Rug update
{Black and Grey Noodle-pile Artizen Rug from Carpet Court, in its new home}
Inspired by the new floor dressing (and big red sale signs), I had to nab a few new cushions to brighten the space and add a pop of colour. Glad I found these two (pictured above) at Adairs, combining the latest trends of geometry and neon, with an architectural twist, in Home Republic’s Sketchbook collection. Love it. Bye for now.
xo Romona
Rug luck
While work at Woodhead in Perth was very rewarding in most ways, it also paid off with an employee of the month prize, giving me my first official free rug. A delicious turquoise shag rug. This rug is quite famous among family and friends. It has travelled the world. Tufts and strands and small samples of it were found in Paris hotels, Russian bars, our previous apartment’s lobby in Docklands, all around Perth and Melbourne and Sydney and Brisbane. Hitching a ride on shoes and suitcases and anything it can get on. Somehow, with all the fluff that we found around the place and in the vacuum cleaner, it still managed to survive and look quite fresh. Now ten years later, he has since moved on to another good home courtesy of Gumtree and is hopefully still managing to get in some travel.
{First of the freebies: Turquoise Shag rug and Upcycled Coffee Table}
The next rug in the saga I am still desperately in love with. A competition entry (of which I am sure by now you have realised I am quite fond of) lead to me winning this beautiful rug from Designer Rugs’ Saffron Collection. I went to the showroom in St Kilda to pick her out. The smoky greys and stand-out teal of the Bowral (in cement) spoke to me. Loved the Asian and botanical influence in the pattern, without being too in-your-face florally. Although I am sure, if the budget of the prize had allowed, I would have gone for one of their stunning Akira Isogawa collaborations, but the quality and look of this rug is exceptional.
{Designer Rugs Bowral in Cement - close up of my baby}
Now to my recent win (yes I am a lucky b.arch when I see it summarised like this). Carpet Court’s love the look competition let me pick from their Artizen collection. It looks hardy and family friendly, without sacrificing style. With a two year old and a bub just starting solids, cleanability is a big plus. The below image is from their page, but I’ll post one in situ once I get it.
{Image courtesy of Carpet Court}
In revision, it reads like a brag board, all “look at me, how lucky am I”. But the point I was eventually going to make was that everyone can create style and beauty in their home without spending a lot of money. Sure, not everyone wins their furniture or accessories, but with bountiful resources out there like eBay, Gumtree and even curb-side pickups, there is no excuse not to be creative and have fun with your interiors. The gazillion tutorials on Pinterest and Youtube for DIY of Ikea and other similarly cheap starting blocks, means that anyone can now have a designer home.
The coffee table in the first photo with our since-passed turquoise rug was made from a found and refurbished hall table cut down to size, then re-topped with sanded, buffed, polished and varnished jarrah fence pickets. My eldest has a cool industrial hanger for his jackets (yes plural, at least ten that fit - he is a Melbourne boy!) from another curb-side pickup find, relieved of its rust and sprayed fire engine red. Our outdoor table is someone’s old dining table sanded and oiled, with legs painted a bright Santorini blue. Actually, looking at the photo again, I think its time to stain the top of that outdoor table - or stop ignoring the tired old decking and give them a good oil too.
{Upcycled Coat Rack - Refurbished Road Side treasure}
{Upcycled Outdoor table - Refurbished Road Side treasure}
With a bunch of cool finds, a little inspiration and a bit more perspiration you can create almost anything. Also, when you’ve paid nothing (or next to nothing) for it, you’ll be less precious about mixing it up and changing things around every so often.
And if all else fails, enter a few competitions and see how you go. You can’t complain if you don’t give it a go.
xo Romona
I'll be back
It’s been a little bit, and will still be a bit more, before another post, sorry. I’m transitioning between my current non-supportive program (won’t go into details — its reeeeeaally frustrating!) and a new program (not decided on as yet).
Just a small shout out this week: a big thanks to Carpet Court and their Love the Look competition. It is actually worth entering these things because, yes, you can win - I did! A gorgeous new rug soon to be delivered. Jealous? I am still holding onto the hope that I might win the grand prize of a $10,000 room makeover with fab Interiors Darren Palmer or Stacey Kouros. One can dream.
Just wanted to make sure that you, yes you, the three people reading this, still know that I appreciate you popping by and will endeavour to bring you much improved delights very soon. Until then, enjoy my Tweets, pins and FB posts.
Hope to speak to you from here very very VERY soon.
xo Romona.
Unearthing Treasures
Inspired by Carpet Court’s new Love the Look competition (How hard is it to choose between team Darren and team Stacey!), I went rummaging through my boxes of trinkets and collected items from my travels and explorations. You know the ones - the pieces you’ll put up in your one-day house (the one with room to spare - a library, a sitting room, a chic powder room off the entry foyer, maybe even a gift-wrapping room à la Martha Stewart). The piece that caught my eye was right there on my bedroom wall. The exquisite hand-painted Indian wedding ceremony on a government stamped paper that I found in a market in Jaipur, India.
{Indian Government Stamp and painted Wedding Ceremony Artwork, from a market in Jaipur, India}
Another work from the same market is the black and white elephant heads (below right). Until I photographed them for this competition, I had forgotten how much I liked looking at all the scribbly detail in them.
{Indian Government Stamp and painted Elephant head Artwork, from a market in Jaipur, India}
They are totally out of place in my current bedroom. As it stands, it’s a mismatched explosion of objects - and not in a good way (thus the desire to refurb it, stat!) I love mixing vintage with contemporary, but the pieces have to be right and I feel it has to be done with a cautious hand and keen eye.
I had been meaning to reinvent my bedroom into a palace worthy of old Hollywood. Glamourous crystal and blinding chrome. Tufted velvet and mirrored lucite-legged vanities. All look but don’t touch. Now though, I am having to remind myself that yes, although I love the look of these in magazines, could I live there? Especially with two young boys (one who likes to crawl into bed with us after pushing most things off the dresser with his cars, and another that I’m sure will do the same as soon as he is able to get out of the cot).
I’ve decided to go back to basics. Firstly, I have to decide what, if anything, I want to keep from my current room or if there is anything that I already own that I want to introduce into the new room (such as an art work or armchair). I think I will be keeping more than I’d like to (budgetary reasons), but upcycling is under-rated, so I’ll see how I can change the items that I can’t afford to replace, to fit the new style. If you follow me on Pinterest, you may have noticed that my DIY folder is getting more of a work out lately than usual. With two kids, and without the disposable income that we had before them, I can hardly do the complete Jonathan Adler meets Kelly Wearstler that I’d like to.
Secondly, research images that attract and excite me, and define what it is about that image that gets me going. Is it the whole package, a particular furniture item, the colours - warm or cool, the scale, the layout, the fact that its tidy, what? Then see how it can be applied or worked into the canvas that is my room. Again, Pinterest and Houzz are wonderful resources for finding inspiration and products. Of course, its always fun flicking through drool-worthy magazines like Belle, Real Living, Sanctuary and Home Beautiful when you can find the time. I embrace my iDevices, but I am not quite ready to part with my monthly deliveries of hard copies just yet, thank you.
Luckily time is on my side. With a bathroom renovation due in October, it may be a few more months before I have the spare coin to put towards the fabrics or wall paper that will make it really worth doing. There’s nothing wrong with taking time to make sure that you really do love that particular pattern you chose, and not just because its on-trend or was used in that house by that guy in that magazine, you know the one! For now, I am just trying to remind myself to keep the basics somewhat neutral, so I can really go nuts on the replaceable items like headboard fabric or bedding or window dressing.
OK, so I think I have successfully gone completely off topic. Maybe one day I’ll be able to do it with the charm and imperceptible manner of Ross Noble or Billy Connolly. Until then, I will just say that I will revisit the idea of finding hidden treasures in your home when inspiration strikes. I’m hoping to also bring you a little introduction to our planned bathroom reno coming up - I look forward to some peer feedback if you feel like it. Ciao for now.
xo Romona
P.S. (again) Sorry that comments aren’t allowed at the moment. I really want to hear any feedback you have but iWeb is disagreeing with me and I need to find a new program. Excuses, excuses!
Please feel free to email/tweet/FB post me - would love to hear from you!
UPDATE: Hopefully comments should work now….