Kids Artwork

Since my son hit his toddler years, his artwork has been taking over our house.
I love that having young children is the perfect excuse to embrace all that cheerful, colourful, not-quite-perfect aesthetic.  But I still love to display it in ways that work with the rest of the house.
This is one of my all-time favourite display ideas by designers/developers Robert and Cortney Novogratz from Nine by Design (have you seen that show - crazy! Their book, Downtown Chic is fantastic by the way).

They shrunk images of artwork by their (7!!) children and collaged it onto one big canvas.  It looks like it's worth thousands.

I love kid's art in a frame - especially grouped en-masse.  We have lots in our house.  Recently I suggested to a client looking for a temporary solution to cheer up her dining room that she compile a heap of her kids' artwork into white Ikea frames and hang them in a grid (I think hanging them symmetrically like that just makes it seem smarter and more considered?)

Here's some more of my favourite display ideas.

We have a similar system to this in our toyroom.  Ikea curtain rod and bulldog clips. Easy to hang and easy to change.

Gathering Inspiration

Sometimes we get so bogged down in the details that we I forget that the best things are simple.
My Facebook and Twitter streams are so jammed with images of over-styled rooms selling products and trends that it's easy to overlook the beauty of something much more raw.

Lucky for me, you don't get much more raw than Broome, sandwiched between the beach and the bush, it is a melting pot of natural contrast and colour and I am grateful to be exposed to both sides of it.  While my design world is almost exclusively centered around tropical and coastal vistas, the majority of our family income still relies on the bush.

Last week I spent some time out of town and even a long, mundane stretch of highway became cause for some graphic inspiration.

I also spent a day at one of the country's best eco-tourism resorts, where I'm extremely lucky and grateful to be working on a great project.  This is where raw beauty and great design co-exist at their best and I'm a little bit chuffed to put my very small stamp on it.

Next week I head to the big smoke for a spot of client shopping and my perspective will no doubt be shifted again.



PS. I'm a little bit obsessed with chronicling my every move via Instagram at the moment, so if by some miracle you are interested in what I'm looking at, you can follow me here.

PPS The Japanese term for raw design is "Wabi-Sabi" which translates to "seeing the beauty in imperfections".  I've always been a fan and you can read a column I recently wrote on it here

Decorating the Wabi-Sabi Way

(published in the Broome Advertiser 05/04/12 - click image to enlarge)

Image: SD Interiors

Image: Skona Hem

Image: Source unknown

Black and White is Always Right

I have a little obsession going on lately with black and white. It's that whole Hollywood Regency thing that never goes out of style.

Here's a little snippet of the black and white pieces that have crept their way into my house and work in the past few weeks:

I've had this zebra stool and geometric rug for a while, but I just bought some black and white striped fabric for curtains for the french doors!

I also bought this beautiful rug from Dash and Albert:

And then there was this lampshade for a client project:

I'm also working on a new client project that includes lots of black, white and neutrals - it's so, so stylish!