Top Rooms of 2011 from Australia

Here are some of my favorite spaces from Australia's Top 50 Rooms from 2011.

I love indoor/outdoor areas and rooms that maximize on good views - with or without water views - and natural light. I am a fan of eclectic elements and woods of different colors that contribute to the warmth of a space. I like low seating (casual feel) and pops of colors and in some of these the turquoise and greens are beautiful. I also absolutely love spaces where there is room for books - no matter where they are displayed.

All images courtesy of Australian House and Garden.

To view the entire Top 50 Rooms of 2011 go here.

Which one is your favorite?

If you require any help with Interior Decorating please click on the tab at the top of my page marked 'Services' or click here for further details.

I would love for you to leave a comment. Thank you for stopping by; please do check back often.

Lisa

Guest Post on The Blooming Hydrangea

Today you will find me contributing as a guest on The Blooming Hydrangea as part of a fun series, The Blooming Blogger. I discovered Ange's blog not too long ago and enjoy her casual, witty style very much; it instantly drew me in as a regular visitor to her site.

Please hop on over to The Blooming Hydrangea to read more and let us know that you have visited.

If you require any help with Interior Decorating please click on the tab at the top of my page marked 'Services' or click here for further details.

I would love for you to leave a comment. Thank you for stopping by; please do check back often.

Lisa

Stationery Closet Part 2 - The Stenciling Begins

In my last post I talked about the initial plan for the closet in terms of decorating the interior walls. I chose to stencil. You could read about it here. That was Part 1. Today I will share with you Part 2 (of 3 or perhaps 4).

I emptied the closet and removed the shelves. I then proceeded to mix my paint samples, Behr's Tibetan Orange and Benjamin Moore's Honeywheat. I have a supply of Zoo Pals disposable paper plates for when littler kids visit and these plates do occasionally come in useful for my mini projects. I used this little creature this particular day because the orange in the ears tied in to the orange paint and I like to keep everything coordinated when I am working on a project. Actually, I was kidding..it is just a coincidence but it does look pretty with that bubble gum pink face, doesn't it?

I noticed a few scuff marks in spots which I decided to clean up with Mister Magic as I was not planning to paint the walls. They are, for the most part, in fine condition.

I brought out a couple of sponge brushes from my small stockpile, a measuring tape for basic measuring and some Scotch Blue tape to hold the stencil in place. I did soak and scrub the stencil after initial use although it still looks discolored - it was technically clean. (Should have had the light on for this picture).

The work begins...this was fun. I had mentioned in the earlier post that I wanted to get a wood-blocked effect and so I proceeded to stencil with a sponge brush. I held it perpendicular to the wall; light jabs.

First one done.

Stencil removed. A closer view. As you can see there is slight bleeding in a couple of spots but I like it like that.

On to the next one. I started this time on the left.

 Right-hand bottom corner and so on...

Then I decided to work the stencil pattern upward from the middle.

My pattern was determined as I got further into the stenciling. Sometimes it is easier to have a pattern in mind before starting but I was not fussed about that and knew it would fall into place. If you have been following my blog for a while you will know that this is how I sometimes do my home projects.

A closer look at multiple sunflowers. So far so good.

Well, naturally, I did not leave it at that. More pictures to follow soon. Have a great weekend!

 

If you require any help with Interior Decorating please click on the tab at the top of my page marked 'Services' or click here for further details.

I would love for you to leave a comment. Thank you for stopping by; please do check back often.

Lisa

Please Note: I have not been compensated in any way for this post.

Linking up to

Party at Simple Home Life

Finding Fabulous

Chic on a Shoestring

Be Colorful

The Stationery Closet - A Small Project - Part 1

Some weeks ago I had shared this picture with you of a mini project I was doing in the house.

I have been working on Isabel's room a little at a time. The walls used to be painted in Benjamin Moore's Cotton Candy, a very girly pink which the girls themselves had chosen when they were littler. A year ago she chose Behr's Harmonious, a relaxing medium blue as a change for when the room became her own and in anticipation of turning thirteen.

We decided the accent colors would be orange and cream or white with a litte black, of course, to ground the room.

Of the two closets in that room I have converted one into a shared stationery closet for the girls. It holds their old music books as well as used colored folders from previous grades that can be reused. It also holds printer paper, pencils, some kids' craft supplies and so on. I connected the huge printer to an outlet outside the closet so that it sits on a shelf within and does not take up space nor is it an eyesore on the desk outside. This picture gives you a view of the inside on a typical day before I organized it further therefore the items are a little haphazard.  

To the left of the printer is an old Pottery Barn Kids lamp which, again, I connected to the outlet outside so that the kids have sufficient lighting when printing. Any lighting in a closet is a bonus. It was a simple solution and the lamp was a spare.

I wanted to incorporate the blue and orange colors of the room somehow into this closet. I have seen some great decorative work done within closets and thought this would be a perfect space to work on. A few months ago I had ordered this Moroccan Sun Flower stencil from Royal Design Studio because I liked the floral pattern. I decided to use this as each flower is a good size (7.5" x 7.25") and would make a perfectly fun yet bold statement in an otherwise regular utilitarian closet.

I keep all my paint samples as they are useful for little projects. I had these two samples from the Behr in Tibetan Orange (for something else, possibly) and Harmonious(from when we were sampling colors for the room.

I experimented with color combinations on paper, trying to decide whether to combine both the colors or do all orange or all blue.

The Tibetan Orange is a deeper orange (closer to red) than I was looking to use in this space.

I combined another paint sample, Benjamin Moore's Honeywheat, and mixed it with the orange to obtain a lighter and brighter hue.

I loved the color - it has enough punch. I also thought this pattern would look good in a wood-blocked effect.

I will show you the work I did on the closet in my next post so stay tuned!


Linking up this post to Passionately Artistic and the party at Savvy Southern Style

If you require any help with Interior Decorating please click on the tab at the top of my page marked 'Services' or click here for further details.

I would love for you to leave a comment. Thank you for stopping by; please do check back often.

Lisa

Please Note: I have not been compensated in any way for this post.

Happy New Year And Looking Back At The Year I Discovered Blogging

Happy New Year to all those who are still following me. I have not posted in over a week as I have been extremely. I hosted seven dinners in eight weeks and the last one was last night for New Year's eve. I have also been setting up a new laptop for myself while passing on my old one to one child and her computer to the youngest. One of my resolutions for this year is to be more efficient with my posts.

I wanted to begin the year with a recap of some of my popular posts from 2011, the year I discovered blogging, with a promise to share much more. I started this site at the end of May 2011 and on a good week have probably been able to publish three posts. Here are a few posts, click on the title to read further.

House Sneak Peek

The Entryway

Decorating the living room with turquoise and teal accents.

Decorating the mantle in the living room.

Chandelier makeover

The kids' canvas artwork

Living room mood board with Spherica wallpaper as inspiration

A Dining Room Mood Board with Lenox Fine China Chirp Collection as inspiration

Nursery Design Board with Safari decal as inspiration

Beside client work, some of my house projects I plan to share this year are the dining room redecorating, the guest room and some of my study.

Whether you leave a comment or choose not to, I do appreciate the visits to my site. I have some regular readers who are not familiar with blogs and how to follow. I shall do a post on that very soon.

Thank you, once again, for your continued support and I wish you all a happy and healthy 2012.

If you require any help with Interior Decorating please click on the tab at the top of my page marked 'Services' or click here for further details.

I would love for you to leave a comment. Thank you for stopping by; please do check back often.

Lisa