in my studio | category

Mar
30
2012

living 101

So I finally managed to finish off our living room. I kept changing my mind and the decor along the way but I knew I’ve always wanted a bright, serene room hence no wallpaper or paint was used. The furniture and decor speak for themselves. The reason why I changed it 101 times is because going from a newborn who pretty much doesn’t touch anything to having a super energetic toddler, I had to remove/reposition many decor items. They either were given away, stored in the garage or placed at a higher level. I also had to be careful to not over-do or under-do in terms of decoration. And also because most items are not brand-new-straight-from-the-stores-costing-me-a-bomb, it took me a while to source them. I did quite a bit of research and looked around second hand shops/ebay/gumtree and even managed to scavenge things found on the street. This is me and I am proud of it, I simply love recyclable materials!

Our living room is not the best shaped room for a living/lounge… very rectangular and long, which makes furniture positioning a bit tricky. If you see the before photo, two pieces of bulky furniture were placed in front of each other making the room feel tight and crowded. Of course when you have guests, that’s probably the way to go however this wasn’t our concern. We (the family) spend more time in this house so we had to make it a functional space for us to live in. We wanted the TV right in front of our comfy couch. Yes! That dark brown couch is super comfy. And sorry, I wasn’t able to fit a picture of the TV in the photo, but just imagine it sitting opposite the brown couch. Considering the living room is pretty small, we could fit 7 sitting people without it looking crowded. Woohoo, problem solved!

The old wall gas heater is not fully working and it would cost us an arm and a leg to get it replaced, so we decided to scrap that and position a light beige couch in front of it. More space saving for us! We also installed a split system heating/cooling above the fireplace and are now looking to get underfloor ducted heating throughout the house. Melbourne can get very cold in winter and one heater isn’t going to heat up a whole house!

You can find the post for this hand sewn ‘love’ cushion here. Note: I did not make the cushion cover, it came with one of the couches we bought from Gumtree.

For the mantel piece decor, I made this lovely frame with chalk writing and the post can be found here. Its very easy, just pick up a frame from a second hand store or a timber yard.

I am yet to make a post about this gorgeous timber scrap “Bismillah” art, which translates to ” In the name of Allah” in Arabic. I hope you’ve been thoroughly inspired. Its nothing glamorous, just a simple and functional space as I like to call it.

1 lovely comment
Category: architecture/interior, before + after, décor, house 101, in my home, living/lounge

Nov
14
2011

sew your love

I like being creative in my spare time, not that I get much time to myself, but when I do, I make use of it even if it means doing something small around the house.

A few months ago, we bought a second hand two seater fabric couch on Gumtree Melbourne. It was the perfect couch and I couldn’t believe my eyes when I saw the ad said ‘Freedom couch $60’. Freedom! Freedom is one of my favourite furniture stores in Melbourne, but with a price tag of course. Our first couch we bought was from Freedom when they had a massive sale and I vouch its one of my best purchases. If (God forbid) something would happen to my house, I’d drag the couch out with me-darn I love that thing! (pictured above)

So back to this Gumtree couch, its a beigy grey colour and came with 2 matching cushions (seriously, who would put cushions on a sofa in the exact same colour and fabric?!!) Anyhoo, I gave it a good scrub & wash, got out a needle & a thread and started sewing my love on…And of course, filled it with a new fluffier cushion insert!

2 lovely comments
Category: before + after, décor, do-it-yourself, in my home, in my studio

Nov
07
2011

what’s the time on the clock?

Hickory Dickory Dock,
The mouse ran up the clock.
The clock struck one,
The mouse ran down!
Hickory Dickory Dock.

This Piro clock was originally bought from Ikea many months ago. They are no longer selling it now, so I was glad that I managed to get one. I knew it had potential rather than just using the default pattern that it came with but it never crossed my mind to use it for my daughters room. As I was reading to my daughter ‘numbers’ one day, it clicked to me that maybe I should design her a clock with huge colourful numbers. And so I did. I’m really pleased with how it turned out, bright, colourful and really child friendly… the opposite to the ‘dull’ black that it originally was. Now, my daughter knows how to point with her finger number 1 (and slowly showing number2) whenever we say 1,2,3 and mashallah she is only 15 months!

To view more on my baby’s nursery in progress, click here.

1 lovely comment
Category: baby, before + after, décor, do-it-yourself, graphic, in my home, in my studio, nursery

Oct
31
2011

nursery 101 | update 1

This is Aliya’s room/nursery 6 months ago. Since then, we have installed rolled blinds and changed the curtains to a light grey blockout. Her room is still in a work in progress as I haven’t exactly finish what I had originally planned out . For example, this wall next to the toddler bed was supposed to be the feature wall painted in grey. But we didn’t get around to it, I don’t think it will (ever) get painted as she sleeps in this bedroom full time now. So toss away the idea and lets decorate it with something else. I was thinking of an oversized hand painted canvas. Hmm, am I going to get the time to sit and paint it myself? Maybe. Perhaps. Ok, I’ll try. I’ve already bought the canvas (over 3 months ago!) so I just need to find the time and inspiration. Any suggestions? Hubby was saying why not make it an Arabic canvas with Arabic alphabets, what a brilliant idea!

Right: DIY painted bedside table by hubby. White plastic pot and and flowers from Ikea. ‘Aliya’ painted wooden name sign, a sweet gift from CUE Designs and DIY curtains by me!

Left: Vinyl wall decal from eBay. DIY painted rattan hair by me, you can read the post here to see before/after photos!

After a long and tiring hunt for a nursery pendant lamp, I finally found the perfect one!. This was the second lamp. I originally bought another one but then had to refund it simply because it looked good at the showroom but NOT when it was hung up here. And thank God its one of those DIY, at least I didn’t have to call the sparky*! So it took me another couple of weeks to find this. I should’ve taken a picture of the other one that I returned. Oh well. But isn’t this pretty? Even prettier when lit up!

Stay tune for the next nursery update. Hopefully by then, we can see pictures of her cot/sheets, DIY clock that I recently made for her and her oversized canvas. Oh and her gorgeous white chic wardrobe! And rug!

*sparky is an Australian slang for electrician

4 lovely comments
Category: architecture/interior, baby, bedroom, before + after, décor, house 101, in my home, in my studio, nursery

Oct
19
2011

taking the joy

frame-joy

into a frame!

Chalk is so versatile that you could be so creative with it. Not to mention how cheap they are too. Kids, teachers, artists even the homeless uses chalk! I like it because it gives me the freedom to re-create as many times as I want. Rub, delete, draw.

frame

Chalk and blackboard go hand in hand. But I didn’t want to use any ordinary blackboard, that would be boring. So I paid a visit to the junk yard and got myself this frame. Still wrapped in its own packaging, there was no sign of age or damage. In fact it was brand new but I only paid a few dollars for it, so I couldn’t be any happier. Now I don’t need anymore dark colours in my house, so I hesitated whether I should really paint it or not. And so I did. It turned out fantastic and exactly as what I had in mind. Its now found its place on our mantel piece.

Note: To paint the frame I first had to seal it with a white primer and then my chosen colour. I used Dulux Acrylic ‘Taupe Stone’ as we’ve painted some walls in the house with this colour.