Interior Design

After my recent post on the  quick makeover on my mothers kitchen , I wanted to follow up with another room makeover, this time one of her favourite spots, the sun room. However, this room was also a place for my mothers large upright freezer, 2 sofas, three chairs, a coffee table and lots of ornaments and pictures. Looking beyond the clutter I could still see the perfect extra living space that would help sell her home. When re-decorating a place to sell, think, "de-clutter", which was the first thing I did in respect of this room.  I know my mother wouldn't like me using the word clutter, but seriously when most of the surface area has either furniture, vases, pictures or ornaments, there is only one word "clutter." I began by removing 80% of the items and left approximately 20%. I decided to paint the dark faux wood panelling a neutral white (Resene Ricecake) to create a sense of more space. I painted the ceiling and woodwork around the wi...

A few weeks ago I saw a fabulous French style home in a local realty paper, immediately I shrieked out to my husband "come and look at this! I was so excited as the interior style was exactly the way I had foreseen my dream home. I have a file on my book shelf, titled "Home Ideas", it's full of ideas I've collected from interior magazines, nearly every image is inspired by all things French or country style and we are now at a stage in our lives of possibly realising this dream. Initially thoughts were a hectare of land where I could have some chickens a lovely large veggie garden and a small paddock. However, living so near the city, but still close to the beach we are not sure we are ready for a complete lifestyle change. We love living a short walk from the Mission Bay beach but it was hard to imagine how I could realise my dream on a small city section, that was until, I saw this amazing home.  This house without a doubt has wow factor plus and I am excited t...

Over the past few days our blue Autumn skies seemed to have turned to grey, however, the sea and sand still lure me to the beach most days to walk Poppy. Last Tuesday was the most perfect Autumn day, sea glistening like a mill pond, Poppy and I strolled along the sand looking at all the pretty shells forming patterns on the beach, maybe this is why I wanted to share this pretty seaside home I discovered this week. Bleached and white painted floors immediately remind me of seaside cottages and my childhood at the beach. I would love to have my cottage floorboards sanded and white washed and seriously thinking of doing this next summer when I can move my furniture out and hopefully re-do one room at a time. The owners of this pretty home have used weathered textures, both fabric and wood along with innovative decorator pieces such as white pebbles in the fireplace place and the rustic burlap coffee sack used to create a window valence.  Isn't the small boat great! what a brilli...

I am not sure if you are familiar with the fact that I'm a born and bred London girl, yes, I am a true Cockney without the accent. Apparently if you are born within the sound of  "Bow Bells" then you are considered worthy of being a cockney and I was privileged to be born only a short distance away. However, at the age of 6 my parents looking for greener pastures, whisked me far away to other side of the world to New Zealand (Aotearoa, meaning land of the long white cloud). Over my lifetime I have been lucky enough to return to London many times and whenever I'm there I feel like a kid in a candy store. I remember once standing in a side street in Chelsea with my list of "to do's" and so excited I couldn't decide which direction to go first. There are so many fabulous stores in London, many we are familiar with such as Harrods and Liberty's, however there are some amazing smaller stores that are worth visiting and with the ease of the underground...