No parking allowed

Yes, our media room used to be a drive-down garage, but that all changed back in the '80's sometime (way before we bought the house) when, in a rather hare-brained scheme, the old owners bricked up the garage door and filled in the driveway to create a v. dingy basement apartment. Oh, it was a delightful surprise when we discovered that that there was only one layer of bricks and some rotten chipboard holding back all the in-fill, take a look here, which meant we had to do a major bit of re-construction.

Fast-forward to now and things are all peachy - That's a Gus* Carter sectional sofa, silk velvet pillows and woven cane hassocks from Constantine, and a fab hand-knotted floor cushion from Bev Hisey. The striped velvet curtains have been discontinued at Ikea, but you can still get your hands on the Kvartal curved curtain rail, as well as the wall-mount Besta Burs DVD storage (topped with a few of my fave collectibles). On the other side of the room you'll catch a white leather tufted chair, an end table, and more of the shaggy rayon rug, all from Elte. Then there's more of that great Ikea Besta media storage, working both as a stand for the LCD TV, and mounted on the wall (we had fun tricking it out with Dioder LED lighting strips). The paint colour is Palais Royal by the no-longer-available Ralph Lauren Paint line from Home Depot. And, thanks again to Angus Fergusson for doing such an outstanding job in shooting the house for House & Home!

Saying no to sisal

I'm lucky enough to have a great client/friend that I really enjoy working with, and who has a brilliant sense of style (yay!). So far we're nearing completion on her master bedroom, living and dining room - pics soon, promise - but what I wanted to share was her stairwell. Out came the boring beige wool sisal stair runner, and in went this wool wilton graphic stunner. It's a David Hicks by Ashley Hicks pattern called Hexagon House II, which we scored at Elte, that looks just great with the home's original dark wood detailing. And, funnily enough, the very same Hicks pattern makes an appearance in my own place in chenille on an upholstered headboard. Hmmm, I guess it's a bit of a fave!

Going with Vandyke in the bedroom

The last few days have been nailbitingly bananas. I've basically been living on Hershey's new Milk Chocolate, and let me just say there's been plenty to go around, lol. This is all, of course, for the chocolate inspired hotel suite I've been working on with Karen Sealy.

After the carpet was ripped out Sunday night, and the bedroom was wallpapered with this Graham & Brown paintable paper, the painters stepped in early Monday morning and lickety-split primed the old vinyl wallcovering in the living room and then painted throughout (I went with Para's Steamy Hot Chocolate for the bedroom, which is absolutely perfect in so many ways!). Then it was time for the carpet to show up and I get a phonecall saying the truck has broken down - aaagh - though Carpet One was beyond brilliant in dispatching another truck to rescue the stranded wall-to-wall and keep us on schedule.

Tuesday was the the everything else day; a whack load of furniture from Elte, carts filled with frames and accessories from Ikea, and both myself and Karen showed up with cars packed to the gills with bits and bobs. A few crazy hours later of non-stop lugging, unpacking, tidying , installation of drapes (thanks inVU!) and ironing of bedding - one of my least favourite things - my room was done and looking, imho, pretty darned peppy. Both spaces were shot this morning, so I'll be posting the snaps soon, but in the meantime I wanted to spill part of the beans and show the furniture line I picked for the bedroom. I love its handsome modern lines, great proprtions and on-trend brushed brass detailing; though my fave surprise is when you pull open a drawer and discover it's painted a zingy tomato red inside. The Vandyke line by Mitchell Gold+ Bob Williams is available at Elte. And oh, you just have gotta try the Hershey's Black Cherry and Almond bar (it totally rocks out).