay a sisal runner on stairs, and that's on top of the cost of the material. We have about 15 steps. But I don't think carpet would have the same effect, although I could just put nothing.

Here's some of the sisal samples I'm looking at for the bedrooms, library and stairs.

Images from Natural Floorcovering Centre

Here's some examples of stairs with and without runners.....

via Brooke Gianetti

via Classic Casual Home

via Traditional Home

via Phoebe Howard

via The Enchanted Home

via Tom Scheerer

via Catalano Architects Inc.

Via House Beautiful

What do you prefer? With or without runner?

PS I've just been award the Versatile Blogger Award from gorgeous and talented Tina at The Enchanted Home. More on that tomorrow. In the meantime, check out Tina's blog - her incredible house build will blow your mind!