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Bedrooms

3 top tips for a non-toxic, eco-friendly bedroom

By Sonya Pala

Given that we spend a third of our lives in bed, sleeping in a non-toxic environment can have wonderful health benefits. But let’s face it, eco, sustainable, fair trade and organic aren’t always synonymous with stylish.

Here are some tips to get a unique, stylish and affordable eco luxury look for your bedroom:

1. Invest wisely Start off with a budget. This will help in the decision-making process! Invest in a primary piece that will last you for years and then update the room over time using accessories, smaller furniture items and fabric. During our renovation, I invested most of our budget into an amazing eco-bed and re-covering an old occasional chair with eco-velvet fabric. Many of the smaller accessories and mother of pearl inlay chest of drawers were bought over the years.

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2. Non-toxic bedding Given the rise of allergies over the last few decades, it’s really important to look at the toxicity in everyday items in our home. Conventional foam in mattresses, pillows and furniture, contains a plethora of chemicals which emit VOC gases for the life of the product. Many of these are known carcinogens and combined with conventional cotton bedding (cotton being the most heavily pesticide-sprayed crop in the world), can create a hazardous sleeping environment.

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Art

The beginner’s guide to finding, choosing & displaying art

By Amy Timbrell

Artwork is by far one of the easiest and most affordable ways to inject new life into your home and add final touches to your living space.

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However, whilst most people would love to create an at-home gallery, sadly it is often difficult to find unique and beautiful, quality pieces with the right price tag and people can feel genuinely overwhelmed, not knowing where to start. Cue bright white, blank and boring walls.

It is a question I am often asked by my customers, so here are some of my top tips for choosing, buying and displaying art in your home.

  1. Don’t worry too much about creating your own personal mini-gallery at home. It really is something you should have fun with, afterall it is one of the easiest ways to express yourself and your tastes and style at home, not to mention one of the best ways to inject colour, intrigue and interest into your space. Try to think of purchasing art as a 3-step process: choosing, finding and displaying. When it comes to art there is no right or wrong. You should just go with your gut and to put it simply, just buy what you like and what makes you feel good.

pinkgin

  1. Before you set off on your journey, have a think about your home (or office for that matter). Take a walk through your property and take note of where your eyes fall when you enter the home, walk along the hallway, up the stairs or into a room. These are the key areas where you should be displaying and featuring art.

Categories
Travel

Discovering London and its treasures

By Jeanette Del Zio

London is filled with culture, history and great designers to be discovered. It is perceived as one of the most influential cities, setting the tone for the global design scene. It is especially known for its large retail, gift and vintage markets, where you can find many treasures.

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A designer that is known for participating in some of London’s most prestigious gift fairs is a very unique wallpaper designer. I recently discovered Londonite Claire Coles when I stumbled across her embroidered wallpaper and was instantly intrigued by their unique composition.

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Interiors Addict

Designing in the tropics: the divine Darwin

By Verity Coonan

When people think of Darwin it’s often red dirt and crocs and some backwards living – some people (admit it) might not have even heard of the place. However in recent years Darwin is coming into its own, with a bustling city, waterfront precinct and youth bursting with fresh ideas and eyes for new opportunities. Darwin is no longer the ‘city up north’ but one to show itself on the map as a landmark city with a style of its own.

The design culture in Darwin is as diverse as its people. Our conditions are harsh (they don’t call it going troppo for nothing) and because of recent events the budget strings pull especially tight. But seeing these elements as a benefit, even an inspiration, is what drives the eclectic style I like to call ‘Darwinian’.

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Bathrooms

6 budget-friendly bathroom updates

By Laney Clancy

If you want to give your bathroom a new look but don’t know where to start, focus on these 6 essentials and you’ll soon have a washroom wake-up that won’t wreck the budget.

1. Fixtures as a foundation

New fixtures (vanity/sink, toilet, shower, bathtub) can completely transform a bathroom; everything from the shape to the colour of a fixture can set the look of the whole room. Use fixtures as a foundation for your style. You can then embellish with other touches and accessories.

Budget tip: Save on labour costs by using the existing plumbing infrastructure; install your new toilet, shower and/or basin in the same position as the original fixtures.

2. Turn it on with taps

Taps make great style accents and changing your taps can be an affordable way to update the look of your bathroom. The change needs to be like for like, for example if you have a mixer (hot and cold through one outlet) it’s easier to replace it with another mixer, or 2 outlets for 2 outlets, (starting from $40 for a set of handles).

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Expert Tips Homewares

Top tips for starting your own online homewares store from those who’ve been there and done it

By Natasha Voudouris

Our journey into the online world began less than 2 years ago, when my mum Debbie and I had the idea of creating a website for her interior styling business. At the time, Mum had just completed a new interior design course and was ready to put her excitement and passion into practice. Up until that point, she had been flying solo as an interior stylist for over 10 years. I found myself drawn to her assignments and our shared love for beautiful furniture and homewares grew deeper.

Natasha and Debbie
Natasha and Debbie

While we were pouring out ideas for mum’s new website, we talked about one day having an online store. Talking and dreaming soon became planning and organising. Within a few weeks we had our name, Zohi Interiors, a domain and a logo, and chose a web development company. Within a few months, we began importing from India, Morocco and beyond.

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We often get comments that our online store appears polished and looks like it is run by a team of 20, not a team of 2 who have never had any web or retail experience! The truth is, creating an online brand isn’t easy, we are constantly growing and learning to keep improving our business. We would love to share a few tips for anyone who is considering launching their business online.

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Bedrooms Expert Tips

Spare bedrooms: for taking decorating risks and having some fun!

By Louise Reeves

A few months ago, I moved into a house with a very interesting little spare room in the form of a converted garage. The room was good for a few reasons; the previous owners had installed floorboards and tongue-and-groove built-in wardrobes, the windows were super cute, it’s on ground level and gets plenty of light.

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To serve the purpose of a spare room it was totally fine in its original condition, it’s one of those rooms that would barely ever get used unless guests came to stay. Really all it needed was a few pieces of furniture and we’d be set. But where oh where is the fun in that? I saw this as a great opportunity to try out some risky ideas I’d been toying with for months, the kind of ideas that would be a little too scary for most clients, but really exciting to test in a risk-free environment.

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Interiors Addict

Block twins Alisa & Lysandra on life after the police & starting their own online store

By Lysandra Fraser

It’s come to that time where I am writing my final guest post for Interiors Addict. I had been thinking to myself “What topic am I going to pretend to know about this week?” LOL! Then Jen suggested that it would be nice for the final blog to be about “Where to from here?” For Alisa and I, this is a question that we have been asked rather frequently of late.

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I think back to a year ago and think “wow” at how both mine and Alisa’s lives have changed so dramatically. We were both police officers working part-time shift work, always striving for a bit more in life. We sat down and watched the finale of The Block one night and thought to ourselves, yep, let’s apply. Actually, let’s win The Block 2013 (no word of a lie). From the moment we decided to audition, we had this gut feeling that we were going to win.

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Interiors Addict

Club Med meets China for a truly unique hotel experience

By Tatyana Leonov

I was fortunate to travel to Guilin in China to check out the new Club Med Guilin last week. You’ve got your beachy Club Meds, your ski Club Meds… and then you’ve got Club Med Guilin – a completely different and unique resort.

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I set off a day later than anticipated due to a typhoon (forgotten quickly once reclining in my lie-flat seat on my business class China Southern flight). As soon as I arrived I set about making the most of every moment over the 3 days I had at the resort.

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Interiors Addict

Lark opens the doors to its new Fitzroy home

By Kathryn Bamford

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Gone are the Daylesford days! The gorgeous gift and homewares store Lark officially opened its new doors on Gertrude Street in Melbourne’s Fitzroy on Friday.

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The beautiful shop front has huge glass windows with striking typography and gorgeous displays. The space itself has amazing high ceilings with stunning decorative detailing. Being my first ever visit to a Lark store I was amazed as soon I stepped foot in the door! The range of products is incredible and even though there is loads of variety it all seems to mesh together so well! It’s definitely one of those places where you will always find something you want to buy.

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Expert Tips The Block

Quick and easy ways to smarten up your home for sale, by Alisa from The Block

By Alisa Fraser

Are you thinking about putting your house on the market or do you just want to give your place a much needed but cost-effective facelift? There are many things that homeowners can do themselves, that won’t cost a fortune or take up too much of your precious time. Here are a few of my tips and tricks.

Alisa the block

Plaster over and re-paint any cracks in your walls or ceilings

It is only normal that over time, cracks start to appear in most houses. This has the potential to scare buyers away, as they may start to question the integrity of the building. Small cracks are fairly easy to repair with adhesive and top coat, however if the cracks are large then you may want to seek the help of a professional plasterer. Once the repair is completed, nothing lifts a room more than a fresh coat of paint. To avoid seeing colour variation or roller/brush marks, ensure you paint the entire room or wall that you have repaired.

Categories
Styling

The reality of a reno: The Interiors Addict & Nest Designs Palm Beach apartment project

By Emma Blomfield

As we prepare to reveal the finished Palm Beach Apartment project (a joint project between Interiors Addict and Nest Designs) this Thursday, stylist Emma Blomfield tells us about the less glamorous reality behind the scenes of a top-to-bottom reno.

The Palm Beach Project hasn’t been without drama. If you follow me on Instagram or Facebook you will have seen a few of the issues that have arisen!

Firstly, the tenants in the apartment when it sold weren’t the tidiest, so the kitchen, bathroom and carpets had seen a lot of wear and tear. We got to work repainting and giving the apartment a bit of a facelift; that was relatively drama-free apart from the fact that the light switch cover plates were apparently imported from Europe so there were none anywhere in the country that would fit for us to replace them! We also soon realised once the tenants’ furniture was removed, that the carpets would need more than a steam clean so they were ripped up and replaced with gorgeous sisal in a chocolatey colour.

Categories
Designers Kitchens The Block

Lysandra from The Block on designing a kitchen to stand the test of time

By Lysandra Fraser

Many people are at a loss when it comes to defining their style. I’m not afraid to admit that Alisa and I had no idea what the difference between contemporary and modern styles were. We would often get asked to define our style and we would reply with “the Alisa and Lysandra style”. Some people know what they like but are afraid of getting the terms wrong, so they struggle to be able to describe verbally what style or look they want. I believe that you don’t necessarily need to have a degree, or even have experience, to be able to put a room together, just a good eye for detail and a passion for design.

Alisa and Lysandra's kitchen on The Block Sky High
Alisa and Lysandra’s kitchen on The Block Sky High

When it came to designing our kitchen and bathrooms on The Block, we were very conscious about what they would look like in comparison to the changing trends, 10-to-15 years down the track. Kitchens and bathrooms cost a lot of money to change, so I believe that if you think carefully about your choices at the very beginning, you could have a kitchen/bathroom for 10-to-15 years without the need to upgrade in 5-to-10, when most kitchens and bathrooms would seem dated.

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Homewares

First look inside West Elm Melbourne: opening today!

West Elm Melbourne officially opens on Chapel Street this morning and last night they threw a celebration party. I couldn’t make it but I sent along Kathryn Bamford, who took a few snaps for us. 

The who’s who of the design zoo were out in numbers last night at the West Elm South Yarra opening party. Melbourne certainly pulled out its finest weather (not) and decided a last minute downpour of rain would add to the excitement of the new store on Chapel Street.

west elm exterior

west elm product

When you first walk in, there is the most stunning green wall by GSky Plant Systems. Stylist Mr Jason Grant said the store looked great and was definitely bigger than the Bondi one.

west elm green wall

Who better than the lovely store manager Dimitri, to give me the low down on the new store and all things West Elm? Funnily enough, he used to manage one of my other favourite Melbourne stores, Meizai. He was excited to see the store buzzing with the 350+ people and explained that the turnaround for furniture items purchased is 5 days (which in my opinion is much better than the usual 6-8 weeks most stores quote you).

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Bathrooms Expert Tips The Block

Alisa from The Block’s pick of the top new trends for bathrooms

It’s that time of the week again: a guest post from one of the twins, and today it’s the lovely Alisa. 

Alisa the block

Since finishing The Block Sky High, I have been finding so many exciting products that I quite often think to myself ‘if only I knew about this while we were filming!’ As we were labelled the bathroom queens on the show, I thought it would be fitting to share a few of these cool new products that I’ve come across on my travels.

The GROHE Power & Soul

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Power & Soul uses a spray pattern technology, harnessing the force of water through 8 dynamic spray nozzles, recreating a ‘fingertip massage’ effect and to bring about tension relief. It has 4 different spray patterns with a button to select up to 11 different varieties of spray options. Seriously makes showering seem like an inviting way to relax!

Categories
Art

Art review: The Cairn by Alexander McKenzie

By Olga Lewis

Sydney artist Alexander McKenzie’s paintings are dreamlike landscapes with enormous amounts of sensitivity and detail.

Alexander at home
Alexander at home

His latest exhibition of works are a must see. The scale of his paintings are hypnotic and they draw you into a fantasy like place where you get a sense of calm, quiet and mystery. You cannot help but revisit to observe in detail. Only then do you see hidden symbols and secret doors in grassy green hedges.

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Art

Pom pays tribute to second home Sydney with latest poster art series

Al Walsh’s first series of poster art, The Travels of Vivienne, recalled an era of advertising now long gone. The exhibition was heralded a success with press in Harper’s Bazaar, Vogue and of course, Interiors Addict.

Fast forward to 2013 and we have Sydney, Al’s second poster art series. It elegantly captures iconic suburbs, paying tribute to the city that this Pom has called home for nearly a decade. “24 January is the 9-year anniversary of my relocation from London to Sydney. I wanted to create a collection that local people could relate to, as well as paying homage to the place as a way to say ‘thank you for having me’.”

And he nailed it. “I want people to look on their wall and see the elegance, the glamour and the seduction of Sydney,” says Al, “a little reminder of what a wonderful part of the world it really is.”

You can check out the exhibition from Thursday (24 January) at The Foxhole Small Bar, corner of Kent and Erskine Streets, Sydney. Luckily for us, Al’s works are ‘cheap and cheerful’ and at only $100 unframed or $250 framed, it’s artwork for the budget-conscious.

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Interiors Addict

Guest post: Abigail Ahern’s Sydney masterclass

Abigail, after a horror 48-hour flight from London, arrived in Melbourne hours before her first round of masterclasses and then flew on to Sydney to deliver her class again at Megan Morton’s The School to a room full of Sydney (and New Zealand!) based designers, stylists and interior fanatics.

Aussie stylist Jane Frosh with Abigail Ahern

Abigail is a fun, creative, headstrong soul who scoffs at rules and appears determined to break them. She doesn’t take herself or her branding too seriously which, I believe, is part of her charm. Her talent is outside the box and unconventional.

Her constant references to Alice In Wonderland had the group hanging off her every word. She mixes up scale and proportion, adding friction and grandeur to an interior. Her moody, muted colour palette is both rock & roll and also warm and comforting.