Inspring Rooms IV

Beautiful Chinese Hostels

My sister, Kristy and I travelled through China in November 2010. We stayed in some lovely places. We stayed in two hostels, one in Beijing and the other in XiAn. I'd thought I had crossed a line, having left my cheap hostel dorm room days way behind. The pics on the websites looked fantastic, but I was dubious. We were more than pleasantly surprised when we arrived.

Not only were both hostels very reasonably priced and situated, but their interiors had me swooning.

The Peking Youth Hostel in Beijing was situated in one of the city's historic Hutong Neighbourhoods, five minutes walk from the Forbidden City. Originally, it was a traditional courtyard house and they've managed to maintain its charm whilst providing modern conveniences and a cosy atmosphere.

Some of the design features that stand out in my mind are; the glass conservatory style extension of the common room, the heavy army style 'doona doors' hung over entrances to help keep out the cold, the blue and white patterned ceramic basins in the bathrooms, red and green tones and lots of timber. I could have stayed here for our full three weeks, calm and comfortably tucked away in our haven from the sharp Winter cold. Oh, and their lemon honey tea was to die for.

Similarly, Shuyuan Youth Hostel in XiAn was originally a traditional courtyard house, though on a larger scale with three interior courtyards. It is a stone's throw from the city's South Gate and walking distance from the Bell Tower and Muslim Quarter.

Features of the Shuyuan Hostel; the generous proportions and natural light, the luxury of the lounge setting in the foyer, simple and elegant traditional chinese furniture, grey tones on the walls. The foyer lounge setting was my inspiration for this post.

The common area of the Peking Youth Hostel.

The lounge setting in the foyer of the Shuyuan Youth Hostel.

One of the three interior courtyards at the Shuyuan Youth Hostel.

Impromptu T-shirts

A hot and humid Sunday afternoon inside led to an impromptu screen printing session. Regular blog visitors will recognise these as a couple of my earlier designs.

Ms Ku's House

Fred and I spent a long weekend in Dulan, a small town thirty minutes north of Taitung with a strong arts community. Fred's family are native to this part of Taiwan so we took the opportunity to make the most of our time off and to visit his grandparents' tombs on Tomb Sweeping Day.

It's a beautiful part of the world. Small villages dotted sporadically amidst rice terraces, with a dramatic mountain ridge to the west and the Pacific to the east. Pace of life is relaxed and people are friendly. From the moment we arrived, wildest daydreams of buying some land, building my own house and setting ourselves up with a sweet idyllic existence, entered my mind and refused to leave. Even now as I type I have to pull myself back to reality.

I can only call it providence, that we ran into one of Fred's ex-dance teachers, Ms Ku. What's more, ten years previous she had bought herself some land and built herself a house here in Taitung County. So, the following day we visited her for lunch.

I had no expectations, but when we drove up her steep driveway and her home came into view my jaw dropped and I got a little teary. This woman had stolen my dream. I have been dreaming of designing and building a small, eco-friendly house somewhere beautiful near the beach or mountains (here she had both) for many years now. The similarities with the layout of some of my designs and my ideas for colours and finishes were uncanny.

Ms Ku, thank you for inviting us to your beautiful home and for the lovely lunch. I am totally envious of what you have created for yourself. You've inspired me, I want that too.

Just an idea of the Taitung landscape.

Blue and Grey. Sigh.

Mountain view behind, ocean view out front.

Inside: A drawbridge connects the loft bedroom to the balcony.

Outside: Huge sliding doors conceal or reveal.

They've used local timber throughout that has a

warm amber colour.

T-shirt Party

For my birthday this year I invited friends round to my apartment to screen print t-shirts.

My wonderful housemate, Helen was a chef before she came to Taiwan so she provided the food. An amazing array of fruit, cheese, and antipasto. All the guilty pleasures which we take for granted back home, but are a rare treat here in Taiwan.

We set up a make-shift work room in our Japanese tearoom and people got busy sketching designs, cutting stencils and printing.

Fred acting as official squigee handler.

Marie hard at work while others observe amidst the finished t-shirts hanging about like a Chinese laundry.

Jason and Marie's designs. Designed, cut and printed by themselves.

Inspiring Rooms III

In a city of endless blocks of buildings whose architecture is devoid of anything distinguishing, this place stood out like a diamond in a coal mine. Upon closer inspection we discovered it is a restaurant. Because it was mid afternoon it was empty, so the staff allowed us to check out the interior. The inside was even more impressive and other-worldly than the outside. The prices were expensive, but if the food is anywhere near as good as the decor it will be worth it.

My Taiwanese Pad

I've been living in Taiwan for just over a year now. I'm currently living in Xizhi, which is in Taipei County, just outside of Taipei itself. I have a fantastic apartment by Taiwanese standards. It is on the 20th floor of a massive apartment complex and has a view across the Keelung River. The clincher for me though, was the chandalier in the living room.

I found the bear skin rug in an Op Shop in Keelung. I thought it was a cattle hide, and it took the shop owner three attempts to convince me that 'bear' was not a Chinese word for 'sucker'.

I am really happy with how the place has scrubbed up. Especially considering how little I've spent on it. It's such a shame it's not in the city. I'll definitely miss it when I move into Taipei in August.

My Stuff VIII

Show Us Your Hot Dividing Curtain!

Before I left for Taiwan I was working on this job for a couple of friends. It is a dividing curtain that shuts off their mezzanine bedroom from the rest of their apartment. Their apartment is in a beautiful old department store building in Prahran, Melbourne. It has huge windows fronting the street, so they wanted to try to eliminate as much sound and light as possible. 

I suggested a champagne gold face fabric with a bit of shimmer, and a dark back fabric to enclose the bedroom and make it feel cosy and den-like. The fabrics they ended up going with are amazing. Hats off to you guys for your appreciation of the quality and value of your choice. It looks hot! I am really happy with the result.