From "White to Bright"

 The Community Manager at Chairish; an exclusive, curator approved, online marketplace for vintage and used furniture asked me to come up with some mood boards to celebrate color.  She wrote, "We understand when choosing a color palette for a room, it can be hard to step away from basic neutrals, and going bold is a big decision.

 We'd love for you to share your taste for color by creating a style board around a vintage rug by taking a room from White to Bright!"

As someone who loves to reuse, refurbish and rethink, I was up for the challenge.

The website Charish.com is so full of amazing one of a kind finds, I was like a kid in a candy store!

As if I could make just one mood board?

So here are a few ways I would take a room from 

"White to Bright" using rugs I found on Charish.com.

When I help people style, I become their second set of eyes. 

I help them discover how to pull together items they already own.

All of the items I used for these mood boards are from the website Chairish.com.  

This website is the ultimate treasure trove and it is so easy to use.

Going from "White to Bright" doesn't always mean going crazy with color. I fell in love with this teal dresser on Chairish.com so I added the artwork to make the piece feel like it has a purpose.  The art was bright but sharp, so I used soft circles to oppose the harsh geometrics. 

These colors remind me of the lagoon on Lord Howe Island,

 where I just spent three heavenly weeks.  I am truly inspired by the beauty there.

This mood board is influenced by my love of retro items, as well as Kentia Palms from Lord Howe Island.  It combines the two to create a bright green environment that would make me 

so happy to work in.

These Rainbow Wrasse fish swam circles around my ankles everyday on Lord Howe.

  Their coloring is incredibly bright and this next mood board from "White to Bright" is certainly inspired by them.

I love for big ticket items to be versatile, which allows the use of bright colorful artwork and items without a huge commitment.  This vintage navy blue rug can be used for years to come!  Here, it is just one of the many colors used to tie this bright room together.

Yellow, grey and pink.  This rug brightens up such basic white and brown furniture.

Happy Happy Joy Joy!

This mood board feels like watching the sunset over the dessert.

I couldn't help but create a mood board from "White to Bright" that incorporates my favourite 

Australian designers too!

 I found the blue rug on Chairish.com, but the rest of the items are from 

Mark Tuckey, Lumiere Art & Co, Ali McNabney-Stevens, and Typo.

This bedroom mood board sums up this Australian Summer.

Thank you Chairish.com for the Challenge.

What an amazing selection of rugs and hard to find pieces.

Yellow Treasure Hunt…Before and After $0

Yellow 

seems to be all over the place

 for summer.  

But this year it seems they are pushing

  bigger ticket items like yellow lamps or this sink below?

I don't want to commit to that!

I love yellow too, 

but instead I went on a

 yellow treasure hunt around my house

 to see what I could find that would satisfy my craving for bright yellow this summer.

Here are some of the things I found

so far….  $0

The majority of the items I found 

were from my Kitchen

and my Study.

 I focused my attention on these two areas

 and added little touches of yellow.

I created a bright and inviting

 Tea and Coffee station

for the corner of my Kitchen.

 Last year I made this chair for my Son's room,

but I used it to inspire

a makeover

for my Study.

Here is my Study

 BEFORE:

And my Study

AFTER: $0

I found simple things from around the house,

like these badges I made into magnets,

and a bunch of yellow pens and pencils.

Zach's Chair looks great in the Study now.

 It was not drastic,

but it was free

and can be changed again easily.

 This can be done with any colour for any season.

The best part is it cost me nothing to do!!

$0

I also painted this frame yellow

and added a pineapple print I found online.

This can now go in the Study 

to satisfy my pineapple crush too.

Andrea's Floor Plan Stump

Lately I have been doing a lot more home styling.

Summer has been showing itself lately and 

I think people are just excited for a change this Summer.

Andrea's House

The Brief:

  To solve the furniture issues in the Living Room

And to add lots more storage!!

BEFORE

The Problem:

 Extra large sofa was facing out the window and made TV watching difficult.

Not enough seating.

Not enough storage.

Line of sight down the Hallway went straight to messy TV cords.

Furniture placement felt awkward.

AFTER

The Solution:

Flip flop the TV and the dinning table.

Turn the couch sideways and add a small chair and coffee table.

Add 3 small stools under kitchen bench for more seating.

Place a small buffet in the previously unused space for extra kitchen storage.

Create a lovely line of sight to the dinning table from the entry way.

Create a purpose lane way to the outside without walking through a zone.

I think they will be able to really enjoy this space now.

Fabulous find to finish off the room...

My clients just moved into their new house about 2 months ago.

  As it goes... with kids around, things just end up where they were first put, and then tend to stay that way.

The Brief:

"Please help us with furniture placement"

Before:  The room was off balanced and needed some direction.

After:  We found a beautiful antique in their garage and it was just what they needed

to complete the room.

Now there is a specific place for their fine dinner ware.

I centred the room off the French doors

 and put the odd ottoman in to act as a coffee table.

Before

After

The room took only about an hour to rearrange and layout. 

 Most of that time was spent cleaning the Antique China cabinet we found in the garage

 which we brought inside to go along the far wall.

It is a good start for them to elaborate on!

*My tip here would be, if there is ever a beautiful feature of a room,

always try to centre your furniture around it. ;)

From one room to Another...

 My Son recently wanted a new desk in his room.  Which meant that we needed to get rid of his white Expedit shelf from Ikea.

 I have wanted shelving around the TV for some time now, so I thought I would take the shelf from his room and the other one from the study and just see how they looked.

 Not bad at all!  And free!

I think I will keep it this way for awhile.

The shelves have a nice homey feel and allow me to display some of my favourite objects.

The next step was to balance out the shelves in the kitchen.  

I took this old 80's shelf and painted it white.

Now, it looks lovely and a bit country in my modern kitchen.

A great place to make a tea or coffee in the morning.

 I am getting some of the Christmas decorations up for this year.

  I love Christmas in the Summer. 

 That is why I took this neon pink star I painted and added it to my door wreath,

 just to change it up a bit this year.

Why not?

Let me know if you have taken furniture from one room and given it a new purpose in another room.
Or if you are wondering just how to go about it, please email me.

Stay cool in this heat!!
Niki

Flip Flop the Bed $ 0 !!

Before,
The bed was right in the entryway.

After !!
Time:   about 2 hours

Cost of materials:    $ 0

We flipped the room around and put the bed on the far wall.
And the storage unit where the bed was.
We added a few toys to the shelves that mixed and matched.

 The room becomes instantly more inviting without the bed blocking the entry.

Before
There were 2 boxes stacked in the corner

After
*note: the boxes became the new side tables

Before

 After...the entry is now free and clear and the perfect place to play.

The wall decals were still age appropriate,

 so we left them on for now.

After

 Rourke Loves his new room,

but more importantly the fact that we included his own original painting of...

"Optimus Prime" the Transformer.

I love this painting too Rourke.
And I know how much you love Transformers!!
We just had to include it for you.
Not bad for a 4 year old.

Rourke's Mum made this lovely piece of art from magnets and paper.
I think it is a lovely touch to add something handmade.

Keep the shelves simple but boyish....

Rourke's Mum is very clever and made these 6 framed pieces by
framing fun pages from a vintage dictionary.
Very cute!

Not bad for  nearly 2 hours work and $ 0 dollars.