“Please contact me if you would like a consultation or further information about any of the products you see here at Decorum.”Brisbane
Designer Office
I’m having a week in Brisbane this week. It’s school holidays so my daughter and I have escaped the cold weather to visit the family. The skies are blue and the sun is bright, just the way I like it. Although the mornings and evenings are a bit chilly, but not too bad for we Sydneyites.
Back home, at our house in Sydney, the concrete slabs have been poured for the office and the laundry. I’ve been redesigning my office as we have moved it’s location and therefore the layout is a little different from our original plan.
Pinterest is providing loads of inspiration. I am going to bring down my Grandparents old Breakfast Room Dining table and place it in my office. I want it in the middle of the room so I can lay out all my colours and tiles and fabrics on it when I’m putting together a scheme for a client. And I’ve found the perfect pendant light to hang above the table.
Wish I could wiggle my nose and be up to the part where the floor coverings and furniture is going in. Oh well, I guess it will come soon enough.
The Queensland Gift Fair starts tomorrow so I’m going to check it out while I’m here. Have a great weekend.
If you would like assistance choosing furniture and fittings for your home, contact us for an online or in-person consultation.
Happy Anzac Day
Lest we forget!
Past Renovations
I’ve come to the realisation that packing things away is very time consuming. The problem is, you stop every so often when you discover a long lost treasure or in my case, photographs.
But it’s fun looking back on past renovations I have done on my own homes. This is my very first home bought back in 1984 in an outer Brisbane suburb.
My very first house
I decided to paint the interior, change the carpet, put in a new kitchen and add a pergola out the back.
Lounge Before - check out that hand me down TV!
New paint and carpet AND some new furniture
Even back then I was keen to put my stamp on a house and make it mine.
Original Kitchen
Stylish new kitchen - it was the '80's.
I had always loved spiral staircases so arranged to have one installed in the home. There was a small room at the back of the house with external stairs to the rumpus room and carport. I decided to have a hole cut in the floor and the staircase could drop in there giving me internal access to the TV room, car and laundry.
New spiral staircase
I loved that spiral staircase but doubt I’d put one in again. Fortunately I did have a normal staircase at the front of the house to easily lug groceries, suitcases and bulky items in and out.
Fresh coat of paint for the exterior
What alteration have you made to a home that you would not repeat?
If you would like assistance with your home renovations, contact us for an online or inperson consultation.
The C Word
I really don’t want to say it. Not yet anyway. But it would appear I can’t avoid it any longer.
Christmas is just around the corner.
via Pottery Barn
But there’s still time to create some beautiful linen for your Christmas table.
Very talented Brisbane lady, Jacqueline has created a range of designs for you to decorate your own Christmas tablecloth, runner or napkins.
Take a look and create something stunning that will be passed down through the generations.
If you would like assistance getting your home ready for Christmas, contact us for an online or in-person consultation.
Buying Quality
Many years ago, I bought my very first lounge suite. It consisted of two two seaters and a matching armchair. It was in my blue phase and the fabric was called Windsurfers Denim. It had little tiny pink and cream triangles all over it that were meant to represent windsurfers. The proportions were good for the lounge room in my very first house in Brisbane and it suited my budget too.
New lounge suite with hand-me-down buffet
I then sold that house and moved to a brand new house on Queensland’s Gold Coast. As the house was still under construction when I bought it, I was able to choose the colour scheme throughout of tiles, carpet and paint. Knowing that I had my lounge suite, I chose a soft grey colour which worked well with the lounge. I had roman blinds in rose pink and off white stripes installed on the windows and the lounge suite looked like it had been bought for that house.
Window coverings to match the lounge suite
A few years later, I moved back to Brisbane and bought a workers cottage in Nundah. Again the lounge suite moved into the new house and the room was decorated around the lounge. This time I chose barely pink walls with a darker pink for the trim.
Barely pink walls
We then moved to the Solomon Islands and the lounge suite went into storage for four years before being shipped to Hong Kong. Again the living room was decorated around the lounge suite and I chose sheer white curtains with a blue valance for the window coverings.
Sofa with precious cargo in Hong Kong
Back to Australia and into a rental property in Sydney, the lounge suite again just fitted perfectly into the space.
Ming didn't mind where in the world he was as long as he had his sofa
Twelve months on, and we purchased our own home and moved the lounge suite one more time. Only this time, it was clashing with the existing curtains in the home. Time had finally come almost twenty years later, to upgrade the lounge suite.
Sofa and curtains collide
We looked around at other styles of sofas but couldn’t find anything we liked. I called in my upholsterer who thought we were mad to throw away a perfectly good suite. So the search for fabric started and eventually I chose an off-white embossed fabric and had the sofas reupholstered. The sofas looked like new and I’m sure will last another twenty (well maybe ten) years.
Reupholstered sofa has a new lease on life
So the moral of the story is to buy good quality in the first place and give it a facelift when it doens’t work anymore. It works out much more cost effective in the long run.
If you would like assistance sourcing lounge furniture for your home, contact us for an online or in-person consultation.
I’m Baaaccckkk
Did you miss me? I hope you had a good week and a bit. I had a wonderful week in Brisbane visiting friends and family.
I called in to Black and Spiro in New Farm when we visited Chouquette for morning tea on Bastille Day. Very appropriate to munch on French pastries on 14 July.
Yummy french pastries from Chouquette
I also managed to visit the Woollongabba Antiques Centre and check out Sandy’s little shop there. The items she has on display are just beautiful.
Paint Me White at Woollongabba Antiques Centre
One of the buildings I noticed in Woollongabba was this colourful monster. Not sure I’m lovin’ it though.
New Building at Woollongabba
There was a sister building at Herston/Bowen Hills near the Royal Brisbane Hospital and it was red. I was driving in traffic and couldn’t stop to take a photo without causing a major traffic hazzard. Anyone know what they are?
I’ve cleared the mail – both snail and email and ready to get back to some sort of routine. Enjoy your Wednesday.
