Displaying posts labeled "Rug"

I think if all we featured were Parisian flats, the world would be a better place. LOL! Here is yet another beauty located in this heavenly French city designed by Spanish interior designer Isabel López-Quesada. A pied-à-terre for the homeowners who clearly have a thing for modern art and Isabel has given it a funky boutique hotel feel. This has me feeling all the feels for that mustard yellow carpet in the living room. So simple yet it is the perfect dose of bold colour. (Photos: Ricardo Labougle)

Find more of Isabel’s work here

It was time for a change. Don’t get me wrong. I loved my old bedroom. One of the very first things I wanted to do when we moved into our new old house 7 years ago was to paint at least one room black and it was my bedroom that turned to the dark side. Unfortunately impending renovations mean that my spacious bedroom is about to be chopped in half to make way for an upstairs bathroom. Yay! Much smaller bedroom. Boo! What to do? Why move across the landing and convert my office into my new bedroom. Quite a change as the new room is white. What to do? Where to start? Well I started with a rug.

It was as if the design gods were smiling the day the Unique Rug Store came into my life via email a few weeks ago with an offer to review their extensive range of handmade rugs. Think Turkish and Persian rugs, kilims, vintage, distressed, over dyed and patchwork. They are a small local producer trying to keep a traditional craft alive. Their rugs are fashioned from original handmade and organically dyed wool and cotton blend vintage Turkish rugs. The edges are hand sewn and they are responsible for the shaving, bleaching, colorization, over dying and drying of the reworked carpets. The exciting news for me here in Australia is that they ship worldwide. Yes everywhere. Think of it … thousands of rugs and worldwide shipping. I was in heaven but how was I to choose? Luckily the website was easy to navigate and soon I had narrowed it down to a handful of rugs. This is the beauty that was the genesis of my new bedroom design.

It’s a beige over dyed vintage rug. The Unique Rug Store takes Turkish carpets at least 40-50 years of age which then undergo a unique process of colour neutralisation before being over-dyed in an exciting new colour. The result is a mix of traditional Turkish carpet design fused with a contemporary vintage style with each rug unique in size and colour.

I wanted a bright neutral colour scheme, white walls, natural wood floors, caramel leathers. The room faces east and morning sun streams in. After years of sleeping in a black as night bedroom I was ready to celebrate the light. With my new rug laid before the fireplace (ooh can’t wait to light a fire when the weather cools) it was time to shop my house for what I needed to furnish the room. I did mention we have major kitchen and bathroom renovations in the pipeline didn’t I? Money is painfully tight. With my new vintage rug as the hero of the room I pulled together what I could, bought a few pieces I didn’t have like sheers for the windows and some new sheets (that’s all I had to buy believe me) and slapped some paint on old boards to create large art pieces for the walls. And yes I’m an art dilettante. I create paintings to match my colour scheme.

Luckily I am blessed with a large room with two huge windows and french doors onto a verandah. With my Unique Rug Store rug looking so good on the floor I thought it would be a shame to cover it up with furniture. I dragged in an 80’s glass and marble coffee table I had used in the sitting area of my old bedroom and paired it with two Robert Dunlop Tanderra chairs from the mid 70s.  The glass top and the wide open legs of the chairs allow the carpet to shine through. I love it. The depression era chair in the corner I found in a secondhand store covered in layer after layer of homemade upholstery. I stripped it back to its bare bones and love its primitive honesty. An Eero Aarnio Parabel side table, found on eBay years ago and more than likely a reproduction despite the seller’s protestations that it wasn’t, sits beside. On the mantel is a piece I painted in a hurry for the spot. Something abstract to contrast with the 150 year old fireplace. On the other side is an old homemade workshop cupboard topped with various retro pieces and a mirror I picked up in the 90s at a local artisan market. I stole the bead chandelier from my dining room. Which reminds me I have to find something for there now. Bugger!

At the other end of the room is our bed, simply dressed in white. Above is a painting of mine that started off as another abstract but somehow evolved into a floral. Weird. I’m not that sort of girl. It still needs a frame but considering I pulled together this room in a week I think you can cut me some slack on an unframed artwork. The screen is a student piece from my design school days. Not my design unfortunately.

So there you have it. My transformation from dark to light, from old bedroom to new and the rug that set the scene for it all. A big thank you to Unique Rug Store for my fabulous new vintage over dyed rug. I love it.

P.S. The hemp over dyed kilim runner at the foot of my bed is also from the Unique Rug Store. It’s actually for my new bathroom whenever it is built. But you’ll get to see more of it when I reveal the new bathroom in all its black glory. What? You didn’t expect me to leave the dark side completely did you?

P.P.S. Want to see what my old bedroom looked like? And this room before the transformation? Here are couple of pictures for you.

… and a little later

The office before it became the bedroom …

Some edgy bohemian vibes to end off the work week. Check out more of this project by Veneer Designs here including some scary before photos.
(And other features by Veneer Designs here, here and here)

Yatzer

Happy Friday folks! I am always on the hunt for great bargains and I am a sucker for rugs. I use them in every room in my house (I just did a quick mental check and I really do have at least 1 in every room) as it is my favourite way to add warmth, texture and colour to a space. I am here to share the news that Main Street Oriental Rugs is currently offering closeout prices on their handmade, 100% natural wool Tibetan & Nepalese area rugs. WOOT!!! They also have some new arrivals of hand-knotted, 100% natural wool vintage Persian Heriz rugs. I highly advise you go check them out and score yourself a sweet deal on a new rug. Here are some samples of the Tibetan and Nepalese rugs on super sale right now (I absolutely adore the first one)…

And here are some of the vintage Persian Heriz rugs…

With a storefront in Ellicott City, Maryland, Main Street Oriental Rugs also have an online shop, an Etsy store and you can find them on Twitter and Instagram. They carry over 3,000 rugs – high quality, hand-knotted, 100% wool and/or silk, Persian, Oriental, and contemporary style. And depending on your preference they stock both vintage and new rugs. (They even offer cleaning, repair, and restoration services if you’re in the area). Now to get your creative juices flowing and get you thinking about how fabulous rugs are and where you might need your next new rug, I have some inspirational photos for you.

Elle Decoration UK

Architectural Digest Germany

Architectural Digest Germany

MilK Decoration

Lonny

Architectural Digest Spain

Yatzer

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This post is in partnership with Main Street Oriental Rugs. All opinions are my own.

I want to sit on that sofa, rifle through the cupboards, flick the light switches on and off, pour myself a drink and pat the dog. I want to squish my toes into all the rugs, work in that office, run my fingers across the bathroom stone, take shelter from the midday sun in the cabana and swim in the pool. What I really want is this Hollywood Hills house by Veneer Designs.

Photography by Amy Bartlam