Category Archives: decorating

Shop a Bazaar from your phone

Posted on July 5, 2016 | Leave a comment

Weaving personality into home decor while making it relevant regardless of style requires a honed eye, spot-on instincts, the expertise of a trusted designer and imaginative resources. Color, a deft mix of beautiful fabrics, and well-chosen art and accessories, layering and texture add punctuation. And vintage, one-of-a-kind or handcrafted pieces really bring generic sofas, tables and chests to life.

The thrill of the hunt is everything for some shoppers, especially when you land that special piece. So is a good sale. Whether you’re shopping Portobello Road in London, a Marrakech souk or a dazzling bazaar in Mumbai, part of the fun is exploring global marketplaces. When you find a bargain among precious items that are barely affordable, it’s a real treat. And sometimes you don’t even have to worry about having enough cash: Vendors in the flea markets of Florence and Paris make it easier by taking credit cards.

In the last 15 years, “e-tail” sites have been game-changers, changing the landscape of furniture buying. They allow you to scroll through thousands of “curated” antiques and unique pieces, in addition to well-known furnishings and designer brands, 24/7. Some of the products are part of “flash” sales, where the added allure is the savings off a suggested retail price for a short window of time. Like retailers and catalogs trying to set themselves apart, the websites now offer engaging features on a variety of design topics.

For luxe goods, there’s nothing quite like 1stdibs (www.1stdibs.com), which covers furniture, lighting, fine art, jewelry, fashion and vintage haute couture from top dealers around the world — “the most beautiful things on earth.” It’s like a tour through art history and design museums. Where else are you likely to find a 17th-century polychromatic horn lice comb ($9,500), an English Civil War Parliamentary helmet ($4,500), a rare 17th-century Dutch rosewood, ebony and tortoiseshell cabinet ($390,485), or a specially priced Tiffany Russian table lamp?

Decorating Trends that are OUT

Posted on June 27, 2016 | Leave a comment

Hexagon tile

“2015 was a fun year, we used the hexagon tile,” says Nathan Ruttner, Interior Designer at Techne Architecture and Interior Design in Melbourne.

“This tile, acting as a feature, allowed us to break our rules stepping away from mainly using the square and rectangle tile. But as fast as it has come in, the overuse of it has really given the hex a dated look.”

Feature lighting and feature walls

“Putting lights over benches, over vanities in bathrooms and over dining tables is an overused idea,” says architect Jesse Linardi, design director at DKO Architecture in Melbourne. “It’s not so much that the idea has no merit, rather that lighting fixtures tend to date very quickly.” The same applies for feature walls using fake stone or wallpaper, he adds. “Simple classic and natural finishes tend not to date.”

Vertical garden

“The idea of the feature wall has given birth to the vertical garden,” says Ruttner. “Indoor plants themselves are a great way to liven a space especially when they are in beautiful ceramics pots. Although vertical gardens add a nice touch of ‘greenery’ to the space it does feel like a done idea, usually done wrong.”

Metallic finish

Warm metallic finishes – gold, rose gold and brass – are “overused, overrated and far from timeless. I don’t see any of these lasting,” says head of interior design Narelle Cuthbert from Plus Architecture in Melbourne. “Instead we will see a trend where lighting and key pieces will remain in these tones contrasted by other finishes and textures.”

Modern Fireplaces for the home

Posted on June 24, 2016 | Leave a comment

Fireplaces have evolved from the days of the hunter-gatherer huddling around the campfire to modern city living, where, at the touch of a smartphone button, an indoor hotspot can come alive.

Collins says if you look at the typical living pattern of a family, one of the pros of having a heating fireplace these days is lower running costs. They tend to spend 85-90 per cent of their time in one area in the house where most of the family eat and watch television, he says.

“Most people these days don’t want heated bedrooms,” Collins says. They want bedrooms that are comfortable but not heated so ducted systems are becoming less popular to run in that instance, he says.