Things I've done...

I thought I'd finally share with you what I've been Destitutely Designing in my house lately - just incase you thought I'd forgotten what the whole point of this blog was!

This weekend was very satisfying for me. I got a lot of what I'd been wanting to do done, and it's great to sit back and enjoy it now... before I get stuck into the next lot of jobs on my list, that is.

Let's start with the ugliest sister of all: The fireplace! *cue shiver down spine*

Excuse the crappy 'before' photo, this is all I could find! However I think i've succeeded in showing you how ghastly the fireplace looked before I painted it to make it .. a little less ugly.

This was the absolute bain of my life, I swear. But the white transforms it from dark, drab, moody and totally overbearing; to light, bright and most importantly: INVISIBLE!

Sure, you can see a few imperfections: the cracked grout and the bowing, but i'm just glad I don't walk into the lounge and snarl anymore when I see it.

A few strategically placed ornaments and photos, and voila! Not bad. In fact, totally livable!

Here is my entrance way, before and after the addition of my gorgeous coat hooks, which I picked up during a trip to Italy a few years ago, and my new bird hook from Urban Outfitters. LOVE them!

Also, that's my old mahogany table (Sorry, no before pic available! I can tell you it was brown though.. use your imagination) which I spray-painted sunshine yellow. It's only 90% finished thanks to the windiest month on record (I reckon)!! Still, I really love the lift the colour gives it, and it looks great against my beloved wallpaper.

Now I just need another new pair of shoes to sit under it, to finish the look.. don't you think?

Onto the dining room! Nothing remodelly has happened here lately, but I had a clear out of all the clutter, got a new table, and now I love it. Gone is the couch (ah, what room is this again?), and I've moved the new table into the middle of the room and parked my new chairs around it.

Before:

AFTER:

This orientation is MUCH better. Also, without the clutter and confusion of the couch in there, it clearly defines it's purpose. I used to hate getting trapped in there when friends came round. It was just easy to plop yourself on the couch while I rustled up some food close by in the kitchen, but it's the darkest room in the house in the afternoon, being on the south side of the house - so not very cosy, despite the log burner.

The blinds (made by my Mum out of fabric from Ikea which was $9 a metre - which, when you consider the 10 metres I bought will easily dress a lot of the windows in my house, is ridiculous good buying) will actually move to another room once I get the wallpaper up. But I love them, and they will make another room very happy in the future!

I 'made' these lovely vases myself, out of some fantastic bottles I found at the thrift store the other day for $1.50 each. Just pour in some paint and make sure you turn it a bit so the paint covers every inch of the inside of the bottle, turn upside down and drain the excess. Leave to dry. Easy!

Last but not least, the laundry/bathroom. It's not finished, but check out the difference some new gib and a lick of paint makes!

From this:

To this:

Sorry, the after pics aren't really that mind-blowing, but I'll get it all finished and THEN I will blow your mind!

Oh, and if you're wondering what came of the couch from the dining room?

Lila and I now have a lovely place to hang out and play and read magazines, in our delightful little sunroom. One day it too shall be glorious, but for now I'm just happy I can sit down with Captain Feathersword or Dorothy the Dinosaur or Scarface Claw; or whoever Lila decides she's going to be that day, put my feet up and enjoy!

Olio-what?

I've been completely engrossed in this new online application 'Olioboard', in which you can create mood boards by dragging and dropping your favourite homewares (available for purchase, mostly in the States unfortunately), to make up your perfect room scenario. It's AWESOME. The best fun you can have without spending a dime! It sucked me in for a good few hours yesterday.. but I emerged with a 'guestimate' of how I imagine my finished dining room to look (in 20 years time when I have money again... aaahhh dreams are free!).

It's a bit of a work in progress.. I keep tutuing with it and adding things. Also, I've used the Feathers wallpaper in the background, which is the only Ferm Living wallpaper I could find in their catalogue, so I put that in as the colour palette is very similar. Hopefully they beef up their selection soon!

Here it is anyway:

In real life, I have a few of these things.. or a plan to have them, at least. And I promise you, I don't plan on spending a fortune on getting the rest either!

On saturday I bought this dining suite off Trade Me for an absolute steal:

It's not a classic Jon Jansen or Fler, but it's rather cute. I immediately loved the chairs, but they do need a little TLC. I spent an hour the other day scrubbing about a quarter of a century's worth of nicotine and grime off them. Yeah, doesn't really show up in the photo, huh ;)

They also need a nice rub down with some white vinegar to get the smoke stench off them - but once that's done they'll be sweet! They're covered in vinyl... and though I know how i'd recover the seats (they come off really easily), i'm not quite sure how to do the backs.. I'm not really adept in taking chairs apart, you see! Might have to pay a visit to someone 'in the know' for that one.

As for the table? Well it's formica, so i've been googling how to deal with that, and most people say either replace it altogether or get a piece of glass cut for it and put some paper/fabric underneath to freshen it up. That's probably the easiest and cheapest option, to be honest. But I'll have a think about it. Anyone out there - if you have any tips for me, feel free to let me know! Apparently formica does NOT like paint very much, no matter how well you prep the bugger.. hmph.

I have (well, not in my possession, but in my mind) the wallpaper, as you may recall I had a few options and settled on this one:

This will be a feature wall and the adjoining walls will all be white.

The rugs you can see there are inspiration for me. I bought a large cream natural cotton rug from the Warehouse last week - $100 down from $170 (thanks Republic Revolution!), and I plan to paint it! I'm tossing up between a black and white pattern or a mustardy yellow one. I LOVE the muted yellow and blue tones together, as per an earlier post.

Once I get around to doing it (note to self: must ship daughter off to Grandparents so I can get things done!), i'll let you all know.

Here are some more rugs i'm using as inspiration:

Ikea Gislev Ikea Stockholm Rand

Anthropologie

Room and Board - Fuller Felted Rug

Fingers crossed my painting attempt doesn't go belly up!! You better send me some positive vibes, peeps.

I'm genuinely gutted I'll never have the tripod lamp - which I LOVE. I think more people should ship to little old NZ!!! I'll have to try and find a similar one somewhere.... hmm. And the new Ferm Living wall art calendar is absolutely going on my wish list! You can write on it! It's practical AND a work of art. I am smitten! It also comes with coloured post-its to further customise it. You can get yours locally from paperroom.co.nz, along with lots of other adorable Ferm Living must-haves.

The armchair I found is lovely, don't you think? Wonder if I'll ever find that here?

The wee side table though, I'm pretty sure I saw one just like it at the Salvation Army store up the road the other day! Must pop up and double check tomorrow.

Lighting is the other big feature of the room. Has to be pendant lighting and has to make a statement. I found some amazing ones by Seppo Koho. Aren't they fantastic!

But there are many more TO DIE FOR here.

Unfortunately, this is another who do not currently ship to NZ. Booooo!!! BUT, there are always ways around that, aren't there.. friends :)

Anyway, so I urge you all to go and login to Olioboard and have a go at being a real life Interior Designer yourselves! It's so much fun and it won't cost you a cent. Yet. :D

The Dining Room MEGA POST!

Decorating a room from top to bottom is a daunting task. Let alone, when you are trying to do it on the smell of an oily rag, so to speak. You really have to choose carefully. What will we splurge on, what will we save on and more importantly - what can we get for free? :)

This is the first room in the house to get a makeover, aside from the new bathroom (which i must remember to post before and after shots, once it's finished); so it's a little overwhelming.. and a lot of pressure!

Editing all the ideas in my head, distinguishing my wants from my needs and weeding out the items that would just be overkill in this room is also a mammoth task. For some reason I'm great at telling other people what works, but when it comes to my own house.. well.. that's another story. Perhaps it's a touch of performance anxiety?

First thing's first though. What is this room for?

It's not just a dining room, it's family room - a place to play, to chill out, to snuggle up in front of the fire, and to eat. It's connected to the kitchen, so a lot of my daughters time will be spent in there just hanging out and waiting for tea.

I'd like a couch in there or some comfy lounge chairs. You can see in the photos I posted, there's a sofa in there at the moment. I'd like that to stay, but it depends. Downsizing to a pair of chairs might be a better idea.

Walls:

I am in love with vibrant, unusual wallpaper designs! And there are some really interesting prints available now - though most of them are overseas. Luckily there are a couple of stores importing some of my favourites. Netti and Gee have a fabulous collection, as do PaperRoom, whom I've linked to before. I have a stack of sites in my favourites now - of course all the ones I like are the most expensive! But I can kind of get away with this, as the area I want to wallpaper is quite small. Just 2 walls - one with no window, and one with a huge window.

I know I would like a pattern to feature heavily, but not take over. And I love the idea of blues/aquas.

The darker greeny/blues would compliment my colour palette of warm browns (this will be achieved with furniture), greys, and greeny, mustardy yellows.

Ferm Living's collection of gorgeous wallpapers has me sold. I love this deep turquoise blue - it's so rich and warm, cosy and inviting. Quite the opposite feeling you normally associate with blue tones. I love the prints too. But is this tooooooo dark for my dining room?

Resene Optimist and Festival

Aqua (and duck-egg blue) is one of my favourite colours. In fact, one of my favourite colour combinations is this, teamed with a vibrant red and white.

Great for kids rooms. Actually I painted my daughters chest of drawers in this combo and it looks awesome :)

Resene Foam and Pursuit.

I'm having a real problem deciding between this lighter blue and the darker shade. But I must say, at the moment, the Deer print is winning. It's bold, but at the same time it's shade subtle enough not to overpower a room either. My only reservation with a print like this, is will I still like it in 5 years time?

For longevity, perhaps the Ferm Living Ribbed (to the right) is the way to go?

WHAT DO YOU THINK??? I'd appreciate your opinions!!

Furniture:

I love 1950s Danish furniture - everything about it. Solid, well made, beautiful lines and lasting design. I fritter away hours online looking for a reasonably priced sideboard to call my own. Never happens, people are onto it. I need an old lady to start selling off all her unwanted 'old' furniture and for her not to know what she's sitting on..!

However, a sideboard is not needed for this room. But a great table and chairs are!!

via Makingitlovely.com

These Eames chairs are originals, but there are plenty of replicas available in the shops these days. They're still not cheap, but they aren't toooooo badly priced. There's a great store in Aussie who do fantastic replicas for a great price. Unfortunately, I don't think Matt Blatt ships here. Boo!!!

There is however, Homage in Newmarket who do a lot of the same pieces. Oh, and Republic Home also stock a chair very similar in design to these. I will be going a chair hunting very soon!!

via marieclairemaison.com

This is the kind of table I would like. A danish one would be nice, but I think i'll save and splurge on the chairs instead. They're more statement pieces.

Lighting:

Left: via design*sponge; Right: Bubble Chandelier by Jeanpelle via Mochatini

via Diana Vinoly

It's not a huge room, so I don't need A LOT of lighting, but I'd like to make it a feature.

At the moment there's one lone halogen bulb that throws out next to no light, and to top it off it's a really harsh blue/white.. stark and horrid! I'd like some 'mood' lighting. And i'd like it to hang, please.

Don't you just love Jeanpelle's Bubble Chandelier? BUDGET TIP: You can create your own version with this tutorial via FemTalks blog.

Soooooo I hope I haven't bored you to sleep with this mega post! Until I get to grips with Photoshop though, I will have to keep painstakingly setting out my posts all higgilty-piggilty and drawn out like this.. methinks I better get onto learning, fast..!

I heart these dining rooms

So, in order to distract anyone reading from my slow progress, I decided to showcase a few gorgeous dining rooms I've come across in my net travels.

The dining room is actually my next 'project'. It's a work in progress at the moment. It doesn't really fit into my theme of budget makeovers though, as it's already cost us $900 to re gib the walls and take out part of one that was blocking the kitchen. Open plan really has revolutionised meal time! Anyway, on with the pictures of pretty things:

This selection comes to you via of desiretoinspire.net.

I heart this one because it's a little bit vintage.

I heart this one because of the mis-matched chairs and the splendid lightshade.

I heart vintage sideboards.

I heart the clever as all hell plate arrangement and plan to steal this idea for mai own.

I heart MASSIVE book libraries. I only wish I owned enough actual books to recreate this properly!