My studio room will look something like this…

March 14, 2015March 14, 2015 | Jessica

I found this picture of my (mythical) studio space. It’s not quite perfect, but it does give you an idea of what I’m hoping to achieve. My studio room will be 5.3m long by 3.5m wide. On the far end (pictured) you will find a bookcase with built in desk and maybe some built in filing cabinets too. It will look a lot like the picture except with those added extras. On the window side (pictured) there will be under-window bookcases, probably the cheap Ikea white Kallax ones, because we already have 3 of those, and they are perfect for holding magazine folders and coloured boxes. They look like this and go vertically or horizontally, and at 147 cm long, 77 cm high and only 39 cm deep are a bit of a space saver.

We may even put a long white laminate bench over the top of them to style that section, and perhaps another bank or two of drawers.

I will definitely have a Persian rug on the floor, but the size I want will be quite expensive (even at auction), so I’ll have to make do with a cheaper Indian one for a bit. The windows will be casement, not sash, in keeping with the rest of the house, but I quite like sash windows, so we’ll see about that – we may end up with double glazed white aluminium ones, which actually look fine. The ceiling will look exactly as you see it. It will be a skillion ceiling, and I’ll have LED downlights, which will save on power. While I’d LOVE LOVE LOVE solid timber floors (none of that click-flooring nonsense), we probably can’t afford it, so I’ll have vinyl timber-look tiles instead – they look and feel better than expected and are a cheap alternative to my preferred choice, plus they help keep noise down.

We already have an attractive sofa-bed from Freedom in a neutral brown-grey:

It will be easy to decorate this sofa as it looks great with most colours from beige, grey tones to warm reds, bright yellows, greens and blues. I’ll just need to decide how to decorate the room, given that I’m going with neutral bright white on the walls. It will sit on the wall opposite the windows (not shown) and be a good place for students to dump their stuff. I also already have some attractive lamps from Ikea, which are the cheap versions of the expensive designer brushed metal ones cashing in on the steam punk thang:

Floor lamp Ikea

As for cushions, well, I have them all. Lots and lots just waiting to be re-purposed to my new room, in all colours and designs from Marimekko to young-designer-market made. I also have lots of wall art needing new homes. Some of my wall art is quite dramatic and features Melbourne icons:

As you can see, lots of white, black and red, which, although perfect in a work office, might be a little dramatic and cold in a home office. Last year I decorated my DH’s work office in similar colours, with a deep grey feature wall and lovely soft lamps. We shopped at Dare Gallery (side table and dining chairs), Freedom (lamps and occasional chairs), Matt Blatt (table and coffee table), Far Pavilions (shelving unit) and The Desk Place (desk) for furniture items. The room looks amazing, and we bought quite beautiful Aboriginal art for that dark space, but this home office will be lighter, so I can’t really keep art on the wall where it might fade in the sunlight. There will be some natural wood features in an occasional chair and free-standing mirror, too. I do like my brown furniture even though it’s completely out of fashion.

The front of the room will have its own entryway with a “cricket bat” front door, with casement windows on each side of the door, looking out onto a small porch landing and the front yard. I have no pictures of this – it only works in my head. But I can dream!

Home libraries

March 6, 2015March 9, 2015 | Jessica

I have, it might be admitted, a small fetish for books. When I say small, I need to confess that we currently have 9 bookcases in the house and most of those are double-stacked. All the bookcases are the usual 1.8m x 1m size, and we also have 1 large Ikea bookcase. There are also books on the floor. I mention this because recently I’ve been hanging out at Pinterest again and I’ve been looking at other people’s home libraries. When I say looking at I mean slavering over. Here are a couple of libraries I particularly like. It might be that I like the views. Or perhaps the Eames chair that keeps popping up. Or the desks. Or the window seats.

But here’s a thing. I’m not very interested in curated bookshelves, you know, the ones that hold shells and corals and art glass alongside an artfully placed architectural book and 3 Frankie magazines. Meh. Put the art glass on a proper shelf and get thee some actual books, heathens.

And don’t get me started on organising books by COLOUR. How old are you anyway? 4? Are you in Kindergarten?! There’s a lovely old system for book organising. It’s called the Dewey decimal system. Use it.

The other thing I am liking less and less are those shots of ye olde quaint book store, crammed darkly with musty books I will never read, with overflowing cases and tomes piled high next to not-very-comfortable-looking vintage armchairs, moodily lit interiors with no natural light. I’m telling you, people, I’m too fricking blind to read those books in that appalling cave-lit interior. I need to see the sun when I read. Plus, finding a particular book in this hoarder-disorder’s haven must be a bitch.

And those 2-storey libraries with no ladder? That’s called WALL ART. No one’s gonna risk life and limb to climb that wall just to reread Pride and Prejudice, folks. Let’s not conflate gorgeous architectural feature with accessible reading matter.

Finally, I realise I couldn’t care less about most people’s libraries, because I don’t want to read THEIR books. I want to read mine. So, for those who give a shit, here is my preferred reading matter. Be warned, it’s a listicle.

Books by women, all nationalities

Books by award winners (but not the really worthy or obtuse ones because life’s too short)

Sci-fi books by people like Ursula Le Guin and Iain M Banks although I confess to also owning a reasonable amount of space opera

Australian crime fiction; other crime fiction, usually by women writers

Australian literature, all authors, eras and styles

Academic books about my academic interests

Funny books about grammar and weasel words, dictionaries and thesauruses

Singing text books, scores and song albums (by far the biggest selection in my library)

Biographies and autobiographical books

Feminist tracts (well ok, maybe just a few because they’re hard going at times)

Recipe books but only the really pretty ones or the really well worn Australian Women’s Weekly ones

Beautiful coffee table books

Poetry and plays

And last and least, airport novels, doorstoppers and bodice rippers that I can discard or give away or leave in airports – although I find it hard to discard!

I have a few other book collections, including my very favourite childhood books from A.A. Milne etc., some favourites from my children’s childhood, some old craft books and handyman books, lonely planet guide books, plus funny quote and joke books that DH likes to collect. Plus some sadly useless garden books (because I have black thumbs – it’s a miracle my children and my pets survived to adulthood).

I do not believe for one minute anyone is remotely interested in my book collections, nor am I interested in military books, anything about cars or fashion. I quite like architecture but not enough to buy books on the stuff and I actively dislike stupid writers. So there goes Jackie Collins and fifty shades of stupid fan fic nonsense.

So Carrie Bradshaw-like, I ask the question: is coveting beautiful libraries on Pinterest mere admiration of their architectural features, or is it for the knowledge those libraries represent?

Or is there a third option? Perhaps this: that a well curated library space enables meaningful learning to take place in a hospitable environment, purpose-built to enhance the value of these collections of words, thoughts, and ideas. And, as every philosopher ever said: “the soul of a home is contained in its library”. Maybe its intellect, too.

Whatever the reason, I know I want and need a library. If nothing more than to get the fricking books off the floor.

Sourcing the architect

February 9, 2015February 13, 2015 | Jessica

I always knew it would come to this. In the end, given my preference for using Dylan McPherson’s company to build our home, we’re going with an architect who has worked with him before and who trusts Dylan’s excellent product. This architect was coincidentally a sound engineer in a former life so knows and gets musicians and understands my need for a sound proofed room that still resonates on the inside.

He’s not afraid to put together some new ideas for us too, seeing as I want a complete renovation plan prior to building the first stage. There is (as he put it) so much potential for our house, and if we plan carefully we should have a wonderful end result.

His fees are reasonable and he works by the hour. This is good for us as once those plans are in place he can step back and our designer Lisa can step in as liaison between the relevant parties.

This whole process is very crazy but not as far as I can tell unusual. And renovating our home is STILL preferable financially to buying elsewhere. Sigh.

In other news the new art is now in the house and for Xmas my mum gave me a rather gorgeous oil painting by Toni Bucknell of a studio I have always liked. I was surprised when she asked what I wanted from her house, but it appears she’s divesting herself of some stuff. When I said I liked that picture she thought for a moment and then said: yes. None of the other siblings wanted it. It’s not worth much I think but I love it as a reminder of my childhood. So it’s in our kitchen, bright and cheerful and we’re nearly done with all my own paintings (done in high school!). The last remaining similarly cheerful print of a kitchen table is about to go to another happier place in the undercroft.

Back from NYC and raring to go

November 27, 2014 | Jessica

I’ve had a lovely first-ever trip to NYC and second trip to Seattle and now I’m ready to get started on the renovations. That is, once the plans are planned and drawn up etc. This could take a while.

In the meantime, there’s a Charleston’s art auction on Sunday featuring Aboriginal art. Both DH and I love Aboriginal art and we’ve begun collecting paintings. We already have 3 pieces – a stunning one by Napangardi (1st painting below) is hanging in DH’s office, another by Poly Ngala (7th painting below) is resting uneasily in the kitchen (needs pure white walls to be really awesome), a beautiful work by Pultara (3rd work below) is in our loungeroom. DH organized a purchase by the uni of a stunning work by Ronnie Tjampitjinpa (6th work below) that hangs in his office – and we’re looking to add pieces to our collection. Quite by chance I looked up the website for information about their next auction and it’s this weekend.

GSPDfepqie*&$*^pqnaehiu!!!!!

We can’t really afford new art right now but the prices are so reasonable and the art so lovely it would be a crying shame not to attend. A crying shame. I’m sure I can find a spare wall somewhere. The down side to this type of art is that it needs strong white walls to truly pop. At the moment some of our walls are a pale fawn colour (Dulux 1/4 strength Dune) and fawn is really only good for whimsical art a la vintage French style. We will need to repaint the entire interior of our home. I don’t see a problem with this.

Below are some images of the pieces we like by some artists whose work we have already purchased:

I’m in a world of desire here. As I said to DH, this is both good and bad news. Mind you, I’d rather buy art than a new wardrobe any day.

Pinterest addiction (affliction?!) and the perfect master bedroom

June 11, 2014 | Jessica

I’ve become a little bit addicted to Pinterest. Pinterest is for people like me who have house-porn fetishes. I’ve discovered my style is an amalgam of Hamptons, warm, cozy British library, industrial vintage, French city elegance, collector’s corner and a touch of Scandi cool for DH’s study. I love colour but love muted neutrals too. I hate hate hate slick Italian moderne, glamorous shiny, or “easy care modern living”. Give me visual delight and clutter any day, as long as the floor and surfaces are clean and furniture is not too close to move the vacuum around. I’m suspicious of fads, even when I love them, such as those tall glass cake covers/stuffed animal protectors, because I think they may fall out of fashion pretty quickly, and then what do you do with a big glass thingy? I also love Steampunk style, which is a dense visual display of 19th century rusting industrial design such as watches and cameras and old implements and clothing and a big whack of neo-gothic romance. It’s too busy to have in the house but I can see that hanging paintings via gallery walls (aka salon style) might be good for the style. And the occasional occasional table.

I’ve been browsing Pinterest to help plan my dream spaces. It’s like working with mood boards and magazines except online. Totally addictive. I’ve found lots of interiors I love, particularly kitchens and laundries and bathrooms (because none of ours are any good), but rather fewer master bedrooms. Perhaps that’s because I have such a strong design sense for this space already. Our bedroom is perilously close to being “perfect” in my eyes. The room is a reasonable 3.6 metres by 4.2 metres, and we have a large “sunroom” to the left which we use as a sitting room when the children aren’t here. We don’t have a WIR or ensuite yet. That is a sad, sad story for another day.

The walls are a peaceful sand with white ceilings and our bed linen is Florence Broadhurst Egrets in a striking blue and red pattern which both DH and I loved on first sight:

The nude drawing above the bed I bought from an artist friend, and I’ve started collecting blue and white Chinese-style pots to put on the mahogany chest of drawers because they look lovely against dark wood. I’d like to create a gallery wall but DH is a little bit overwhelmed by home clutter at times so I might have to leave the gallery wall for the powder room (aka the dunny). We have a suitable wall space next to my side of the bed, but given the amount of stuff in the room already I think DH would go crazy! Plus my side of the bed is a bit squeezy. I might have trouble getting past the hangings.

At present there are two separate sets of French doors on opposite walls, plus a big window on the third wall, plus a nursery door on the fourth and final wall. We have a queen-sized tassie-oak 1920s-style bed, 2 restored 1920s vintage bedside tables, 2 large vintage chests of drawers, a vintage wooden chest, a vintage chair in navy velvet (I’ve wanted to get this chair re-covered for 20 years, now I don’t have to because now it’s back in fashion!), and a lovely blue-covered antique corner chair my mother restored. It’s awfully busy, plus there’s a laundry basket in the corner. If we keep the room as our bedroom we’d like to remove one of the French doors (saving and restoring it for the back rooms) so that we have a better use of space and more room around the bed. We’d then put in plantation shutters on the window as it cuts noise and would remove the visual clutter of the curtains which are currently in for privacy, because they’re sure as hell no good for anything else!

Because we are so pressed for storage we’re using the space under the bed for shoes. 2 old under-bed drawers on castors have been loaded up with shoes to try and declutter the room, given that we don’t own a wardrobe or linen closet or WIR or pantry or ANYTHING.

There are a couple of other things I’d like to get for the bedroom, including replacing the lovely but small bedside lamps with Chinoiserie blue lamps (the girls can each have one of the old ones, which are still in fashion but NQR for the space, and we’ll replace the shades with colours in their preference) and perhaps an old gilt mirror. DH says to me that for anything I buy one thing the same size has to go. I am not amused, but I can see why he would say that. I was raised by a hoarding mother who collects things. Lots of things. Lovely vintage things. Lots of lovely vintage things that need restoring. Luckily, I’ve been the recipient of some of those lovely things. Mostly restored. Some not.

The house that Jess built.

My Queenslander Cottage

Interiors