Luxaflex event at La Croix, Potts Point

I was the guest of Luxaflex recently at a lovely event at La Croix, Potts Point giving media and bloggers an overview of the extensive Luxaflex range and a preview of the new Luxaflex ipad app.  It is always fun to meet people who are passionate about their product and with deep deep knowledge about the textiles and technology we need to to both make the most of the sunshine and block it out when required.  Pearls of wisdom that I came away with were that alot of Luxaflex specialist fabric is made here in Australia as we know what we need to withstand our sun, Luxaflex collect and recycle old blinds, recycling the fibres into new fabric, they can now do widths of 6m (!) in some exterior products (great for those gap haters).  I love the Evo range of contemporary awnings and the very architectural exteriors louvres shown below.  La Croix was a delight also - designed by Iain Halliday in a palette of soft grey tumbled stone, marble and buttery grey leather cushions.  A perfect neutral backdrop for the shop's mirrors and decorative items scattered amongst the cafe tables.  Thanks again to Luxaflex for inviting me along.

Images: Luxaflex and La Croix

Great Outdoors

I recently ordered a few samples of these fabrics from the big range at Fab Outdoor Fabrics. Unlike their interior cousins these fabrics do have a serviceable feel but the patterns and colours are great.

Images: Fab Outdoor Fabrics

Palm Beach Black

It is hard to convey a surface finish - especially wood finishes via this medium. I am now only weeks away from completing my diploma in Colour Design so my main interiors reading has been fandecks of paint chips and little pieces of Colorbond metal - not such great blog fodder. Anyway good old Porters have come to my rescue with a product I love - Palm Beach Black - a water based wood stain that you can use inside and out on any wood and - an inspiring image to match to break the blogging drought.

Image: Porters Paints

The Outdoor Room

I attended the Designex trade show in Sydney yesterday. There was quite a big section on outdoor rooms which I wasn't really expecting but it was great to see some products I have blogged about but had not seen in real life like Joost Bakker's vertical gardens and Kif and Katast's fabulous Gingko screen. The Kif & Katast stand was one of my favourites of the day and I loved the new Gingko bench pictured below. There is a poor quality iphone photo that gives a bit of an idea of how you could light this bench to make a real feature of it at night.


The Kif & Katast stand also featured these garden bags called Bacsacs which can be used eiether as a permanent garden for herbs for example or simply for transporting plants.

Images: Kif&Katast, Bacsac

Pappelina rugs

Outdoor rugs are all the rage. These rugs are made from recycled plastic and can be used inside and out. The beauty of them is that they can be hosed down and the smaller ones can even go on the washing machine making them ideal for high traffic areas and as a sand trap. This is just a snippet of the styles and colours from Pappelina, available from Nordic Fusion here in Australia.

Images: Nordic Fusion

All the fun of the fair

I went to the Decoration and Design trade fair today and this is one of my personal picks of the day. This stool from d-Bodhi also comes in a bar stool and is just gorgeous in real life. The top is reclaimed teak - you can read d-Bodhi's old wood story here - and the contrast to the Tolix-esque metal base works beautifully. I had a perch on the bar stool for a few minutes between stands and found it very comfortable indeed.

Image: d-Bodhi

Glass garage doors

It's the end of the summer holidays here and my kids go back to school tomorrow, but we still have a few more days in holiday mode as we enter the last rounds of the Australian Open. The tennis this year has been very exciting so all eyes are on Melbourne and with many night games, many a late night watching.

And so to Melbourne. I have posted about the light in this bedroom before but wanted to return to this Melbourne home as I wanted to record the 'up and over' garage door style window which opens the bedroom wall to a private roof terrace complete with built in stove no less. I came across this great post here on glass garage doors by Melbourne based Camilla Molders at designalogue. These are brave designs with walls that move - but pretty unbeatable if you want the outside-inside feel.

Images: House & Garden

Hot in the city

Phew. It is hot in the city today - 41 degrees and windy. These days are really like wet days when you have kids because you can't leave them outside for any length of time. This image from Fast design screams heat to me. The chair is called the Forest Karmstol I'm assuming because of its clever tree design.

Images: Urban Living

Back from the beach

Yes back from the holidays. This is the side of the fantastic beach house we rented with our friends. As my girlfriend and I are both interior design students we were delighted with the house and all its good ideas like the row of hooks along the wall (the (hot) outdoor shower is behind the greenery on the left) and the wooden gate is actually some very snazzy metal that looks like wood but is a bit more sea-air proof. Lots more great pics to share as we go through the year. As I know in Ireland everyone is freezing I'll try not to post too much beach until the cold snap passes!

Image: AL

Happy Halloween

Image: Helen O'Meara

Living life to the full

This ad by Tourism Victoria is being screened here on tv at the moment and I love the styling, especially the line of lamps along the driveway at night - you'll see what I mean. Daylesford is known for food, wine, scenery and special spring waters so the idea of the ad is you can have two lives - decadence one night, nature and purity the next day. It is gorgeous to look at and listen to but some say the choice of music confuses the message and viewers are not sure what is being advertised. I'm happy, I just like the lamps - or is that very shallow of me . . . ?

Screening doors

In Sydney there is a lemming like tendency to put in bi-fold doors to terraces, decks and gardens often without really considering all the available options for windows and doors. Bi-fold doors are the sliding doors that fold back on themselves so you can effectively fold away a wall of windows and they are everywhere. While I do enjoy going to peoples houses where they have opened out the back of the house for the whole indoors/outdoors entertaining experience I couldn't live with them myself as I get very badly bitten by mosquitoes. If I had bi-folds open for the night I would be stressing about how many mozzies and flies were getting in to bite me later !! So I go against the trend and save lovely pictures like this of alternative inside/outside window treatments (which can be screened more easily and cheaply than bi-folds).

Egg basket

Busy busy with lots of milestone birthdays (not for me - but for others in my life) so have not had much time to spend here this week. The pressure is now finally off - and wouldn't I love to be curled up in one of these chairs looking at that view. I do love egg chairs but now that they are all over the place - ie poor copies in real estate agents lobbies, the wicker is a refreshingly different take on the classic.

Image: Nuevo Estilo

Ibizan style

I get a number of Irish publications mailed to me in Sydney which is a luxury I really enjoy. Even though I read a lot online the power of print still reigns and I love flicking through my Irish Times magazine (equivalent to the SMH Good Weekend) and Image Interiors.

This fabulous villa in Ibiza was featured on the cover of Image Interiors recently and deservedly so. It was designed by John Meagher of de Blacam and Meagher architects. It is minimal without being sterile, and not just a pretty face, really functional as a holiday house with separate guest quarters - along by the pool which are rented out and a master suite upstairs. List of favourite things - the colonnade, the lanterns in the colonnade and the ceilings which are based on traditional style in the area of exposed beams and terracotta tiles.

Photos: Peter Cook via www.worldarchitecturenews.com

Tuath na Mara

A number of blogs I follow are covering Irish design this week which is lovely for me as being so far away it is hard to keep up to date with everything thats happening in Ireland. This house was featured by Apartment Therapy and I hadn't seen it before. Tuath na Mara is on Lough Swilly in Co.Donegal and is a prize winning design by Mac Gabhann Architects You can see why from the photos below. Its incredibly sensitive to its surrounding environment while offering its residents stunningly framed views from all angles. Yes, another for my 'if we ever build a holiday house' folder !

Images: www.macgabhannarchitects.ie

In / Out

I am working in sequence this week. Going through Sam McAdams portfolio yesterday I spotted this shot which includes two things I had bookmarked for inclusion here.

Image: Sam McAdam

When you look at my home from the end of the garden there is one area of blank wall which is crying out for some sort of adornment. Plants of course are an option but I like outdoor art and have my eye out for something along the lines of this beautiful Ginko screen by Kif + Katast. The screens are made from laser cut steel and rusted 'on purpose'. They can be hung both indoors and out.

The second thing is the bench. This zinc bench is the In/Out bench by JF Dors. It can be used as a planter as shown or for a little outdoor water pool, or if you are really not into gardening at all as an icebucket for parties !! In Sydney you can get the In / Out bench from Parterre.

Image: Domani

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

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

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