apartment therapy changing the world, one room at a time

Enter Slideshow

AT Survey:

My style: The house is only about 8 years old, but has been designed as a traditional Queenslander style. Big verandahs around most of the house help keep it cool in our hot climate. The house has two storey’s and is spacious, allowing the breeze to flow through.

Inspiration: A bit of this and a bit of that. I like a little vintage, a little retro, a little French provincial, Asian antiques. A home has to have character and warmth to inspire. I just look in magazines and it is often the rooms full of nic nacs that inspire me. Found objects that have had a history. I love organic materials, lots of white walls with hints of colour, usually earthy tones.

Favorite Element: The verandahs and timber floor boards.

Biggest Challenge:Trying to decide on furniture that I like and making it all work with another without it looking like it was from the same shop or the same designer. Mixing pieces of old and new.

What Friends Say: Most of my friends like the way it is designed in relation to living with kids. They love the view of a nearby mountain.

Biggest Embarrassment: The stained carpet….. we have 2 kids and a dog what can I say?
Not so much embarrassing, but I hate my kitchen and bathrooms. There isn’t actually anything wrong with them, it is just too 80s for me.. Granite bench tops, shells on the tiles in the bathroom, that kind of thing. I would liked to simplify them and choose better fittings. Simple things. It’s a matter of convincing my husband….tough gig!

Proudest DIY: I’ve owned a house before where we renovated a lot. I didn’t want a house that needed too much work, esp with young kids at my feet. We had the house painted from insipid yellow walls to all white. Antique USA and it really lifted the place and made it light and airy. We also changed the family room walls to windows and windows to walls so we could use the space better. Our old linen cupboard has opened up and is now where the TV sits. Downstairs is the next big thing on our list.

Biggest Indulgence: my home Artwork. My husband’s birthday is right near Christmas and he is impossible to buy for (I think like most men) So every 2nd year of so I buy artwork for the house. I get the benefit of enjoying it too.

Best advice: Don’t rush out and buy everything for our house in a short amount of time. Enjoy it now for what it is and mould it to your tastes over time. I’ve had the advantage of living with my husband for many, many years, so I’ve taken on the roll of ‘Minister for Interiors’ I’d rather wait and save for something I really like and will love for a long time, rather than having something that is just useful and does the job.

Dream source: Right now, I’d love some Orla Kiely wallpaper somewhere in my house. A couple of local places I like are ‘inside outside’ for homewares and furniture and the Paddington Antique Centre for small unusual objects. I’m not someone into branding so I don’t follow a specific source for long.

Enter Slideshow

Resources:

Furniture

• Formal lounge, Mahogany/rattan chair, dining suite…Inside Outside


• Drawers in study..Ikea


• Family table..Handmade by my husband


• Recycled coffee table/trunk from a Qld pub.


• Family room chairs..Antiques

• Bison ceramics and candle sticks


• Mel Robson vase


• Turi ceramics


• Eumundi Cermic artist-white plate on dining table


• Green Vase – antique


• CornerLight from Olive


• Red and grey japanese cushion: Zigu Zagu –Melbourne


• Small pleated cushions: Yorktown Road


• Branch: my street


• Tree display plater (corner table) Eumundi Markets


• Glass Dachshund dogs(lounge) Antiques


• Fabric Doll – Danita


• Clock- heirloom


• Japanese bowl with lid – Made in Japan…Brisbane.


• Rocking chair for child –Paddington Antique Centre


• abcme artwork for Stella - tsk tsk


• Cushion on chair: cute shop in Belgium.


• Venician Mask (lounge room) Italy.

• Antique USA white

• Floor boards..native Australian hardwood

• Main bedroom: bed head: Ikea


• Ari’s bed: Captain Snooze


• Milena’s bed: Ikea

• Becky Blair


• Michael Leunig (lounge)


• Matryoshka painting(tsktsk)


• Ron McBurnie (entry)


• Marjan Smit (lounge)


• Patrick Petein (main bedroom)


• Brown collage over bed (tsk tsk)


• Alice Stevenson (small bird card print)


• Pink shoes: limited edition antique prints


• Anitque Italian map(dining) Milton, Brisbane


• Tine Wiggens – family corner table


• Trees on wooden block..by tsktsk


• Red square paintings…ex TAFE student.