Everything Old is New Again

Just uploaded a few new photos to my online folio on Houzz - In particular this beautiful Edwardian/Californian Bungalow for which I re-worked the external colours earlier this year. I was keen to give the clients a colour scheme that was contemporary yet referenced what would be appropriate to the Heritage of the house.

What a gorgeous old house - and it looks even grander now with the new colours (if I do say so myself)!

Front Door Blues

This is a fabulous external colour scheme I worked on last year where the client was brave enough to go with the bold blue colour I suggested for the front door. You can see more pics from this project on my Houzz folio. 

Canberra Colour Cookoff

Recently Ive been working on a kitchen renovation in Canberra. The house is a fabulous 1960's Bill Batt designed home, largely in original condition. I wasn't familiar with Bill Batt prior to taking this job and there is little about him online, but he was the University Architect at ANU sometime around 1959 (please do shoot me an email if you have any additional info about Bill Batt as myself and the clients would be keen to learn more about him). The clients were keen to rework the kitchen to retain several of the key characteristics of the original interior design such as the beautiful timber lined ceilings and timber paneling in the entry, which I was more than enthusiastic about. As we were working remotely (i.e. me in Melbourne, the clients in Canberra) I used photoshop to render up my ideas for design and finishes. This is a great tool to communicate your 'vision' for a space and makes it easy to tweek the layout and materials as the design process unfolds. We did lots of options on this job and even though we were just working with freehand sketches, the clients found it really easy to picture the suggested colours and materials in their space. 

Stay tuned for completed pics in the next month or two...

Fine & Dande

Up-cycled pallet furniture at Dandenong Market

I was recently downloading some photos and came across these shots I took on a visit to Dandenong Market one Sunday in March. We took a trek down there for a Melbourne Food and Wine Festival event and really enjoyed the variety of stalls and the food available on the day. What also caught my eye were these up-cycled pallete feature walls, planters, stools and tables and the fun colours they were painted with. They really gave the market a groovy inner-city vibe that was fresh and edgy - and they were very well utilized on the day. Great idea for a pop-up cafe or shop - Design food for thought...

Pallet feature wall, Drinks crate planter box, Pallet stools & tables & Great colour combos!

The Green Room

 Magazine Article from Australian Home Beautiful Essential Bathroom Guide 2010

Haymes 2013 Colour Forecast

Last week I was lucky enough to be invited to the Haymes 2013 Colour Forecast Launch. Its always an interesting and inspiring evening and I have been to the last four or so. This year the guest speaker was Debbie Ryan from McBride Charles Ryan who is a great presenter. She is effervescent about her love of colour in architecture, interior design and life in general.

Haymes forecasted four themes for 2013:
U Emerge - Autumnal & Metallic Shades
The Way U Were - Chalky Pastels
U R Artiste - Brights
U in the Universe - Blues

They also released 12 new colours - the 'Next Generation' palette:

Haymes Next Generation Colours 2013

It was interesting to see blues feature heavily in the 'Universe' forecast. Blues have typically been banished to the realms of healthcare and educational interiors for the past decade or two. My favourite colours from the evening were Autumn Leaf, Diversity, Spruce Grove, Copen Blue, Amazon, Copper, Enigma, Patina & Intuition.

One of the things I love about Haymes is that they truly are an Australian company and a family company. I look forward to specifying some of the new colours on up and coming projects!

Coloured Taps!

Vola from DeDeCe

 Coloured tap ware is HUGE at the moment. Everyone from Ikea to Vola are making a range in black, white and a multitude of colours in between. A powder room or kids bathroom is a great opportunity to add a splash of colour with the tap ware - particularly if you are keeping the cabinetry & tiling very 'neutral'.

Vola from DeDeCe

My favourite taps! - Astra Walker 'Icon'

Astra Walker 'Icon' in Matt Black (sooo good!)

Zuchetti 'Isy' Wall Taps in Glossy Red

Zuchetti 'Isy' in understated White

Reece Nobili Mixers

Ikea 'Glittran' Traditional Mixer in Matt Black

Ikea 'Ringskar' Kitchen Mixer in Glossy Black (or White)

And its not just the bright block colours that rate a mention; companies like Astra Walker & Gessi are releasing their tap ware ranges in delicious finishes like Copper, Brown Bronze, Iron Bronze, Brushed Platinum and even Gold...

Astra Walker 'Metropolis' in Copper (swoon!)

Astra Walker 'Metropolis' in Iron Bronze

Gessi 'Mimi' in Gold