I think you're dishy

A trend that seems to be quite literally hanging around (boom-tish!) is plate hanging. And not only plate hanging - group plate hanging.

A stunning hung plate arrangement by Bird in the Hand on Flickr.

I have to admit, plate hanging is something I am completely smitten with. I have 2 particularly special blue and white plates that belonged to my husband's Grandma, hanging above the doorway into my kitchen. I also have 2 gorgeous plates, one large, antique guilded number, and one very cute small plate featuring a dachshund yet to be hung. I'm forever looking on ebay, esty and in all the second hand stores for interesting plates that I could add to my little collection. Here are some of my favorite hanging plate photos from Flickr:

My hanging plate favorites on Flickr.

There is a wonderful artist from New Zealand named Trixiedelicious who creates the most exquisite remixed retro plates (available to buy on Etsy). Her designs mostly carry a 15+ rating, but I think they would make for a fabulous conversation piece in the dining room.

Plate by Trixiedelicious. Buy at Etsy.

Plate by Trixiedelicious. Buy at Etsy.

Dry Spell Gardening

New to the Lifestyle Channel is Dry Spell Gardening, a 6 part series starting Thursday 3rd April at 7.30pm.

The Art of Cluster Hanging

Cluster hanging is pretty popular right now. I've been giving it a go for about 18 months, but I stopped short after hanging about 6 frames. Now I look at what I've done and I'm not entirely happy with it. In fact, I think I want to take them down and start from scratch! The other thing is that when I started hanging the frames, every frame had a photo in it. Now, I'd like to mix photos with art and even a few plates and who knows what else.

So the question is - do I begin to hang them again, without a complete collection of items to hang, or wait and collect the items and then begin to hang? I have mostly larger art in frames, and I've sort of neglected the smaller pieces. Here are a few things I've discovered can really make or break a Cluster Hanging...

1: Don't make it perfect.
Below: In this room by Liza Giles, I'm loving the variety and closeness of frames. The way that all the space between frames are different sizes and some frames almost touch makes the whole arrangement a piece of artwork in itself. The fact it's not perfect makes it perfect. And the contrasting wallpaper really adds to the overall look of the Cluster Hanging.

Designer: Liza Giles. Image posted by Decor8 on Flickr.

2: Themes can look awesome!
Below: A beautiful example of a curious collection of items with a bird theme hung abstractly on a gorgeous contrasting colour. Not the mention the juxtapose between the ornithological theme and the cat is absolutely beautiful! Very Wes Anderson/Royal Tenenbaums...

Trish's house. Image posted by Bird in the Hand on Flickr.

3: A collection can look great, even if you don't hang it.
Below: A beautiful collection of pieces stacked together can be really beautiful - especially if you rent and can't put hooks in the walls. These ones are on the floor but groups of frames look great stacked up on dressers or credenzas too - especially mixes of small and large pieces.

Image posted by Aunty Cookie on Flickr.

4. Don't be afraid to combine shapes, colours, textures and objects.

Below: I love hanging decorative plates, and combining plates with other objects (such as shelves) and frames is a wonderfully interesting way to display precious things.

Image posted by Saidos de Concha on Flickr.

I better take some of my own medicine and post some pictures! :)

Octophant

I bought this beautiful screen print by Phineas X. Jones via Esty recently. Check out Phineas' other beautiful fascinations with the unusual here. When I have it framed and hung, I'll post some more pics...

Dressers and Collections Originally uploaded by Chirryl

Hanging and arranging collections is an art in its own right. I've been thinking about my bedroom dresser for quite a while and I still haven't gotten it right - nor the sideboard it the dining room. But this mosaic of my favorite dressers and collections for March is definitely inspiring...

Renovation Elation

It's been a while since I last wrote but I'm going to start to write more. We are about to start renovating our kitchen, bathroom and backyard. Plus tomorrow we're going to paint the hallway. Again. For the 3rd time.

i want a garden

want a garden. Actually, I want someone to fix my garden. Actually, I don't want a garden - I just want a patch of concrete to replace the dirty dustbowl that is our backyard. I wish I could do it myself. But I'm completely hopeless with plants. Which probably means I'd be hopeless with concrete too. And pavers or decking - well I'm not sure how I'd go with that either. But painting I can do.

Anyone willing to trade a whole bunch of painting for decking/concreting/paving?

First posted 3rd Dec 07.

I can haz a kulah?

Choosing colours for interior walls is really tricky. Already we've painted 2 separate rooms twice because of my shady colour selection (so it's easy to understand why I was more than a little surprised when Leticia asks me yesterday if I could help with exterior colour selection for her place!), which makes me somewhat nervous about the idea of repainting our bedroom. And now that my new lampshades are ready, I'd really like to get the colours in the bedroom sorted... I think it might help me sleep better (not to mention fix the damage to the walls from the rain). After all, colour can affect your mood... Clicky.

Originally posted 22nd Nov 07.

My lampshades are ready

On the weekend I got a call from Chee Soon & Fitzgerald http://www.cheesoonfitzgerald.com/ to inform me that my two beautiful new marimekko lampshades are ready. Hazah!