Un-beige cubicles

via Flickr user: Kristen Anna

I worked for a few years before falling pregnant in a small cubicle. While I wasn't one of the lucky few with a view of Sydney Harbour and the Opera House, all I had to do for that was stand up and the window would be 4 feet from my seat. It was a rather open office and I didn't feel boxed in... and I guess my design passion wasn't quite so... intense as it is today.

But I think a few more years in that space and I'd be tempted to do the same as graphic designer Maria, seen today on Lifehacker. Maria got some inexpensive fabric from Ikea and created a personal and happy space for her daily 8-hour grind.



Good huh? And not much of experience and skill required, just a "that's it, I've had enough of beige", a staple gun and some pretty fabric. Read more of Maria's cubicle happiness on her blog.

Of course, that got me going to Flickr for more cubicle happiness.

Enjoy!!

Flickr user: creampuffles

Flickr user: jamalistics

Flickr user: lorihighfill

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Inspiration at my desk

I moved a few things around recently and just put these on my desk temporarily while re-arranging another spot..

I've left them there because I love the different shapes, textures, lines and finishes of white! (And that burst of yellow, a Christmas gift from MIL.)

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Secretaire DIY ala Eddie Ross

For 2 weeks now husband and I have been considering a major move in our lives which has been triggered by Christmas 2008. Will talk more about things when we have made more of a decision... but it involves planning a new floorplan!

So when I spotted this secretaire DIY ala the frightfully talented Eddie Ross* (Top Design Season 2 contestant and Senior Style Editor, Martha Stewart Living) I got all excited. The new floorplan planned during Christmas 2 weeks ago involves a much needed secretaire for books, storage and deskspace. Since I can't afford a new one at my favourite store for $3950, my secretaire will also most likely be a product of a similar DIY job.

Before:




After:


Thanks Eddie for the inspiration and encouragement!

Btw, this is another secretaire Eddie DIYed! Love the punch of colour too!




*I know this sounds so lame, but we here in Australia don't enjoy most of the American produced interior design shows on free to air... but I scored a copy of Top Design Season 2 and have been enjoying it after my family sleep. So hence my seemingly late-oh-so-overdue discovery of Eddie Ross! Read More..

My new {Family} Poster

No one in my family (not even 2 year old Hannah) or circle of friends like Nicola. Only I do. The frame needs replacing, sure but Nicola herself is in great condition! There's just something about her gentleness, her poise...

Anyway. Fact is fact: No one likes it.

So under subtle hints from husband and 2 year old Hannah, the in laws, the rellies, the friends, I got it replaced. (Plus I have to admit, it does seem odd her hanging there solo above the fireplace when she's not our ancestor or friend or my portrait :P)

Now that space is replaced with my newest poster, {Family}.



I love it, although I wish it were larger but I couldn't afford the print price plus framing in view of recent more urgent needs. One day! :)

I'd love to do one for you in your own custom colour and size choices! Contact me via my paperbean design website :) (link above on left) Read More..

Mimosa

I am happy to see that Pantone Color Institute has chosen bright yellow, the Mimosa, as the colour of 2009. It's very similar to the yellow I chose for paperbean design a couple of years ago.



"Mimosa, a warm engaging yellow, brings hope and optimism during a time of economic uncertainty and political change. Inspired by the Mimosa tree and the sparkle of the renowned cocktail, the 2009 color of the year represents the hopeful and radiant characteristics associated with the color yellow."

I love this shade of yellow. It's the shade I plan to paint the fireplace and two walls in the home office space to complement my yellow art wall.



via Apartment Therapy. Read More..

Rug from towels?

So far, my planned yellow, black and white home office (blogged here and here) is looking more like a a box of crayons because our furniture, stationery, office accessories aren't all yellow. Though I'm slowly changing them to be more yellow, black and white where I can, progress is slow.

(I desperately want to paint the mucky brown fireplace a bright yellow.)

Ever since seeing Bev Hisey's Yellow Moroccan rug I've wanted a yellow and white rug for this space, just to make the space and my intentions for it more cohesive.

Bev Hisey's Yellow Moroccan


Some other contenders:

Moorish Tile by Pottery Barn


Kaley Bloom Rug by Pottery Barn


Brink and Campman's modern rug


Of course, none of these are available in Australia and finding a similar rug here has been rather painful (within or without my pea-sized budget).

This Saturday, after enjoying a great brunch at Gas, South Melbourne, Australia, (253 Coventry Street, South Melbourne) we roamed around Clarendon St. I'd been eyeing these beach towels from Bed, Bath and Table and they were finally on sale! So I grabbed two for under $70.

I've laid them down on my home office floor. While I'm not keen on the square-ness of the rug, I really do like the yellow and white modern floral pattern and they do make a more white & yellow statement.

But they are what they are (for now): 2 beach towels side by side. Can you perhaps throw in some suggestions how you would transform these into a more substantial faux-rug?

Would love to hear some suggestions! Thanks so much in advance!!!




Pardon the unstyled shots!

Hope you all had a great weekend! Read More..

Giant Bookshop in colour

"I was thinking a lot about places I've been inside dreams, where I'm familiar with a building or a room, or like when I'm in a house in a dream and there are combinations of things in the house that don't exist in reality" Chris Cobbs



You know the recent trend of interior designers and inspired ones among us of arranging our books according to colour on our one or two bookshelves?

Chris Cobb, back in 2004, did this ... in a scale that defies all our meagre attempts. He took over a friend's giant bookshop (Adobe Bookshop, San Francisco, CA) for a week. With 20 people, he organised the books according to mind-bogging colour, instead of the normal, sensible way, topically.

"to change the entire space into something that you would see in a dream"



He and his team did this, just in a night. Imagine the surprise of the patrons! I hope they had plenty of computers directing poor book-buying folk to the right bookcase and row!


This of course, comes as a boot-up-the-bum for me to get a project done on my way-overdue to-do-list... reorganise our books by colour. (I have plans to one day paint the bookcase -left by previous owners- white gloss and the walls some other colour too, but that's for another day.)

The before:


The after:

Quotes taken from an interview with Chris Cobbs.
Images taken from Conversational Reading

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DIY: Lamp

I could do this! So fun for Hannah's room or my home office :)

Photo from Flickr: frillie designs

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Small report... and encouragement from the lovely Ashwell

When you have chosen and bought the house you want, it is important to take a little time to look with an open mind at what is now yours and make an effort to shed preconceived ideas.

Rachel Ashwell, The Shabby Chic Home, 2000.

This is me.. taking my time (and battling a cold).

Whilst a busy day today with work, daycare and more work stuff, I got 2 hours to do some alone-me-me-me rare time. What turned out to be a hassle with work, allowed me two visits to a factory outlet (LOVE!) and Salvos.

Steal of the day:
$160 lamp for $19.95. Without shade so I'm looking for a bold yellow shade...
$60 gorgeously green covered casserole dish for $12.95. Lid is a VERY SLIGHT different green from the bowl. :)
$25 for a footstool... been looking for one for my desk chair for yonkers... due for a small DIY project soon :)

Three out of my eight lamps are shade-less... I'm "taking my time" with their shades.

Tomorrow... I plan to crack open some yellow enamel paint.

At my desk... planning. (At 11.54pm)


(Pardon the messy cords, the ugly blue footstool pre-DIY... taking my time...) Read More..

New Releases at Room To Grow!

I featured Room To Grow a few months ago and kind director Lilach Weineiger sent me a lovely gift! (Thanks again!) It now hangs in my study in the new home (will feature the study when its ready) :)

Room To Grow was the first to carry Krooom's sexy range, but now you readers in the US can get it from Barnes and Nobles! The few French readers I have can go to Tropico and Hipercor in Spain.

Just to reiterate, Room To Grow/Krooom's products are made from reinforced cardboard recycled material (at least 60% post consumer waste). So go green! No chlorine bleaches and hazardous dyes used, only water based glues and a special UV coating. Done with the item? Recycle it again!

I love the funky and fun designs... suitable for the serious man, the moody teen, the funky designer and even the fun-loving little one! I love their toybox and the Maggie storage bookcase to match the lovely black and white damask Delta I got from lovely Lilach! On casters too! GREAT movable closet! Hmmm.



I think best of all these gorgeous things are so sturdy!

Lilach sent me an email two weeks ago letting me know about their new July 2008 range! Sorry Lilach, only now getting headspace to action some emails for the blog!

I love the new Manooo wall organiser! Perfect for kitchen, dressing area, children's room and the hallway. Pretty and fresh to the everyday mundane. :)



And of course, beneath the Manooo, have the Austin sideboard! Great for the hallway, these two things! One for your pickup-ables, and the other for the ubiquitous umbrella, vase, bags, scarves and berets. Great for newspapers and even the Yellowpages.

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Inspiration: Anna Spiro's office

I had to post this... it's so inspiring for me... copycat-inspiring! And the husband is OK with it (nearly knocked me off my chair!)...

I know, I know... thus far I've been harping on about a yellow and white office. But man. Anna Spiro's office at Black and Spiro actually makes my spine tingle! So... warm yet friendly yet luscious... even though it's clearly not the first choice for a male-dominated room, neither is it all that pinky-feminine-chic per se!



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Chair done!

You'll remember my office chair and the long process to get it redone. Some of you mentioned the original looked way too shabby to be chic.

Shabby:


The Inspiration:

Photo from Carla Lane Interiors

Chic:


Thanks to Mum In Law for slaving over the cushion pad for 4 hours! :) Read More..

Hummingbirds and Hannah

To most people, this is just another photo of a girl in a playground area. It's not bad a shot, with all the colours, huh??

But to me, this is one of my favourite shots of Hannah in such a pretty, feminine frock in Summer. And once I saw it on my Powerbook, I knew it was special. Something had to be done.

And I did something :) I am so happy with the way it's turned out.



I added a few of my favourite birds, the little hummingbird in it. Against a sunshine yellow background, a current favourite colour.

This is entitled My favourite things, 2008

It's going up on my office wall, of course!

Update: my office wall in our new place (14 October 2008)




Edit (13 October 2008): Latest silhouette work. Read More..

Little by little..

... I am getting more and more organised. I LOVE being organised, can't think straight in a messy space. (Which is why our master bedroom is not the space for me to think since it's dreadfully small and badly planned.) Anyhoo.

The latest issue of Notebook Magazine (an Australian home and living magazine with gorgeous cover shots) May 2008 has been sitting on my bedside table for almost 2 weeks now untouched because I've been so busy to even get to reading it. Last night while waiting for my mental sheep counting to take effect, I discovered a nifty (and super duh easy) idea which I've rushed out to complete today:

Click!

Quick weekend work (in between window shopping) and now no longer an unruly stash in one of the kitchen cabinets!



Mine's the cheapo version, with a simple $6 accordian folder from Officeworks and some sticky label tabs. But check out these gorgeous ones!

M.O. Expanding Desktop File from See Jane Work. $19.95


Pink/white/black expanding file from Smiggle. $9.95


Daisy Expandable Notebook by Kikki-K which is great! Has notebook to jot down important information (passwords etc!) and expanding file on the other for your paperwork. $24.95


Officeworks has some nice ones too... of course. Read More..

Poppy & Summertime

I love paint swatches. Everytime I get to Bunnings, I collect paint swatches (so now I have a huge pile of the same colours.. heh!).

Went to Ikea last weekend and picked up a yellow frame (among other things!). Got all crafty and finally got a project done that I've wanted to do for a long time for my yellow office wall.

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A little Room To Grow loving!!!!

Room TO Grow CEO Lilach sent me a LOVELY gift!!!



Very sturdy stuff, this. I can imagine it as a children's table and chair set and how a young 'un could sit on the table or chair.

Thank you! I can't wait to get it hung in our home! Read More..

Counting Birds Wall Art Cards

One for my wish list, for sure. Not for H's room though! I'd love this in my office.



US$20 for a pack of ten whimsically illustrated collage of fabric and watercolour cards featuring birds, its name, and the number it represents.
So you get One Robin, Two Cardinals, Three Morning Doves all the way up to Ten Chickadees.

SIZE: 10" L x 8" W
from UnCommon Goods. Read More..

Room to Grow update!

Lilach Weininger, the person behind Room to Grow emailed me Wed morning with some delicious new products.



Skip overto purchase your own durable cardboard pieces for office, children and family area! Read More..

Corbels in yellow

Ever since seeing an old architectural corbel used as a bookend in a Martha Stewart book years ago, I've wanted me some vintage corbel bookends. But they are rare on eBay and when they do come on they are expensive... But I bought these wooden ones for $5 on eBay.



And now, installed in my home office:

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Home office: Completion

...Kinda

We've been living here for almost 3 years now. Only last weekend did I feel like my home office was finally finished.

I'd been trying to have the small room act as guest bedroom and study. But I gave that up two weeks ago. I work from home, need substantial storage space, husband also studies in there on his own desk, we have a bookcase for books and of course, Hannah has to have her own little table (so that she can colour her books on the floor!).



So last week I finally sold our futon bed and finally bought the large sliding door bookcase that has been pinned on my noticeboard for about 2 months now. I moved the armchair which had been in Hannah's room to the corner of the study now and it looks good there too! (Update on Hannah's room to come!!)



Come Sunday night after finally setting it up in our home office space, whenever I walk in there, I feel this inner sigh-glow!



[Our guests are 95% my in-laws who prefer to sleep on a blow up air mattress and occupy the living room downstairs rather than the futon bed.]

I wish we could attack the master bedroom, but with no space whatsoever, I'll have to be patient. Read More..