Coco Republic Design School have just released their new courses for the first half of 2014. If studying decorating or styling is one of your New Year Resolutions, why not check them out?
There’s everything from one-day masterclasses to 12-month TAFE-accredited courses. Study is in Sydney’s Alexandria, but they also have a number of online courses.
The winner of the January 2014 first anniversary 7 Vignettes is…
Picturedthoughts! Congratulations, Dee!
New online destination Urban Couture is offering free e-decorating services to its customers and an innovative DIY moodboard tool.
By using the site’s Couture Boards, you can select a template for a room or space to curate and style the interiors by literally dragging and dropping from a huge selection of products. Using “share” tools, you can then communicate the designs through your social media networks, creating interactive mood boards and inviting friends and members of the design community to interact, while also viewing other people’s styled spaces for inspiration.
Visitors to the site can even get a free e-decorating session from founder and interior stylist, Katriarna Rodgers. Urban Couture is also an online store for homewares and furniture, stocking brands like MCM House (their exclusive online stockists), Xavier & Me, NUD Lighting, Oscar & Lulu and Billy Heckenberg.
Today, stylist Naomi Findlay of SILK Home Staging & Styling and the International Institute of Home Staging (IIHS), shares some great tips on styling your home for the summer months.
Summer is well and truly here and we are increasingly looking for easy ways to enjoy it at home. Here are some quick tips for creating your ultimate summer-friendly environment:
Merge the outdoors and indoors
With the longer days and increased entertaining, now is the time to create indoor-outdoor living spaces.
kikki.K recently asked its customers to submit Christmas styling ideas via Instagram, for them to bring to life in a special festive photo shoot and these are the beautiful results.
Click on the links to find out how to give each of these surprisingly easy creations a go for yourself.
Last month, I sent 10 lucky readers and their friends along to the Electrolux Inspiration Kitchen popup in Sydney for a styling masterclass with Jane Frosh from Cool Edie’s.
If you weren’t one of them, you can still check out this great one-minute video where she shares her foolproof advice for styling your kitchen. Simply follow her formula!
It was my first time judging for a long time (let’s face it, having a guest judge is just copping out of what is always a very hard decision!) but this month, despite the many amazing entries, I felt Michelle Cann (thecinnamonfox) really did stand out.
The sandcastles and smashed pomegranate really did it for me!
Life Instyle has announced Mr Jason Grant as the latest stylist it is partnering with on its Style Lab concept, following successful collaborations with Cool Edie’s and Greenhouse Interiors.
StyleLab sees stylists create live installations at the trade fair using exhibitors’ wares, allowing visitors to watch a ‘set’ come together for themselves and then watch it transformed into something totally different the next day.
It’s 7 Vignettes time again this Sunday (1 December) and, it’s been a while, but I’ve decided to be the judge this month. I see it as a real treat!
Here’s the themes list (above) with all of them suggested by you, the reader, as requested last month. You may notice a subtle festive flavour!
And I have a great prize too, thanks to Lujo: two indoor beanbag chairs in your choice of colour, delivered to your door in time for Christmas (and who doesn’t need extra seats at Christmas?!) worth almost $600!
10 readers will win a styling masterclass (for them and a friend) with Jane Frosh from Cool Edie’s, a cooking class and dinner in Sydney!
I’ve teamed up with Electrolux to offer 10 lucky readers and their guests the chance to win an exclusive experience at the Electrolux Inspiration Kitchen; a place to be inspired by leaders in design, food and style.
This unique pop-up kitchen and dining space has been created to celebrate the launch of the new Electrolux Inspiration Range, inspired by more than 90 years experience designing cooking appliances for European homes and restaurants.
The lucky winners will attend a styling masterclass with Jane Frosh of Cool Edie’s, who will share her insider tips on styling your kitchen and entertaining spaces. The prize also includes an inspiring cooking masterclass. The masterclass will be followed by dinner, with the menu designed by Sydney caterers, Cook and Waiter.
1. A wedding planner or on-the-day co-ordinator can be a lifesaver! We used the lovely Katie Moore from Piccadilly Events. I was all over every detail of our wedding. I had spreadsheets and lists; LOTS of lists. So I wasn’t sure I really needed someone to help on the day (as well as my many generous friends who got stuck in) because I thought I’d already organised everything. Wrong! When there’s a wedding there is ALWAYS something else that needs doing! Katie was our wedding angel. So many guests commented on how fabulous she was.
As well as the million things she probably did that I knew nothing about, she took the flowers from the church to the reception, made sure everyone knew where they should be and when and made sure my dad had a torch to read his speech with (he was seriously nervous that his eyesight was going to let him down, although I was of course oblivious!). When I arrived at the church, she produced a small tin of M&Ms, offered them to me and said: “Sugar hit?” Brilliant! Katie came to our rehearsal too so she knew the plan for the day as well as I did (we merged our respective run sheets!) and who all the key players were. I thoroughly recommend having someone like Katie as a go-to girl on the day. I told everyone that if they had any issues at all they should go and speak to the girl in the yellow dress (yes, she even told me what she’d be wearing in advance).
And she did all of this IN HEELS.
2. While we’re on the subject of extra pairs of hands, the next thing I learned (after a while) is that it’s okay to ask for help.
By Helen Small
Choosing which artwork to buy is up to you, though sometimes I feel the art picks us. The simple answer is to choose something you like, something that makes you happy. It is less important if it’s an expensive original, affordable art from a gallery or a print that’s chosen, but what it says to you. Try to imagine yourself starting each day looking at your artwork. A serene landscape will ease you gently into the day ahead or maybe a big, bold abstract suits your personality more.
Colour is also a consideration when choosing what to buy. Most people will be instantly drawn to a particular colour, so trust your instinct. On styling a room around the artwork, you will have to decide which colour you want to reference. Being bold with colour will allow you to decorate in multiple shades of the one colour for all furniture and furnishings. Alternatively, stay with mostly neutrals and invest in pops of colour for accessories such as cushions, throws and ceramics. A textural artwork can be linked to the room by using rustic timber furniture, soft furnishings in chunky knits and woven baskets for storage.
By Michelle Ball
I’ve loved decluttering and styling since I can remember, so I thought I’d share my top tips on these 2 topics. I hope they help you!
Decluttering
I am not, and have never been a hoarder. I believe in the principal of letting go of excess, and as you do, even more beautiful things come into your home. In saying this, when we had to let go of all our belongings as part of the competition on House Rules and give them all to the Salvation Army, it was difficult for me. We boxed up all our photo albums and personal belongings, then any furniture in the house, including rugs, went.
Yes, it’s that time again! Already! 7 Vignettes October starts one week today and, thanks to Paint Place, you could win $180 of New Look paint and a brush and roller kit.
Here’s the themes list:
As we prepare for the unveiling of our Palm Beach apartment project at the end of the month, I asked Emma Blomfield of Nest Designs what special considerations need to be made when furnishing a holiday rental.
Durability and being easy to clean are 2 of the top, and less pretty and creative priorities when embarking on your holiday rental. “You never know who will be renting the apartment and when you might have families with children there for summer holidays, you can’t be sure how it will withstand a visit from sticky fingers or what will happen during a game of hide and seek,” says Emma. “Materials that should be avoided are things like glass top tables that aren’t secured, veneers — they are soft, dent easily and don’t withstand heavy duty cleaning agents that the cleaning company might use – and high gloss MDF as it scratches easily and ages faster.”
When it comes to flooring, hardwearing is key. Tiles, sisal carpet and timber floors are best. “There are loads of wool carpet options too that are commercial grade and come in a huge range of colours to suit your decor.”
Emma also had to think about easy and regular cleaning between guests. “I’ve chosen bench tops that have flecks of taupe and brown so any scratches or spills won’t be obvious. The sofa is scotch guarded to prevent spills staining and the rug is a jute material, making it easy to shake out to clean. Sisal carpet is good for disguising sandy footprints.”
You’re invited to get styling tips, take part in insider workshops and a design challenge when Temple & Webster jumps offline and brings its experience to life at the Better Homes & Gardens Live next weekend. Even better, they’ve given me 10 pairs of tickets to give away to the event.
As part of the Sydney expo, 2 dedicated spaces will be transformed by the Temple & Webster creative team using furniture and homewares, which you’ll be able to purchase from the website. Visitors will also have the opportunity to receive practical styling advice from the team behind its interiors shoots.During a styling session on the main stage, you’ll receive tips on how to style a variety of different home spaces, spanning from bedrooms to living areas, with easy to execute advice such as how to choose bedroom accents colours and how to style cushions.
I know it must often seem like everything happens in Sydney and Melbourne (let’s face it, a lot of it does) so I’m excited to share with you that super stylist Shannon Fricke is taking her workshops to WA!
Three workshops — How to Decorate, Styling 101 and Build Your Brand — will take place in both Perth and the Margaret River in November. More details and book here.
It was another amazing month and I was so glad to have Jacinta Preston on board as guest judge. She really got into the spirit of the thing and got involved. She also had the hard job of choosing the winner and runners-up which is something I try and avoid because I want everyone to win!
Anyway, without further ado, the overall winner is