White Spaces

It's a beautiful sunny day here is Sydney and I've just finished repainting my white concrete floors in the lounge room. Just in time for my boy's "Sports" birthday party tomorrow. 7 boys with their soccer boots on may not go down too well but at least it's easy enough to fix.

I was recently contacted by Design Shuffle about a guest post opportunity. Mari suggested she'd like to blog about White Spaces which I thought tied in very well with my Pinterest Board "White Spaces".  I love the freshness and clean lines of decorating with white. So I'll hand over to Mari to share some gorgeous decorating ideas.

Hello everyone! It's Mari here from Design Shuffle, a fabulous social networking site for designers and anyone who loves interior design. As a writer for Design Shuffle, I get to visit lovely and interesting blogs like Lilyfield Life to share some of my favorite rooms.

Today's post is all about white spaces you'll love. Whether your style is vintage, coastal or traditional, white paint and furnishings will be perfectly at home in just about any interior design—living room, dining room, bedroom or bath. We hope you will be inspired by the rooms we've brought to share. Please enjoy!

In coastal decorating we often see a blue or green color palette, but this beautiful seaside space is done in all white with just a bit of natural bamboo seen in some of the seating.

From coastal, we turn to glamorous in this elegant living room. When a space is dressed in all white, the entire look can be changed on a whim—cover the pink pillows in a purple and silver Ikat print and you have instant drama.

This inviting white space is filled with Scandinavian charm and appeal. Deeper creamy tones and sumptuous textures add warmth and cosiness to the pure whites.

How inviting is this lovely sitting area? Even the wall art is done in all white as only the toss pillows introduce a touch of another neutral colour.

White on white is a popular colour scheme for bathroom designs. This one is changed up a bit with soft grey paint that pulls the soft gray tones from the floor tiles.

A vintage bedroom looks so charming in white against worn wood flooring. I love the unexpected Adirondack chair and DIY painted chests and suitcases.

This spacious eat-in kitchen design is beautiful in all white and warm woods. The choice to include a black range works well with the white colour palette.

Looking for white dining room decorating ideas! This space is filled with charming inspiration from the slip-covered chairs to the quirky little chandelier. Images 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8

What are your thoughts on white spaces? Be sure to check out Design Shuffle! It's full of the best white space inspirations from the top Boston interior designers, San Diego interior designers and many others!

Thanks Mari, I love the ideas you've shared.  So crisp and clean with out being boring.  (and you'll have to forgive me for changing your American spelling to Australian/English!).

Have a great weekend and think of me tomorrow afternoon dealing with little boys, too much sugar and party games. I've even bought water bombs for fun on the trampoline.

cheers

Fiona

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Surgery and Stalled Projects

Our little girl had her adenoids out this morning. Such a brave patient. I found it quite distressing as she was coming out of the anaesthetic initially, but she soon calmed down and fell back asleep. We're back home now and she's snuggled up in bed with her daddy, both fast asleep. 

Before the surgery - so brave

  

and after still in recovery and all drugged. 

She's normally such a happy thing that it was difficult to see her like this below.

 

Thank goodness that this was minor, routine surgery. I don't know how parents cope seeing their kids seriously ill.

One project I was hoping to finish was this French Provincial Louis chair below. I bought it from a guy who was planning on restoring 11 of them. This one he'd painted in a white oil paint and then streaked over grey oil paint. The result from a distance looked okay but up close was actually just a dirty mess. 

I sanded the chair back and painted it a French blue and then a limed white. The upholstery job was quite good so I decided to leave it but he hadn't put any trim on. As he never gave me any material when I bought the chair, I couldn't make any piping. Instead I used some white gimp braid I had at home. Unfortunately I didn't check my quantities and I only had enough for the base of the chair. When I went to Spotlight to buy another packet I found out that this one has been discontinued. 

So what I was hoping would be a quick project is now more complicated. I will probably just pull off what I have done and replace it all with a different sort of braid.  Very frustrating.

And here is a before shot of a cabinet I'll be painting tomorrow as I'll be home with my daughter as she recovers. I'm debating turquoise but will probably end up going white on this one. The handles definitely will get replaced!

....Any suggestions?

I'll be posting more often in the next few weeks. I've just finished quite a major piece of work for some business clients and I don't have much on that horizon which is fine by me; and will give me time and energy to focus on the furniture front!

Here's to a speedy recovery for my little one.

cheers 

Fiona

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Watercolour Wednesday {Birds} and Pink and Grey Interiors

Today in my art class at Art Est, we painted birds. Of course I had to try a chicken as we have four in our backyard (Bucket, Cloud, Layla and Dr Eggbert) and we love them; and their fresh eggs.

Not the best as I should have used more raw sienna to lighten the chickens feathers. 

Then a little quick study of some small birds. 

I've no idea what these birds are called. 

Finch? Sparrow?

I then tried a galah. I'm reasonably happy with this. 

First I used watercolour paper.

 

zoomed in

 

and then again but slightly different. The legs in a different position and I used watercolour paint on canvas which gives a completely different look. I still need to darken up the branch to balance the tones out.

I didn't think I would enjoy the subject today but it was quite lovely. Especially the pinky greys of the galah.  

I'm not really a pink girl myself but I do like pink when it's balanced out with grey. It's very popular in interior design also.

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Not that I have any pink in my house. What do you think? Do you decorate with pink? What does your husband say?

Have a lovely day
cheers 
Fiona

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Some Small Projects

I've had a busy few weeks with my business consulting clients as well as selling some furniture and finishing small projects in my home.  I really love the variety in my work and home life. I may rush from one varied task to another but at least I never get bored!

Here are a couple of things I wanted to share:

A few paintings: I found this painting amongst some other old ones I painted years ago. It's a copy of Georgia O'Keefe's poppy. It's A3 size.  O'Keefe's is much more vibrant red than this version and hers isn't watercolour.

Last week I didn't post about my Watercolour Wednesday. We painted landscapes from photos and magazines. Landscapes in watercolour can be tricky with how much detail to include (or leave out). I really struggle with them especially the way our the our teacher is teaching us to paint - loose quick paintings without overworking the paint.  Here is one that I was happy with. A view across a beach and a building and trees on the shore.

I also found a few good things up at the Rozelle markets on Sunday. A lovely little candle holder that is gold currently but will be white. It is actually nicely antiqued but I'm really not a fan of gold so it'll be white as soon as I have a day at home for projects.

You can also see in the photo above a new French table cloth I bought at the Fox Studio Farmers markets. There's a stall there that sells lovely table clothes and baskets imported from France. This 8 seater tablecloth is a lovely thick weave and was only $58.  I actually bought the tablecloth to cut up and upholster some French chairs I have.  Watch this space.  

Although the tablecloth is very nice on the table, isn't it?

I also made over a little dressing table/ piano stool.

  
and before

and I thought I'd share a great idea for an outdoor light. This is at my sister's place. She had this lovely old spade for ages and when she moved into her house she put this up as a light shade. 

Just gorgeous!

cheers 

Fiona

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What You Love

Recently I had a comment on one of my posts:

Really nice photos Fiona - Thank you also for the posts and other photos you put up - it is great to see someone who actually does things she likes! Big hug! Mirkka xx 

I've been wanting a quote on my chalkboard for some time but couldn't decide. After Mirkka's comment, I was inspired!

This morning, chalk pen in hand, I did this:

That quote speaks volumes doesn't it!

have a happy Sunday!

cheers 
Fiona

The Boutique Markets, Sydney

I had a great morning at The Boutique Markets. They are wonderful craft markets that travel around Australia's capital cities.  Today they were in Sydney, so I rounded up a couple of friends and we spent the morning browsing.  Kid free, coffee in hand and lots of home made goodies to look at.   

My sort of morning....

I was delighted to meet Ness from Marley & Lockyer. She is so creative and has a lovely range of vintage linen cushions and clay tags.  I picked up a few little clay tags that I'll use on presents (if I can part with them, or they may just end up on my pin board).  Head on over to Ness' blog for a look at her products and gorgeous house in Hobart.

and the little ones I bought -so lovely. 

I also ordered a lampshade for my son's rooms from the girls at Nite Owls. The have a seriously good range of reasonably priced cute lampshades and other stuff. The design and print their own range so you can customise your order. I have ordered a London skyline scene similar to the one below but without the word "London" and I want a white material with dark inky blue buildings.  

 

I have decided I'm getting rid of the Ikea desk in my boy's room. He never uses it as he'll draw and do his homework at the dining table and it ends up just being a dumping ground. ... and, seriously, I restore and paint vintage furniture - what am I even doing with an Ikea desk in my house anyway!  In it's place I'm going to do one of my Union Jack pieces.  I have sold 2 of these so I think I'll make one for keeps.  The London skyline lamp will sit on the Union Jack dresser. 

I also bought some very cute fridge magnets from Two Hoots.  Little babushkas.     Two Hoots is a mother and daughter team from Taree (coastal NSW) who both work full time and make gorgeous stuff in their spare time. Lots of beautiful babies stuff and really cute kids hats. I would have bought one of them but both my kids have really big heads and I always have trouble getting children's hats to fit them. 

I refrained from buying some divine stationery from Monoco but they have beautiful extremely good quality stationery, cards and other paper items. 

I also loved the display of handmade clutch bags and necklaces from the SillierThanSally team. What a great name also. 

Next to the Boutique markets was the normal Saturday and Wednesday Fox Studio's Farmers' markets. I had to take a photo of this mound of mozzarella. Scrumptious! 

and this purple Statice. One of my favourite flowers. 

So if you live in Australia and are looking for lovely handmade stuff go to the next Boutique Markets or if you can't wait or are overseas you can go to the website where you can link through to these stall holders online shops. Don't you love people's creativity!

Have a good weekend

cheers 

Fiona