Pimp my ride

One of the best restaurants we visited during our time away was Cusco's 'Fallen Angel'.  It was not just the food that was pretty decent - the whole event felt like an experience, somewhere between visiting an art gallery and taking a peek into somebody's own private fantasy land. Each room was adorned with painting, sculptures, boldly brash wallpapers and other such fancies such as heart shaped leather look cushions.  There were also some really cool tables fashioned from old free-standing bath tubs, filled with fish and covered with glass tops with a few flying pigs thrown in for good measure.

Here is my Californian friend Paige and I with those great cushions:

 and the flying pigs:

The 'Fallen Angel' was intriguing in the sense that it was a real showcase of bits and pieces that the owner loves, all thrown together to great effect.  I definitely picked up some ideas for when (if ever) I have my own place - the toilets, for instance, whose walls were covered with thousands of pieces of broken glass is something that would be cool to try (albeit probably rather dangerous!).

Here are a couple more pictures to give you a bit more of an idea of some of the pieces, although, as often is the case, the photos don't really do the place justice:

Anyway, the point of this post is that our visit to 'The Fallen Angel' got me thinking about interior design in a way that I'd not done before.  Whilst interior design, or more plainly 'decorating', has always conjured up pictures of large dripping paint pots and a trip to Ikea, I started to realise that there could be so much more to doing up a house.  This was further emphasised when we visited the luxurious Hearst Castle in California about a month later - an estate decked out entirely with the art most loved by its millionaire owner. 

Now, I wouldn't say I have a particularly keen eye for art per se and I certainly don't have the riches of Hearst to indulge myself to the extent he did, but the lesson and inspiration was still there.  The other problem, of course, is also the lack of property and space currently in my possession - after having moved back to the parents', Ash and I have just two small rooms to call our own and these are even already products of my parents' own design projects.  The one space I do have as a blank canvas, however, is my newly inherited black Seat Ibiza.  What a perfect place to start running some ideas on!  I haven't seen many people with 'pimped out' cars so I thought it would be quite a fun, unique project to get me started.

Here are some of the things I want to include:

1) Wayne's World style licorice dispenser
2) Fake grass on the dashboard with plastic jungle animals
3) Some (fake) greenery/ vine type things winding around the car's interior
4) A new glittery green gear stick
5) Black floral cushions for back seat (a la Laptop case)
6) Max Power style seatbelt covers

Getting excited just thinking about it!! I have started researching 1) and it looks like it's not going be as easy as anticipated.  I assumed everyone in the world would want a licorice dispenser in their car and so they would be readily available, but, unfortunately, I was wrong.  There are some forums that I have found with suggestions, so watch this space!!

Party on Wayne, Party on Garth!