I was about to do a post featuring some of the stunning rooms I've been studying in detail from Phoebe Howard's new book "The Joy of Decorating" which I bought on Amazon recently and have been devouring over the weekend. I highly recommend it, not just for the sheer perfection of the rooms she designs, but the advice and information she gives about decorating too is worth every penny.
I think she really is my all time favourite designer, and while they are many others I adore and admire the work of and whose rooms I love, I think when it comes to my home and kind of look and feel I ultimately want, nothing beats her classic style for me.
Oh ok, here's a taste.......
 |
| All images Phoebe Howard |
I have also been doing my head in trying to pick fabrics over the weekend too. I still have things to finish in all our bedrooms, the kid's bathroom blind, and the living areas. I just keep going round in circles and getting more confused. I have an identity crisis when it comes to my style at the moment which is why I'm studying books to try to reconnect with my inner decorating voice and trust my instincts. Hard to do when you're 7 months pregnant I've discovered. I'm currently on a mission to "pretty" up my house, no doubt part of the pregnancy nesting hormone, but I feel things aren't pretty, colourful, classic, traditional or feminine enough and I'm trying to soften the look.
Which leads me to the this post because I just got this email from Sherry at
Design Indulgence blog, and this is the kind of thing that gives me complete America envy and why there's no excuse for everybody in the US not to have a gorgeous looking house! It's so accessible and inexpensive.
 |
| Images from Design Indulgence blog. |
Then I see photos like this, from a regular retail fabric shop in Atlanta called
Lewis and Sheron, and it kills me that you can just go to a shop and have this kind of huge choice available to buy then and there and for about $25/m on average. You could decorate a room in about 5 minutes and on budget then get on with your life! You don't even have to know anything about decorating, have good taste or a sense of style or any clue at all, because it's all done for you. Fabulous, current, contemporary, on trend, coordinating, reasonably priced fabrics by the dozen. You could be colour blind not go wrong!
How amazing would that be if we could shop like this here! Imagine how much you could achieve in a day if this was possible! My mind boggles. I could get back the past 1000+ hours spent on the internet, in fabric shops and showrooms, driving all over Sydney and surfing all over the globe looking for pretty, coordinating fabrics for our house if I could have access to this kind of choice in one spot.
Anyway, back to Phoebe Howard tomorrow.
Gosh - look at all that lovely material! Bliss!! The ideas just flooded in: outdoor seats, cushions, drapes....
ReplyDeleteI understand how you feel with the fabrics, I couldn't believe the choice, price or the way everything was set out in colour when I visited my son in Indianapolis. It's a pity Spotlight can't understand this. Our local Spotlight is so drab and fabric badly displayed. When you go to a decorator you are reduced to choosing a sample from a book and hoping everything will be alright! I'm sure your innate good taste will find its way through the hormones!
ReplyDeleteYes, it's frustrating. I keep trying Spotlight and Lincraft in the desperate hope that one of their buyers might realise the surge in popularity of simple, geometric fabrics and I'll unearth a fabulous trellis pattern for less than $10/m, but sadly it's just a mountainous pile of mostly ghastly fabrics and I come away frustrated. Which is why when I see things like that store, it staggers me that we can't do the same thing here!
DeleteI hear what you are saying everyday I miss living in Austin TX and knowing my devine fabric store out at Dripping Springs (cowgirls and lace) was only a 20 min drive away. I have found www.fabrictraders.com.au here and they do have a good selection, but there is nothing like walking in and seeing rolls and rolls of fabric all color co-ordinated just singing out pick me pick me!
ReplyDeleteHi Mel,
ReplyDeleteI am totally with you on your admiration for Phoebe Howard - she is my favourite designer, too.
She has that knack of combining softness, elegance and prettiness without ever looking too "frou-frou" or contrived. That bathroom is my all-time favourite. Just perfection.
Jealous of the selection and ease of buying fabrics in the US. How easy just to walk in to a store - look, feel, take home a cutting? There is nothing like the reality of seeing fabrics "in the flesh".
Good luck with all your decision making! I think we are just faced with too many choices these days and it is so easy to go round and round in circles.... I know - I'm doing the same thing at the moment!
As you said, trust your instincts and listen to that inner decorating voice.... Wise words. I am going to do the same!
Take care x
Hi Melinda! I'm very new to your blog- only discovered it last week (yes, I'm living under a rock of sorts.....Perth) and I've spent all week re-reading all your posts- I feel like we are kindred design spirits! I literally kicked my legs in delight when I came across words like Circa, Ann Sacks, coffered, transom - yes, there are other obsessed people like me! And now I know we are meant to be friends- Phoebe Howard is my favourite all time, hands down! I back-ordered her book and locked myself in my house over a weekend when it arrived. I wanted to move to Atlanta immediately.
ReplyDeleteThank you so much for your blog- it has restored my faith in Australian home decorating taste, and I say that without prejudice. I was a modern- typical display home, L- shaped microfiber and leather modular gal too (4 years ago). Perth hasn't fully woken up yet, but it's only a matter of time. I'll continue to dream!