Virtual Renovating

Image via emmas blog (just because I liked it!)

I can't believe I never knew about these things until now: Renovating and decorating via free online websites that let you design houses and decorate rooms from the comfort of your ergonomic desk chair - or, in my case, my rather un-ergonomic dining chair.

And I can't believe I found out about one of them - Floor Planner - via my daughter. Yes, indeedy peoples, my 12-year-old is designing her very own virtual beach house for her Design and Technology class. Even my 10-year-old is doing it now and only last night showed me the top floor of her 'house' with its room full of arcade games - her idea of heaven clearly!

Then I read in the Sydney Morning Herald the other day about a whole raft of other such sites that I never knew about and quite frankly, could have used over the past year.

My Deco: where you can design a 3D room, add furniture, make moodboards and get ideas from other people's room designs.

Google Sketchup: which is a more architecturally inclined modelling program.

3Dream: uses video-game technology to allow you to draw up floor plans, add the joinery and then choose from real-life furniture, fabric swatches, lights and art.

They could be real time-wasters but I reckon if you're having a hard time envisaging a room or the plan of a house, they could be just what you need.

Has anyone used one of these before? I'd love to hear how it went!

Mood Board for the Living

Thought I'd show you a bit of a mood board that's starting to come together for our living space. I'm pretty much sticking with neutrals for the big stuff - apart from the turquoise rug of course, as posted here!

So, basically, what we've got as shown above is, from bottom left, up and around ...

Spotted Gum timber floors (wide planks with hidden nails)
Caesarstone benchtop in Snow
Osborne & Little wallpaper (Adara collection, design Zaria) for the washroom off the living/dining
Unique fabric - Barker in Flax - for the dining chairs
Resene paint - Triple Masala - for the wall that surrounds the dining space and goes into the TV room
Porters Paints - Donkey Grey - for the other two walls
Westbury fabric - Lugano in Rye - for the sofa

I now need to bring in some more turquoise with a few cushions and have yet to decide on the pendant light over the dining table. But it feels like it's finally coming together.

Interior designers, sofas, rugs and windows

Mystic Collection rug from De Poortere

Hello, everyone! I'm back! Had a rather longer hiatus than I'd intended mainly because of over-commitments and increasingly frustrating delays with the house which was making me feel less than inspired.

Update: still not all the windows have been put in! Can you believe it? How a company can be in such disarray for windows sizes to be continually wrong and for them to be unable to meet any deadlines that are put to them is unfathomable. But only in the building trade, I guess. As I have already mentioned, all we need now is Kevin McCloud (Grand Designs) to do a close-up to camera.

Nonetheless, I have been plodding on with interior stuff which is a little tricky when you have less than a 'done' house to work with. For instance, how to chose curtains/blinds when you have no windows? My solution: enlist the help of an interior designer. My friend Rachel of Olsen ID has been a godsend. She has taken away the gumpf cluttering my mind and turned it into something amazing. Well, that's what it looks like in mini samples on the floor - a mood board of sorts (sorry, no photos). She has managed to cut the wood from the trees, the daisies from the meadow, the birds from the bees ... what? Nevermind, you get my drift.

Having decided to upgrade our sofa, the mere fact of finding a new one became a bigger and ever more confusing job than we had ever expected. It seemed the pressure to find the 'right' one in the 'right' fabric that was going to suit our still incomplete living space that would last indefinitely proved all too much. And then hubby and I had to agree! Oh, hail, the interior designer. Thankfully, Rachel knew what I liked (the colour teal, primarily), where I was coming from (traditional contemporary, or something like that) and was able to pluck out suitable fabrics, wallpapers, paint colours and even a new twist to the underside of the kitchen island bench that all coordinated perfectly.

We managed to decide on the main fabric for the sofa (Westbury textiles, Lugano, colour Rye, if anyone is interested which sort of feels like velvet but sort of looks like linen - trust me, it works) but have yet to decide on the cushion fabric. Yet what I do have my heart set on is an amazing turquoise rug (something I never thought I'd have and neither did hubby who did require some convincing!) that is made from old bits of Turkish rugs and dyed the one colour. It looks like an antique sea (it's the one above and you can check it out and others in other colours here).

Tomorrow, I will be going back on site to see if maybe, just maybe, all the windows are in. And hopefully, I'll have some good news and some more pictures.

Until later ...
Jx

Mood Boards: Girls' Bedrooms

What better way to spend a ghastly rainy Sunday (ie yesterday) than by making mood boards! My two girls and I had a ball going through magazines and putting together ideas for the rooms in the house and I let them run free with their bedrooms.

As you can see my eldest has gone for a base of black and white and wants to liven it up with turquoise and purple. And where are those wallpapers I blogged about in my last post, you may be wondering? Well, she's got them on another piece of card but thought maybe a more subtle design would be better (I told you there'd be a lot of fickleness going on!). But hey, I think it looks quite sophisticated and pretty, don't you?

My youngest teamed the Dog in the Park wallpaper with lime green, blue and a dash of yellow. Bright and breezy that can be toned down with white bed linen and furniture.

I then went and looked at the other rooms in the house and it was such a great process as it really helped me 'see' each room and because I stuck each image down with Blu-tack I could take items away and add others to change the look and feel. It sure beat having a [large] stack of cuttings that, apart from giving me ideas and inspiration, were also making me feel confused and overwhelmed. This way - and with only an A4-sized card - I had to be ruthless and only keep things that really worked. I also found images (both online and in magazines) of furniture and other items similar to those we already owned, such as our sleigh bed, driftwood lamp, chocolate leather armchairs, so I could see how they would fit in with the choices of colour scheme, wallpaper, curtaining etc and, in some cases, which room they would go in. You could also do this with artwork, family photos, plants to help get the feel for what the 'real' room could look like. And rearranging is as easy as lifting a finger! I highly recommend it.

Shannon Fricke's Workshop

Well, what a whirlwind, action-packed weekend! Shannon Fricke's 'How to Decorate' workshop was crammed full of insight into interior decorating and now my brain is crammed full of ideas and overloaded with information!

Basically it was all about discovering 'your story' - what you like, what makes you tick, what inspires you - so you could then translate that into an interior design 'story'.

This is where moodboards came in and we indulged ourselves in the boxes and baskets of buttons, shells, fabrics, wallpapers, stones, feathers etc that Shannon supplied and, using the things we had brought along that inspire us, as well as magazine clippings, we set about creating our own moodboards with a particular room or space in mind.

Sounds easy? Well, I can tell you, I got flummoxed. Tried to cram too many things onto it. Couldn't work out what I liked the most and what to cull. Couldn't work out my base story (ie the main theme - be it a certain colour or a certain style) or what could be perfect highlights and accessories (ie how to layer). I decided to stick to our main living area and my moodboard ended up looking like this (below) which didn't look nearly as good as some of the others (many of whom had clearly mucked around with moodboards before and created works of art).

Shannon's take on it was the pale greys and whites could be my main theme - say with the grey on the bottom right as a wall colour - and the bolder greens and turquoises as accent colours. She said I tended towards angular, geometric shapes ie the mid-century chair in the middle and the chair and painting in the bottom-middle image - which is pretty true. She told us how it was all about learning to read what exactly it is you like about an object or a picture. It may not be the overall image; it could just be the soft curves of a stone rather than its colour, or the mix of patterns in a room rather than the individual pieces of furniture.

In the end, I decided it was far better to look up and away from the clutter. And this is what was above: colourful bunting created from strips of fabric cuttings tied onto hessian-type fabric that was strung across the ceiling beams and stunning, simple light fittings that are over-sized light globes - not designer as they looked, but bought from any old lighting shop, so says Shannon.

We also learnt a bit about colour and textiles and to remember that you're creating something for you and your family to live in and no one else. That it has to reflect you and your family and not be a replica of someone else's house. It was a great bunch of girls (yes, 14 of us) who all liked blues, greens and whites and the chance to escape domestic life!

I'm afraid I didn't take too many other photos, though, as I was too engrossed and these were only taken on my phone. But you can check out Shannon's blog and website for more and for a better look at her little, cute work cottage in Bangalow. She has already posted some pictures of the workshop as well - but thankfully none of me!

That's all for now!
Jx

Shannon Fricke Workshop

I'm very excited as I've just booked to do a day's interior design workshop with well-known interior designer Shannon Fricke. A friend and I are going to have a long weekend away - it's not until August - up at Bangalow which is near Byron Bay. Check out her gorgeous website here and her blog.

We're going to learn all about making our own mood boards - rather like this one above which I'm quite loving - and channelling our inner interior designer. Or something like that. I feel in need of a bit of design help for our new house and what a good excuse for a weekend away. Oh, to get a break from the kids, my work, the washing and dog poo! You know, pretty much daily life.

Image from Emma's blog by Swedish photographer Johan Sellén

I want to get inspired by rooms like this living room that are filled with eclectic pieces,

Image from Emma's blog

kitchens that look too good to use,

A Modern Swiss Chalet by Tec Architecture, image: Contemporist

learn how to mix varying shades of white to create a serene oasis,

Image from Belle Maison

and how to theme colours and make beautiful arrangements. Well, we probably won't get to do all of that in one day but hopefully I will come away with more knowledge than I had before. You - and I - will have to wait until August to find out how all about it.

In the meantime, anyone know where you can get a retro pink phone like the one above ...?

Swedish Inspiration

Hello everyone! One of my favourite blogs, Desire to Inspire, featured this beautiful room not so long ago and I decided I wanted a piece of it (which basically means saving the image as part of my online mood board and looking at it every now and again because of all its dreaminess).

Every time I look at it, I find something else to love - the chair which looks vintage, stylish and comfy; the simple pendant bulb; the framed art arrangement; the monkey sculpture (easy to miss in the background); the charcoal rug and the all-white floors and walls. While that corner of the room was probably styled to within an inch of its life, it still looks like a place that is someone's home. Which it is - because Desire to Inspire found it on a Swedish real estate's website - Alvhem Makleri!

But then, we all know the Swedes have design in the genes.

My only question is, anyone know what the blue box is on the coffee table? A box of matches, a packet of cigarettes or a pack of cards ...? Was it left there by mistake or is it something all Swedes desire to have on their side table?

While you're pondering that question, I've just had a quick look at Alvhem Makleri's website and can now see why you would want to browse it when you don't live in Sweden (just remember to click on the translate button in Google to get the quaint, if not sometimes wonky English translation).

Then I discovered that the room above belongs to 'A wonderfully charming turn of the century apartment of 2 rooms + kitchen with newly renovated kitchen and bathroom. A dream home, located on the attractive Chalmersgatan with elegant turn of the century details such as white-painted originalbrädgolv [whatever they are!], fine moldings and 3.2 m high ceiling with stucco. Stable & well-run club with very low fees'.

Nice. But it's sold.

Now I want to keep browsing! Yet I have work to do. Until next time ...

Rumpus-Living Mood Board

I am SO excited because I have finally found out where to get this vintage union jack flag-inspired cushion, a picture of which I cut out from a magazine (can't remember which one)

and stuck on a picture of the sort of sofa I'd imagine it sitting on in my

mood board folder of ideas and didn't note its source. Doh!

Rule #1 - if you like something, keep a picture of it and note where it comes from.

So then, when I read a recent post by Sarah from Palatial Living, I was overjoyed to discover the cushion I love is made right here on Sydney's Northern Beaches by two new-to-the-scene homeware designers Jacqui Lewis and Kelly Searl.

Their 'industrial vintage' wares come under the brand Pony Rider and are fab! Plus, they are featured in the March/April 2010 edition of Vogue Living - which reminds me, I must go out and buy it (even though I have been trying show restraint in the magazine buying area .

You see, my idea for our rumpus-cum-living room (which will also house hubby's longed-for pool table) was to have a charcoal and red theme with a fun play on our English and New Zealand heritage and Australian connection. So, have a grey sofa a bit like this one ...

With cushions in fabric with a dash of red, from Pony Rider,

NZ-inspired ones with Pohutukawa flowers and Tui birds from Ingrid Anderson Textile Design (click on link) and some in fabric like this from Cloth with the Aussie Currawong ...

What do you think?

Get in the Mood: Mood Boards

With our DA approved and the architects working furiously on the detailed designs of each room, it is now up to us to decide on the fixtures and fittings for each room so we can get a more accurate building quote.

It is a daunting prospect – no less because it is more than a year away from when we will be able to move in and use them all! Tomorrow we are meeting the architect to discuss everything in more detail but here is a list of the main things we need to look at: toilets, taps/mixers, basins, shower roses, baths, laundry tub, towel rails, toilet roll holders, wet area tiles and bench tops, kitchen appliances, lights, door handles, carpet, timber flooring. I am exhausted already!

Needless to say, I have a raft of magazine clippings and images from the net to give me ideas but I also made some mood boards when we first embarked on this project. I highly recommend creating them to not only help your architect and interior designer discover what you like, but to highlight exactly what your style is - from the overall feel of a room and the whole house, to the colour scheme and individual features and furniture.

Here are some of the mood boards I created early last year …

Outdoor spaces
Living

Bathrooms

Doing this process I discovered I like a neutral backdrop - white walls and dark timber floors - to offset colourful pieces, interesting furniture and art.

The next step is trawling the streets to see some of this stuff in person. Watch this space!