Cafe Love - Wee Jeanie

Ian and Clare Munroe, the delightful couple who originally brought us Le Chien in Seddon, then opened The Corner Shop in Yarraville Village have now opened the doors on their latest venture - Wee Jeanie.

(50 Anderson St, Yarraville Village)

Considering the fact that I spend every week day morning at The Corner Shop I was bound to like Wee Jeanie - a more casual version.  My problem now is which one to go to?  They are both situated in the Village which suits me just fine with Wee Jeanie a hop skip and jump from CHALK.  What a nice dilemma to have.

Drop in and say Hi - although Ian is sooo in love with his fabulous new coffee machine that it is hard to get any sense out of him at the moment!  See you there.

Shop Love - well bar actually

The Wellesbourne in Los Angeles has me all in a dither.  I want to slide into one of those booths with my well worn copy of .... well anything really..  and wile away the hours reading, drinking tea and hopefully being served by a 'Jess Mariano'. 

Surprisingly there seems to be a trend in LA at the moment for 'Literary Bars' and I'm hoping the trend finds it's way to Melbourne very soon!  If crass, brash LA can do it then what on earth is to stop cultured, thoughtful Melbourne from doing it even better?

Let them Eat Cake

Cooking is a long way down on my list of favourite things to do but I love seeing what others conjure up and I am more than happy to taste the fruits of their labour.
Check out the insane cakes that my friend Emma produces....

How could you bring yourself to cut in to them?  If you'd like to see more of Emma's treats visit her on facebook.

Cafe Love

 "Unattended children will be given espresso and a free kitten".

So reads the sign on the wall at Rowena Parade Corner Store in Richmond.
I laughed out loud when I read this and will definitely be visiting just to meet the people who obviously share a similar sense of humour to me.
Check out  Little Eats review and I'm sure you'll be dropping in too.

Shop Love - Taylor Gourmet

I am particularly in love with the use of old packing crates for the counter sides - we've been contemplating similar and it's great to see it here looking fabulous.

images found here

Shop Love - Rockaway Tacos

I'm not big on Tacos but I sooo want to hang out at ROCKAWAY TACOS.

Chef Andrew Field is located in Rockaway beach, Queens, New York where he lives, surfs, reads, and cooks some of the best tacos in the area. He raises his own honey bees on his roof, grows all of his herbs and buys the bulk of his ingredients and vegetables from local farmers. This is a guy I'd love to meet - sounds like he has it all worked out.

Thanks for the info

CHALK Done

The day has finally arrived - I have just got home after an exhausting day getting everything ready for tomorrow's opening (actually today's!) at the new Kensington store.  I can't believe that we actually did it.  For some reason the first shop didn't seem so hard, maybe because it was 7 years ago and like childbirth the memories have dimmed.

We have just ripped all the paper off the windows to reveal all!  How fun.

If you're in the area pop in and visit otherwise I'll fill you in tomorrow on our first big day.

Shop Love - Ink & Spindle

Well it isn't actually a shop, but a studio... Ink & Spindle is a boutique screen-printing studio run by two Melbourne textile designers – Lara Cameron and Tegan Rose.

I am a long term lover of their fabrics and met the girls early on in my blogging life through Lara's blog Kirin Notebook.

They specialise in high quality textile printing for designers and independent labels such as the fabulous Nancy Bird, Knuffle Kid, Heavenly Creatures, and many more.  But my favourites are the fabrics of their own design.  One that I can't get out of my head is their Birch design.  I fell in love with it years ago and am waiting for the day it evolves in to a wallpaper so I can gaze at it all day long.

The difficulty will be deciding on a colour-way!

Now that CHALK is opening in Kensington we will be neighbours (sort of) as the girl's studio is housed in the famous Younghusband Wool Store building - (Suite 206, 10 Elizabeth Street Kensington)

Can't wait to drop by and visit!

all pics - Ink & Spindle

Shop Love....

Please god, if I ever find myself working in a factory let it be this one! 

This is the home of Mast Brothers Chocolate in Brooklyn New York.

Not only is the product amazing but the factory itself is pretty special.

Pics found here.

HINDSVIK

One of my favourite Etsy shops is from the people at Hindsvik.  Not only do they have fabulous stuff but I love the way they photograph their products.

Hindsvik specializes in modern and industrial objects for the home which is right up my alley. On my blog roll you'll notice that Hindsvik is also one of my favourite blog reads - Hindsvik Blog is a behind the scenes look at shop owners Daniel and Valeria's inspiration while they renovate and redecorate their 1940's home.

Shop Love

Owning a store myself gives me a unique appreciation of other people's efforts with their ventures.  Sometimes the look of a store is purely luck - the right space for rent at the right time - sometimes it's pure genius that turns an average store front into a work of art.  Jason Grant posted these shots (below)of the Sydney men's wear store 'One Of A Kind' (Darlinghurst) and I just had to share them again here.  It's such a perfect example of how a simple idea can transform a store.  Now to work out how I can translate this to Yarraville!

You can visit Jason here.

Shop Love

This is The Society inc. Situated  in Sydney's Paddington in a 1860’s terrace house.

It is an 'old habidashery meets hardware store specialising in local and global textiles, furniture, homewares and beautiful things' and is the retail baby of the fabulously talented interior stylist Sibella Court.

Photos via Chris Court Photography / Design Sponge

I'd anticipate there is hours of browsing possible in this bower of a store.  Tomorrow I'll show you her home upstairs - it's worth the wait!