definatalie.com » interior design

In a modern faery queen’s world

Natalie — Thu, 05 Aug 2010 23:16:13 +0000

When I came across this photo on Tumblr I loved it at once, probably because it reminds me a little of Kate’s work. Han Jin looks as though she were a faery queen, I love that pose. I might try to sketch it! See the rest of the Spring Breeze editorial from Vogue Korea.

Even though I’m a fan of overblown, ridiculously detailed design work I yearn for light, white open spaces. Our kitchen was born in the 1970s, and the brown and muted orange and darkness really bothers me, but we rent so there’s not much we can do about that! Photo credit: Samantha Pynn via decor8.

Practically, having a room like this might be a nightmare (depending on how much space you have available and how often you like to dust – i.e: never for me) but it’d be an awesome set up for taking outfit photos. Susie Bubble posted these photos of the Townhouse Escape in London a few days ago, I’d love to stay there.

This is a plate from The Harmonia Macrocosmica, you can buy prints of some of these beautiful plates from Transmission Atelier Inc.

The Harmonia Macrocosmica is a star atlas written by Andreas Cellarius and published in 1660 by Johannes Janssonius. The first part of the atlas contains copper plate prints depicting the world systems of Claudius Ptolemy, Nicolaus Copernicus and Tycho Brahe. At the end are star maps of the classical and Christian constellations, the latter ones as introduced by Julius Schiller in his Coelum stellatum christianum of 1627.
via Wikipedia

It’s nice to randomly come across an image and find its creator is Australian. This painting is by Deidre But-Husaim, an artist from South Australia who scours through photos of models daily in order to find the perfect reference material for her floral tattoo makeovers. See more of her work.

Friday Fance: Resourcefulness Boom

Natalie — Fri, 02 Jul 2010 05:37:28 +0000

Pip at Meet Me at Mikes posted some of Lo Bjurulf’s interior styling work and I was in love. I’m a fan of mismatched, childish, chaotic things and I think being invited to this dinner party would be a lot of fun. Sometimes we are so taken with what we ought to buy and posses as Proper Adults to impress other Proper Adults, especially when it comes to etiquette and entertaining, and we forget that spending time with people we like should be honest and loving and not furnished with things bought specifically to impress. We are so impressive to our loved ones anyway, without all that stuff.

Herriott Grace are a daughter and father business and they have an adorable story behind their web store that you should go read. Everything has been sold out in the store for ages, but it’s worth a look just for the styling – and these cake flags are totally on my To DIY list. I’m very interested in getting that tall cake cover in the picture. Very.

It should be no surprise to you that I adore craft that uses wasted objects, especially when a masculine object is embellished with a traditionally feminine craft. This piece is called “Way of Roses” and it was made by Severija Inčirauskaitė-Kriaunevičienė.

Fulfilling my need for at least one example of vertical garden per each Friday Fance is this wallpaper that is formed by cultivating designs in moss. Check out this Design*Sponge post on Oki Sato‘s house, featuring this ingenious moss wallpaper designed by his partner, Asami Kiyokawa.

Rifle Paper Co.’s recipe boxes are lovely and made by local craftspeople using locally salvaged hardwood, and that’s all very nice but I really want to get my hands on some wooden cigar boxes now and doodle on them!

Friday Fance: as yet unnamed

Natalie — Fri, 28 May 2010 06:56:27 +0000

Rachel O’Neill‘s velcro pieces are so playful and give me lots of ideas for DIY projects! She creates beautiful pieces on commission for events, but I’d want a large light fitting like this for keeps.

This photo is from decor8, and it’s supposed to be about the wallpaper by Turner Pocock BUT it’s really all about THAT CHAIR. Want. I have a thing for distressed velvet chairs.

My dream car is a Volkswagon Karmann Ghia… look at that gorgeous badge!! This photo was taken by artistic pursuits.

Hello Matt Preston, I love you even more for speaking out against homophobia. This is Oz is a site that promotes diversity and acceptance of GLBT people in Australia. It’s very moving, and I love that football players have stood themselves up and been counted against hateful attitudes!

Dutch photographer (yes, not a painter!) Desiree Dolron’s work is flawlessly stunning. Her portraits are beautiful but you should go to her site and see some of her other work… I’m amazed.

3D rendering by Cristina

Natalie — Mon, 01 Mar 2010 22:11:01 +0000

The other week Cristina asked me if she could include some of my artwork in her interior design 3D Studio Max class work and she has posted the result on her blog today. Such fantastic renders! I used to work for an architectural firm and found 3D rendering intriguing. I loved seeing how she incorporated my work into the styling of the room.

See the rest of her renders at her blog.

Friday Fance: House of Fance

Natalie — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 01:11:25 +0000

I’ve been watching a lot of Grand Designs lately, and one episode in particular caught my imagination. A couple bought a disused water works building and pretty much converted the entire building themselves into a home with a huge living area, while maintaining the integrity of the materials used in the original building. You can see from the screen cap how they’ve fitted out their home: using very sleek modern furniture; a limited palette of red, black and white; and even a Mini converted to a desk! I’m not so much a fan of the modern fittings myself but I am totally gaga for the huge space and the exposed brickwork. If I had this amazing building I’d probably create an indoor garden, use wild furniture in natural materials and incorporate a lot of texture through soft furnishings, fittings and art. I’d literally go “wild and woolly”!

If Kevin McCloud were to appear as my wish-granting genie, I would include the following in my House of Fance:

⇒ Tents remind me of childhood – we’d drape afghan blankets over chairs and create a soft and cozy place to play card games or dolls. I love the idea of creating a childlike space for my home… who wants to be an adult? (Image via Chintz of Darkness)

⇒ I’d have flowers EVERYWHERE. Pinned into the curtains, tucked into jam jars and garlands draping from every ceiling beam. Sure it’d be a pain to maintain, but this is my fantasy house! (Image from A Creative Mint)

⇒ Of course I’d grow all the flowers in my garden, installed in a dilapidated wing of my House of Fance. (Image via Chintz of Darkness)

⇒ I love all of this: the black wallpaper, all the colours, even the papered ceiling! I think I would incorporate pops of cyan and magenta into my dream house. (Image via decor8)

⇒ Pretty crockery and doilies, that’s so me. (Image via dottie angel)

⇒ Michel Haillard‘s furniture is the kind of fanciful monstrosity I’d like to include to offset the delicate femininity of garlands and doilies and tents. It’s so primal and earthy, I’d feel like a queen!

So are you a thoroughly modern man or a fiend for vintage? How would you decorate your House of Fance?

Friday Fance: Late Edition

Natalie — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 08:08:02 +0000

I wasn’t sure I’d get the Fance up today because I had a bunch of stuff to do, coupled with some stuff I forgot I had to do. I’m not one of those organised bloggers who has posts queued up for weeks… noooooo. This is genuine off-the-cuff blogging magic, right here. I took my carrot cupcakes out of the oven, flopped into my seat and thought about all the fancy things I’d seen this week and thus… cobbled together this barely passable collection of whimsies!

⇒ I have always loved these collars! Love Maegan has put up a tutorial on how to create this ruffly collar, which can be wrapped and pinned different ways. If I can find any lightweight cotton fabrics I’m totally making this for summer.

⇒ Henrik Simonsen’s Midnight Garden is so gorgeous. It reminds me of a cyanotype, or sunprint. I’ve been googling them madly for the last week… I desperately want to buy a bunch of the special paper and have a sunprint party in a park with my friends.

⇒ The First Man of Fance, Matt Preston, has such a way with words! *swoon*

⇒ I am so in love with this tattoo! How could I not be?

⇒ When I am rich and fancier I’m going to have a chandelier, a painted fresco (one? why not 10?!) and moulded ceilings. Go check out the photos from the Chateau de Versailles on NOTCOT… dreamy!

⇒ Laurie Lipton‘s pencil pieces are bad ass fance.

Amelie’s Petite Maison – Our petite honeymoon

Natalie — Mon, 28 Apr 2008 08:12:04 +0000

I want to share some photos I took of the amazing cottage we stayed at last week. It’s located in Montville, Queensland which is a two hourish drive north of Brisbane. It is part of a bed & breakfast adorably named The Spotted Chook and is fully self contained, overlooking a lush cluster of hills and trees – the best part is that you can sit in the spa on the balcony and appreciate the serenity! The cottage was decorated in a beautiful French country rustic style and was just the most fabulous place I have ever laid my head.

The details were just perfect!

I was entirely relaxed after a few days here, it was just perfect. We went to the Eumundi markets (I have a story about that coming too!), visited Maleny Cheese Factory and Settler’s Rise Winery, soaked in the bath eating local cheese and port and just generally blissed out.

The food was absolutely amazing – Leeroy, the owner, cooked us breakfast both days and it was phenomenal. The most notable little treat was a prune tart from Normandy. If anyone knows the French name for this and a recipe, I’ll love you forever!

Mmmm!

Inspired by: Flowers

Natalie — Tue, 02 Oct 2007 12:47:26 +0000

I have promised to do a tutorial on flourishes, but my RSI is quite chronic at the moment so I’m reducing the amount of fine pointing activity I do – unfortunately this includes flourish work in Illustrator! I do have some free vector shapes lined up (peacocks!), but I’m quite snowed under at work right now and tend not to want to sit on my computer at all when I get home!

Right now – it’s my lunch break, and I’m sneaking in a quick blog entry just to let you know I’m still alive and thinking about you.

As I approach the upcoming flourish tutorial, I’ve been thinking a lot about individual style, and what I’m inspired by. A lot of my flourishes are derived from the lines and forms I see in gardens – albeit highly stylised. I’m also an avid fan of lurid patterns in textiles and anything tactile in general. I try to bring as much of this aesthetic into my own design work as possible, so I keep an eye on lots of interior design, craft and graphic design blogs.

The other night I came across a mother lode of gorgeous vintage floral and paisley fabric images on ebay, so I’ve transloaded many of the images to my flickr account. I’ll post my favourites here, along with a selection of other flora inspired items that really inspire me.
I don’t have any information on who designed these gorgeous vintage textiles – but enjoy!

“Botanical & Feathers” by Kristen Doran – two of my ultimate favourite things in one gorgeous fabric piece!

This is actually the accompanying image from a Peter Pan collar tutorial on the Wiksten-Made blog. The wallpaper is yummy!

Ok, I know the blue velvet chair is awesome, but check out the fabric draped behind it, designed by Sheila Coombes! You can read more about this picture at Traditional Home.

Zahra print by Granada Design.

Teapot on Blue print by studiolyon on etsy.

Go forth and make pretty things!

White Lighting Trend

Natalie — Thu, 20 Sep 2007 21:55:35 +0000

All I’m hearing is that black and white are “it” for decor. It’s a little too stark for my own personal tastes, but I’ve noticed a quirky little lighting trend harking all the way back to the 50s and 60s coming into vogue again. It makes sense, seeing that mid century furniture is all the rage (and dear as SIN!), but the stark white plastic almost demands blacks and greys to compliment – it shall have none of that fussy colour business thank you very much!

Left – Artichoke pendant light shade from Louis Poulson.
Right – Norm 69 light shade by Simon Karkov.

I think I like the modern interpretations of the white pendant light shade much better – for starters they’re much more reminiscent of floral shapes, albeit highly stylised. They’re also much more accessible. The Artichoke pendant lighting is around $4,000, but you can buy a Knappa pendant light shade for around $40! It’s much softer and made from plastic too.

Knappa Klover from Ikea

Knappa Tulipan from Ikea

Midsummer light shade by Tord Boontje

Even better, is Tord Boontje’s light treatment – made from single sheets of cut paper that have that real handmade aesthetic. I’m in love, and I want one right now! These are even more floral, but still white so you can have your whole white trend as well as your cake (and eat it too!)

So, there are a few ways to soften the starkness of a white decor – but if you’re like me you’ll probably end up throwing a few cans of highly saturated colour at the walls just to feel comfortable!