Floor-to-ceiling dreaming

Ooh, wouldn't a floor-to-ceiling wall of shoes be lovely. Or a glass-fronted armoire with or without shoes. And while we're daydreaming a double-height rail for all your understated-chic garb to go with your uber-chic European style apartment. All images from Emma's Design Blogg.

Bow wow wowie

I was pretty young when I first developed a crush on David Bowie.
I liked his look first, I suppose, and grew to love his music as I got a bit older (my big sisters' musical tastes helped shape mine).
His early '80s Let's Dance was my first album/tape, but it's his '70s recordings I really love now.
He was a beautiful young man, and he makes a very respectable fashion icon - I regularly go for a Bowie-esque look. Somewhat narcissistically, I can see a bit of my own big-eyed, big-nosed face in Bowie's. Sheesh, a rather worrying realisation.
...and...I'll die happy knowing I've seen him perform live. It took me until 2004, when I saw him in Sydney, with two of my favourite people of all time.

Unreal estate

OK, I'm ready to move in, now, where's the keys?
What about this house!? Check out more at Emmas Design Blogg. It's actually for sale, but it'd mean a move to the northern hemisphere...

History repeated

The Department of History, in Thornbury, was quite the discovery. Cool as ice, but the prices were ever so slightly steep. On the shop's fashion racks, a '70s polyester kaftan - not unlike this beauty I picked up for $25, was 10 times the price! Yup, '70s is the new sought-after vintage, mostly because everything else is gone.
Not to worry, the uber-cool store served as both fashion and interior inspiration and gave an indication of what is hot, what is getting hotter and how much some people will pay for secondhand finds.

More marvellous Melbourne

Ganesh in Flinders Lane; large, colourful and removing obstacles. 

Bikes are many Melburnians' mode-of-transport of choice, as the wheels lined up outside Journal Canteen attest. For late lunch I downed a delicious tomato and basil bruschetta at my little round window table for one. 

Craft Victoria is a fabulous gallery and retail space that elevates and shines a light on Melbourne's many many makers. So much great jewellery, knitwear, books and more.

ChinChin is reasonably new, but was full whenever I walked past it. From the outside (why didn't I go in!?), it appears similar to a vast, but kind of sparsely industrial Parisian bistro. Cumulus Inc, a favourite, is always busy, but not the outside tables on this particular cold Melbourne day.

Northcote tales

The cool kids are heading north, or they've already left...depends on who you're talking to, I suppose. Either way Northcote is a lovely destination if you're cool or not. Beaufort 8 Group and I headed there to check the scene, do some shopping and eat some snacks. The Estelle was our chosen food venue, and I'm glad we went - it was lovely and our waiter was a treat.
High St boasts lots of good vintage shops and cool spotting. We both felt our Northcote trip was made complete when we spotted Dan Luscombe who the Beaufort 8 Group declared was the unofficial mayor of Northcote. Cool? Yes.

Food and coffee at The Estelle...

Another great coffee in beautiful crockery.

Goats cheese and beetroot salad. Yum.

Potato tortilla with salad and some kind of jamon.

How much is that groovy in the window?

Yup, it's another simply fantastic vintage shop in Melbourne. Can there be too many? Nope.
Global Objects & Retro is in Albert Park, and while it wasn't open on the Saturday we stopped by (probably for the best, really), its big windows full of mid-century retro boasted plenty of groovy goodness. Hmmm...looks a hell of a lot like a home I know.

That Mother In Law's Tongue is so 1970s! I love it and I actually have a plant on order.