Clubber

This is another of my favourite finds from the recent Furniture fair in Sydney. This is the Clubber sofa and armchair designed by Per Weiss for Innovation. I sat on both and they were very comfortable - often sofas that look good aren't quite right in the comfort stakes. Ideal for apartment living the sofa converts into a sofa bed and if you buy an armchair without the arms, you can fold it flat to make a chaise. And they are very competitively priced to boot !

Images: Innovation

Striking stripes

These provide food for thought I think. The mix between matt and texture in the bathroom and living room is very effective. The living room below belongs to Tina di Lorenzo of Di Lorenzo Tiles and I like her style here a lot. In the accompanying interview she reveals that the striped wall was achieved using Dulux Fauna in satin and gloss ! Time-consuming she says but great style I think without breaking the bank.

Images: Living etc, House & Garden, Lonny

Not for the faint hearted - this geometric pattern is also painted on to the wall. There is an interesting article on Nina Freudenbeger in the last issue of Lonny here - she has painted her shop walls and parts of the floor in a fabulous zig zag. I also identify with many of her quotes:

"Make sure your home reflects your own style and comfort level; your space should not be designed only to be 'photo ready'. The chair you sit in to drink your morning coffee and read the paper should be just as comfortable as it is attractive. Make no compromises. "

My problem is the 'make no compromises' bit can make progress pretty slow on the home project front.

Rest cure

Poor show on the posting rate in November - this will bring me to a measly 13. It has been a busy term. I've just finished the first year of my interior styling course and in true end of year form have come down with strep throat. I had no idea strep throat was this painful, I'm waiting for the antibiotics to do their stuff and in the meantime addicted to Nurofen Plus.

I think I need to curl up somewhere like this for a few days to recuperate. Once I reemerge the plan is to include a few gift ideas this December in addition to normal posts.

via Weekend Host

Book Club

I'm off to book club tonight - although some would suggest that it is more a dinner and wine club but I beg to differ - I've read my book this month !! This is the Penguin Wine Hod by UK designer Steuart Padwick. The perfect little side table for those prone to leaving full wine glasses on the floor and then inadvertently kicking them across the room. The 2009 model shown first has four little wine glass slots which would be ideal for a small apartment or balcony.

Images: Steuart Padwick

Designing rugs

Posting has been a bit sporadic lately as I am head down on coursework to try to get up to date for the start of term next week. One of our assignments is to design contemporary rugs for Designer Rugs ( purveyors of amazing rugs by amazing designers . . .). This is one of my entries - Ned. Its a bit tongue-in-cheek, the idea being that you think you have a big plain rug with a splash of colour in it but really you have a big Ned Kelly head on your floor. I had just done this when the first issue of Lonny came out - check out this great online magazine if you have not done so already and I saw a NYC apartment designed by Ron Marvin that would suit my Ned rug down to the ground (pardon the pun).

Images: Sheila O'Meara, Lonny

Keeping it real

As an aspiring interior designer I keep an eye out for creative solutions to practical decorating challenges. Out in the real world when people are decorating their homes there are always pillars and beams and columns to contend with. Here the stylists FriedaMaria have made a feature of this quite large column in a very understated way which addresses the column but doesn't overly emphasise it in the room. The wallpaper makes it look like an artwork. An old post from last year here shows another column idea.

Image: styled by FriedaMaria via Emma's design blog

Difference of opinion

A fan of mid-century furniture, my friend's husband has fallen in love with an old sofa and wants to refurbish and reupholster it. Trouble is, his wife doesn't share the same level of passion for the mid-century look. Fear not, say I ( see this post also ) retro armchairs and sofas can look fantastic in all sorts of interior styles given the right fabric choices. See below . . . QED.

Image: via Homebug

Taking it easy

I have my eyes peeled for chairs similar to the small white armchair pictured here. Why? Because they are so handy to have around and are compact and elegant to boot. If you find the right one they can also be very comfortable. Personally, I like to have an arm (or two) to lean on when I am sitting down so big long sofas and modular settings don't really do it for me as - unless you get an end - you are sort of perched in the middle with nowhere to put your arms. Solution - a sofa plus collection of beautiful but not too big armchairs. ( PS nice textures here on the floor and cushions also)

Image: Homes and Gardens UK

Pink

Time for a splash of colour - when I scroll down and look at a lot of neutrals and whites this week. The deep pink here is a favourite of mine - a little goes a long way but it looks especially great on the velvet floor cushions.

I also like the fireplace. A good friend of mine installed a very similar one on the wall in her kitchen with a shiny steel surround and it looked fantastic. It also made the kitchen into a real gathering point as she had a window seat and a round table between the fireplace and the stove.

Image: via Purple Area

Chaise longing

Some day I would like to own a chaise longue like this first picture. It looks so comfortable with its high back and snug arm rests - perfect proportions. I always smile when I see rooms with two chaises side by side as in the bottom picture. There is something very luxurious and intimate about having a sitting room designed for two - it says to me - we are going to suit ourselves here, just the two of us, nice and comfy side by side - to hell with everyone else !!

Images: via Fric and Frac, Homes and Gardens UK

Country Road, take me home

Country Road cushions were made for my living room. I inherited lots of roman blinds made from a narrow striped dark blue and white ticking-ish fabric and I have an armchair in white, a brown leather sofa, a big red bean bag for the kids and another white slip covered sofa going in soon. So to draw it all together I throw a selection of different textured red, white and blue cushions around the place - many of which come from Country Road.

As my kids sit, jump and play on these every day, they don't last for ever but thankfully Country Road change their range all the time. The important thing for me is that the core colours seem to stay and most have removable washable covers !!

Images: Country Road

Kara

Harlequin fabrics and wallpapers have some lovely designs in their Iznik collection. I particularly like 'Kara' - it is on the big square cushions in black with a neutral wave pattern and vice versa on the cream cushion at the back. I think its very effective as a bed cover in the pink colourway in the second photo below but I would prefer it in the more sophisticated black and beige.

Images: Harlequin

Family room inspiration

It's a slippery slope - I did the whole 'cough so no one will notice' and tore this image out of an old copy of Belle magazine in the doctors waiting room yesterday. I don't normally do that but this is exactly what I want to do with picture rails in my family room so I couldn't leave it behind. One page is better that stuffing the whole magazine in my bag I reckon.

I am about to ship out our big Expedit full of books and toys to the spare room which will become the boys play room. I am going to reclaim the living room and use the wall space currently behind all the toys and books to create a look like this. You can now buy picture shelves like these at IKEA starting at $8 for smaller lengths which I will paint to match my walls and work from there. I think this is a very inviting and practical living space which are exactly the two goals I am trying to meet.

Image: Belle

Embrace

I love this table designed by John Green. John Green is a recently qualified designer based in the UK with more than one prize winning design under his belt if you read his bio. Embrace is a new take on that oldie but goodie - the nest of tables. When the two tables are clinched in their 'embrace' the table is designed to hold books or whatever you like underneath and magazines on the sides. When you need two tables the you just slide out the bottom section and flip it over. Ingenious.

Images: John Green

Australian Style

Sadly my post rate has gone way down, I have been busy and never seem to be at home but I am determined to keep blogging as I enjoy it so much and get so much inspiration from other blogs !!

One of the things that is keeping me busy is my course work - I am doing the first year of a diploma in interior design. One of my projects is to research Australian style through the ages so I have been digging around the archives and galleries for shots like this. This is an 1880s living room in South Australia - although the wallpaper would not look out of place today. There are lights on the walls and chimney breast - maybe oil, possibly gas and I am not sure what the ropes on either side of the chimney breast would have been for.

If anyone has any suggestions or inputs on this topic I would love to hear from you. Thanks! Sheila.

Image: State Library of South Australia

Furnishing fireplaces

There is great line from Friends - "You dont have a TV ? What do you point all your furniture at ?" If we have a fireplace we also tend to point everything at the fireplace - which needn't always be the case as in the photo below. This is a 'note to self' post to remember this especially where a fireplace is not used that much. This mantlepiece is beautifully styled and there is a dinky little side table between the two gold backed chairs.

Image: Courtney Giles

Favourite houses: Amsterdam apartment

This beautiful apartment owned by fashion and interior stylist Peter Shaffrey was featured in the latest edition of Image Interiors magazine. There are so many things I like about it I had to include most of the photos here. The space in itself is fabulous - high ceilings and huge windows. My list of things to love about this apartment - dramatic hallway, the living room, sleek kitchen, the gorgeous art deco bedroom furniture. I also don't mind a bit of laboratory / vintage industrial in interiors - hence the close up of the little retort stand beside the bed. There is lots more to see on Peter Shaffreys website. His home page has an Oscar Wilde quote on it that I have always enjoyed:

"I have the simplest tastes. I am always satisfied with the best "

Images: Peter Shaffrey

Day Birger et Mikkelson

This image is from the very stylish Day magazine produced by Day Birger & Mikkelson Danish fashion and homewares designers. In the past I have been quite minimal around my home but increasingly am starting to think about displaying more of my photos and favourite pictures and copying some of these stylists' very effective layering. I would never have thought of placing a photo behind a glass vase for example.

Image: Day

Danish styling

This room is styled by Danish interior stylist Sidsel Zachariassen. I saw it featured on Emma's Design Blogg a while back and kept it because of the very elegant sofa bench. It is hard to tell whether the frame is wood or metal but it is just gorgeous either way.

Image: Sidsel Zachariassen

Colour atlas

These pictures were featured on Apartment Therapy recently - I absolutely love the painting - its scale, colours, concept, all of it. From the write up it was painted about 40 years ago. I am studying for a diploma in interior design at the moment and this term we have done a lot of work like this - albeit on 2 cm x 5 cm chips of paper. But still its got me thinking . . .

Images: Apartment Therapy