Peacock Bedroom Design

I have been working on a new bedroom design that I LOVE! Peacock is a popular colour at the moment but it's really a colour I am always fond of. 

I was reading one of my favourite blogs, House of Turquoise and came across a beautiful fabric that had been used by a designer on some kitchen bar stools. I fell in love with the P Kaufmann fabric as soon as I saw it and went out of my way to track some down. You never know how much fabric is in stock and/or when it will be discontinued, so if you love a fabric you are best to move quickly to secure it!

This is the fabric below. I knew it was beautiful, but needed to be used in moderation in a bedroom. I decided it would make amazing cushions.

I then set about finding a complimentary fabric for use in a headboard. I decided on a lovely Warwick fabric called Ella in Peacock, it was the perfect colour and added some much needed texture to the space.

This is what the scheme looked like when the fabric was pulled together.

And here is the end result, I was so pleased with how it all turned out.

 

Adding little details like piping the cushion in the same fabric as the headboard, makes the whole scheme really pull together.

Disclaimer - this bedroom hadn't been properly styled and was not professionally photographed, but I didn't want to wait to share it!

 

Artworks

Sourcing art for my clients is always a fun but sometimes challenging thing to do because art is so subjective. Some people prefer abstract, whilst others prefer the more fine, complex and traditional art and then there are others who prefer to surround themselves with photography.

Thankfully most of my clients are appreciative of unique and in many cases brightly coloured art, which also happens to be my favourite! With that in mind I thought I would include a few examples of some art I've recently specified.

The first artist is Kathy Panton who is based in Brisbane, QLD. I love her bright, colourful artwork especially for children. Kathy's store can be found here!

 

Aren't they amazing!?! How could you look at one of those pieces and not feel happy?

The next artist's work I stumbled on whilst trawling through eBay. This art is a great mix of contemporary pictures printed directly onto the pages of old books. It gives it a very unique and quite playful feel. The store can be found here.

 

 

DIY Opaque Glass Vases

One of the latest trends in accessories is opaque glass. These various vases and vessels add colour and also providing some shine.

When you find these accessories in stores they are generally quite expensive so I decided to make some of my own!

We drink a lot of coffee in this house...I mean A LOT! Which leaves us with lots of empty coffee jars. What better way to repurpose them than to paint them and turn them into vases.

This is how I did it:

1. Take various sized coffee jars, or any other type of jar you have lying around

2. Choose some acrylic paint in a colour you like. For my jars I chose blue & green. If you don't have any paint laying around sample pots would provide enough paint for this project

3. Pour some paint into the bottom of the clean jar. The amount you use depends on how big your jar is

 

4. Start to turn and swirl the paint around the inside working from the bottom up to the top

 

5.  Once the paint has covered the inside, tip the excess out on to some newspaper

6. Let the jars sit for a couple of days until they are completely dry. It's important not to swirl the paint around in the jar once the drying process has started, as the drier paint will be heavier and will pull the wetter paint off the sides

7. And here is the finished result!

 

The Hose-able Rug!

Most of the clients I work with either have young children, grandchildren or pets. Anyone who has or who knows anyone with kids and/or pets knows first hand that these little delights normally come equipped with grubby hands, feet or paws. They also tend to have an outstanding ability to make mess on the hardest surface or object to clean in a house, normally the carpet or rugs!

When I am designing a space for clients of course I always want it to look beautiful, but it also has to be functional and most importantly practical. Rugs were previously a difficult thing to have in a house with children or pets because they were often quite an investment and if they got dirty you'd need to have a professional come in and clean them for you. Often they would never look the same as they did new.

Then came the invention of polypropylene and voila we now have the indoor/outdoor rug! My favourite indoor/outdoor rugs are by Dash and Albert. They come in a fantastic range of colours and patterns, but the best part is that when they need cleaning you take them outside, hang them up and hose them down! Yes, you did read that correctly, YOU CAN HOSE THEM!

I always like to try products before recommending them to clients and I can confirm that you can hose your Dash and Albert indoor/outdoor rug with complete success.

One important point to mention is that they are not a plush rug, but let's be honest plush rugs tend to hide food scraps and anyone who has trained a puppy will remember that the puppy finds a plush rug to be much the same as they do grass....no further information required there!

Below are some examples of the range of colours & patterns available. If you wish to see the whole collection click here.

 

And here is my rug hanging up post-hosing...

And afterwards, placed back in the living room all clean & like new again...

If you are located in the U.S you'll already know how to buy these rugs, but if you are located in Australia and would like information on how to purchase one please feel free to email me - alisha@matildaroseinteriors.com.au

Desk & Chair Project for $25!

I love to up-cycle and refinish old pieces of furniture and give them a whole new lease on life! It's truly amazing what a difference a splash of paint can make.

My eldest daughter is at school and has reached the age where she is incessantly doing craft, writing on several thousand pieces of paper and basically just "creating masterpieces"!

Due to this love of hers, we decided it was probably time that she had her own little desk and chair in her bedroom. Of course I could have gone out and bought her a new desk and chair but that would have been too easy and not creative enough for me! So instead, I decided we'd find something old that no-one wanted and breathe new life into it.

When driving along in our local area some time ago I found an old 1920's dresser on the side of the road. I pulled over so I could ask the lady how much she wanted for it. To my surprise it was in very good condition and she was giving it away for FREE! My poor long suffering husband then had to help me get it in the back of our car & it sat in our garage for a number of months, annoying him I'm sure.

Fast forward to two weeks ago and I was again driving along and saw our local op shop had several different little chairs out the front. I pulled over and discovered a poor little old chair that was in good condition, but had it's ugly on in a big way! It had great bones though and was only $20...bargain! I then set to work on creating a pretty little set for my daughter's room. Pictures below...

 

This is clearly the desk "before" shot. She wasn't very pretty but as I said she was in good condition and had potential.

 

And here is the chair before it's make over. Again, not pretty but I liked the design of the back and hey for $20 you can't complain.

And here is the end result!

 

A bit of a change isn't it! She loves the light blue desk, soft green and pops of colour from the fabric.

It is always best to choose your fabric first and then pull a colour from the fabric to use as your paint colour. 

The good news is that because I had the primer, paint & the fabric from another job this whole thing only cost me $20 for the chair and a few dollars for some sand paper. 

Have you ever taken and old piece of furniture and updated it?

Keeping cool during a heatwave

Here in Australia we have been struggling through an insane heatwave over the last week. Today is set to top 43 degrees in Sydney which has only ever happened 3 times in the last 150 years! 

The heat is incredible and we are all hiding in our homes, curtains drawn and air-conditioner running constantly. I really feel for anyone who doesn't have air-conditioning on days like today.

As I keep my eye on the fire alerts for our area I thought I'd post a couple of images of lovely cool pools and interiors decorated in cool blue hues.

House of Turquoise

 

BHG 

Tracery Interiors

Keep cool fellow Aussies!