Time and Design

Well, despite everything, things have been a little busy. Dealing with a couple of design projects, including our own main floor bathroom (half bath, or powder room, depending on what part of the world you’re in), as well as launching the Spring/Summer ‘21 collection for Casa Cubista and the imminent launch of my new collab with Hudson’s Bay that’s a super-fun collection for bed, bath and beach.

Honestly though, I’m just thankful that Spring feels like it’s just around the corner, and warmer weather is on the way.

What’s been going on with you guys?

The promise of sunny days always makes me think of jute and seagrass rugs underfoot. I’m such a fan of their relaxed vibe and how they can really take the edge off a modern space. In fact, I just sourced an ace striped jute rug for a project that will see the light of day in the next couple of months.

But, GAH, if only I’d seen the fab scalloped jute rugs from Tigmi Trading sooner. Hello, yes, you read that right, SCALLOPED! That added detail just amps it all up that bit more, no? Anyhoo, Tigmi’s jute selection comes in both rectangular and round versions, in plain as well as with a single line of colour. Who’s gonna say no to that?

Okay, yes, Tigmi Trading is based in Australia, but thankfully they do ship worldwide. Oh, and to make you go even more bug-eyed, they just opened a stunner of a new showroom in Byron Bay that’s definitely worth your attention. Check it out here on The Design Files.

Photo: Scalloped jute rug with yellow detail at the Tigmi Trading showroom in Byron Bay.

Photo: Scalloped jute rug with yellow detail at the Tigmi Trading showroom in Byron Bay.

The struggle is real when it comes to sourcing a small-scale corner mount sink that doesn’t eat up the entire room. In the end, I managed to find something for our space that both fit the bill, and the budget, on Wayfair. That’s all well and good, but how about finding something that completely hits a home run, from a design perspective?

I spotted this charmant petite toilette from GCG Architectes on Insta, and just fell in love with the sink they’d scored. How perfect for the space, with it’s eclectic mix of colour and pattern (the wallpaper is from Erismann, the tiles from Popham). But where is the sink from??? If anyone can let me know, please do, since I’m envisioning someone lugging it all the way home from a Parisian fleamarket.

UPDATE: GCG Architectes kindly dropped me a line to say that the fab sink was actually in the apartment, and that they were able to save it!

I adore a singular vision when it comes to interiors, and a full-on commitment to style. British photographer Rachel Smith shot Kentaro Poteliakhoff at home in his Hackney townhouse - the gloriously dubbed Villa des Narcisses - for the Observer Magazine, and I am living for it. What, your home doesn’t have a name? You better get on that…

Poteliakhoff is the owner of ROOMS, an interiors store and veritable treasure trove of kitsch, mid-mod and antiques, and I definitely admire his take-no-prisoners maximalist style. Beige is so, well, yesterday.

Photo: Rachel Smith

Photo: Rachel Smith

guest blog / Jenn Hannotte: A touch of the RT's

Drumroll! Church bells! Fireworks! It's done! After some finishing touches, I was super lucky to have Naomi Finlay come by to take photographs of the final bathroom reveal, and Arren to help style! I am beyond happy with how it turned out - it's got that Royal Tenenbaum edge, but it's got a lot more of 'me' and a whole lot of this houses' heart in it, too. Here's the complete list of materials and other good stuffs used in the shots and in real life:  

Bancroft toilet, Brockway sink with Cannock faucets - Kohler. Daltile Subway and Octagon and Dot tiles, baseboard, Behr Paint in Ashes - Home Depot. Trim tile - Pollock's. Wild Flower wallpaper - Ferm Living. Fords Mill light fixture - Rejuvination Lighting  (Who, I noticed when I went to grab this link have some AMAZING new product). Towels, bathmat, plate - Anthropologie. Shower curtain - Urban Outfitters. Milk glass vases, vintage fan, MOR soap - Russet and Empire. Vintage pharmacy jars - The Arthur. Molger mirror - Ikea. Kartell Componibilii - Neat.

Click here and here to check out the other posts on the bathroom reno (including the awful before shots), and stay tuned, something else is cooking up at the Hannotte house - pun intended. Wink, wink.

For more of Jenn's take on style click here

Principally speaking

Where, oh where, has the week gone? All my best laid plans of it being a quiet week have literally been chucked out the window, and now it's practically the weekend for heaven's sake! Getting back on track, I wanted to show you lot the pics of the principal bedroom and bathroom from the House & Home feature (shot by Angus Fergusson, of course), so without further ado, here we go.

That first pic shows the bedroom under construction, when we'd knocked out the teensy old closets. Now the walls are all papered with grasscloth from Design by Color, the upholstered headboard and bedskirt are in my fave David Hicks designed Hexagon House Chenille from Lee Jofa, and the cream velvet curtains are from inVU Drapery. The ceiling fixture and lamp on the left of the bed are both vintage, while the one on the right (as well as the shades for both lamps) was snapped up at HomeSense. The closet now runs wall-to-wall, and is the Pax system with Vinstra doors from Ikea, and really, we couldn't live without all that built-in shoe storage, lol. The night tables were a sweet $10 each from Value Village, and the dresser was from Frontier, both were refinished to match in that khaki tone by Beresford's. On the dresser is a kooky vintage lamp, enamelled boxes from AT Design, and above there's a lovely West Elm mirror.

The bathroom was tiny, filthy and all pink, so we knocked out the walls and made it 18" wider to make the space that bit more generous. The vanity is KraftMaid kitchen cabinetry, the integral sinks and counter is Corian, and the walls are tiled in a Carrara marble lookalike porcelain tile called Montova, and yep, it's all from Home Depot. The sconces are from CB2, the mirrors are from Walmart (really), and the towels are Ikea. All the plumbing fixture and fittings in the space are from Kohler, and include the swish Oblo wall-mount faucets, the Purist Hatbox toilet (you can just about see it in the reflections) and the ceiling-mount WaterTile shower head. Oh, and I have to give a shout out to Home Depot Installation Services, as well as our contractors Cera Stone, for all their amazing work on the bathroom!

Back in the bathroom

Hey, I'm finally able to share all the shots by Angus Fergusson (including the spooky before snaps) from that bathroom project I did with Canadian Family mag. It's a pretty sweet makeover and, I hafta say, quite the dramatic change from a bathroom that looked liked something out of the Bates Motel into a bright, glossy and very practical space.

Here are the deets: We re-used the perfectly sized vintage sink (after a very good clean that involved Polident tablets), then changed out all the other fixtures and fittings to pieces from Kohler, including a v. smart WaterSense Escale toilet. We subway tiled from floor to ceiling, and then finished the sloped ceiling in tongue-and-groove, both scored at Home Depot. The floor was penny tiled in marble from Saltillo which, apart from being gorgeous, is nice and safe to walk on with wet feet (and yes, the floor was heated too, with a True Comfort kit from Home Depot). Shelving was added in above the loo, and two marble-lined nooks were added in in the bath area (the surfaces were angled slightly so they drain properly). Finally, the pretty shower curtain was custom made by Tonic Living, and the towels and bath mat were a mix-and-match between Anthropologie and HomeSense. What do you think?

Bananas and bathtubs

I'm having a bananas week. Actually, I should correct that, I'm having a BANANAS week. It all started off with the best of intentions. Monday was brilliant, since I spent the much of the day shooting the ultra-lovely results of a bathroom reno I've been working on for Canadian Family mag's upcoming Summer issue. While you'll have to grab the mag to get the complete tour, I wanted to share a bit of a sneak peek of how it's all looking - without giving everything away. So, there's a snap below of photographer Angus Fergusson in the bathtub, in the midst of angling for a shot of the toilet. Yes, I know, the sleek Kohler Purist faucet is listing slightly (it wasn't properly attached yet, and was just resting in place). Oh, and take a look at the spooky Bates Motel-ish before shot. Extra points if you figured out that we kept the original sink which Megan, the homeowner, cleaned with a ton of elbow grease and a few Polident tablets (seriously).