There’s a new shop on Sydney’s Northern Beaches and it’s absolutely full of lovely, mainly vintage, homewares and props!
Urban Rustic opened in Newport a month ago and is proving a hit. With so many other gorgeous homewares and furniture shops in the surrounding area, it adds to what is already a great destination for interiors addicts.
Many artists never make a viable business from their talent and passion. It’s a tough gig. But former school teacher Emma Cleine is bucking that trend with Lumiere Art + Co and her story is inspiring. Today, she shows us inside her charmingly understated Mornington Peninsula home and tells us about making what she loves into her full-time job.
I’ve watched the Lumiere Art + Co brand go OFF in the last year and recently had the pleasure of meeting Emma. Her work is now very recognisable due to it being stocked by some amazing retailers and featured on the recent series of The Block Sky High. She’s now branched into homewares too with her textiles and ceramics.
But Emma, who is based on the Mornington Peninsula, never thought this would be her full-time job. In her early days as a maker, she created paper bunting from vintage books and sold it at markets. “That’s how I started! Oh, and paper covered blocks. They were cute and took me a long time to make. From there I just moved on to other things.”
The Block All Stars winner Amity Dry is joining Adelaide stylists Cain & Markus so she can finally give people interiors advice in their own homes.
Amity and husband Phil Rankine won the hearts of Australia when they took out first place on Channel 9’s The Block All Stars earlier this year. Amity’s decorating style and eye for design was popular with both the public and the judges and her and Phil won more challenges, rooms and prize money than any other couple on the series. Neale Whitaker praised their Hamptons inspired home and declared that “Phil and Amity are creating the house I want to live in.”
Those attending Megan Morton’s science of styling workshops in Melbourne in October will experience award-winning design firm Hecker Guthrie’s headquarters.
“It’s a once in a lifetime opportunity for design and styling lovers to take my class in a never-been-open-to-the-public before setting as well as having the bonus of being co-hosted by the Interior Designer of the Year himself, Mr Paul Hecker,” Megan says.
The first ever Interiors Addict reader event was a great success on Friday night with a huge turnout of around 150 people and a fun evening had by all at BoConcept’s Crows Nest showroom in Sydney.
Readers even flew in from Western Australia, South Australia and Victoria specially so as not to miss out and it was a full house of creative interiors addicts, many of them enjoying meeting each other in real life after bonding on Instagram.
Today I’m really excited to tell you about a décor product that will help you transform affordable or secondhand furniture into something truly fabulous, unique and expensive looking. And it’s just been brought to Australia.
These lightweight, decorative fretwork panels come in several patterns and sizes. They are paintable and easily attach to furniture, mirrors, walls and glass. I’ve seen O’verlays on American blogs for years and thought they were amazing but could never find someone to deliver them to Australia. Luckily for me, Sydney-based Therese Tarlinton has now brought them here. At about $20 per panel, I think they’re going to be ridiculously popular!
I have an exciting new project to share with you today and I’ll be sharing it with you from start to finish over the next few weeks! A few months ago, I was approached by Judith Webster, who had just bought an investment property on Sydney’s Northern Beaches, to help her style and decorate it and share the process with my readers.
I loved the idea of course, but with a wedding to organise and not actually being a stylist or interior designer, I thought I decided to pass this project on to my friend Emma Blomfield at Nest Designs, knowing what a great job she’d do. One of you will get the chance to win a weekend away at the apartment once it’s finished! Sound good? Yes, I thought so!
Work has just begun, with a a thorough clearout and paint job and plans for a new kitchen and flooring. Today I’m sharing Emma’s moodboards for each room with you.
Judith, who first met me when she came to my blogging course at the Australian Writers Centre in Sydney, said: “Earlier this year I bought a two-bedroom apartment at Palm Beach. It is in a small, resort style complex that was developed about 10 years ago for holiday stays. It’s right in the heart of Palm Beach with the beach, restaurants, boutiques and ferry all within walking distance.
Event masterminds AZB Creative have been hard at work creating the interior of this year’s MasterChef Dining & Bar Pop Up Restaurant, opening its doors in Sydney tomorrow.
Following the great success of the first MasterChef Dining & Bar, Alex Zabotto-Bentley and his team of designers and stylists have been working hard to make this year’s execution even bigger and better and they’ve shared a glimpse behind the scenes with us today. It’s a mammoth task, with two iconic locations (in Sydney at Circular Quay, and Melbourne, for the first time, on the rooftop of the Crown).
Oh, what a wonderful eighth round of 7 Vignettes it was! and I’m delighted to announce the overall winner and 10 runners up, as judged by Alexandra Kentmann from Freedom.
The first prize, of a chevron Freedom chair, goes to professional organiser Sarah Shanahan, from Adelaide. Alexandra said: “I have a real weakness for colour, bright hits of colour woo me every time. Plus Sarah’s shots have a real authenticity which I find appealing. Plus the vignette including her children’s works; well that gave me a cute attack, and pretty well sealed the deal.”
As I may have mentioned a few times, I’m currently planning my wedding (less than 3 months — eek!) and you may not be surprised to hear that I’m all about the decor and the styling of the reception.
I’ll be honest with you: I’ve put a lot more thought into what the tables will wear than what I’ll wear! Much as I love my reception venue and its location, when I saw its outdoor furniture, I knew it just HAD TO GO (or at least be removed for my big day!). In my online search for replacement furniture I stumbled across Vintage Patina, who are new to Sydney but by no means new to props, collecting and weddings! Their website is great and actually lists almost everything they have for hire with prices (why can’t more people do this?!) but you can’t beat seeing things in the flesh so off I went to their Gladesville space with my friend Emma, who is helping me with the styling.
There’s a new wedding registry on the block and it’s all about styling your home, with ex Belle interior design editor Imogen Naylor on board to help newlyweds on their decorating journey.
“We are different in almost every way from traditional registries,” says co-founder Jacqui Scruby. “But the main difference is our style proposition – that a couple’s wedding registry should ‘style their home’ and make Pinterest dreams become a reality.”
I’m so excited! Only seems a couple of weeks ago (probably because it was) that a few members of our 7 Vignettes Instagram community asked if we could perhaps have a meet up. Like, in real life. And now, I’m delighted to announce it’s happening on Friday 23 August.
Judging by the buzz and the sense of the community we have online, I can only imagine how fun it might be to meet some of you in person! What’s more, Belle’s interior designer editor, the hugely talented stylist Steve Cordony, will be doing a demonstration on how to style vignettes. Learn from the master!
This is all made possible thanks to our friends at Danish furniture store BoConcept and the event is taking place at its stunning Crows Nest showroom in Sydney, with support from Belle. On the night there’ll be food and drink, fabulous goodie bags, and a live styling competition, which you can choose to take part in.
It’s that time again! One week until the next round of 7 Vignettes starts on 1 August. The first prize is this taupe chevron chair worth $399 from Freedom. But there are 10 runner up prizes too!
I think you could easily incorporate this piece into most homes, in a living room or bedroom, don’t you? That’s the beauty of taupe!
Whether or not you’re a horsey person is not the point. If you love fun and gorgeous things, head down to stylist Megan Morton’s The School for the Horses Birthday Fete next month!
Did you know all horses celebrate their birthday on 1 August (in the Southern Hemisphere anyway)? I didn’t, and I’m loving this discovery! To celebrate, The School is putting on a serious show over the weekend of 3 and 4 August. “Even if you have been to a Horses Birthday Fête before, I promise you this one will be different,” says stylist Megan, and you just know she means it!
Pinch punch first of the month, it’s 7 Vignettes time again! And it’s my birthday today. Happy birthday to me! Don’t forget, the awesome prize is your own personalised stationery set by The Story of Us, so give it your best shot!
Everything you need to know for this month is here, and about the photo challenge in general if you’re a newcomer (welcome!) is here. Best of luck!
Stylist Samantha White shares her top tips for using flowers in your home or at your next event and these photos of her work. From combining focal flowers and filler flowers, to changing the water every 2 days, to using foliage, there’s bound to be a nugget of useful information for everyone.
1. Instead of using traditional vases for arranging flowers, try bringing a little personality to your arrangements in a design theme.
2. Using your favourite homewares or quirky vintage pieces with your blooms is a fun and interesting way to add style to your home. Our rusty vintage typewriter and Art Deco birdcage are perfect accessories for floral styling.
I was delighted when The Home asked me to pick some of my favourite products for a special winter warmer sale (starting today) and to join them on a photoshoot on location to bring them to life. Isn’t the end result stunning? I’m so in love with this clever photo!
I headed straight to some of my favourite places, like Cadrys rugs and Have You Met Miss Jones to pick some cosy and colourful items. I’ve always loved the look of layered rugs but never tried this in my own home so it was fun to pick several to work together. I think this shoot goes to show that mix and match can totally work, and it’s all about contrast and texture. And how about that lamp? I’m buying one of those babies for myself!
As for these beautiful images, a LOT of hard work and talent went into them behind the scenes, which I got to watch, but cannot take any credit for (apart from putting the flowers in the vase and making the tea for the cup on the tray…)! Joining me at the gorgeous property in the Hunter Valley were The Home’s stylist Marj Silva, photographer Lisa Zhou and buyer Emma Blomfield (also stylist at Nest Designs). They made that picture happen, and no, it really isn’t glamorous! Unless of course you count climbing on scaffolding and holding boards up on the other side of windows to stop pesky sun rays coming through and spoiling the shot glamorous!
Here’s Shantel Ross’s gorgeous entry for the gold theme:
Guest judge Suzie Atkin, of Urban Road, had a hard job deciding. Good job it was long weekend! “I was blown away by all of the amazing entries and just thrilled to see so much talent, it was a visual feast! I found it very difficult to select just one winner but there was something about the vignettes of eatlivelaugh that I just adore. So creative and visually just stunning, I love each and every entry. They all work together beautifully and the rustic vintage feel they have is divine.”
Suzie and I both loved her gold entries (of which there were 3!) the best. In fact, that was my favourite day of this month’s challenge. So many sparkly, glamorous images! Which was your favourite theme of the week?