Knick Knack Paddywhack

This post is partially inspired by Caitlin's recent Getting to Know Us post on her wall art, but also a way of showing you guys a bit more of our new place. Everything is pretty much set up now, just a few more boxes of clothes to sort through and tidy away.

I'm not sure when I'll be able to do another decent blog post (I'm hoping Monday when our internet is supposed to be connected, but I won't hold my breath - this is our second 'expected connection date'). So I'll let you know now that today my aunt Debbie helped me check another goal off my list! We went to Diamond Nails on Lambton Quay and got pedicures, sitting in leather massage chairs - it was fabulous. Technically my list said 'manicure', but it's all nails - and now I've had my toes prettied up I am sooo going back for more. I would post a photo, but I really (hope) don't think anyone wants to see a close up of my feet, no matter how buffed and moisturised they now are. So you can see a few Instagram shots here for proof - the colour is OPI Glitzerland.

The other event of today, before I launch into the actual point of this post, was that I broke my wooden reclining chair. Fatty... No, once it went crashing into pieces, I discovered the bottom has almost worn through. I guess moving it probably didn't help, but also I bought it from an elderly couple a couple of years ago so it probably wasn't used to us young'uns stretching back on it in front of the telly. Fortunately I bought it as a pair, so I'll get its twin from my parents' house at some stage... and take a lot more care with it.

Okay, clearly I have been missing the blogging thing even more than I realised during our internet deprivation - a whole paragraph about a chair. Onward, to the photos.

In one corner of our lounge is my beloved German globe lamp, an Air New Zealand 737 model, and two framed pictures. On the left is a Brendan Grant print of the MLC Clocktower building on Lambton Quay here in Wellington. A couple of years ago, the clocktower apartment was up for rent and it's pretty much Charlie's dream place to live (in this city, anyway). I need to get a smaller frame for it, but this one keeps it safe for now. On the right is a framed card featuring a painting by Bill MacCormick of Aro Street, also in Wellington. Charlie lived in the area when it was painted in the early 1990s, and while the figures could be imagined, the three on the left bear a strong resemblance to Charlie, his mother, and friend.

I bought this vintage nude print on Trade Me several years ago. The frame is from Living & Giving, which is a great source for cheap black and white frames.

This wall is a bit of a work-in-progress. We don't really have a suitable corner for my large corner bookshelf, so it's stored away in pieces in a cupboard at the moment. That means three bookshelves worth of books are now carefully stacked into one. Not especially helpful when I finish the book I'm currently reading and go searching for another, but it will do for now. Along the top shelf is Charlie's growing collection of Bearbricks, but hopefully we'll get a nice display case for them at some point. I have a bunch of canvases stacked on the black cubes on the right - I like the way they look for now but will probably hang them on the walls eventually. The two on the left and one on the bottom are mine, the small one on the top right is by Alejandra at Reigrüche Studio, and the one below that is by Wellingtonian Christie Wright.

Hanging to the left of the bookshelves is this print by Caitlin Shearer, who I interviewed last year.

And above the canvases is this painting on silk I bought from Trade Me several years ago - no idea who it's by, but it's pretty.

I mentioned this print the other day - Summertime Wellington by Marianne Muggeridge. My aunt had the same print hanging in her lounge, and when we moved to our previous house in Claremont Grove I realised our new view was almost exactly the same as the painting, so tracked down another print on Trade Me. Once it arrived I spent quite a while walking up and down our yard, street, and the stairs of a neighbouring apartment block trying to get the exact perspective Muggeridge had, but without total success. The first row of clearly visible houses is Elizabeth Street, and I'm fairly certain the red rooves in the bottom right have been demolished and are where newer houses are built. Never quite found the exact spot so if anyone happens to know where she would have painted it from, feel free to satisfy my curiousity.

We're still sorting all our clothes away into wardrobes, so for now my collection of silk scarves is hanging in the hallway. I think they look quite pretty here, but they'll probably get too dusty after a while.

This china cabinet housed the TV in our old place, but is sitting in the hallway here. On top is my beloved Rita Angus print - which I got for under $5 from the Trash Palace shop in Porirua in 2007, a floral dish my sister gave me, Charlie's torch lamp, and my new ring holder. Inside is a bunch of ornaments and cups, some books, and an old typewriter I'm thinking I might use for some future artwork. I guess it's kinda wanky to have a typewriter on display, but whatever.

Apologies for the terrible colours in this photo - no natural light hits this wall, and I couldn't get my point-and-shoot to cancel out the yellow. Anyway, this is a bunch of my favourite prints - on the left is one I got from the old St Vincent de Paul store on Taranaki Street in 2007 which sadly isn't there anymore. The Mona Lisa print I've had since I was about 15 - I used to attend a church youth group with one of my school friends (mainly for the annual ski trip, truth be told) and they were having a junk sale the morning after a meeting, so we got first dibs on everything. Besides the Mona Lisa, I remember I got a bright pink suitcase, but I can't remember what happened to it. The three pictures on the right I got from the Salvation Army in Lower Hutt a few years ago, and the dog is an original on some kind of fabric, signed 'Ginny '72'.

Above the TV is a cheap canvas print of Times Square I bought from The Warehouse a few years ago. On the right is my favourite of two completed paint-by-numbers I bought on Trade Me (again). On the windowsill is my portrait of Pippa Middleton, a British Airways model, Street Fighter characters, and the surviving blooms from a bunch of flowers my aunt gave me when we moved in.

And lastly, sitting above our kitchen bench is a tiny Buddha my friend Ashley Church's mum gave me when we moved into our first flat in 2007. I've moved sooo many times since then, but he always comes with me.