Last nights ep in Neutral Bay was amazing!!! And I can say that as it was all about the incredible garden transformation Charlie did in the backyard.
Haven’t seen it? Go to LifeStyle website and been blown away.
Me, it was like a little holiday! The house was stunning and its only problem was the spiral staircase so my job was all about ‘smoke & mirrors’ in trying to make it disappear. But this case it was more about ‘paint and lights’. There was so little for me to do that I was even allowed to add a few touches to the front courtyard as Charlie had more than enough on his plate with the back yard. The owner, Nicole was pretty easy going but when I lifted the lid to show her the paint colour for the chairs, her reaction was priceless. The colour has now been dubbed ‘bull@%#t red’ on twitter! Hilarious!The interiors were a such an easy time for us I even took time out to feed the boys!
Alright, I cheated but I made the effort with the apron!Yes Charlie is tough but can't resist a bit of a sugary treat!Sawdust and cupcakes - the boys couldnt get enough!
Cake must have been the flavour of the day as that night I went to the launch of Planet Cake (hope they do a second series!)
YES IT IS A CAKE UNDER THERE!!!!Paris Cutler and Nicole Sheffild cutting the cake!
And for that gorgeous wall sculpture everyone was loving- my fantastic Assistant Alex made it! so clever!! go herefor the before and after pics.
Can you believe this was made from strips of A4 paper!
Twitter is always so active when the show airs for instant chat and use the hashtag #sellinghousesaus but don’t forget to got to my Facebook page for so much more interior chats!!! Hope to see you there!
Well now it is confirmed that train you saw in the promo is real! Too often we think bizarre things can only be done in post production but this family really did live by the train line!
The one thing going for it was being the cutest little cottage, almost like a dolls house with period features so it was my goal to make it as ‘pretty’ as possible to try and detract from the ugliness outside! On top of that negative was the noise factor and the house being heritage listed so my hands were tied doing anything structural!
Before............Ahhhhhhh after.
The windows were my focus inside and most of the time I use plain material when trying to sell a house but those windows begged for some gorgeous dressing. But the hero for me inside was the magnetic double glazing – it is incredible the difference it made noise wise.
In go the double glazed windows!
To find out where you can get all these items go to the LifeStyle channel website for the fact sheet.
As always the real fun is behind the scenes. When Andrew, Charlie and I do our walk through we are not only shocked (everytime!!) by what we see but it is the only time per episode we are together all at once. The three of us a like naughty kids laughing and joking and being told off by the school teacher, sorry director to hurry up!
Give us a kick Andrew (always joking around!)Trying to be serious and do some serious TV work!
I have had so many people compliment me on my dress (well I did ask if anyone liked it!) I loved it too, it is a beautiful lace number from ProjectD , Dannii Minogue and Tabitha’s fashion label
I’m am constantly saying how exhausted we are for each make over with how quick it is, the physical work and doing pieces to camera but there are many times throughout the day we all have to be quiet. When I do a piece to camera the trades have to stop making obvious noise and othertimes we all just have to stop. Lucky for me this important piece Charlie had to do outside gave me some tweeting and Facebook time (see me hunched over on the balcony!) Even Charlie’s muscly assistant gets a break to fleck a bit of beauty light on Charlie!
Everyone Stop!!!!! Charlie has something to say!!!
A little look out the laundry window. Before the fence went up it looked like the train was coming straight for the house!
And as I say farewell to this episode, there is something quite beautiful about this picture. I think it is the soft glow from the new transluscent blinds, but then you could think the other way and be creeped out thinking it is a scene from a haunted house movie. It wasn't haunted by the way!!!!!
This has been a big week for the interiors industry with Decoration and Design Fair and a handful of local and international guests spreading their knowledge and experience to professionals and lovers of design.
A very special guest this year was Martyn Lawrence-Bullard whose spot was sponsored by textile importer Tigger Hall. Unable to get to Sydney this year due to work commitments I was beyond excited to be invited to a small and intimate talk Martyn gave on his inspiration of his fabric range and the signing of his book.
Tigger introducing Martyn in front of his wall of fabrics
Martyn is one of the Interior Designers on the TV show Million Dollar Decorators and together with his over the top personality and eclectic and colorful interiors he is a magnet for his celebrity clients. He works with such notable stars as Elton John, Cher, Ellen Pompeo, Cheryl Tiegs and the list goes on!
Read my lips!
What struck me straight away was a softness and calm to his presence ( well he did admit it was his first afternoon in Australia without a hangover from our love of a good drink and the effects of jetlag!) Martyn talked of his passion of travel and how it inspires the patterns and colours of his past and present fabric ranges. Tigger had a wall draped with his range and served as a perfect backdrop to his references to the tiles of Marrakesh, a tiny detail from The Acropolis and his love of bursting colour.
Pimms for an afternoon pick me up.
Top that off with tall glasses of Pimms, cream cheese and cucumber sandwiches and Melbourne’s afternoon burst of sunshine and I can say it was a pretty ‘delicious’ afternoon!
Martyn giving me the numbers of his celebrity clients as he really has too much on his plate and thinks I should take them on!Ok, he did just sign the book but he did add "A big Delicious Kiss'!!!
When we buy an old piece of furniture most of us want to clean it up and modernize it to fit in with our interior. This is the opposite!
A classic Eames chair, still timeless and modern in it’s design has be given a ‘fuzzy’ make-over in keeping with our crafty world we live in. I like it, the chair gives you a warm hug and it solves those issues of square imprints on your legs if wearing shorts or a dress! Although this has been done by the talented designer, Akira Ishikawa I am sure you could give it a go. A great idea if you have an old chair that needs a face-lift!
If you have FOXTEL you would have seen our ads creeping into your summer TV entertainment. If you don’t have FOXTEL, have a look at the video for a bit of a laugh.
And if you follow me on twitter and Facebook you would have heard a ‘smattering’ of my moans and groans last year on how hard this series was. Challenging? That is an understatement! These houses are the houses with problems no-one wants to touch. And as for the house and the train in the ad? Yes it is THAT close to the house, but you will have to wait till that ep comes onto the screen as I won’t be giving too much away too soon! What I can tell you is I had bruises on my arms and shins nearly every makeover and I have never used so many disposable gloves in my life! Now don’t get me wrong, I love doing the show and all the moans and groans are worth it when you stand at the end of the 3 days and see a transformed home before you.
But when the show had finished and the pressure was off, what we did have a ball doing was this commercial so I thought I would give you a few little ‘behind the scenes’ pics for a bit of fun.
Crammed into the kitchen was the rack of clothes, shoes, accessories to work out what I was going to wear. Oh I think there was a shirt in there some where for the boys...Ta-da!!!! The chance to be a Diva! Getting someone else to do your hair and make-up and style you is a complete luxury so I'm not letting this posing moment go by! Look at the shoes!!!Stylist Fernando playing 'boom' man as Andrew watches on. You can follow Fernando on Twitter @backstagefixCharlie not wet enough - I'm sure he was hoping the water was going to be done in post production!The boys lining up for their lippy!!!!Walking into the onslaught!Shhhhh I'm hiding!And the most important bit. Looking at the lines? No ordering lunch.And the embarrassing bit? With the huge shoes I had on, I still had to stand on a box!
Series Five (YES number 5!!!!) starts on Wednesday 8.30pm, February 1st 2012. I can’t wait for it to hit the screen and share with you all these great houses. I will be watching for the first time with you so it will be exciting to see how the episodes come up. Look forward to hearing what you think.
There is a little bit of an internal ‘squeee’ moment (you know that noise!) when you get to meet a celebrity you admire. You know, where a noise goes off in your head and you have no idea what you said and when you are left on your own you hope you didn’t embarrass yourself…….. too much!
Dannii Minogue is one of those gorgeous, classy ladies who is so glam and down to earth it is also almost an oxymoron to put it all in one sentence, but there you are.
So I am over the moon to get a copy of her book MY STYLE, AND with it personally signed it allowed me another ‘squeeee’ moment of absolute joy. (That squee may or may not have not been an internal noise).At first all I wanted to do was look at all the pictures of how gorgeous she is and see how much she has changed and grown. From that cute little girl on Young Talent Time (it wasn’t her fault the 80′s happened to be there as well) to a blossoming woman and mother. This picture of her in the green dress that graced the cover of Who Weekly takes your breath away. You can see in her eyes a woman who knows who she is, is comfortable in her skin and a softness that can only be described as contentment.Yes Dannii knows how to work the camera and has had years of learning what works and doesn’t work for her but it is more than just professional elegance you see. Dannii’s book, MY STYLE is about sharing her journey to find her style and what works for her. If we laid our own scrap books out of fashion hair and clothes faux pas I am sure we could fill a book ourselves (I know I could!) and still not get it right.So once I got away from the mesmerising pics I took time to read the actual words. It is jam-packed with tips, tips and more tips! My favourite? Her packing technique. This is a girl who’s life is traveling for work around the world so there is no-one better to get my tips from as I live in and out of a suitcase for six months of the year myself and guess what, I’m doing it all wrong! Some-one told me years ago to roll your clothes up so they don’t crease and everything jams in nicely. Dannii does the opposite! So I am going back to ‘packing school’ and relearning the art of packing a suitcase.Next is the underwear secrets. Dannii’s not afraid to say she doesn’t walk out the door everyday in matching underwear and it’s all for the practical reasons rather than worrying about how to ‘sex-up’ herself. Now that is my kind of girl. That matching under wear thing is exhausting! Oh hail the non-matching underwear!
Then there is the spanx, the tape, the perfect bra, hoisery (hmmm better look at something other than the nude and sheer blk) etc. And the tips for looking great for that perfect event. But of course there are the casual and everyday outfits as well, you really didn’t think she lived lounging in a corseted evening gown did you?
There is so much in this book it is perfect to have on the side table, by the bed or anywhere in the house to do a little ‘small chapter’ reading as each time I look at it there is another tip I haven’t seen before.
Our style grows with us and Dannii is a woman who has grown perfectly into her own skin and style, and so I finish with my favourite pic in and quote in the book.
LOVE the sunnies, the pout and she is rocking that towel!
I have recently become a new Ambassador for the program called JustBU and this is all about looking inside to find out who you are. Love who you are, and all the rest follows.
The 60′s and 70′s were big on coloured glass in the form of ashtrays, bottles and vases. The overwhelming explosion of colour (like everything else from those decades) lead design back to the elegance of simple clear glass and the focus then became on what was inside the vase, rather than the colour of the vessel.
But our love of colour and mixing everything together has returned from the cold war of minimalism. Many of us who endured those years of ‘bold’ expression have begun a new love affair with the quirky vintage glass but it has also inspired a new generation lovers of the genre and a fresh wave of interpretation for artists and designers.
Tracy Glover a Glassblower by trade, has made a divine collection of glass balls of all different shapes, sizes and colours that are flexible in how they can be used. They can be bought like a Christmas box of jewels and arranged in anyway your creative whim takes you. Single strands, groups and lines; the variations are endless. The ‘jewels’ are individually hand-blown and each single piece is a work of art on their own. There are two artists in this process, Tracy as the glassblower and the second is the designer or decorator who puts it together. The look is random, but it takes a keen eye to balance the shapes and colours to give the delicate and final magical display.
Jewel Box delight as a wall decoration or a room divider.Suspended Jewels or light fitting.The suspended Canopy of Jewels over this bar would look gorgeous with light filtered through it.
With designers like Tracy, our love of colour and 60′s inspiration
I’m not a big shopper unless for a purpose, I hear some of you gasp at that admission but I DO love browsing the local shops when on holidays.
We found this cute little homewares shop in Red Hill called, you guessed it Red Hill House!
They still had gorgeous timber Christmas decorations out and lots of different items for the home. What I loved though was at the back of the shop was this horse sculpture sprawled over a 2metre table. Sort of set the relaxed mood of the shop really.
Do you have any favourite ‘holiday’ shops you like to browse?
Time out and relaxation has not been on my agenda for 95% of my 2011 but that last 5% is what I am going to end my year on. This view is from our balcony of where we are staying, the perfect place to chill and watch the boats go by. What we didn’t know when we booked it was the incredible sunsets we would get at the end of the day. These two pics sum up a lot about life: what you initially see and the joy of the unexpected moments. 2011, you have been a challenging year, professionally, emotionally & physically with incredible highs and lows but to finish you off with this view…….. well I can almost forgive you.
The interiors were a such an easy time for us I even took time out to feed the boys!
