It’s the name of the book by Natalie Walton, which has recently been published, considering the art of simple living and what makes some houses feel more like homes than others. I’m really looking forward to reading it and it makes a beautiful coffee table book or gift for someone with an interest in houses and design. I have friends like me, who love watching Grand Designs with Kevin McCloud and it remains one of my enduring favourites – that and watching a lot of Nordic Noir! Mr Rosanna and I have just finished bingeing on the last season of The Bridge. The other book I want to read is Home Fire by Kamila Shamsie which was long listed for the Man Booker prize and is a modern-day version of the Greek story of Antigone.
I was out last night for dinner with some ex-work colleagues at Ocha Japanese Restaurant in Church Street Hawthorn – a place I hadn’t visited since it opened many years ago originally in Kew. The food was good and not surprisingly, it was an older, more sophisticated and monied crowd dining inside. Dishes are for sharing and with drinks, it was on the pricier side at over $80 a head – it’s not somewhere I would go to regularly but worth a visit.
It’s been a warm Autumn and Mr Rosanna and I are still working on our house wondering whether to paint it or not before Winter is upon us. We’ve been trialling different paint colours and still haven’t landed on the right shade. We live in an open plan house with floor boards and I’ve discovered that as much as open plan is fantastic for living areas, I do prefer zoned bedrooms and other spaces. We’ve already put on a door to the kitchen for noise reasons and now considering a Crittall-style steel and glass panelled internal door for our formal living room. I love the look of these steel windows and doors prevalent in the 1930s and still produced by Crittall in the UK but suspect the price will blow us out of the water.
Speaking of artisan, the Eaglemont Artisans market is on tomorrow if you are a lover of all things creative. I had a brief drink at Hunter Lane Cafe in Rosanna today having a chat with the owner Dennis, where I got a bird’s-eye view of the final stages of the Level Crossing, which still feels like a massive construction zone. They’re now talking about it being ready by Monday 7 May instead of this coming Monday but I am dubious about it being complete, and safe, by then. I am hoping it looks a lot nicer than the current behemoth that it appears to be now when looking at it from ground level.
Miss Rosanna 