Uncommon, unusual and just plain amazing!

Today is one of those days for me, that I want to dream of new things to make my home pretty. After my mom came back from Europe, she stopped over in Dubai and my gift was these darling persian rug coasters.

I love exceptionally unique and beautiful things like that - a few unique pieces in a room can tie a concept together and all contribute to an overall wow factor. So with that in mind, I am dedicating this post to day to some of the unusual, quirky and just plain uncommon accessories and furniture out there!

Uncommongoods.com
First up is a whole website filled to the brim with unusual pieces, here's some of my favourites!

A door mat with an ambigram that reads "Come in" the one way around and "Go away" the other way.

For the hairy wonder (no, I'm not referring to your boyfriend) in your life, you can treat them for their birthdays with a pup-pie! I know it's not a interior decorating thing, but it was just so cute!


A record turned into a clock - what an awesome plan for those vinyls just lying around!

A his and hers key holder - a key added to your bunch is the hookup!

Frank Gehry
This is one of the more exceptional pieces of furniture I've seen in a long time - and it's been around almost forever! Frank Gehry designed this chair from corrugated cardboard in the 1972's. The wiggle chair (as it is known) is manufactured from a lot of layers of corrugated cardboard glued together in a crisscross pattern to make it stronger. What a guy!

Last but definitely not least:

Straight Line Designs
Judson Beaumont and his staff turned boring every day furniture into playful works of art, that can most definitely be a centre of the attraction in your house. Stuff like this must be every kid's dream as it can turn a room into a wonderland of shapes and ideas.


What I'd give to have a whole house full of exceptional pieces like these!

Colour, saturation and cropping

So today's post is going to deal a bit more with photography.

Photoshop or any kind of editing tool is a formidable weapon in post production cleanup for a photographer. Not only are you able to edit or airbrush out unwanted blemishes but simple adjustments like saturation, colour balances and cropping can add a lot more drama and character to a shot.

Let me illustrate with a few examples that I recently took at Boschendal Estate:
Before:
The shot composition overall isn't too bad but the big amount of sky and trees at the top is kind of distracting.

After:
Taking a bit off the top and playing with the saturation and colour balance gave me this - a little bit more drama, definition and awesome perspective.


Before:
The extra bits around the edges are once again distracting the eye of the viewer and the colours looks a bit washed out because of the glass, but not to fear!

After:
Using the frame of the panel to frame the photo and adjusting the colour balance and contrast gave me this.

The biggest piece of advice I can give you is, make a backup of the original image and then play around with the different settings. That way you can always go back to what it was if you don't like the mess you've made. Further more, be brave! The most important thing to remember is that some of the most exceptional shots does not follow the rule of thirds or conform to any of the rules out there - it's a good guideline but it's not set in stone.

Prettying up the place

As I got the excuse to redecorate my house recently (nothing like kicking out a dead-beat boyfriend to make you want to decorate :P), I am busy pondering the following:
- Finally get my print framed that was a birthday gift - It's a deviantart print of Gwarf that one of my friends gave me
- Get a striking decal .... found an awesome site selling decals, just a bit pricey for a South African. Pretty none the less. Here's a few of my favourites:

I've always had a bit of a weak spot for flowery swirlies, there's something elegantly feminine about it ...

I think part of the impact of this decal is the exceptional chair that makes a big impression.

Don't you think a decal like this would look stunning in the same room as my "Leaving home" print ?

Once again this will fit in nicely with the dandelion theme ...

What do you guys think ?

In with the new, out with the old

Wow! I can't believe that I left blogging on the way side for so long! I admit that I'm bad with remembering to do a little bit every day, but I didn't think it would take me 7 months to write a second post!
Well, to do a quick catch-up, the boyfriend is out of the picture and that has given me the time to focus on my wedding photography ideas more sharply. As I have to take photos for my friend and neighbour, Chantel Matthews in April, I thought getting a bit of practice in beforehand might be a good idea. I am busy organising with a group of my friends, with someone supplying wedding dresses, at a wedding venue with a make up artist and my personal hairdresser to make them all pretty!
This will most probably only happen in January but it's all just so very exciting! My good friend, Natasha Storm(http://www.natashastorm.co.za/), also offered to do my photography company's branding ... I can't wait to see what she'll come up with.
After staying away for so long, I will be sure to post more regularly and definitely on more interesting subjects!

Hiya!

So I suppose an introduction is in order! Hi, my name is Inarie and I love all kinds of creative things, so I'm going to be blogging about all of them! Cooking, photography, reading - you'll find bits and bops of all kinds of things here!

Sharing my life with me is Daryll, my live-in-boyfriend and our 3 furry (Lulu, Ninja and Velcro and =/- 250 slimy kids (There's too many of them so they're not going to get names).

Here's Lulu being all Curious George - she's a mix between a Australian Cattle dog and a long-legged Jack Russell, quite an awesome mix!
She is one part love and 3 parts excitement mixed together in a body far too small to house such a lot of energy.





Here's a pic of Ninja and Velcro when they were still babies - they've grown quite a lot since then. Ninja (on the right) is a big bully of a cat, playing quite rough with Lulu. Velcro (on the left) is our little lady that likes quiet corners to lounge in. She's definitely still of the "Cats are Royalty" school of thinking as you do not approach her for petting, she comes to you when she wants it!




A bit more about myself ? Well, I'm a Java Programmer that moved into the field of Business Analysis. I also keep myself busy with freelance web design and development otherwise my brain might rot from pure boredom! When I have the time, I love taking photos - I recently became the proud owner of a Nikon D300 dSLR and I'm in the process of upskilling myself from a mediocre photographer into an awesome one. My long term goal is to move into Freelance Photography focussing on Wedding Photography as I live in the perfect place to exercise such a skill - smack bang in the middle of South Africa's winelands!
Nice to meet you!