city colour

I was excited today because it stopped raining. I wanted to go somewhere to take photos so I went in to town. I think lots of other people had the same idea! Last week I'd wandered over to have a look at how the  old buildings at the base of the Death Star (actual name, Brookman Place or something?) are looking now they have been turned into restaurants etc. They look great. The whole area looks really good. I think they are calling it City Square? All these pics are from that area, except for the stunned mannequins from Alannah Hill. I'm very excited to see those buildings being used, and to see The Hole filled in - even though the actual building is universally accepted as awful. It's a really nice precinct and should be very busy in summer. I can't wait to go to some of the bars there. More photos from there to follow soon. Enjoy your week!

H.

the tip shop

I'm not sure if I should even share this secret... but... do you know about tip shops? They are totes the new op shops. I went for the first time to the one in Balcatta. I was overwhelmed. Piles and piles of stuff! Insanely cheap!

I've been op shopping for possibly 15-20 years now... but had really given up in the last few years. The "vintage" market has become so huge that there is nothing left to buy in op shops! I guess a combination of the vintage shoppers getting there first, and maybe that people don't even donate stuff any more because they know they can sell it on Ebay... So it was like a step back in time to go to the tip shop, where you don't so much "donate" things as chuck them out, and let someone else discover them - the way op shops used to be. 

There was a ridiculous array of stuff. Outdoor, indoor, broken, in good condition. Sporting. Furniture. Books. Anything you can imagine. Some of it was actual garbage but, again, that's kinda how op shops are.

I scored two chairs, a table, two ceramic vases, an enamel pot, and a piece of metal grate that will be used as art on the Perpendicular Pumpkin's shed for $10. Yes, $10, you read that correctly. Like days of old. So you can understand my reservation about letting a top secret like this out. But in the spirit of sharing... enjoy!

P.S. I am pretty sure Barry Morgan would have a fit to see that organ, complete with a one finger method setting, at the tip. Sadly I don't have room for an organ at home. Unless Barry came with it, to give me lessons.

yellow

A few scenes from the Restyle set up in the Cultural Centre which is part of the Perth Fashion Festival. Vintage clothes and a very cute caravan. I think it will still be on over the weekend.

montage pop-up shop

Have you been to the Montage Pop-Up Shop on William St yet? Oooh, you really should. Loads of clothes, jewelry and crafty things, all gorgeous, and all locally made. It's only on til the end of July, so you have to get down there next week!

B&W

Pretty things, and lots of reflections, in the window of the Montage pop up shop. Its at 224 William St, for July only. I have only peeked in the window, but it looks lovely. Lots of crafty things by clever local folk. Go and check it out!

H.

white

Looking in the window of Wild Lily Empire on William St.

blue, red & black

The lovely folk at Scraps store on William Street, have a new blog (have a look here) and they also have these shirts made just for them from the label Brooklyn Tailors. I took these photos for them last weekend. Drop by and say hi... they have clothes and prints and all sorts of things...

H.

red & black

Hello. Here's a few sneakers from the Sneaker Swapmeet on Sat. I don't know anything about sneakers! This was apparent when all the people with their stalls were telling me which ones I should be taking pictures of, i.e. not the most colourful ones but these special ones, imported from somewhere, designed by someone... It was all in the tiny courtyard of a shop. A good way to buy and sell sneakers I guess!

Apologies for my harsh tone in the last few posts. Its been a miserable week, and I think that kind of came across. After a silly amount of time typing and deleting and typing and deleting, I decided it was all too hard and went with the basics, and decided it was all irrelevant because no-one ever reads this etc etc..... But then I think in the end I kind of sounded rude. I'd been carrying around a load of angry rants in my head, varying from the small and insignificant (like why do people park in clearways?) to the moderately important (what is wrong with the world that all the pictures in magazines photoshopped to such a degree that all the people look like they are made of plastic?) to the enormous (like what is the point of life, when the people you love can die, and your entire life plan can be wiped out in the space of several days?). Hence the type-delete dilemma. Rant... no shut up...rant... no shut up.

I've actually been having a self imposed culture-media-blog detox for a few days, which I think has contributed to me feeling a lot better today. No blog reading, aside from a few favourites - people I know or just favourites. Good blogs. Uplifting blogs. Have you seen Sarah Wilson's blog? That's a nice one (go here).

I've not watched the news or gone on any news websites, because I tell you that whole flood, cyclone, fire thing was really getting to me. Not just the sadness of what has happened and is still happening, but the ridiculous, nauseating way it has been reported. I think what was making me sick of it all was this idea that cyclones have "fury" or fires have "wrath", the rage of mother nature type thing. Its just the weather. It doesn't have feelings. It can't bloody well have fury or anger. And another pet peeve, the comments about people coming home to "a lifetime of memories destroyed" - well unless you suffered a brain injury its not actually your memories that have been destroyed, its your possessions. I just find the need to over dramatize the news sickening. Its freaking awful what is happening to all those people, why does it need to be made into an over-emotional soap opera?

Anyway, my media detox has helped me get a bit of perspective back today. I was getting annoyed at the shallowness of everything. And the repetition and unoriginality, you know like when you see the same photo on three different blogs. I thought cutting it all out would be hard because I really like other people's pictures and things, but I haven't missed it at all.

And now I feel heaps better for having this big rant. Thanks for listening!

H.

green, blue, pink & red

I was wandering around with my cousins the other day (they're over west for xmas and new years, which is very lovely) and we came across this brand new shop, Oh Henry! Vintage, upstairs on the corner of William and Aberdeen Streets. As you know, I am fussy about colours that are friends and colours that are not friends. Seeing everything in this shop arranged by colour, and with them all being very good friends, made me feel very peaceful indeed. Seeing things sorted by colour makes me feel all calm, and like there is order in the universe. The opposite, colours all mixed in together, makes me feel restless. So I liked this shop a lot! And I couldn't narrow the photos down to fewer colours for this post, it was all too nice.

I've been putting things on flickr over the last few days (including some extras from Oh Henry!) but am still really getting started. Have a look here if you like. Maybe you are on flickr too and have some tips for me?

H.

white & brown

A little while ago I took some photos for the lovely folk at William Topp, and they have just made a facebook album of them (see here). If you still have some xmas shopping to do you should wander down and have a look at their lovely things... robots and squirrels and owls and... jewelry and prints and mobiles.... and... all sorts of things. Here is their info.

My own xmas decorating not progressing so well. Tiny light globe on a string fail. Lead to angry hack up the decoration with scissors outburst. Resulted in total evaporation of xmas spirit and a small pile of tinsel and baubles that, while very pretty, does not in any way resemble a decoration. To be resumed at a later date.

H.