Displaying posts from February, 2008

Eric Prokesh “finds that borrowing from the past is crucial to his work – a deliberate decision that helps him make something new.” Named as one of H&G’s “50 Tastemakers” his portfolio covers French Classical to Mid-century Modern. The colours of these rooms are so beautiful, so fresh, the rooms themselves so luxe but simply elegant. Using colours not usually associated with the fine antiques he uses draws the eye to these lovely pieces.

Retro time! Yes we take a short break in our tasteful transmission to bring you DIY ideas from the 70s for your swinging pad. Per Dalsgaard and Elisabeth Erichsen are responsible for these decorating ideas and do you know what? Some of them aren’t that bad 30 years later. OK some of them haven’t quite made the journey to the 21st century like that bondage sausage floor lounge (so unbelievable I just had to supersize it) or the very 70s concept of a velvet patchwork round bed for you and your friends. Enjoy these scans from Bright Ideas for the Home, Per Dalsgaard and Elisabeth Erichsen, Macmillan London, 1978.

I have been having a busy weekend too. Like Jo, there was some painting going on here too. I was getting totally sick of the putrid yellow that most of this house is painted and took off to my local Benjamin Moore store yesterday afternoon with a list of white paint and my latest Style at Home mag, where a gorgeous photo of a kitchen painted in Farrow & Ball’s Blackened had got me thinking about grey. In the end, grey won out (Misty Gray for walls and Distant Gray for trim). I painted the living room yesterday, except the wall behind the tv that leads upstairs – that’s getting painted today (and the upstairs hallway). Some photos are below. (The one with my little teak dresser shows the putrid yellow on the wall in behind.) I’ve also included one of the baseboards. NONE of the baseboards in this house are painted. So they required 3 coats. And OMG what a difference. The room still needs alot of work…new chairs, coffee table, curtains, pillows, rug etc. etc. but I think it’s off to a good start.

I also bought some paint for my kitchen cabinets. That will be a job for my day off tomorrow. Wait until you see what colour I chose. The kitchen is going to be trashed as soon as I get my act together and get renovating, so I thought something a little crazy would help me not hate it so much.

After spending the morning gluing, filling chips and sanding my thrift store credenza I was ready to paint. I bought this veneered teak credenza (below) a couple of months ago for $39 and was finally ready to work on it. Unfortunately the top and some edges were too badly damaged to just rub in a coat or two of Danish oil to bring it back to life. My next plan was to paint it gloss back and restore the beautiful teak doors. Doors done and one coat painted. Another 12 hours before the next coat. That was until this afternoon’s very heavy downpour. “Fine,” I thought as I walked away as a storm brewed. “It’s under cover.” I took this photo to show Kim and was really pleased with myself. 30 minutes later a high wind blew rain all over my hard work. I guess there’s always tomorrow to sand and redo the first coat. Then only 2 more after that…..argh! So no photos this week of it in my dining room. There’s always next week.