Monday, 30 July 2012

Busy, busy, busy...

I have been so busy of late and can't believe it is almost August! I am currently working on a number of really exciting projects and am really looking forward to the next few months and watching these projects come to fruition!

In the meantime, here are a few bits and pieces from the various projects.

First up is this AMAZING glass tile. This is one of the most beautiful tiles I have ever seen, it shimmers and throws a silvery aqua colour depending on the light. We are using this as a feature tile in one of my clients bathrooms.



Below is a great bubble chair, that would make a great addition to any contemporary room.
The below sofas are great low/high solutions for a living room

Bookshelves to flank a fireplace




Of course no design is complete without some fantastic lighting!


As you can probably tell from the images above, the projects I'm working on are quite varied which makes for a really interesting time and process. I'm looking forward to posting some updates and of course the finished products!

Please note - out of respect for my paying clients, I am not able to reveal product or source information on this blog.

Friday, 13 July 2012

Colour My World...

I remember a few years ago someone close to me asking me what I'll do with all our furniture and decor once I get sick of it. I remember at the time thinking "what on earth are you talking about, this IS who I am and what I like, why would I want to change it".

The older I get, the more I realise that we have core beliefs and we have a core style. The other bits and pieces can change as we get older and change. For me, my preferred core style is classic-contemporary, it always has been and I'm quite sure it always will be. I guess the 'contemporary' part of that equation means that I can change things to keep our home decor feeling up to date (whatever that means at the time). Another massive change I've noticed in myself is my LOVE of colour. I can't quite explain how much I want to immerse myself in all the colour and pattern possible and when I say colour I'm not talking pretty pastels, I'm talking major, bold, vivid pops of colour! I'm thinking bold turquoise or fuchsia couches and heavily patterned accent chairs. I find it energising and invigorating and a perfect reflection of my little family.









Source Unknown





Warwick Fabric - Alhambra

Ah, writing this blog post has made me even more determined to get even more colour into our world!

Monday, 2 July 2012

Things I Love at the Moment

I love it when I get some free time to browse the various design blogs and sites out there and see what beautiful products are being created all around the world. Here are a couple of the stunning products I've recently come across.


Watercolour Wallpaper

Most people who know me, know that two of my favourite things in interiors are watercolours and wallpaper. So it was of absolutely no surprise whatsoever that when I stumbled across this watercolour wallpaper designed by Black Crow Studios, I was instantly in love! The vibrant colour and fluid form are just beautiful.



Images Sourced from: The Lennoxx

Designers Guild Tableware

Now onto my next favourite product. Designers Guild have recently released their new range of tableware. I'm really fussy about the type of mug I like to drink from and always prefer stoneware over any other type. Designers Guild Saraille Aqua stoneware combines stoneware with my favourite colour (aqua) and then to top it off they have designed it in an ombre way, effectively making it my absolute favourite tableware EVER!



This tableware will definitely be on my list of purchases for Summer!

Tuesday, 19 June 2012

KAS Australia Sale

This is just a quick post to let you all know that KAS Australia are having a massive one week sale, on now!

KAS are Australian designers and manufacturers of some of the most beautiful and fashionable soft furnishings on the market. Stop by their website and have a look, you may pick yourself up a great bargain!



Monday, 11 June 2012

White Out...

Now that our house is on the market, I've been getting some ideas together for what our new interior may end up looking like. My previous post included images of certain features I like, but now I'm thinking about colour, or more appropriately lack thereof!

When we renovated our current home I was heavily pregnant. We moved into our home in the April and I had our youngest daughter in the first week of July. I'm not sure if pregnancy affects everyone in the same way it affected me, but I could NOT make a decision to save my life! Thankfully my Mum was around to force help me make the decisions I needed to when they needed to be made. The strangest thing that happened to me over that time though was that I wanted everything in warm tones. Now I'm not and never have been, a warm tone person and even with my Mum bringing that fact to my attention time and again I was adamant that my tastes had changed and I wanted everything warm. I have been happy with the colour scheme in our home, but now I'm starting to dream of crisp whites with blue/green accents for Summer and grey accents for Winter.










I just love how fresh and bright cool white interiors are. I realise some people may find them a little chilly feeling on a gloomy Winter day, but a lovely roaring fire is the perfect remedy for that!

Friday, 1 June 2012

Florence Broadhurst...taking the US by storm!

Florence Broadhurst was born in Queensland, Australia in 1899. By the time of her death in 1977 she had lived in Australia, Asia and England, performed professionally on stage, been befriended by royalty, exhibited her paintings and started an internationally successful wallpaper company based on her own designs. She was considered to be years ahead of her time, complex, eccentric and talented.

Decades later the Florence Broadhurst designs are taking the US by storm! The designs are being featured through Kate Spade New York. In Australia, Signature Prints owns the rights to the Florence Broadhurst designs and they produce everything from her famous wallpapers to fabrics.


Cockatoos

Japanese Floral Design Curtains

Kabuki

Horses Stampede

Japanese Floral

Japanese Floral Rug

I don't think anyone can deny Florence Broadhurst was light years ahead of her time. If you are in Australia and love these designs, pop over to Signature Prints to pick up the fabrics or wallpaper of your choice.

If you are in the US you can purchase Florence Broadhurst designs on everything from playing cards and post cards, to a new dress, hat or dinnerset! Simply search the Kate Spade website for Florence Broadhurst.

*All images and information for this post were sourced from Signature Prints

Friday, 25 May 2012

Putting Our House on the Market

My husband and I have made the monumental decision to put our house on the market. I say monumental because we are yet to secure the property we really want to buy. We have decided that we'll be proactive and try to get ours sold, so we are in a better position to negotiate. There is the chance that this may all go pear shaped and leave us homeless! I'm just being a little dramatic there, as we can always rent somewhere until something else comes up, but we REALLY want this new house and are just praying that it all works out in the end.

Anyway, my anxiety levels are rising as I think about the photographer coming on Monday to take photos, then there are the Open For Inspections that we'll be having in June. I've never gone through this process while still actually living in a house and it's a little odd to think about strangers walking through our house, looking at all of our things, while we aren't there! We trust our agent of course, but it's still a strange process to go through.

So whilst I'm busy getting our house looking as good as possible, I'm also have little daydreams about what we'd do with the new house (who can resist the daydreams?) so I thought I'd post a few photos of the rooms I'd love to use as inspiration for our (hopefully) new home!



I absolutely love EVERYTHING about the above property. The crisp white interior with the wooden beams, neutral palette and hints of seafoam green are my idea of perfection.


I'm sure I have posted the above photograph before, but I just love this room. We have thrown around the idea of putting our girls into one room for a while and I think that if we do make a move then we will definitely do it. I think it's nice for siblings, especially sisters, to share a room when they are little. I'm sure as time passes and they become teenagers they'll want their own space, but it would be lovely while it lasted.


Another example of a fairly neutral palette but with a WOW factor photograph. I love the idea of doing something fantastic like this with a great family photo. Many people seem to dislike photos (especially family ones) and prefer artwork. In my opinion, no family home is complete without photos of the family that reside there!


The simplicity of this bathroom really appeals to me. I've mentioned before that I like white bathrooms, white kitchens and white bed linen, as I like being able to see that they are clean. But I also like white in a bathroom because it's not too fussy and allows you to relax in the bath without being visually bombarded.


Wherever possible I think it is a great idea to have built-in bench seating or banquettes. I remember Sarah Richardson once saying on her show that she had fond memories of her mothers room because it had a sofa in it. She loved that she had a place to sit or sneak in and sleep in her parents room. Our girls also love to be in our bedroom and seating like this would be great for chatting away or giving them a sneaky place to creep into at night (although who am I kidding, our eldest always ends up in our bed!)

Have you ever done anything crazy like selling your beloved family home in the hope of securing your dream property? As much as it will pain me to sell this place and still not end up with the other house, I think I'd be more disappointed if we just let the possibility pass us by without REALLY trying to get it. Wish us luck, we may just need it!