Ideas Blog
Adding a Pop of Colour – Art
It's a staple of interior design for main surfaces to be decorated in more neutral tones, forming a background that can be enhanced with other elements. Doing things this way makes it quick and easy to change the feel or focus of the room. Artwork is a great way to...
Bedroom Trends – Mother Nature
Many mental health gurus are big on the benefits of interacting with nature. While not everybody has access to nature right outside their front door, a very popular trend in bedroom interiors recently has been bringing nature to you instead. Biophilic design, as it's...
Furniture – the Forgotten Cost Part 3
In the first two instalments of this series, I talked about remembering to allow for the cost of furniture when planning your new space. This included furnishing your home on a shoestring budget, and how to get the best bang for your buck. This time, we're going to...
Colour Scheme Trends for 2023
Personally, I love colour, so I haven't been a big fan of many of the recent monochromatic trends for interior design. I'm excited that this year we're seeing a big shift back towards strong colours. Maybe we all just need cheering up after the last few dreary years,...
Making Small Spaces Look Bigger – Flooring
When you first walk into a space, the flooring is one of the biggest factors in how big the room looks. It's easy when you start with a big room, but there are some flooring tricks you can use to make your space look bigger. As a starting point, use the same flooring...
Renovation Value Adds – Lighting Part 3
In previous instalments, I've focused on the practical things you can do to add value to your renovation through lighting, such as changing light fittings or switches. This time around I want to focus on the feelings you create with lighting. This is an incredibly...
Vignettes – The Power of Contrasts
I've often talked about grouping items with a common theme, or the same item in different sizes etc. Sometimes, though, you want a little more variety in your items. It's a fine art to take a group of contrasting items and make them work in a space. So let's take a...
Colour of the Year 2023
The festive season is upon us, and it's time to start looking ahead to 2023 and what colours are predicted to be on trend. It's actually quite interesting this year. Two of the leading lights in this space are Pantone and Coloro + WGSN. Pantone predicts colours for...
Creating an Awesome Al Fresco Area Part 5 – Weather
If you're going to the trouble of incorporating an al fresco area into your home, then it makes sense to ensure you can use it for as much of the year as possible. Which means thinking about weather!In particular, sun and rain. Work out the direction of the sun, and...
Bedroom Trends – Flexibility
There's no doubt that over the last couple of years more of us have needed to find ways to better utilise the spaces in our home. This can be something of a challenge in the bedroom. If you need to have a desk in your bedroom, then you don't want to have a background...
Making Small Spaces Look Bigger – Colours
When you're living in a smaller space, there are two approaches you can take. You can aim to make the space feel cosy and intimate, or you can aim to open the space up and make it feel as large as possible. I'm going to focus on the latter, starting with the basic...
Creating an Awesome Al Fresco Area Part 4 – Cooking
Aussies have always had a thing about barbecues in the backyard, which has now translated into a desire for cooking facilities in their al fresco areas. Those cooking facilities may well include a barbecue, but many are essentially a smaller version of the indoor...
Bedroom Trends – Sanctuary
Given the stressful state of life for most of us over the last couple of years, the importance of having a place where you can go to feel both calm and relaxed has become a huge focus of bedroom trends. This is particularly the case when working from home. Often the...
Colour and Interior Design – Cream and Ivory
Monochromatic colour schemes have been the darlings of the design world for a while now, but some people want something a little warmer and friendlier for their spaces. Welcome back cream and ivory! Depending on how old you are, you may remember the era when the...
Creating an Awesome Al Fresco Area Part 3 – Shade
It doesn't matter where you live in Australia, there are going to be times of the year when being outside in the sun gets uncomfortable fast. Providing shade to your al fresco area is a great way to make the space usable for a larger portion of the year. If you live...