One-offs

I love anything I could describe as 'upholstery with a twist'. Half the tear sheets in my 'folder of ideas' are like this one - classic pieces of furniture made special with a little imaginative upholstery. Also, if you did reupholster something in this way you could be confident that your piece is completely unique !

Image: The Sydney Magazine

Green week

I am still painting little colour chips for my design course - but have moved along to greens so its seemed timely to share these lovely green bathrooms. Completely unrelated but very similar in approach making the most of the lovely big windows.

Images: Homes & Gardens, Retrouvius via Desire to Inspire

Pols Potten

This beautiful chair is from Pols Potten in the Netherlands. I would love to visit their shop and warehouse. The Pols Potten catalogue online www.polspotten.nl is bursting with fabulousness. Sadly the dining chair page has a note at the bottom saying 'not available in Australia'.

Image: Pols Potten via Design Shimmer

Mantle material

I was reading an interesting piece on styling side tables a few days ago here on Hooked on Houses and then came across this beautiful print from Bold & Noble which would be perfect for one of my neglected and severely unstyled side tables. This is Gingko in Warm Stone. Bold&Noble have some lovely things including a very stylish childrens range which I will add here soon.

Image: www.boldandnoble.com

Hare Chair

This is the Coral chair designed by Ton Haas and produced by Hare Chair. Its a hi-tech lightweight stackable plastic chair for indoors and out - and doesnt it look great ? Apparently it was also designed with affordability in mind but as its probably more a contract item I havent been able to find a retail price online. Its certainly a step up from most plastic outdoor chairs.

Image: www.harechair.com

Colour overload

I have just started a design course and my homework this week involved painting about a hundred little colour chips in shades of red, pink, orange and yellow. Maybe this is why I am drawn to these monochrome schemes today . . . Also the headboard is the sort of scale I am looking at for my own bedroom, maybe even the stripes as long as I got removable covers and could have a change from time to time.

Images: Homes and Gardens, Inside Out

Terrace garden by Peter Fudge

I've seen this garden featured in the press a couple of times always thinking that it was part of a large garden and a large home. In fact this is a courtyard garden designed by Peter Fudge and the home is a Victorian terrace in Sydney. I love the big green pots and the way multiple seating areas and vantage points have been incorporated into the design.

Images: Peter Fudge Gardens

Lisa's wallpaper

These are powerful wallpapers by Swedish designer Lisa Bengtsson for Your Wallpaper www.yourwallpaper.se . The colours are amazing and at a scale to knock your socks off !!

Images: www.yourwallpaper.se from top - Ros-Marie 2, La vie en red rose, La vie en rose

Laundry birds

Now I know that decorating the laundry is not high on many peoples list of priorities but, you know, the smaller projects and touches can be very satisfying - especially if the bigger projects are on hold for a while as many are in these leaner times !!

This is Laundry Birds by Caitlin Klooger and it is available online in pink, blue and white from her site Pippijoe and in the taupe/black colourway from Kelani. Pippijoe also sells pinboards covered in this fabric for AU$45.

Pendel by Pinch

Love the Pendel range by Pinch www.pinchdesign.com. The sofa and armchair are designed to be compact specifically for small spaces and nooks and crannys around the house. The sofa is only 700 mm deep - most are at least 900 and often more. It looks a bit plain in the grey fabric, the print is more cheery.

Happy Valentines day

Image: Keep Calm Gallery

Vieques bath by Patricia Urquiola

Although there is nothing australian about this bath - it is designed by a spaniard and was first conceived for a hotel in Puerto Rico - to me it is very australian. You see there is a massive amount of corrugated steel used here - to great effect - on roofs, as cladding, covering walkways and verandahs. Its pretty much everywhere and is an iconic aussie building material.

This bath, reminiscent of a water tank, would fit right in especially in some of the modern australian beach house and tree house designs.

Images: www.agape.it

This my second post in recent times about a Patricia Urquiola design - and there is a third coming -just like buses, none for ages and then they all arrive at once.

Couture chairs

These chairs are the work of Aiveen Daly. If you browse through the media coverage on her website hers is an inspiring story. Unable to find the furniture she wanted in London she decided to learn upholstery and eventually set up her own business and make it herself. She is now a successful designer with an impressive client list. Some of her designs are very glam but my favourites are the more understated ones below. Classic with a twist.

Images: Large Puff and Moneypenny chairs by Aiveen Daly www.aiveendaly.com

Vertical garden by Joost Bakker

Over a year ago on the ABC gardening programme I saw these vertical gardens used for a fabulous wall of herbs in a chefs garden. The herb garden was made from steel reinforcing mesh (see earlier post on wine racks using the same concept here).

And so I have kept an eye out for them ever since without any luck until .... Joost Bakkers house was featured in the latest copy of Vogue Living. As you can see from the photos below Joost - an in demand floral designer - has taken the vertical garden to the max, cladding his whole house in racking and terracotta pots. How you would maintain them I'm not sure !!

I think this a great idea for a feature in any garden but especially for small gardens and balconies. I like the effect of the corrugated silver behind the pots in the shot above - but as I'm not the worlds best gardener can't advise if a herb garden could take the reflected heat.

Joost Bakker has designed vertical garden systems for Schiavello and there are more images there. No details on pricing but I am going to find out.

Images: Schiavello, Vogue Living

Trade only

It seems lots of people have been to trade shows this week in Paris and Sydney - not me sadly - but I have enjoyed browsing through the commentary, interviews and 'finds' on my favourite blogs. Lorna at Garrendenny Lane Interiors has a number of great posts about the Maison & Objet fair in Paris which is where I spotted this wallpaper Siam Trellis by Sanderson. Like it.

Image: Sanderson via www.gdlaneinteriors.ie

Coast

I am a bit stress-rich and time-poor this week so not much time to write. So I am turning to another beautiful Rachel Whiting photograph for todays post. Who wouldn't feel calm at this desk ?

Image: Rachel Whiting

Getting organised

We are all back to school now in Sydney and thoughts turn to where to hang school hats and all the paraphenalia that comes with the start of new schools and activities. I already have two long rows of the Leksvik hooks from IKEA in my back hallway but looking at this lovely image by Rachel Whiting I am tempted to squeeze in a third . . .

Images: Rachel Whiting via www.thedecodetective.blogspot.com and IKEA

Books etc

Thanks to A-M at www.thehousethata-mbuilt.blogspot.com for sending me the details for this library from Town & Country Style. As our study has not had much attention since we moved in to our house it is looking pretty unloved and messy. Proper messy - not like the stylish mess below - with lots more phone bills and bank statements in piles cluttering it up. I'd love something like this as the ceilings are high and I definitely want to make the most of that height for storage.

Image: www.townandcountrystyle.com.au

Birdsong

I don't normally feature a lot of homewares here but I couldn't go past these tea towels without capturing a picture - love the colours and don't they look great together. From http://www.nofixedabode.ie/ they are by Lush Designs

Birdsong teatowel, Image: www.nofixedabode.ie

No fixed abode also stock one of my favourite designers - Thorsten van Elten. I am coveting an 'Is that plastic?' butter dish below but will have to wait until my next trip to Dublin as shipping ceramics to Sydney usually costs more than the item itself.

Image: www.nofixedabode.ie