have you been to Coda?

apparently the "hottest seat" in Melbourne right now - not just for it's amazing food but also for the interior fitout. It has an industrial feel, with distressed paintwork, high gloss dark floors and amazing lighting hanging from looped cords. It sort of looks artfully cheap,but I bet it is in actual fact probably screamingly expensive! Projects of Imagination are responsible for the great new makeover.

fabulous boutique accomodation

Welcome to the Baker House - this home was built in the 1960's by famous Australian Architect Robyn Boyd. It can be found in the Melbourne suburb of Bacchus Marsh. Estimates of at least $500,00 have been spent on decorating this home with 20th Century Original and Reproduction furniture and Australian Art by the latest owner. Whilst it has been hidden away from the public eye for more than 40 years, you can now admire (gee, I would love to!) every detail and even have a sleepover, if you are happy to pay ( from $2100 a night!). The house has five bedrooms, four bathrooms and generous living spaces, but best of all, in my eyes, it has been so tastefully decorated that it is a must see, but for now, I will just look at these pictures with complete amazement.........

kitchen plan

here's a sneak peek at a kitchen plan I am pulling together, more about this later... its back to work tomorrow, I'm loving being there and I'm learning lots, actually more and more each week - funny that! I love working with all the different hard surfaces, playing with them and mixing up different combinations. Initially when I started this journey I thought I would have liked to have gone down the Home Staging (preparing homes for sale)route, but lately I am preferring the selection of hard surfaces, still very early days, it will be interesting to see where all this goes.....ohh, I do know that I would love to do some styling work for some home mags too, oohh, one can dream, can't one?

a page from my look book 19.07.10

i love this dinning room on the left. i love the table and chairs - a little Scandinavian looking I think. I love the lighting, the artwork on the wall and the abundance of natural light, this house fits me just like a glove.....

what's your decorating style???

take this quiz, interestingly enough I took this quiz some time ago and printed the results - I found it a little insightful. I have been meaning to post about it for some time, but time has just run away with me (you know how it is!), so I took the quiz again this morning and to my suprise I remained the same, so here's a little bit about my decorating style.....
Hint: Since the quiz is American - put in 90210 as the zip code!

Kylie, you are a Global Modern
You keep up with culture, style, and trends but have a classical appreciation for beautiful forms, good design, and quality craftsmanship. You prefer the streamlined and a bit of breathing room to the overly embellished or cluttered. But your style is far from cold, because your aesthetic interests are wide-ranging and far-flung. You appreciate other cultures and like mixing the old or the unusual with the new and modern. Objects in your home tend to reflect your personality, your passions, your travels, and your eclectic interests–uniting to form a well-edited collection.

You value creativity. You are stylish and fun loving, and can be an inspiration to others. You have a natural sense of drama, and you know you have to be willing to take risks—whether with colors, finishes, furniture choices, or ideas—for your home to stand out. Your home can be happy and lively and the place all of your friends want to be.

todays inspiration

feeding my current passion for chandeliers - check this one out, i could see this working in a modern white interior used as a pop of colour, would be lovely in an entrance too, available on-line here

some of my most loved homey things....

I was inspired to try this after reading about it here and here. If I had to set up home all over again, what 12 things would I take (yes only 12!)???, how do you choose? already I feel like i would change the list....
Here is my list in no particular order:
1. my new dog vase
2. white porcelain birds sourced from an op shop and dearly loved by me
3. my grandmothers cooking book, with all her hand written recipes.
4. a Versace butterfly plate given to us as a wedding present from my mum and dad.
5. babushka dolls - just because i love them so.
6. my grandmothers Rosary Beads
7. a photo of my wedding dress
8. engraved cake knife, a gift from my mother in law
9. rubber stamp with my name on it
10.a wooden draw with lots of sections, given to me by a special friend.
11.small blue and white box full of all my precious jewellery
12.my design books
13.this tea light was given to our guests at our wedding
14.a vintage tin filled with all my treasured buttons collected over the years
15.a covered tin, not sure where i got this but it reminds me of my mum.

loved doing this (also gave me the opportunity to practice some of my styling techniques), and like I said, if I was to do the list again it would change tomorrow, it was a really interesting things to try - why don't you try it too?
ps - my list is 15! sorry.

look who's got a new dog!

certainly not every bodies cup of tea, but definitely mine. I bought this little cutie at the Zuster Sale, what do you think? I plan to use it to pep up a tired old spot at home.

school update

last night it was back to school - this semester's subject is Photo Shop - I think I am going to love what you can do to images with this program, most importantly its going to help me produce great sample boards for clients - something that I love to do. Last night was also results time - I got my results back for my bathroom project and my marks for my very first subject - Material and Finishes , I got a.........



I am one very happy little chappy!!!!!

today's inspiration

today my inspiration comes from here, these magnificent bags are so beautiful and have such a wonderful story behind them. They are handmade ethnic bags assembled with materials from Thailand's Northern Region. Most of the bags are made from the authentic vintage Hmong baby carriers. You can see that each bag has its own unique pattern, one-of-a-kind bags, which you could never find somewhere else.

school update

well, it feels like forever since I was last at school - these holidays have gone so fast, but I also feel like I have had a really good break - looking forward to getting back into it tonight - will let you know what goes on in this new subject tomorrow! for now take another peak at my look book...I love those lanterns hanging in the streets of the Milan for their recent Furniture Festival, bottom left hand corner.

interview, but not mine!

Belle Magazine recently interviewed Grace Bonney from The Design Sponge Blog - you can read it here - It's really worth reading, I found her interview to be really candid, I especially found her thoughts on Australian and New Zealand designers to be quite exciting.

look book

you might remember, that I mentioned here, that I would try to post a page a day from my look book - well, lets just say that I may have over committed myself, I do intend to keep posting pages, just not everyday!

oohlala!

I think I have just died and gone to chair heaven, don't you just love this beautiful chair and foot stool from Ruby Star Traders - hello lover!

I spy copper, not gold!

have you noticed a slight move towards copper lately, I love these Tom Dixon Copper shades - is it a fad or is copper here to give steel some much needed competition?

pic from here

well hello....

well hello there, I have been missing for a few days, sorry...... I've been hanging with my kiddies whilst on school holidays. Still lots going on, just need five minutes to myself to pull it all together, in the mean time take a look at my mood board above my work space. Hope you are enjoying the school holidays too!