Feature Home: Moody, Glamorous Apartment

I thought this apartment, designed by Kelly Deck, was the perfect example of an ultra modern interior, that was glamorous, yet not cold.

Kelly's use of strong neutrals, luxurious textures and a mix of metallic and natural finishes gives this apartment some character. It seems like the perfect inner city pad. What do you think?

All photos designed by Kelly Deck. Images via Style at Home.

New fabric for armchairs & layering rugs

So, what do you think. It's hard to see with my terrible photos kills but it has a lilac-blue background, burnt orange outlines and a kind of 'elephant grey' as well. Reminds me of Christmas baubles!

Here's the chairs before. They are looking a little bit scruffy here after sitting in the garage for months but I will give them a clean up.

I highly recommend chairs like these to anyone that can find them (these are antique). They have one seat, attached by four screws, which makes them ridiculously easy to reupholster. I've owned these chairs for about two years and they have already had four different fabrics. Whenever I feel like changing the room slightly, I reupholster these chairs with two metres of fabric, change a couple of cushions, and end up a completely different room.

I'm not happy with how close the rug colour is to the creamy floor tiles, so I'm thinking about layering another larger rug underneath (maybe in the dark grey-brown from the chairs). The room really needs a stronger colour to ground it, and a larger rug as well. Something like this...

Via Southern Exposure.

Designer Thom Filicia.

Crate & Barrel. Via Design + You.

Via Design + You.

Navy, orange...purple? My living room

Guess what! The ongoing, never ending, time sucking mini renovation of my downstairs area is...actually...finished. I spent the weekend painting the ceiling, walls and window frames, and it is actually done. I have to keep running downstairs to check it is still there.

And now, finally, I can move onto the decorating part! The defining point of the colour scheme for this room will be my Moroccan rug. It's a large orange antique kilim I bought in the Atlas mountains and lugged it around in my backpack (which it almost entirely filled) for a month.

Until now, I haven't had a living room big enough to put it in. But now, I have to come up with a colour scheme.

It looks a little like this...

Except much larger (about 1800x2500?) and it has stripes in softer orange, burnt orange and pale blue. Because the rug is old it is very faded and the colours are more of the washed out, dusty variety than this rug.

Originally, I was thinking orange and brown, like this moodboard I came up with. Then while the rug was packed away I began to think it was more coral than orange really and I got excited by a coral and charcoal grey colour scheme.


Ha, when I pulled out the rug yesterday, it was definately orange. Not coral, burnt orange. Not to mention the fact that I had to move my navy sofa downstairs.

Now the obvious scheme here is bright orange and navy, like this...

Via Style at Home 

As much as I love this room and it's bold summery feel, I wanted something softer. So, back to the old colour wheel I went and came up with purple! Not bright purple, or moody purple..a pretty soft, dusty lilac.

I think it will work well with the dusty orange and navy, and I found the perfect fabric at Spotlight. Will post pictures tomorrow!

A beautiful Australian magazine for parties: Fete

For those of you who love entertaining, make sure you check out the latest online magazine to Australia, Fete. Although they don't have a full website up yet, the first issue is online and it is simply stunning. Lots of beautiful ideas for everything from Christmas lunch to children's birthday parties, with decor, gift and menu ideas.

The text has the warmth and personality of a lovely blog but the images are straight from your favourite magazines.

Here are a couple of my favourite images, but make sure you visit their website to read the whole issue...

Feeling inspired by...Kelly Green walls

Kelly green has been one of the "it" colours over the last couple of years, and I'm sure anyone who reads blogs would recognise this kelly green and white kitchen from Domino magazine.





Originally from Domino Magazine.
Found at Apartment Therapy.

It's a bold colour to put anywhere in your house, let alone slap it all the walls, but I've found a few rooms which have obviously been designed by bold souls who prove that kelly green can look amazing, no matter your style.

Designed by Cortney and Robert Novogratz .
Found at The Well-Appointed Catwalk.

  

Home of Ali Pincus (founder of One Kings Lane).
Found at the Huffington Post.

  

Originally from House to Home.
Found at Happy Habitat.

Designed by Sherill Canet.
Found at The Lennoxx.

Probably more of a "Grass Green" but still bold!
Designed by Denise Fogarty. Via House of Turquoise.

Designed by Erinn Valenich. Found at HGTV.



Designer Unknown. Found at Elements of Style blog.



New Year's Resolution - Get a free moodboard

To celebrate the upcoming New Year (I know, I know, we have to get through Christmas first), I thought I'd do something fun and do a quick moodboard once a week, for a month, starting January 1st.

But, it's no fun doing a moodboard for an imaginary friend, so I'm asking for people to put their hand up and suggest a room and a style, or you can suggest a piece of furniture/art and I'll design a room around it.  Then I'll post each moodboard on the blog with links to the sources. So please, inspire me and leave a comment or send me an email with your fabulous ideas!

Fun, young and urban

Via Better Homes & Gardens.

I have a fun project coming up next year which will be all about fun and affordable design with a bit of an urban edge to it. I've been dying to do some work with this style and have been picturing lots of moody greys and browns, things on castor wheels, bold BRIGHT art and an eclectic mix of cushions and quirky accessories.

Here's a few pics to get you inspired...

Photographer: Simon Upton
Designer: Anne-Marie Midy and Jorge Almada
Via Elle Decor.

Photographer: David Glomb
Designer: Jeffrey Kerns
Via Elle Decor.

Designers Josh & Jenna from the Block.
Via Ninemsn Homes.

Featured in House & Garden Magazine.
Via Ninemsn Homes.

HGTV Green Home.
Found via Modern Furniture.

LA House Tour.
Via Apartment Therapy.

Via Laminex website.

Found here.

A 'Liebster' Blog Award

I was lucky enough to be nominated by TWO lovely bloggers to receive the Leibster award this week!


The first was from Shanna (and Jamie) at the gorgeous, sunny yellow blog 'Swoon Style and Home'. The blog is written by two sister-in-laws and is all about decorating their own homes, with craft ideas, DIY projects and general inspiration!


And the second nomination was from Olga at Stardust - Decor and Style, all the way from Athens. It's always fun to find a blog from so far away and with such lovely taste as well! Olga often features other bloggers fantastic projects so you will always some new blogs through her as well.


Liebster is German and means ‘dearest’ or ‘beloved’ but it can also mean ‘favorite’ and the idea of the Liebster award is to bring attention to blogs with less than 200 followers.


I now get the pleasure of drawing your attention to five other lovely bloggers to pass the award to...

Here I am Loulou
If you haven't met Loulou already, make sure you pop by her blog for a daily dose of inspiration, and to absorb some of her positive attitude. She often has lovely stories, inspirational quotes and even some gorgeous interior inspiration. Loulou was one of my very first followers and I think it was entirely her regular, lovely comments that kept me blogging!

The House on Chambers
B.x married a farmer and is currently renovating her home and designing a contemporary Aussie farmhouse. Her blog always has beautiful interiors with just the right mix of classic and modern style.

Gild and Grace
Abbey from Gild and Grace is from Melbourne, Australia and is always one of my go-to places for anything feminine, frilly or just plain pretty. Stop here for beautiful fashion, gorgeous interiors and other pretty things.

Monaco Interiors
Sarah from Monaco Interiors is based in the US who always features inspirational interiors along with the odd feature on fashion or food. Sarah's an interior designer so you can also get a sneak peek on her current projects and her own home.

Raiana S. Design
Rai's blog is still relatively new but I'm sure it's just a matter of time until she has lots of followers. She's starting on her interior design business and uses the blog to post inspirational rooms, as well as the progress on her newly purchased home (a fixer upper). Make sure you visit Rai's blog for elegant and glamorous interiors.

Submissions for a blog list

I want to create a long list of loveliness on my blog, featuring blogs of all styles, topics and locations. So I'm calling for some submissions!

What am I looking for? Basically, anything my readers and clients would love to read which includes;

- Interior decoration & styling, homewares & accessories 
- Renovation & home improvement
- New home builds
- Craft or scrapbooking
- Cooking
- Art

I am hoping to have them organised by country and by topic. I'm also hoping to feature a blog from the blog list once a fortnight, so make sure you're in there.

Please leave a comment or email me (contact@ethosinteriordesign.com) with:

- Your blog name.
- Your first name.
- Your blog category (from above).
- Your location.
- One sentence describing your blog, or yourself.

I'll be doing another list of online stores and Etsy shops so if you have a store that sells art, homewares, furniture or accessories please let me know:

- Store name.
- Your name.
- Type of products.
- Location (and where you ship to; nationally, internationally etc).
- One sentence description of your store's style.

I'm looking forward to discovering some new blogs and stores so please don't be shy!

And just so this post isn't too boring, here's a lovely house that's inspiring me this week...

Home of Designer Emily Ruddo. Via my pinterest. Originally found at The Lennoxx.

Best Rooms of 2011 - A selection of contemporary Aussie spaces

Here's another instalment of House and Garden's Top 50 rooms of 2011 for you. This time I've picked out a few of the simple contemporary spaces that very much speak of Australian style to me. They feature neutral colours, with lots of white and natural materials and would fit effortlessly in any Australian setting from the city, to the country, to the coast.

Alena Smith, Director, Smith Design Studio.

Andrew Waller, Director, Andrew Waller Design.

Caroline Pidcock, Director, Pidcock Architecture+Sustainability.

Helga ten Brummelaar, Project Director, DtB Architects.

Designed by Susi Leeton, Director, Susi Leeton Architects.

Yuri Dillon, Director, Liquid Blu.

So, is this more your style than the bold and bright rooms I featured last week?