Favourite Finds

It's been my last full week (for a while) with small children knocking around my feet! My eldest child started intermediate this week, which has been a big, and, so far, very successful step. And my two little ones are back to school next week. We've had a great school holiday, and it's been another fantastic week for new discoveries...

Wallpaper is a big love of mine. What's not to love?! Colour and pattern, it's a piece of art that covers your whole wall. As soon as I saw this new Coco tiger wallpaper by Studio Lisa Bengtsson I knew I had to find a place for it in my home. I'm not sure where yet, but the pink wallpaper needs to be in my life!

My iPhone plays a big part in my life - keeping in touch with everyone, it's my little portable office, I play music on it, watch tv programmes, and, of course, take lots of photos. I was pretty excited when I spotted this cool smart phone attachable lens by Sony in the latest Lonny magazine.

The lens can either be attached to your phone or it can be separated from your device and controlled remotely with the help of NFC and Wi-Fi connectivity. I'd love to try it to see if it would really turn my phone camera into a fully fledged digital camera. What I do know is that it looks amazing in this white and gold version (also available in boring old black!).

While the sun continues to shine here in New Zealand, we're enjoying soaking up the rays and living outdoors as much as possible. These amazing Giant Cloud Cushions by Lujo are my idea of alfresco relaxation. Measuring a generous 1.3 x 1.3m or 1.3 x 1.75m, they are a totally decadent lounging experience, inside or out.

Made from super soft Sunbrella fabrics, a waterproof inner liner, and heavenly soft polyester fibre, they have a carry handle and a corner zip pocket to pop your iPhone or book in - how perfect, they've thought of everything!

Thanks to my three gorgeous tween girls, whose lives seem to be ruled by music these days, I have discovered and fallen in love with Uncle Jed. These three cousins won the 2013 Australia's Got Talent, which has just finished airing here in NZ. Beautiful, beautiful music, I am totally hooked. These three are massively talented and, as family, have an incredible connection which is evident in their performances.

Have an excellent weekend everyone, and take a few minutes to soak up these gorgeous sounds...

Boysy Bedroom

Our very first Bibby + Brady client turned out to be a very special client for us. Angie and Ryan had just bought a new house in Tamahere when we started our interiors business last year. Although the house needed work, it was a fantastic blank canvas to start with, and the fact that Ryan is a builder was a definite bonus. Angie had followed the Cush & Nooks blog for some time, so she knew we had a similar design aesthetic. Like a lot of our clients, Angie knew what she liked, but just wanted some help to pull it all together, and to make some of those big decisions - like furniture and fabric purchases.

We have worked with Angie and Ryan one room at a time and they have now nearly finished the whole house. With three beautiful children, the kids' rooms were really fun to work on. The brief for their little boy's room was to make it cool and eclectic, nothing too matchy-matchy (that is an official interior design term you know!). It also needed to be a room that would grow with him - he was 4 years old when we designed the room, but Angie didn't want to have to re-do everything in a couple of years.

Keeping that in mind we used a cool, rustic wood wallpaper that we knew Angie loved. This will still look great when he's a teenager. We painted the outside of the kids' doors in a glossy colour. The hallway is clean and simple with white walls and black and white family photos, so the colour coded doors make a great impact - soft teal and watermelon pink.

wallpaper up, light in, door painted (carpet yet to be replaced at this point)

Lots of graphic accessories help to bring fun and life to the room. We suggested customising a set of Ikea drawers by painting two of the drawers dark blue, linking to the striped duvet. A 'Dukes of Hazard' print on the wall was our starting point, as it's very similar to the little boy's favourite toy car.

apologies for slightly dodgy photos snapped on my iPhone

Feel free to get in touch with either Dael or I if you want to know about anything in the room, or if you'd like our help with your home or business.

Painted Valentines by Fane Flaws

With just over two weeks until Valentines Day, who's thinking about surprising their favourite person with an awesome gift of love?! Well, I've got the perfect solution - a beautiful piece of original art by the super talented artist, Fane Flaws. Maybe you could causally leave your laptop, with this post on it, somewhere they'll find it, or email them the link, as a not-so-subtle hint for your V Day present.

I'm a word girl, I love most things typographical, so I really love Fane's set of song lyric paintings. Painted with gouache on brown paper, they are Messages Of Love. Choose from some classic songs by famous songwriters, or you can email Fane your favourite song lyrics and he'll make you a special painting. Here are some examples...

GIVE ME YOUR DIRTY LOVE (like a pink donation to some dragon in your dreams)
- Frank Zappa from Dirty Love

ANCHOR ME (in the middle of your deep blue sea) - Don McGlasgan from Anchor Me

WITH THE POWER OF SOUL (anything is possible) - Jimi Hendrix from Power of Soul

LET'S GET UNREAL (I'm talkin' about the way you make me feel) - Fane Flaws from Let's Get Unreal

WILL YOU STAY IN MY LOVER'S STORY? (if you stay you won't be sorry) - David Bowie from Kooks

Other lyrics available to order:
• ALL YOU NEED IS LOVE - (Love is all you need) - John Lennon from All You Need Is Love

• LOVE ME 2 TIMES GIRL - (Once for tomorrow...once just for today) - Robbie Kreiger from Love Me 2 Times

• I BELIEVE THAT YOU AND ME FOREVER - (Will stand accused of love) - Tom Petty from Accused Of Love

• IF YOUR'E A DOCTOR - (I need a shot of love) - Bob Dylan from Shot Of Love

• I LOVE YOU THEN I LOVE YOU NOW - (I'll love you till the cows come home) - Fane Flaws from Always

• WILD THING YOU MAKE MY HEART SING - (You make everything groovy) - The Troggs from Wild Thing

• I HAVE ONLY ONE ITCHING DESIRE - (Let me stand next to your fire) - Jimi Hendrix from Fire

• I WANT YOU - (I want you so bad it's driving me mad) - John Lennon from I Want You

• YOU THRILL ME LIKE I CAN'T BELIEVE (And more in love I've never been) - Fane Flaws from Mystery

• I NEED YOU MORE THAN WANT YOU (And I want you for all time) - Jimmy Webb from Wichita Lineman

• I DON'T WANT TO KNOW THE MEANING OF LIFE (I just want to love you) - Tony Backhouse & Arthur Baysting from The Meaning Of Life

• AND I'M GLAD (Glad about the good times - that we've had) - Don Van Vliet from I'm Glad

• I JUST WANT YOUR EXTRA TIME (And your kiss) - Prince from Kiss

• I'M A MAN - YES I AM (And I can't help but love you so) - Steve Winwood from I'm A Man

• GOT TO GET YOU INTO MY LIFE - Paul McCartney from Got To Get You Into My Life

• I GOT YOU (That's all I Want) - Neil Finn from I Got You

• HELLO I LOVE YOU (Won't you tell me your name) - Robbie Kreiger from Hello I Love You

• AlLL AROUND THE WORLD (Every boy & every girl need The Loving) - Andy Partridge from The Loving

• GIRL I WANT TO BE WITH YOU ALL OF THE TIME (All day and all of the night) - Ray Davies from All Day And All Of The Night

• THANK YOU FOR THE DAYS (Those endless days those sacred days you gave me) - Ray Davies from Days

The lyric paintings are 300 x 300mm and you can choose a white or a black background - unframed $450, framed $550.

Words I love, but I'm also crazy about birds, and have fallen for this set of painted Love Birds. There are only five paintings available - these are mocked-up images which Fane will paint in gouache on paper once ordered. He'll only paint each bird once, so be quick, first in first served.

The love bird paintings are 200 x 200mm - unframed $450, framed $550.

As well as those original paintings, another perfect Valentines gift is this Striped Heart digital print. It's printed on archival paper using archival ink. 700 x 550mm - unframed $450, framed $600. It's such a cool print, beautiful colour and texture.

For all orders email Fane Flaws. For Love Lyrics and Love Birds, order by Friday 8th February, and you'll receive your painting by Wednesday 13th February - perfect!

Family Haven

I discovered a fabulous blog last week all about Emily and her beautiful young family.
The Beetle Shack is a fun and honest look into Emily's home and life. She shares stories of motherhood, recipes and glimpses into her home. It's a home full of colour and life, with a relaxed and welcoming vibe. The bedrooms are delicious, see what I mean...

Beautiful layers of colour and pattern, I bet there are a lot of fun times had in this home. Make sure you visit The Beetle Shack yourself to see lots more.

Small Spaces

Decorating in small areas can be tricky, but if you're clever there are lots of ways you can make them work. Bunk and loft beds are a brilliant way to utilise available space, and if need be, you can have them made especially to fit. The built-in storage in the bunk below is genius, and the down lights on the top cupboards are a nice touch.

Having a loft bed allows you to use the space below in a number of ways - another bed, drawers and shelving, a sofa, or a desk. This works really well in a child's bedroom.

Talking of desks, we often need one at home to work at, but if you can't spare a whole room for an office, a little nook can do the job. The table below couldn't fit this space any better. Having a stool means it can be tucked away underneath when not in use without taking up precious space (this one is a little bit low to be used at a desk, but you get the idea).

You can use a cupboard to house your little office, which you can then close up out of sight. I love this one below with a fold down shelf and a door-hung magazine rack.

One of my favourite space savers is the kitchen/dining nook. If you don't have a lot of room for a large dining table, a booth seat against the wall is a great solution.

And these examples below show you how you can rock a wall mounted table. Small, but clever, the lack of legs gives the illusion of space in a small area.

One of the smallest spaces in our home is the laundry. Not many of us have the luxury of an entire room, it's more likely to be hidden behind a cupboard. That can be totally functional as you can see below. Having a front loading washer and dryer side by side gives you a handy surface for folding washing. Wall mounted shelves hold all the necessities.

Or if you stack the washer and dryer on top of each other you could have room for a sink to the side. This example below is an excellent use of space with pretty good storage for such a tiny area.

1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9

Don't let size matter, think creatively, you can make that small space work. If you need any help with yours, contact us at Bibby + Brady, Dael & I would love to help.

Favourite Finds

This is the first of another new blog series - Favourite Finds. Once every week or two I'll be bringing you a selection of favourite things I've discovered - maybe a new website I've found, or a movie I've seen, a delicious recipe, or cool product... an eclectic collection. Hopefully there'll be something in there to inspire you to.

I've recently taken the Meat Free Monday pledge. The concept to cut meat out of your diet for one day a week is taking the world by storm, and little ole New Zealand is jumping on board. I quite regularly cook vegetarian meals for our family, so it won't be a hard concept for me at all, but I'm most excited to try the yummy recipes you can find on the website. Pop over and read all about why you should take the pledge with me.

Autumn fashion is hitting the shops already and my favourite label, Moochi, has lots of cool new stock to entice me. I have a long list, of course, but at the top are these awesome Lead Pants. Tapered at the ankle and with an elasticised waist they look really smart and super comfy - a brilliant combination!

I've just discovered the TV programme Offspring. I know what you're saying... "Where've you been?! Offspring has been around for ages!". Yes, I know we're about to start season 4 here in NZ, but before a few days ago I'd never watched an episode. Thanks to the wonder of TVNZ On Demand, I was able to watch the last three episodes of season 3 back-to-back on my iPad in bed. Now I can't wait for the new season to start so I can see more of the craziness and of course, Patrick - sigh!

I'm always happy to add another interior book to my collection, and I love the look of Creative Family Home. It addresses both the practical and decorative issues involved in creating a stylish home for your family, whether you've got one tiny baby, or a tribe of teenagers.

And last, but certainly not least, my favourite new find... get ready to have your heart wrenched! I follow an incredible instagram account called mommasgonecity. Owned by Jessica Shyba, her blog by the same name was initially started as a way to keep in touch with family when they moved from California to Manhattan. Jessica moved back to Santa Cruz, California with her husband, three adorable children, and their latest addition, a rescue puppy called Theo.

A very special bond has formed between Theo and Jessica's youngest child, Beau - there is nothing quite like the love between a boy and his dog. Read Jessica's full story here about how the pair became such close buddies, and how nap time is no longer Jessica's most productive time of day! She spends most of it watching this remarkable love story with her heart bursting. As a massive dog lover, this just makes me want to cry with joy! I'm a bit of a sook when it comes to animals, if you are too make sure you follow Theo and Beau's journey, as well as the rest of the family, on instagram.