Wisdom Of Hindsight: Part II

Because I am in Australia, I thought I'd scout out our local eBay and Trading Post in search of the perfect lounge room, budget style.

I'd love to get this tan velvet upholstered Baron 3-4 seater lounge. $1400

Maybe get it reupholstered in a crisp grey linen fabric with black piping.

Ebay offers this gorgeous French provincial-style 2-3 seater, upholstered in taupe linen and a white-washed frame. $1799. 7 days to go. I've always wanted one of these French beauties. One day.


I'm also attracted to this Parker lounge set eBay has to offer for $510 (2 more days). It looks in good nick and comfy. Maybe further down the track, I'd like to see this upholstered in the yellow and white Circle and Spots Florence Broadhurst.


Three very different styles, but each three are gorgeous in their own way...

The Wisdom of Hindsight: Seating

I wish I knew 3 years ago what I know now about me. I'd have been more careful in selecting seating choices in our home. Despite all-day-morning sickness, despite having to carry a bucket all day long, I'd have insisted on quality (and comfort) rather than comfort and speed. I'd gone for a selection of seating rather than a matching suite in a blah colour and blah fabric.

I would love to start again with a fresh slate in my living room and fresh wad of cash. This time, I'd indulge in my senses, bully the landlord into being able to paint the place and selecting different window treatments. I'd choose upholstery in luscious fabrics and colours and be brave with patterns.











I still can I guess... but at a MUCH slower rate... anyone wanting to purchase a 2 and 3 seater in mushroom cord upholstery, freshing steam cleaned last week?

sick so ho hum..

Am sick so will be missing in action for a few days. Battling a viral cold. Mother-in-law goes home tomorrow evening... will miss her terribly as she's been great with Hannah.

Hannah's Room

I had to drag out the tripod to take some product photography for my wedding invites business and thought I'd take photos around the home too.

Since the last post on bub's room, I've hung pictures, reorganised a little (I think). The floor still needs a nice rug and the lil' kitchen is outgrowing her...




(Pardon the bad photography)

Alphabet posters ala Eames

Blue Ant Studio started designing a gorgeous alphabet poster for his son... and is as of today making these posters available for purchase!

Framed US$35. Printed on digital paper in matte finish and then glued to heavy stock black cardboard.

Two happy little Chinese ladies

I just stumbled upon the cheeriest nursery I've seen for a while. A couple decided to adopt two Chinese beautiful baby girls and when the girls outgrew their cots, the Big Girl Room was born!



The happy and creative mum writes: "When planning the girls' new room I really wanted something that was bright and whimsical but still feminine. I love pink and orange together because it just feels "happy" or maybe because it reminds me of Oilily dresses."

While she consciously brought in aspects of the Chinese heritage, she also consciously didn't make it too China-feel. There are Chinese details like the Chinese Peony quilt, set of 4 peasant paintings, red cheongsams, birdcages that look pagoda-ish and the double happiness character on the teapot on the bear story mural. (The mural on the reading nooks with shelves on both sides is from "Bear Wants More" by Karma Wilson and Jane Chapman.)







A beautiful room for beautiful Asian sweethearts.

To get the look:
Chinese Peony quilts (I want one for Hannah!) from Uptown Country Home $270 for twin size
Oriental Pagoda-look white birdcage from Japan Garden £45.10
Peony artwork plentiful from eBay

bear with me....

as i change the blog look again...

Art for living room

I finally got some funky art in the living room behind one of the lounges! I thought of getting one of my favourite fabrics, stretch it over a long canvas frame and painting over it a contrasting motif. For this purpose, I chose the silhouette of a few poppies. Back in January 2007 I'd seen a poppy wall decal that I've never really been able to forget... and that was my inspiration.

Canvas: 153 x 61cm ($31.99 on sale, normally $50)
Fabric: Seaweed Stripe in Yellow/Pink 2.5 yards for $31.48 inclu shipping from BuyFabricsOnline.com
Fabric Paints: $12 for a set of 6 tubes from wholesalers (only used 2 tubes)
Staple gun: mother in law's and her staples :)

Total expenditure: $63.47

Process:

1. Grab canvas when on sale.

2. Drool when favourite fabric arrives at home. I was nursing a migraine but still had the time to drool in a darkened room hehehe

3. Stapled the fabric onto the canvas frame. Husband stapled about 5 cm apart with me holding the fabric taut.

4. Umm and ahhed for a few days while looking around for inspiration.

5. Once I chose my pattern, I played around with it in Photoshop, trying to decide where to position it...

6. Once satisfied, I ... put paint to canvas! Caution: when painting with fabric paint, it can be unforgiving... so it is worthwhile getting an old fabric and just painting bits out your pattern just to learn how to work with the paint and applicator...



I still love love love my fabric choice! Makes me feel happy.

Setting your table

I love the simplicity of this table setting:



Or this:



Or the round table setting like this:



Situation: It's all one plate meals. Allows for the beauty and enjoyment of a centrepiece. The hostess dishes the meals onto your plate prior to bringing them out onto the table. The guest then just digs into the meal set before them.



(Or if you're fancy and hoity-toity, you have footmen bringing the dishes around, rather than to mar the beauty of the centrepiece.)

Now... what do you do if you have a rectangular table, cook alot of Asian style dishes that are best served on a lazy susan and contain loads of tablecloth-staining ingredients?? No space whatsoever for a centrepiece. Or anything that blocks your getting the food!

This dining table below best shows what mine's like in terms of colour and look... minus the to-die-for chairs. I've sort of started to gather some stuff for my perpetual centrepiece... instead of the general mess there.



When you entertain, do you show off your centrepieces or do you empty the table for the food dishes? What happens to your carefully constructed vignette? What about everyday dining? Where the meals are simple and unadorned. Do you push aside your centrepieces to the unused end of the dining table, only to drag it back to the middle once the dinner table is cleared?

2008 Calendar Guide

Updated again. Here.

Gwyneth Paltrow icy cold?

There has been a spat of comments lately on design blogland about Home & Garden's feature of Gwyneth Paltrow's place and how it seemed to be cold and unfeeling and un-children-friendly. I feel as though I need to defend her home and style... Ms Paltrow is not your bouncy, exuberant and extroverted Rachel Ray... she's cool and calm and why shouldn't her home reflect that?

I personally think her home reflects her to a tee. Rather than cold and sterile, I thought it looked unfinished, as it was a new home for them. I think she would look out of place in a room of reds and warm colours. I think she also has a cool fun side to her personality... like that blue lace chair, which I love.

In a recent O at Home, Greys Anatomy's red headed beauty Kate Walsh was featured in her lovely home (Spring 2007 issue). And nobody had anything bad to report... because it was warm and people like warm. What I loved about her home was that it reflected her perfectly.



I'd say... let our homes reflect the owners... in peace. :)
I mean... it's not bad taste, is it?

Home Office shots

While having my tripod out, I took more shots of the home as is... Here is a panoramic shot of my home office (covering 3 walls, the fourth is a window and dustbin and box of odd-n-ends.


(Click on this image to see a bigger, clearer version: Warning: large file)

Still need:
1. headboard of sorts for futon bed. It's never in its seat form, we use it as a bed too much...
2. I have another 4 similar framed pictures to go with my two ones above the bed, buying the frames a few at a time...
3. would like to repaint the chair... maybe a mixture of black and yellow.
4. need way more shelving
5. incomplete yellow white black picture wall above desk

Woodson and Rummerfields

One site I love going to is the Woodson and Rummerfields site. I have always loved seeing how rooms can be transformed in feel etc etc.

I wrote about two looks that W&R created for one of their showrooms a few weeks ago. The third, most recent one, I LOVE.

I am in lust with the sofa, covered in Florence Broadhurst's Circle and Squares in Sunspot.



Makes me rethink my living room scheme! But I've gone a little too far in my current hot pink and grey linen scheme to retract!

Target Australia

I finally had the headspace (husband was with bubs in another corner of the store) and time to peruse the latest offerings by Target, Australia. I must say, I'm impressed. Even two years back, the designs were lacklustre and cheap-looking. Today, dinnerware, bedding, homewares are looking stylish, chic and designer. (Except the children's furniture department, which LOOKS cheap and imaginative.)

Husband and I love dinnerware that is nicely weighted. Ie. needs to weigh like non-plastic-cheap-ass-stuff. We loved the latest range of Target dinnerware. If it weren't for priorities I would have walked away with a hell of alot more stuff.

A couple of years back, the photo frames from Target were nasty. Now they are so swish! Wanted a few of them too.

Cushion designs are looking up. Now they're using designer fabric rather than cheap silk-wannabes and a few beads. Bedding is also going designer.

I picked up two items for the master bedroom in an attempt to add some modern pizazz to the room. (Btw, the pink bedspread is going home to the in laws soon!!!) I like what I got. (Huggies walker nappies weren't on sale.)

Pink Indeed

You know how you meet some great bloggers online and you develop a friendship and you bounce ideas to and fro... and then you MISS THEM!? Get all sorted and come back, Pink!

Gwyneth Paltrow

After browsing the Real Estalker blog a while ago, I was convinced simple and stunningly chic homes by the rich and famous (as opposed to overly gilt and overdone) were a rare thing.

I found one exception: I wrote about Ellen Degeneres' interior decoration style to her homes and how simple and chic the spaces were. Now I've found someone else: Gwyneth Paltrow (via House and Garden, US).

Her home is simple, chic and utterly desirable. Her pallette is pale but strong punches of colour. I LOVE that dining room! The Tord Boontje blossom chandelier with those light pink accents is picked up by that light pink lacquer sideboard to the right of the photo, it just peeks out. What a space! *head spins with ideas now*



Her master bedroom is simple but very luxuriously detailed. The bedhead is covered in Edelman's Cashmere Calf in Super White, paired with Wendell Castle's Muse side tables in white. Everything white is super-white against that blue-grey wallpaper by Wook Kim's Feu.



I love Apple's bedroom too. It's not a "pink bedroom". It's a white bedroom with a raspberry-pink bed! What a great pop for the custom canopy bed! The walls, the carpet... all white. The silver side table breaks up the white and pink gorgeously, as well as being a light reflector. The cute pink step ladder is a youthful detail to a surprisingly adult room for a young'un.



Can a kitchen be too big? Paltrow's kitchen is certainly large... and superbly decorated. Although the cabinets are dark-coloured, the room does not feel small. The use of white marble, white large chandelier, light concrete countertops, off-white backsplash and the high vaulted white ceiling really open up the space!



All in all, this is one very comfortable, relaxing space. Well done, Gwyneth!

Pink for Pink and Pink for a Cure

Pink from Pink Mohair and Casapinka has been having a rough time of it lately and I wanted to not make small of what she's going through by posting some pink images. At the same time, I'd like to remember the women who've not made it to their 90s due to insidious breast cancer... the women going through it now, as well as those who work tirelessly to produce a cure for it.



I picked up a pink copy of the Elle Decoration UK magazine last week (still only had Aug 2007 issues in Borders!!) and have only now got the time and headspace to post my favourite article for a while now here. Betsey Johnson's drama hot pink loft was featured and oh my! If I were single again (cos husband is NOT in favour of this apartment)...

I love this living space. The pink isn't too overwhelming, I think because of the amount if white-grey on the ceiling, beams and poles. The pendant lighting is also cleverly painted in the same shade. The living area in the foreground of the photo is in shades of white and greys while the other sitting area in the background is in shades of black and hot hot pink. Such a vibrant space.



I love the dining area too. The lacquer black table almost becomes a dark pink top from the reflection of the pink wall. Man I love that chandelier. The roundness echoes the round black mirror. The yellow chairs are so surprising and adds so much drama.



The kitchen is of course, in pink. That photo is the least "kitchen photo" I've seen for a while.



This pink bedroom is so glamourous! Betsey Johnson's portrait is striking against that pink wall. I thnk I am starting to like the Arco lamp! Lush pink textures everywhere. Pink ribbed vase, shaggy rug, mid-century Womb chair, ottoman, bedspreads, flowers... all pink but all different shades and textures! Over the top pink but not too out there... I think it's because the design is grounded by the black cabinets, privacy screen and bed.

Piano love

I love my piano. Only electronic version for now, a surprise birthday gift from husband last year. He liked me playing on my upright piano at mum's place in Malaysia. So getting that upright here is not a cheap option...

But I've always wanted to have a honey coloured baby grand piano in a spacious room with large windows. (I like playing looking at nature.)







(images via Flickr)

Display books

Got a favourite book? I do (a few) but I have one I'd like to display. So been looking around for ideas on how to display.

1. Stand on an Ikea lack shelf (but I am renting)

2. Put into a large shadow box (looking for one now... not easy to come by!)

3. Stand in a cookbook holder (don't have desk space, would like to utilise the wall if possible)

Anyone have any other ideas??

Identify this please?

I've loved this fabric fromReproDepot forever but only now have the guts (and mula) to get some and now it's no longer there!

It's the icon image for their Stripes section, but not within the stripes fabric range... help! Anyone know what this fabric is and where I can get some???



Update 3/10/2007: Thank God for bookmarks :) It is Seaweed Stripe (pink/yellow). Available for $8.19 per yard from buyfabricsonline.com.

The Lounge Dilemma

Firstly, a little about me... Drey stands for Au-DREY. We live in a small double storey townhouse, 3 bedroom, 2.5 bathrooms, separate kitchen/dining room and small and narrow living/formal dining area. I think this small complex of 4 townhouses was built in the early 70s so it's not spacious nor modern. We moved into this rental 2.5 years ago and had been freshly painted and carpeted. Bathrooms had been updated and kitchen cabinets had been replaced with budget-but-modern ones. We can't afford to buy in this lovely-favourite area and rental prices have soared in Melbourne, Australia. So might be in this rental for a while yet...

Anyhoos. I loved the sofas on design boner's website and commented that one thing that those gorgeous sofas and mine had in common were high arms. While pregnant when we moved back to Melbourne 2.5 years ago, it was all I could do to stay upright for 5 mins before rushing for some toilet-bowl quality time... so we settled for the first lounge that felt comfy. Never mind the look, I was too sick to focus.



Since gaining my sanity and weight back, I now hate the look of this lounge. The line at the top of the lounge irks me, as do the large bulk of the armrests. I'm planning on recovering them in diff shades of light-to-mid greys once we have the free mula.

But it has all the required elements for husband and myself:
1. Comfy cushy seating
2. Great support for back and head
3. Comfy to sleep on
4. Armrests that can support head without cushions
5. Seats deep enough that we don't feel like half our bums get good seating while the other half hangs in space.

Side tables have always stumped me. The place is too small for more tables on the other side of the 3 seater... between the 2 and 3 seater is a space I'd like to have smart table space for mugs, bits and a lamp. The armrests of the 3 seater measures 70cm (27.5") in height.




design boner's suggestions, while awesome, would feel real small... anymore suggestions, design boner????

Home Project: Create a perpetual centrepiece

You will excuse me if I only start talking about things that might have been around the design blogworld for a month. I only just treated myself to my some of my favourite magazines, a whopping 3-4 times the cost in US.

In Blueprint Sept/Oct 2007, I was very inspired by their article on perpetual centrepieces. I particularly like Blueprint because their design features are very achievable by us poor folk those with not-so-deep pockets.

The first centrepiece featured was by visiting Asian groceries and purchasing some like-patterned china bowls. Here you can get some for a few dollars, very achievable. Sticking craft wax on them (or blue tack) in upside down configurations makes them instantly pieces of art. Nice!



The third centrepiece would suit modern folk... I can think of no less than 4 glass-and-steel fans who would love this idea. Collaging square/rectangular blocks of wood and ivory candles and carefully placing just a few glass/acrylic balls in some spots.



The last centrepiece is my favourite: Gathering similar coloured pieces of china together.



Am attempting to use the above idea for my black dining table. Personalising it, of course. Luckily I already bought some gloss hot pink ready to transform something. Now it's time to gather.

As I thought more about how simple and striking centrepieces would be, these were my other inexpensive ideas:

Bridal shower: arranging similar-coloured beauty products (creams, shampoos, scrubs, perfumes). (Melbourne, Australia based cosmetic range, absolutely BEAUTIFUL stuff, Sohum)



Bridal shower: arranging porcelain teacups and saucers in the middle with tealights in them. Better if the teacups are slightly translucent, like the Shelley range.



Thanksgiving: arranging orange-hued candleholders with tealights in them.

Beach house: buying some coral and spray painting them in striking colours, I'm liking white and hot orange, or white and black now.

Dinner party: surrounding copper-coloured baking/jelly moulds (upside down) with simple tealights.

Apartment: succulent garden with colourful displays of flowers in rectangular glass vase.

Bridal shower: mini mannequins with a vintage op-shop-find brooch on each one, one for each guest!

Dinner party: arranging coloured glasses/vases according to one colour/theme. Shorter pieces rather than taller.

Spring celebrations: filling white glasses/cups with sand and sticking a cherry blossom sprig in the middle (or any blossoming twig from your garden).

Going away dinner: a melee of vintage and inexpensive model cars, Vespas (LOVE) and bicycles on a mirror-turned tray

Dinner party: gathering similar and unusual vases (think milk-glass bottles, hobnail vases and oil lamps)



Bridal shower: filling oil perfume bottles with coloured water (use a plastic syringe or straw)

Baby shower: purchase some vintage and old biscuit tins of diff sizes/shapes from op-shops and paint them a glossy colour - they make useful storage for mum-to-be.