Interior Design Sense

Stalking today in the little country town of Woodend, Victoria. A sweet cottage overflowing with period features. So cute you want to pinch its cheeks and tell it how pretty it is. Pressed metal, tongue and groove walls, honey coloured pine floors marry with a relaxed and shabby modern country look. Perfect for a weekender away from the madding crowd of Melbourne and a short drive to the mountains or perhaps a picnic at Hanging Rock. Rose Cottage (built in 1905) has just one more feature you’ll need for when I come to visit. A separate studio. I promise I won’t bother you except at meal times. Link here while it lasts.

P.S. Blog friend Tricia Rose of Rough Linen is a finalist in the Martha Stewart American Made Awards. Her beautiful, handmade linen sheets and duvets are one little luxury everyone should have in their life. You can vote for her here. What does this have to do with the cute Woodend cottage? Nothing … except I would want to re-zhush the bedrooms if they were mine and Tricia’s Rough Linen would be perfect.

I got my hands on a couple new books this past week that I wanted to share with you all today. This first one I LOVE. L O V E. It’s written by a mother/daughter team – Suzanne McGrath is a former Style Editor and Producer at Martha Stewart Living Television and her daughter Lauren worked in the fashion features department at Teen Vogue magazine. Good Bones, Great Pieces is their first book. In this book Suzanna and Lauren discuss how they believe that every home should have a core group of seven pieces that can live in almost any setting and will always be in style: the demilune, the dresser, the side table, the love seat, the bench, the slipper chair and the occasional chair. And with lots of fantastic photos by one of my all-time favourite photographers Lucas Allen, they provide awesome examples of different uses for these pieces. It really made me think about what furniture pieces I should be investing in. You can pick up this must-have book here: Barnes & Noble, Amazon, Indigo, Powell’s

{{{ the demilune }}}

{{{ the dresser }}}

{{{ the side table }}}

{{{ the  love seat }}}

{{{ the bench }}}

{{{ the slipper chair }}}

{{{ the occasional chair }}}

{{{ i just loved this photo from the intro section }}}

This next book is a great idea for those who love hosting dinner parties. It’s called Make it Beautiful: Designs and Ideas for Entertaining at Home by Monica Pedersen. This wonderful coffee-table book is filled with smart, savvy advice and how-tos for entertaining at home on a range of budgets. Monica is a designer and host for HGTV, and her passion for DIY home design and entertaining is sure to inspire your readers. In ten beautifully photographed chapters, Monica walks readers through the steps of planning and executing a party, using inspiration drawn from their own surroundings and the materials and items they already have on hand. There’s even a famous Italian cutie-patootie chef featured in it. You can purchase this book here via Agate Midway Publishing.

I got my hands on a couple new books this past week that I wanted to share with you all today. This first one I LOVE. L O V E. It’s written by a mother/daughter team – Suzanne McGrath is a former Style Editor and Producer at Martha Stewart Living Television and her daughter Lauren worked in the fashion features department at Teen Vogue magazine. Good Bones, Great Pieces is their first book. In this book Suzanna and Lauren discuss how they believe that every home should have a core group of seven pieces that can live in almost any setting and will always be in style: the demilune, the dresser, the side table, the love seat, the bench, the slipper chair and the occasional chair. And with lots of fantastic photos by one of my all-time favourite photographers Lucas Allen, they provide awesome examples of different uses for these pieces. It really made me think about what furniture pieces I should be investing in. You can pick up this must-have book here: Barnes & Noble, Amazon, Indigo, Powell’s

{{{ the demilune }}}

{{{ the dresser }}}

{{{ the side table }}}

{{{ the  love seat }}}

{{{ the bench }}}

{{{ the slipper chair }}}

{{{ the occasional chair }}}

{{{ i just loved this photo from the intro section }}}

This next book is a great idea for those who love hosting dinner parties. It’s called Make it Beautiful: Designs and Ideas for Entertaining at Home by Monica Pedersen. This wonderful coffee-table book is filled with smart, savvy advice and how-tos for entertaining at home on a range of budgets. Monica is a designer and host for HGTV, and her passion for DIY home design and entertaining is sure to inspire your readers. In ten beautifully photographed chapters, Monica walks readers through the steps of planning and executing a party, using inspiration drawn from their own surroundings and the materials and items they already have on hand. There’s even a famous Italian cutie-patootie chef featured in it. You can purchase this book here via Agate Midway Publishing.

It’s almost time for Easter brunch and while the kids are running around collecting Easter eggs and loading their baskets with candy you’re probably busy baking your honey baked ham and figuring out how to dress the table!’  Check out these great ideas from Martha Stewart.’  Nothing says Easter like’ jelly beans’ and baskets with’ tulips!

Simply pastel and perfect

Delicate dyed eggs vases

‘ 

However you decide to set the table, I hope you enjoy your egg hunts and brunch and most importantly’ your time with family.’  Happy Easter!

I’m currently shopping for the perfect bench to put at the end of the bed in my clients MBR and as I shop around I’ve noticed some very interesting styles and shapes.  I like the idea of pairing a traditional bench with a more modern bed and vice versa.  Take a look at some of the styles I’ve seen and let me know what you think might be the perfect  bench.

The 6 legged aubusson bench painted in an antique white (this could be great with almost any fabric)

The gold circe bench – Two of these could really make a great statement

Martha Stewart Ingrid bench – simple but sweet

Slightly more sophisticated with the gold leaf but beautiful nonetheless

If the bed is high enough I like the idea of a settee

Something that has a little detail on the legs

Love this antique double x-benchwith silver detailing

The Jonathan Adler Bergman bench

Todd Hase Aix bench from ABC Home

Domestic goddess Martha Stewart knows a thing or two about decoration hence no one can doubt the quality of the charmingly designed Martha Stewart Cut-Out Pumpkins. Selling at a discounted price on Grandinroad, these carved pumpkins are a must have this Halloween. Made of durable blend of polyresin and stone powder, each pumpkin features an unique and intricate pattern and has been designed for both outdoor and indoor usage. Given that its made of quality materials, the pumpkin will last you quite few halloweens and they will also stand up to the harshest of elements.

Post from Martha Stewart Cut-Out Pumpkins For Halloween

So my husband and I have been very hard at work on the nursery.  The first project I decided to tackle was this chest of drawers that I believe Bryce had in his room growing up.  It was in desperate need of some TLC, but I loved the lines of it and new it would be perfect to double function as a changing table.  

The color scheme for the nursery is lavender, dove grey, white, and gold.  The walls have since been painted “Ponder,” a fabulous grey/lavender by Sherwin Williams.  We nearly had a melt-down over some very FOUL smelling Eco paint but it seems to have since been resolved (my poor husband has already put on a total of three coats of primer/paint at this point with one to go to remove the smell).   

Now let me preface this before and after by saying I am by no means a DIY guru,  but every now and then I get the bug and can be very impulsive about starting a project.  Please, please, please excuse the terrible photos – my real camera currently has a broken lens. 

The prep work…yes, it was a game day, and yes, Hartley is proudly sporting her OU jersey. 

The first thing I do is sand the piece down with an extra fine grit sandpaper.  I selected “Nimbus Cloud” by Martha Stewart Living Paint in a flat sheen from Home Depot for the base color and start painting right away – no, I did not prime.  I used about a 2-1/2″ wide paint brush to apply the paint in even strokes.   

Coat one of paint goes on and I as usual start to panic (as I always do when painting furniture and only seeing the first coat).   I’m scared it’s too chalky-white.   

I decide to run to the paint store and I get a quart of “Dorian Gray” by Sherwin Williams for the top to give it some contrast.  I then apply a second coat of “Nimbus Cloud” to the entire piece and start to like what I see.

The next step is applying Rotten Stone to give the piece a more age.  I was nervous as heck to do this…I dabbed a mineral-oil soaked rag in the rotten stone and then wiped on, and then quickly off.  This took a while because I kept wiping too much of it off.  It is VERY subtle (impossible to see in an iPhone photo) but it really helped the piece not look so “flat”. 

I also found this gold wax stuff from Bering’s that I applied with my finger to “highlight.”  Can resist a touch o’ gold!

 So there you have it! 

I may even go back and add some more Rotten Stone.  I’m also still undecided about the hardware, but it works for now. 

So the following weekend (because I wasn’t tired enough) I decided to tackle our t.v. console with the same color but using a heavier hand on the Rotten Stone.  I love it!  You can see a before picture of my t.v. console here.   I had been dying to “neutralize” this piece for a long time but couldn’t decide how I wanted to refinish it.  Having left over paint in colors I know I liked sure made it easier.  I can’t wait to show you all the art work and vintage frames I’ve been buying like crazy for what will apparently be a gallery wall in the nursery since there is no real plan right now  

I think I could use a little dose of some gorgeous photography to get me out of the Thanksgiving-ate-too-much-long-weekend-is-over-already blues. You may recognize David Tsay‘s name of photos from the pages of magazines such as Domino, Martha Stewart Living, Cookie and Real Simple to name a few – and he was the photographer of the famous Betsey Johnson pink New York apartment spread that I still think is one of the coolest pads ever.

Reader request time. This one comes from Kelly: “I’m looking for inspiring kitchens that feature white appliances. We moved into a home in the suburbs of Chicago and stove in the house was a brand new white stove. When we replaced the refrigerator and dishwasher we also chose the more-economical-than-stainless white. Most inspirational kitchens feature stainless appliances but I would love to see what you come up with. I’ve only seen three good examples: One featuring the new Martha Stewart cabinets at Home Depot (the “Ox Hill” image in the gallery)…and this image from Canadian House & Home…and this image with white appliances and black cabinets.” I was excited to find images of white appliances for Kelly because when I had started thinking about how I wanted to renovate my kitchen, I kept coming back to the idea of white cabinets, countertop and appliances and adding colour simply through a backsplash or accessories. Here are many examples of kitchens with white appliances (including some all-white-kitchen ones) that hopefully will help Kelly figure out what to do.

Domino	LoftLife Magazine
Martha Stewart	Apartment Therapy
Domino	Jeff Andrews
design*sponge	Cottage Living
Décormag	AT Casa
Apartment Therapy	Eric Roth
Canadian House & Home	Kitka