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Homewares

How I styled my home with TK Maxx’s latest Indian homewares

Sponsored by TK Maxx Australia

First of all, please get rid of any preconceived, clichéd ideas you have about Indian homewares! As this post will prove, all manner of styles and colours of homewares now come out of India and, thanks to their massive buying power and unique business model, TK Maxx can tap into this. During February, their stores are full of beautiful and interesting pieces from this exotic country. Keen to show how these pieces can work in any style of home, I popped into my local store (Chatswood) and selected some pieces (it was hard to know where to stop!) to have a play with at home.

Everything on these shelves, bar the books, is from TK Maxx, priced from $9.95 to $16.95. Amazing!

If you’re not familiar with TK Maxx (they’ve been in Australia for less than a year, but in America and Europe for ages, and I was a regular shopper in the UK), they’re all about selling big brands at small prices. Not only that, but they can bring in quality fashion and homewares from all around the globe. I personally think it is one of the best places to buy expensive-looking decor that’s different to what everyone else has (and we have become guilty, as a society, of buying the latest mass produced stuff, so our homes are starting too look a little too similar!). You don’t go to TK Maxx with a plan; you go with an open mind and in the mood to search for the perfect cushion/pair of shoes/mirror/jeans you never knew you had to have!

This wool rug is just $29.95

The favourite items I’ve found in store are decorative objects; you know, those beautiful things that have no real purpose other than to look nice?! It’s also great for cushions, throws, smaller rugs and photo frames. And there are plenty of examples of all of these in the latest handmade Indian drop. I’d describe my own interiors as classic and colourful with a modern edge. I’m not really a neutral girl and I love gold accents. I found plenty of things that worked with my existing pieces and love that they look like I could have collected them over the years.

I’m a sucker for navy. I love the animal print cushion ($29.95) and box ($9.95) which fit right in in my bedroom! The timber frame is just $6.95, the brass ornament $9.95 and the beaded cushion $39.95.
These perspex and brass bookends are a favourite of mine and a steal at $16.95 each

I have the largest shelving unit ever in my lounge room and I’m always looking for things to fill it (I sometimes call it Jen’s homewares store!). My impressive collection of design books aside, it is all about the decorative and the odd framed photo. I loved adding my TK Maxx goodies to this display and found they worked really well.

The details and fabric of these three cushions ($29.95 to $39.95) are very high quality.
There were lots of single and multiple hooks to choose from and they could be used for so many things. This was just $9.95.

I enjoy making an effort for dinner parties and I loved the placemats, napkins and tea towels (does anyone else have tea towels they keep for best/display? Yeah, I thought so!) I found. They worked really well with my existing gold cutlery.

Placemats ($29.95), tea towels ($9.95) and brass ornament ($9.95)

What struck me about all my picks was the amazing quality for the price. You really can’t beat it, especially when you’re looking at handmade and therefore one-off pieces. There was a really eclectic mix too, rather than one or two particular looks.

I tried this rug in the dining room too and I love the brass ornament ($9.95) and beaded linen cushion ($39.95) on the buffet.

TK Maxx’s huge product range includes fashion for women, men and kids, shoes, accessories, luggage, beauty, toys, lingerie and homewares for every room. Opportunistic buying and a no frills operation means they can pass significant savings onto customers. The average TK Maxx store receives several deliveries per week with thousands of new items arriving on shop floors, meaning stock is consistently fresh. This creates the treasure hunt shopping experience they’re known for.

I hope you like my picks and how I styled them. Have I inspired you to pop into your local off-price department store TK Maxx and see what it’s all about? I promise, you won’t regret it!

So, don’t hang around! Visit your local store to see what Indian treasures they have, as stock won’t last long!

Find your local store.

Categories
House Tours Jen's reno

Jen’s home office reveal

Photography: Jacqui Turk

I’m excited to reveal my new home office; once a very dull and boxy little room, otherwise known as ‘bedroom 4’ on the floorplan! It did have a few great things going for it though: the best light in the house and a window and glass doors looking out onto the garden. Our house is very long and the office is right at the back, away from any noise and distraction.

It needed help though. And as this is a long term home, I really wanted to make an effort with this workspace and make it somewhere I really wanted to hang out and felt inspired and happy to work in. There’s nothing that transforms a small and featureless room more, in my opinion, than wallpaper. I’d wanted to use one of Anna Spiro’s designs for Porters Paints for years. Damian wasn’t sure about the pink so I compromised on the blue version. But when I found they were out of stock, I somehow managed to persuade him it was a good idea to revert to pink. At the end of the day, I’m the one who works from home so it’s really my domain. That and the fact the garage has been earmarked as his man cave and I’ll happily have nothing to do with what goes on in there!

Before the wallpaper, I’d already had a plantation shutter put on the window. Since these photos were taken I’ve also had sheer curtains put on the sliding door. They filter the light really well because the sun can sometimes be a bit too much and soften the room nicely.

I don’t need much furniture, being someone whose work is largely online and stored in the cloud. Laptop, printer, paper diary and a few notebooks and pens aside, I don’t need much physical stuff. Which keeps things tidy! I already had the two grey home office storage units from Pottery Barn. I love them because they’re grey and don’t look too corporate or officey. The one with the doors neatly hides the printer (never a good look!) and even if you don’t need storage, you’ve got to have somewhere to display pretty things, right?!

Speaking of pretty things, it was love at first sight for that cut glass lamp. Amazing. I’m still on the lookout for a more interesting shade to swap out for the white one it came with, just to mix things up a little. The rattan lampshade on the pendant light is the same one we’ve used in all the bedrooms. It’s a nice textured neutral.

The magazine rack is actually a bathroom ladder. I think I saw it used this way in a magazine and stole the idea, but I can’t remember which, sorry!

I’m having a major floral moment and these two prints by Kimmy Hogan (right) and Lamai Anne (left) seem to work well together and with the wallpaper.

It took a long time to work out where the desk should go (the doors make this room a tricky one to work with) but Damian finally cracked it and as soon as I realised the chair should be looking towards the door, that was it! I also have a thing about having my back to the door and not knowing who might creep up behind me, so this this works well! I imported that chair from Jonathan Adler years ago and while it is made of resin and thus super heavy and not ergonomically sound at all, I just love it so there. The desk itself is solid timber. I love its generous size, simplicity and the fact it has a small drawer where I store pens (not a fan of pen pots!).

The round blush pink rug helps balance the room a little as most of the action is happening at the far end.

This room is definitely polarising but I’m unapologetic! This is my space where I get work done and earn money so it’s important too. It doesn’t have to be everyone’s cup of tea! That said, I find most women love it and men just shudder and say the wallpaper would give them a headache! Each to their own!

It’s actually really fun and refreshing to have a room which can be so self indulgent (when you’re in a couple you do have to be at least a little conscious of your other half’s tastes!). And the fact that this room feels so good and is a pleasure to work in makes me happy every day. All in all, I’m glad I had the guts to go bold in this room.

The floors in here will be replaced with an oak laminate next month, and the sliding doors will eventually be replaced with French double doors.

What do you think?

Where’s it from?

Wallpaper: Rosey Posey Trellis by Anna Spiro for Porter’s Paints

Installation by AKRA Wallpapering

Grey storage units: Windsor range from Pottery Barn

Table lamp: Zoya table lamp from Lighting Lighting Lighting

Pendant light: Shore pendant in tan rattan from Beacon Lighting

Desk: Altar desk in natural ash from Contents International Design

Chair: Jonathan Adler Chippendale Armchair, available in Australia through Coco Republic

Plantation shutter and sheer curtains: DIY Online Blinds

Art: Kimmy Hogan and Lamai Anne.

Rug: Cochin blush hand stitched rug from Early Settler

Bathroom ladder (used for magazines): Home Republic Bath Storage Ladder from Adairs

Terrazzo MacBook Skin: Uniqfind

Gold stapler: Kate Spade (available at David Jones)

Bluetooth speaker: Bang & Olufsen (available at Myer)

Gold wall clock: Target

See my master bedroom

Categories
Bedrooms House Tours Jen's reno

Jen’s new house room reveal: the master bedroom

Even though our “nanna house” is nowhere near finished and very much a work in progress, I thought it was time to share some of what we’ve done with you. And sometimes, when you have a seemingly endless list of jobs and expenses ahead, it’s really important to stop and look at how far you’ve come. It’s only been six months, after all!

So, today, I’m sharing the master bedroom. Only it’s not actually the master bedroom as per the floorplan. This brings me to a point about living in a new home as is for a while, if you can bear it, before getting stuck in. We immediately moved into the master bedroom (there are four all up) of this house because, well, the floorplan said so, it’s the biggest, and we are the grown-ups, right?! It also has an en suite, which is a very functional but dated eighties addition.

But the room just didn’t work. It’s all wrong with the feng shui and the only way to fix that will cost money. The same goes for the en suite. It’s hardly the stuff of sanctuary! So we made the call to move into a smaller bedroom at the front of the house. It just feels better for now! And I’m not that fussed about having a big bedroom, just a nice one! One day, when we have the money, we will rip out the robes in the ‘real’ master bedroom and reconfigure it, re-do the en suite and move the en suite door. But for now, we are in our ‘new’ room. And the master is a spare room.

I’m still in two minds about whether artwork will work above the bedhead or fight with it. This framed photo is of my treasured navy wedding shoes. The bedsides are last season’s west elm and came from the old place. I love the warmth of the timber.

Because it’s not that big, I didn’t want to clutter it up, so it was always going to be all about the bed. We started with a neutral base of grey carpet, grey paint (Haymes Greyology 4), white plantation shutters (from DIY Online Blinds) and the rattan pendant shades we have in all the bedrooms, from Beacon Lighting. We didn’t have carpet in the bedrooms at our old place, and I’m really glad we decided to have it in the bedrooms here. It’s also much cheaper than hard floor! And I knew this room would feature my favourite colour: navy. And what goes perfectly with navy for a little luxe factor? My favourite gold accents!

The ink art on the left is by Melbourne’s Casey Freeman, who I met through Instagram, and was in our previous bedroom.

I had been drooling over Heatherly Design Bedheads’ work for years, since we first featured them on the blog. When I saw the Sibella design it was love at first sight but I had to think about it for a while before I committed. I tend to play it safe and when I go a bit “out there” it doesn’t always work! But months later, I still loved Sibella so it was time to order her! Even better, Damian also loved Sibella (which I was not expecting, to be honest!). I was careful not to overdo it, but the Galleria lamps from Lighting Lighting Lighting were just the perfect complement.

This Freedom ottoman is completely surplus to requirements but it just goes so perfectly, it had to come in here from elsewhere in the house.

The mirror was a wedding present that lived in the dining room in our previous home. The white linen quilt cover is from Sydney brand Major Minor and it feels beautiful, I’m telling you! But it was too stark in contrast to the bedhead so I layered on this fab navy coverlet from my friend Naomi at Silk Home (she has her own made for staging). Rather than Euros, which would hide some of my statement bedhead, I chose kingsize pillows from The Pillowslip Store with their classic white cotton covers (they have some amazing patterned ones too, including gingham). Most of the cushions and the throw are from Adairs (their range is amazing, check it out).

Damian’s side of the bed, which always has flowers, honestly… The small bowl was from kikki.K.

There are built-ins opposite the bed (not pictured) and we have plans to replace them one day, as well as the skirting throughout the house. I’m still working out whether and what kind of rug this room can take. This room is right next to a large walk-in cupboard which we may turn into a walk-in one day, but for now, we just love having somewhere to store all our, well, crap!

This large mirror is on the wall to the right of the bed

So while this room does not have the sheer size of our old one, as stop-gap master bedrooms go, I’m really happy with it, and find it a restful space which is easy to keep tidy because of its simplicity and lack of stuff. I have resisted adding my usual pop of pink and I think the all-blue scheme works nicely. I am considering a wallpaper feature wall (perhaps the window wall). It would of course have to be quite subtle. But we’re almost done in here!

Love to know what you think (please be kind!).

Coming soon: home office and living room!

Photography: Jacqui Turk.

Categories
Bedrooms Competitions Styling

My bedroom makeover + win a $1,000 west elm voucher for yours!

Sponsored by west elm

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We recently bought our first home in Sydney and have been slowly but surely adding our touches to it. The biggest job is a full bathroom reno and we’ve just locked that down so you can follow its progress in the new few months! Onto less involved projects, and I was keen to make the most of our beautiful master bedroom. It’s spacious and light-filled with two windows, and is definitely the largest bedroom Damian and I have ever had.

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When we moved from our last place, I got ruthless at chucking out what I didn’t need or love. Bed, drawers and desk aside, it was a pretty blank canvas in the bedroom. We had it painted (Resene’s Black White) before we moved in, and installed new floors (natural oak laminate from Darren Palmer’s Provincial Lane range for Carpet Court) and it was just crying out for those extra layers of warmth, texture, colour and interest. I couldn’t think of a store I’d rather team up with to transform it than west elm as I pretty much love everything they do, so when they asked me, I leapt at the chance to work with them to turn my bedroom into a grown-up sanctuary (and the one place we try and keep the baby’s toys out of)! I’ve also recently moved a secretaire desk into the bedroom and when our part-time nanny starts, I plan on sometimes hiding in there to work!

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Their Design Services stylist, Brendan Nash, asked me what sort of look I was after before providing a mood board. I immediately loved almost everything on it, so after making a few tweaks, I left it all in his capable hands until makeover day! It was so exciting to have a professional style my bedroom; what a treat!

Regular readers will know my favourite colour is navy, which is convenient for a couple’s room because it’s nice and unisex! I also love gold accents and have them throughout our home, from my sofa legs to cabinet handles, accessories and so on. I wanted the room to feel calm and cosy, conducive to both relaxing and sleeping and focusing to write at my desk.

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I think you’ll agree, he nailed it! I absolutely love our new room and have found myself going to bed early a lot because I’m so keen to hang out in there! I also swear my bed is more confortable thanks to its new linen, although I’m not sure if this is in my head or the reality?! I’m also a definite convert to the top sheet, something I have never seen the point of having before with a doona! With winter drawing in, it was the perfect time to transform this space into a warm and inviting boudoir!

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I love the layered rug look (something I wouldn’t have been brave enough to try myself) and while I don’t think I’d have picked the bedsides myself, they’re a surprise hit! I love the texture and warmth added by the reclaimed timber, but the white lacquer is modern and light and easily wipe clean. I love the roomy drawer to hide away all those essentials, and the space underneath for books and mags.

It was a real luxury to have my bed made to look like one out of a magazine spread and I watched Brendan and his colleague Naomi Young carefully, making mental notes. I absolutely love the feel and laid back luxe look of linen but had never thought of choosing it in navy before, always playing it safe with white. I really love the colour injection in this room. Cleverly, the only touches of pink are in the one cushion and the flowers, so if I want to change the pink to a different accent colour down the track it’ll be really easy (and let’s face it, everything goes with navy!).

If you have a little bedroom envy (and frankly, I couldn’t blame you!), then listen up, because west elm are giving you the chance to win a $1,000 voucher to spend on goodies for your own home. Simply enter using the form below by midnight Sydney time on 25 May 2016.

west elm stylist Brendan Nash and I
west elm stylist Brendan Nash and I

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SHOP items from west elm: Reclaimed wood and lacquer bedside tables | Traced diamond kilim rug (layered on existing west elm jute rug) | Small pillar table lamps in antique brass | Telescoping floor lamp | Mongolian lamb cushion cover in Rosette | Belgian flax linen cushion cover in Midnight | Belgian flax linen quilt cover and pillowcases | Striped Belgian flax linen Euro pillowcases | Belgian flax linen border stripe sheet set | Belgian flax linen quilted coverletCotton tassel throw in Ivory | Gallery frames in polished brass | Gallery frames in black | Glass hexagon shadow boxes | Woven tray | Metal framed round wall mirror in antique brass | Graphic printed basket | Basketweave ceramic vases | Faceted metal vase | Scissor spindle dining chair (at desk) | Glass decal scented candle tumbler.

All I want to change now is the blinds, but I can’t decide whether to go for curtains or blinds or to splash out on plantation shutters! What do you think?

Everything else pictured is my own. Please ask in the comments if you’d like to know where something is from!

Did you know west elm offer a free design service, in your local store, your home or via phone?

Full competition terms and conditions. Entry form below.

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Photography by Jacqui Turk