harbourbridge's Profile

A giant antique lacquer pot in the shape of an owl that I hauled from Burma. An Asprey clock from London. An antique chest of drawers I had shipped from Bangkok. An opium bed bought in Shanghai.

My husband, found in a bar in Hong Kong, and our daughter, born in Shanghai, now all brought safely home.

There are whole towns in southern China devoted to churning out reproduction oil paintings. There are millions of them on ebay. They'll work from a photo, no problems. I've been to China and seen them and the quality isn't bad if repro is your thing.

Toothpaste is abrasive and shouldn't be used on fine silver.

Cute kitchen, but I'm intrigued by anyone who needs five thermos flasks.

they're the new mosaic tiles. Nice but will look so dated in five years.

My favourite-ever bathroom was the one I had in my mid-twenties.

I painted the walls blue, put Astroturf on the floor and superglued fake sunflowers and plastic lizards everywhere.

'Twas fab. Astroturf is slippery when wet but the effect was well worth exercising a bit of caution when getting out of the shower.

Both wanky. Karl Largerfeld looks like he should live on Tracy Island, anyway.

I would be utterly devastated if I had to.

I just can't get the "only stuff" idea. It's MY stuff and I love it. How would I possibly replace my antique lacquer owl I bought in Rangoon, the clock that my grandfather removed from the dash of his plane when he was an outback Flying Doctor and had mounted in a jarrah surround, the oil painting of the USS Hart moored in Hong Kong harbour in 1923 that I found on eBay?

But I've moved countries six times, so maybe I just cling to my stuff to make me feel settled.

Hey, at least they don't have a Keep Calm and Carry On poster....

The receptionist at my husband's office owns one of the houses featured in an early episode.

She said that Channel 9 came back for months and put right all the corners that had been cut to fit into the time frame, and fix anything she didn't like. Yes, because they have five days they do pretty much staple the curtains up but everything was re-done properly to her specifications after the cameras left.

She's thrilled with the result.

I'm sorry it hasn't been a ratings smash - I was very much looking forward to a second series. In fact I was half-thinking of suggesting to my neighbour that we should apply to be on the next series. I don't want a beige bathroom, though, and I'm too attached to all my antique furniture to let them give me blah white fitted wardrobes.