Ideal Home Show – autumn 2015

Let’s not focus on how haggard my hands are. #DIYproblems

For the second time this year I was asked by Colortrend to conduct video interviews for their Interior Design Forum room sets as part of the Ideal Home Show. I did the same interviews earlier this year during the spring exhibit and found it great experience to see the goings on behind the camera. I was more than happy to help this autumn by interviewing some exceptionally talented designers and of course, oogle at their room sets. 
I couldn’t resist sneaking in a photo [or twelve] between takes of the fantastic room sets this years’ show had to offer … 

The Dust girls did not disappoint with their dark design, pops of colour and jungle of faux flowers. Ladies after my own heart.

My college wife Catherine Murphy and her beautifuly whimsical nursery. Check out the laser-cut wood flooring and  the bespoke giraffe night light. Srsly.

Nina Kati‘s feng shui living room had shades that did not disappoint. 
There were also room sets by Ciara Drennan Interiors, Noelle Interiors, State of Grace and Thelma Henry Interiors, but I didn’t have the opportunity to take some sneaky photos before the doors opened to the public. 

I also had the opportunity to interview Roisin Lafferty of Kingston Lafferty Design about the DFS show house her and her team designed. Roisin took me on a tour and I proceeded to tell her how much I hated her and her mad wizard design skills. This is a show house, people. The entire set was built from the ground up in just 2 weeks …

Kitchen, study, bathroom and bedroom. That bathroom in particular needs to happen in our future when we grow up and have a real life home #Goals. I’d strongly suggest you check out the whole process from start to finish on Roisin’s blog here
The autumn Ideal Home Show was a real treat. I find it so inspiring for getting the creative brain juices going. When you’re among such incredible designers, it’s really hard not to. 

p.s. I was armed with only my phone for taking pictures, so please excuse the shoddy quality. My pictures don’t do nearly enough justice to all the room sets. Trust me, they were all amazing.

Cheeky bathroom cross stitch – everyone does it

George Clooney does it. So does Chris Pratt, Martha Stewart, Emma Watson, the Queen, Hugh Jackman, Dita Von Teese and Lawrence Krauss. Even Katy Perry does it. It’s something nobody talks about, but it’s something we all do.

I’m partial to keeping it real these days – in a sophisticated way, I like to think. I’ve been quite hesitant to blog about my most recent cross stitch as I feared people would find it crass. Overwhelming. Not suitable for children. They would revolt and gasp “This is distastefulness of the highest order! I literally can’t even. Who does she think she is?“, and to those people, I’d like to say you are in serious denial about what happens in the bathroom. It’s not vulgar. It’s an inconvenient truth … 

I created this bathroom cross stitch in a bid to indirectly put things into perspective about going to the toilet. The idea for this cross stitch came from hearing tall tales of people’s, how can I say, nervous dispositions. People holding it all day in work and waiting until they got home to do it. Cutting dates short to go home to use their own loo. Even once, a friend during their primary school trip to France held it for 5 days until they got home. FIVE DAYS. It’s ridiculous! Everyone does it! And they’ve been doing it since forever. 

I like to think I’ve broached the subject in an aesthetically pleasing way. This simple and straight forward cross stitch has been hanging in our bathroom for five months now and any guest that visits always comments on it. Not necessarily directly. I’ll hear them laughing in the bathroom or they’ll simply say “It’s true. Everyone does it“. The alternative is plain ridiculous. It’s simple. If you need to go, GO!

For those who do think this cross stitch is a bit too much, I do apologize. It was simply made to make people feel more comfortable and to put things into perspective. We only live once, and I’m a firm believer that you can’t take it all seriously.

If my silly cross stitch helps even just one person out there, I’ll feel like my blog post has been justified. Just remember, everybody does it. Even Katy Perry poops. 

Home Improvements

I’ve had a variety of projects going on over the past few weeks, all of which are / will be finishing up shortly. Some have been minor yet long overdue [and sometimes giant] updates to our apartment. Nothing particularly exciting as they’re mostly paint related. 
I repainted all the skirting boards and doors in our apartment, and this morning at 04:00 I repainted our hallway [husband had to be in work really early, so I was awake and figured I’d strike while the iron was hot]. All the boring painting jobs have needed to be done for 4+ years now, so while it’s not a big change to the actual design, to us it’s a huge difference. Even husband commented last night “it feels like we just moved in again!” In a good way. 

This week in particular I have the perfect excuse to spruce up our spare bedroom a little bit as we’ll have 2 very important guests. But first, I need to change the battery in that tiny clock. It ran out before I met husband … Nine years ago. It’s been stuck at 07:13:43 for long enough.
I picked up some second hand furniture and fittings for our master bedroom makeover, hemmed a pair of giant curtains, removed the awkward radiator from the middle of our bedroom wall, and souped up our chest of drawers to house our TV accessories [the latter two were completed by Dad DIYer]. I’ve also started rearranging and hanging more artwork in our apartment, which is something I’m terrible at doing. I have about 50 picture frames, all of which are in a cupboard gathering dust. 

I’ve also had a chance to sit down and do some small projects I’ve had in mind for a long time. I sewed a cute bauble trim onto our bathmat [as seen in the first picture] and I’m in the process of cross stitching a cheeky number for the bathroom. It’s a bit risque, which is fine in person, but I’m not sure about how well it would translate online. We’ll see. I might share it as it’s a bit of fun. 

It’s another cracking day here in Dublin so when you’re finished a day of work, you feel like there’s still time to go out and enjoy yourself. I’ll be trying my hand at foraging later this evening. Hopefully I pick the right stuff! xx A