Bedroom Room Reveal: One Day Makeover

Posted on March 29, 2015 by admin

I love a good room makeover, especially one that doesn’t cost the earth and has maximum impact. The Block room reveals have sadly been postponed until tomorrow night, due to the cricket, so i thought i’d try and fill the void with my own room reveal. When we moved into our new home in January of last year, we couldn’t afford a proper headboard for our room. I was happy to hang our New York City print from IKEA over our bed as a temporary option as it looked fab. I was so pleased with it in fact, that I haven’t really looked for anything to replace it, until now.While the NYC print looked great, it was pretty impractical as it provided no support while reading or crocheting in bed. Still, I didn’t feel moved to replace it until I saw the perfect headboard at one of my local furniture and homewares shops. SOLD! Hubby and I strapped it to the top of our prado and carefully drove it home. We only had to stop three times to adjust the ropes – clearly we aren’t brilliant at tying knots!! I bought a few bits and pieces to help tie the room together, but most of the items I already had on hand. Shopping at home is the best!! Overall, I’m pretty stoked with how the room has evolved. Hubby said it’s not the manliest bedroom, but I did I include a couple of skulls to keep him happy.

Love Show Cushion by Kezz Brett from Jumbled

Gold Mirror from Freedom Furniture

Marble cross – Freedom Furniture

Striped rectangular cushion from Big W

Framed card by Ali McNabney-Stevens

Gold Heart Cushion – hand stencilled and sewn by me.

So, what do you think? I love it.

Gallery Wall – Bedroom Styling

Posted on July 18, 2014 by admin

My daughter and I finished the gallery wall in her bedroom over the school holidays, so I thought I’d share it with you. We had talked about adding a gallery wall for a while, so we had already collected most of the bits and pieces. When we found the watercolour print from IKEA, a couple of weekends ago, we finally felt motivated to get started. This is such an affordable way to decorate a wall. We created the large triangle artwork ourselves using paint and washi tape on canvas and the silhouette was from a craft project I started last year. Gallery walls The Pokemon illustration was drawn by my eldest daughter and most of the other pieces we had already. We also used some washi tape to fill in a couple of the gaps. This is really easy to remove when we get tired of it or find something better to replace it. The watercolour IKEA banner is perfect on the wall! But my favourite thing is the pencil illustration above the side table that my daughter drew herself. I love the shading in the hair and bow.

Styling a Monochrome, Pink and Gold Bedroom

Posted on May 16, 2014 by admin

I love monochrome interiors and I’ve using black and white as the base for mine and hubby’s bedroom for a while now. Black and white is easy to work with as long as you vary the tones and textures so it doesn’t look too stark.

Black and white also works well if you have males in the house that don’t really want their bedroom looking too girly. It’s the main reason I use monochrome in the bedroom….BUT, pink is really pretty and over the last couple of weeks I’ve managed to sneak a little into the bedroom. And according to Real Living Magazine this month, I’m on trend! Fancy that, and I didn’t even know.

I added pink by changing the pillow cases from white to blush, white and charcoal covers from Country Road. Changing your pillowcases is a cheap and easy way to update your bedroom, but I’ll be honest, the idea isn’t my own. I follow The Stylists Splash on Instagram and she is constantly changing the look of her bedroom by updating her pillow cases. Great idea!

The other pink touches in the room were items I found during a quick hunt around the house. A pink candle, some flowers, pencils and soap. Hubby also bought me perfume in a pretty pink bottle for Mother’s Day, which ties in perfectly. He did ask me a few days ago why his side table was looking so girly? But I think I’ve managed to limit the pink to an amount he can live with.

And the best thing about this room is that it was all done on the cheap!! All of the throw cushions, except one, I made myself. I used a cheap print from Ikea as a headboard until we can afford a proper one. The black trunk is from a secondhand shop and all the other bits I already had on hand. The only new items purchased were the Country Road pillowcases.

Jumbled Fun with Bedroom Decor

Posted on July 25, 2013 by admin

Do you decorate your house to please yourself or others? For a long time i’ve been very safe about how I decorate our home. I suppose I’ve been nervous that visitors to our home might make judgements on our decorating tastes. I say ‘our’ decorating tastes, but i really mean ‘my’ decorating tastes…hubby doesn’t decorate. Lately, I’ve come to my senses and realised that it is OUR home and we can present it however we like. Of course, when it comes to decorating RedAgape Guesthouse I have to be more mindful of visitors. I want the Guesthouse to be quirky and interesting, but not so over the top that guests feel overwhelmed.

Have you heard of Jumbled? It is a brilliant homewares store in Orange that combines all things eclectic and colourful. I have visited many times and only once, have I walked out empty handed (I must have been unwell that day). I always feel inspired by Jumbled’s fun homewares and wish my house was more FUN! A couple of weeks ago Jumbled ran a fun instagram competition. Using #jumbledbedroom on Instagram, those entering posted pics of their bedrooms. There were some inspirational bedrooms, so I took the opportunity to jazz up our bedroom and enter myself. Here’s the before and after plus my entry below – clearly accentuated by our picture perfect cat, Suki.

To jazz up our bedroom for the jumbled competition, i added some curtains either side of the bed, some fun and colourful cushions (all made by me) and a fun, jumbled wall display. The most time consuming part of the makeover was putting the wall display together. I didn’t want to spend much money, so i hunted through the garage for old frames, spray painted them and added some homemade art. I strongly recommend making paper cut outs of the frames and positioning the paper on the wall before hammering nails. It certainly lessens the number of holes in the wall. See my plate wall display for an example.

I’ll admit that i wasn’t sure at first if i liked my new room. But it grew on me very quickly! I’m not used to having so much colour in one room, but it really makes me feel happy when i walk into it. So happy in fact i was keen to add some more colour with some beautiful kantha quilted items. A gorgeous quilt and quilted cushion. LOVE! It’s a fun room now! And really, if you can’t have fun in the bedroom, where can you?? 😉

Frame Arrangement – The Gold Room Complete

Posted on January 2, 2013 by admin

Happy New Year! I know we are barely two days in, but this year has been brilliant so far!! 😉 I am starting 2013 with fresh eyes and a positive attitude. Last year was challenging, but there were also amazing times and both have changed me for the better I hope. Here are just some of the lowlights and highlights of 2012.

We saw the New Year in at Times Square NYC. I made the cover of a regional magazine thanks to flattering lighting and Photoshop! I started studying again and discovered my brain still works. Yay! My chronic illness flared badly this year. Internal bleeding throughout your large intestine is never good, but it reached a new level last year. I really do not want to see 56kgs again.

My husband and I had the BEST ever weekend in Millthorpe and bought a beautiful house that has kept our family close. Johno tattooed a poem I’d written on his back. It’s impressively large and lovely. My Mum was diagnosed with terminal brain cancer. She has endured surgery, radiation and multiple rounds of chemotherapy and has managed to keep a positive attitude. Amazing!

We had to put our dog Bob to sleep. He was a silly, fat beagle and we loved him. We got a friend for Ruby who was missing Bob and we are so very glad we did because Pepsi is gorgeous. She has slotted into our family with ease and we love her. My daughter Eilish duxed her primary school. I am so very, very proud of her. My husband merged his business with two others and hopefully this will decrease his work hours.

My son Daniel blossomed this year at school and has grown in confidence, which is so very important. And Rose, my gorgeous spectrum girl, not just survived but thrived in her second year of high school. We celebrated Christmas with my parents, all of my siblings, partners and children. And finally, Johno and I saw the new year in on our red seat on the porch of Winterfell.

Oh, and another room at Winterfell is complete!

My collection of gold frames finally made it onto the wall. I’m hoping to add to this wall as i find more frames.

I used some vintage wallpaper i discovered at a secondhand shop to fill this ornate gold frame.

My grandmother’s buffet features in this room. It looks beautiful here. Also, my other grandmother’s bowls sit on the buffet. I’m going to fill them with chocolates for my guests.

White timber ceilings feature throughout the house.

I’m a little obsessed with collecting books about collecting and decorating. They will all remain at Winterfell for my guests to enjoy.

Local artist Leanne Watt created this golden image, which reminded my husband of our daughter so much that he had to have it! It hangs on the wall in the hall before the gold room.

I have only two more rooms to finish (eek!) before we get to the serious business of creating a website, information booklets, professional photography (yes, i recognise my photographs aren’t ideal) and then finally opening the doors of Winterfell to guests. How very exciting!

Spray paint side table makeover

Posted on November 11, 2012 by admin

It’s amazing what a difference some spray paint makes! I picked up this pretty cane table for $20 at a secondhand store. It’s in great shape and I knew it would be simple to freshen up.

After brushing off the cob webs I applied two good coats of lovely shiny white paint, allowing drying time in between. It was a little tricky to get in all the nooks and crannies but the end result speaks for itself. It looks like new!
Here it is at Winterfell in one of the bedrooms. Oh, and here’s a sneak peek at another room that is VERY close to being finished.