Residential Spaces: Private Space

One of my assignments for this session was to design forward thinking, grand and sustainable residential spaces for an exhibition. The space we were given was a 4 x 6 metre pavilion to realise our concepts about residential design. I chose to focus on a bedroom space, a living space and an outdoor space. Wehave already presented for an academic submission but this is also a competition so we have to present again in just under 2 weeks time so I'm still working on them.

My concept for the bedroom space is based on daily cycles. Drawing on the fact that few people actually follow the sun's daily cycle any longer the idea was to create an artificial sun cycle within the room while still creating a warm and soft interior environment which would cushion the inhabitants both physically and psychologically. I drew on colour trends which are leading towards warm metallics, warms whites and deep warm grey tones as new developments within metallic paints and sustainable paint ranges. Here is my inspiration board for this space.

Paint colours above are:

Dulux Grand Piano

Dulux Judah Silk

Murobond Aqua Glaze Pearl Lumiere 

Murobond Bridge Paint Relic

Murobond Aqua Glaze  Pearl Sari

Below is my original design that I submitted for my academic submission. I'm currently working on refining this design:

I would post up my sketches on what I'm changing but I dont have a scanner and photos of the sketches are coming out horribly. Hopefully I'll have the new design done in a day and I can post it up then.

Self drafted twist front top

I drafted this top using the instructions from the book Pattern Magic. I picked up the English version towards the end of last year from Tessuti. The twist front top is the first project I've tried from the book. I used a fairly basic shirt pattern from BWOF 02/09 as the base for the pattern and followed the instructions for converting the front pattern piece into a double twist front. After some fiddling it worked out quite well. The top is made from a black 100% cotton rib jersey which breaths really well. I used the same cotton to make a polo shirt for my brother for Christmas last year.

My only issue with it is that the neckline is a little wide and can show my bra strap which is fine at the moment because I'm almost always wearing a scarf with the weather the way it is at the moment in Sydney. I think next time I make this pattern I will bring in the neckline a little to stop this. 

Peanut Butter Cookies

This post has been sitting as a draft for quite some time. We made these peanut butter cookies a few months ago when I discovered Smitten Kitchen's Peanut Butter section. It was one of the first recipes we made from her website and since then we have made many more. These cookies turned out slightly differently to how they appear on the smitten kitchen website but they were delicious and I will definitely be making these again.  

We made these as a spur of the moment cookie making on a Sunday afternoon so we didn't have any chocolate chips around and I'm not certain that peanut butter chips are even available in Australia, although they seem like an awesome idea, so we omitted both of those. Otherwise we kept the recipe exactly the same. You can find it here. 

RnB Events Management Office

These are some renderings of the office space I am working on for uni. These aren't finished but they are getting there.

Workspace

Workspace

Bar/Breakout Space

Breakout Booths

Workspace and Breakout/Meeting Booths

Entrance Hallway

The idea for the space was to show the two different sides of RnB the glamourous side and the street side. The main work space is inspired by a streetscape while the bar, office area and chill out zones are inspired by a club aesthetic. A breakout booth/meeting space divides the two aesthetics while still giving visual penetration into both spaces. 

I am working on finishing the 3D model up now and making a physical model for the presentation. 

Strawberry and Cream Cheese Tarts

I've recently been on a bit of a desert making spree. During the Easter/Anzac Day long weekend I experimented with two different types of tarts. I don't normally do deserts entirely without recipes, I normally just bend and tweek but I was feeling adventurous and I had leftover cream cheese so I just sort of winged it. 

I love the light crunch that puff pastry brings to a dish and by brushing a little sugar syrup over the puff pastry before baking the shells take on a lovely light sweetness to compliment the cheese and strawberries. These tarts are really simple to make and can be whipped up within half an hour. Making them perfect for an impromptu desert.

Makes 8

Ingredients:
2 sheets frozen puff pastry
1 tbsp white sugar
2 tbsp boiling water
250g cream cheese
12 tbsp icing sugar
3 tsp lemon juice
1/2 tsp grated lemon rind
12 strawberries

Method:
Preheat oven to 200ºC. Cut each sheet of puff pastry into four squares. Grease a muffin tray and press each piece of puff pastry into a hole. White sugar and boiling water and brush over each piece of puff pastry. Place in the oven and cook until golden.

Meanwhile place cream cheese, icing sugar, lemon juice and rind in a mix master or food processor and beat until well combined. Cut each strawberry into four.

Remove pastry casings from oven and allow to cool slightly. Add 2 tsp of cream cheese mixture in each casings. Place 6 pieces of strawberry onto and serve immediately. 

From Pinterest - Chairs

From left to right top to bottom:
Bali
Snake
The Rising Chair
Sgarsul
Spring
Pavo
Loop Chair
LCP
MT3

From Pinterest - Lighting

Augustin
Q Floor
Teardrop Table
2D LED Pendant
New Buds
Cage Mic
Lumiere Grande
Uto Table Lamp
Hanging Light

Apple Tarts with Almond and Brown Sugar

Continuing on with my desert spree from the long weekend I whipped up these tarts really quickly with what was in my fridge. They are really quick but do require a little fiddling with filo pastry. They were fantastic though especially with all sorts of apples just coming into season in Australia. I suggest you make some. You can substitute whatever pastry you want for the filo. I find the crispness of filo offsets the apples nicely.

Ingredients:

Makes 4

1 Granny Smith Apple cored and sliced

1 Pink Lady Apple cored and sliced

15 sheets Filo Pastry (Approximately)

4 Tbsp Brown Sugar

1 Tbsp slithered Almonds chopped or whizzed in the food processor

1 Tsp Cinnamon

Glaze:

2 Tbsp Brown Sugar

1 1/2 Tbsp boiling water

Method:

Preheat oven to 200ºC. Grease a muffin tray. Mix together brown sugar, cinnamon and almonds. Spread mixture between random sheets of filo pastry reserving about 1/4 of the mixture. Cut pastry into four through all layers and place into individual muffin holes making sure to push pastry gently into corners. Arrange apple slices in pastry cases making sure there is an even mix of each apple in each tart. Sprinkle remaining sugar and almond mixture over apples and bake for 30mins until apples are cooked through and pastry is light golden.

Mix glaze ingredients together. Brush over tarts and serve with ice cream. 

From Pinterest

References:

THE FUTURE OF: BATHING

Michael Levin

Tusse

whyrHymer

URBAN RETRO

Hyperform

Collection of Cool

House in Casavells 

The Gourmet Tea

Paprika Chicken

A couple of years ago I worked as a waitress at a Czech restaurant in Balmain called La Boheme. Before this I hadn't had very much experience with Eastern European food but I soon learned to love it, even in the middle of summer. This dish was not on the regular menu, it was made occasionally as a special and more frequently as dinner for the staff. The restaurant served it with macaroni or rigatoni and I've had it at a Hungarian restaurant served with spaetzle.

In this version I've served it with risoni which I kind of see as sitting in between macaroni and spaetzel. It's perfect on colder nights as it is very warming and hearty. It's best when slow cooked until the chicken just starts to disintegrate although the cooking time can be shorten if you are short on time.

Slow cook the chicken in white wine, chicken stock and paprika

Add the sour cream and extra paprika 5mins before serving

Serve on a bed of risoni

Ingredients:

2 chicken thighs, diced

1 onion, chopped

1 garlic clove, crushed

1 cup white wine

1 cup chicken stock

1 tbsp paprika

75g sour cream

10 tbsp risoni 

Method:

Over a medium high heat fry the onions and the garlic until softened in a small amount of canola oil. Add the chicken and fry until brown. Stir in the wine, stock and half the paprika. Cover and reduce the heat to low. Simmer on a low heat for two hours, removing the lid for the final hour to allow the stock to reduce.

20 mins before serving bring a pot of salted water to the boil. Add the risoni and cook until al dente.

Add the sour cream and remaining paprika to the chicken mixture and cook for a further 5 mins. 

BWOF 09/10 122

This was another dress which I started over the summer. It seems like everyone has either drooled over or made this dress. I was definitely my favourite of Burda's patterns from last year and what's more it is a petite pattern which makes it the perfect length for me. 

I cut the size 21 but had to remove a good 4 inches from the centre back piece tapering to nothing at the hip. I also removed the sleeves as I wanted a more classic style for my sheath dress. I love the material its a nylon blend knit from Tessuti fabric. It's double layered knit with a really interesting relief pattern on the top layer. They had it in black, navy and red but unfortunately it seems to be completely sold out now. I couldn't resist the red. It was one of the few things I finished during the first half of the uni session so that I could wear it out for my birthday in March. 

BWOF 01/09 113

I've been a very neglectful blogger lately, I kinda vanish from the face of the earth during uni session. But I've been on a study break for the past 2 weeks and its given me a chance to finish off some of the sewing projects that I had left over from my summer break. Most I had stalled on when I reached a point where I had to re-do something, this often seems to be the case with me. 

This skirt stalled because I forgot to put the pocket flaps on before stitching the waistband to the skirt. I had even unpicked it I just hadn't gotten around to restitching it. So 2 weeks ago I went and bought buttons and a zipper and sat down to finish the skirt. Here it is on:

I have to admit that while this is based strongly off BWOF 01/09 113 it isn't it exactly. My mum still has my copy of BWOF 01/09 so I just used my already traced out copy of 112 and added the details such as pocket flaps, button front waistband, fly front and front slit. For comparison here's BWOF 01/09 113:

 And here's my version:

 Skirt on the hanger

Fake pockets

Fly front with button up waistband

Inside fly front with button up waistband

Boning Casing

You can see I have almost double the amount of buttons to prevent gaping and I've added boning to the waistband and a full waistband lining to the skirt as I feel it benefits from the extra support. I also added slit at the centre front for added walking and sitting ease.

In terms of alterations I cut a size 42 but had to take over 2 inches out of the top of the centre back waistband seam tapering to nothing at the base of the waistband.

Overall I'm really happy with this skirt. It fits really nicely and is really comfortable even after a full meal. Plus it can be dressed up or down making it really versatile and because it's 100% cotton it breathes really nicely.