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14 Feb
Bringing colour back
Maybe its wishful thinking, but we’re getting a very good sense there’s a return to colour in the home. After a period of white walls for every situation, people are looking to inject more colour into their living spaces.
Paint is wonderful to work with, but the biggest mistake people make with paint is to choose the colour in the paint shop, where the light and environment is likely completely different to your room at home.
Ideally you should test your paint colour on a piece of wall sheeting and look at it in its intended space throughout the day.
A shade of white is still an option for your walls, but it does require some fabulous artwork to set it off properly. Colour can also be brought in by using a couch or other substantial piece of furniture. White walls can have the effect of making a room look incomplete and really bright whites can often lead to problems with glare. Carefully consider when using white and understand how it will react with elements of your interior.
It should be remembered that the best colour scheme will be one that has a ‘thread’ that ties the whole thing together. But it doesn’t have to be boring! This is what clever interior design is about – the ability to put it together.
As always, visit the Beadles showroom for advice and inspiration, we’d love to see you.
Cheers,
Beadles
4 Nov
Featured artist: Emma Leyland
Image: A painting by artist Emma Leyland in the Beadles showroom
At Beadles we encourage our clients to support Australian artists, particularly if they can spend the time to find someone who works out of their local or regional area. We have original artworks in our homes and believe it’s like many other things, if you buy the best you can afford you will have an enduring feature to admire for many years to come, possibly even to pass down to the next generation.
We like to support local artists and met one we have grown to have a great working relationship at a Toowoomba Grammar art show some time ago.
Emma Leyland is a young artist from Moree whose works range from still life and portraits to the stirring wildlife and outback shots like the one pictured.
Emma was born in the UK and took art classes from an early age but worked as an interior designer before settling on art as a full-time career after moving to Australia in 2011.
Emma says she enjoys variety in her work and the fact she’s able to make people happy through something she has created for them, just as we get pleasure out of creating beautiful interiors for our clients, some of which now feature Emma’s works.
When choosing art, consider your budget but be guided by what you like. It can be time-consuming to do the research on your own so we can do that for you, however some of our clients also like to do the research themselves, or check with us as to whether their potential purchase will work well for their scheme.
Whatever your selection process and preference, remember art is in the eye of the beholder and if you love it, that’s all that matters.
Cheers,
Beadles
25 Oct
The beauty of feature pieces
Image: A beautiful side board in the Beadles showroom
Feature pieces are those items in the home that beg attention. They might be particularly large, or particularly ornate, but you can’t enter a room without your eyes going straight for them. It might be a piece of furniture, a sculpture, even wallpaper can be considered a feature piece in a room.
Not every item needs to be a feature, and not every room needs a feature piece, but when you do choose to incorporate something stand-out, the goal should be to wow.
Deciding on your feature pieces should be driven by what you love – not everything in your home needs to be functional. Sometimes the function of a piece is simply to be beautiful, something that adds a little joie de vivre to your surrounds and you just enjoy looking at.
Our advice as interior designers when you’re planning a room is to start with the basics, then if you have room for a feature furniture piece you can pop it in. Making your room work is all about space and scale – getting that wrong can make everything look off.
Our clients often take photographs if they see something they’d like to incorporate into their home but don’t know if it’ll work. Take measurements of the item, take your pictures home and consider your potential purchase in the room once you’ve calculated how much space it will take up and how it will work with your other pieces.
A feature chair is one of the easiest pieces to incorporate. Beadles has plenty of inspiration in our showroom so please feel free to pop in and visit us soon.
Cheers,
Beadles
23 Sep
Design your own at Designer Rugs
Caption: The Easton Pearson ‘Favorita’ rug for Designer Rugs
In this week’s blog we chat to Designer Rugs’ Shane Duckwitz about custom rug design, a fantastic option for anyone looking to individualise this addition to the home.
While customisation has been commonplace with window dressings, upholstery and accessories for some time, many people are unaware the service is available for rugs and at relatively low cost, says Shane.
“We do have stock you can buy off the rack but custom design is very popular,” he says.
“The most unique thing to Designer Rugs is your rug is manufactured for you, it’s not mass produced and they’re all hand tufted or knotted. We can do any rug any size, shape or colour, to inlay into your timber or tile floor or as a free-lay carpet.
“We can change the colours in your design too, it’s just about choosing the design first then we do the artwork, the artwork is signed off and the rug is produced in around 8 weeks.
“We use mainly New Zealand wool which is one of the best products to use in rugs, but also some luxury silk and Tibetan wool and silks, and our rugs start from around $990 but the sky’s the limit for what we can design and make.”
Working with Australian fashion designers including Brisbane’s Easton Pearson as well as Akira Isogawa, Alex Perry and Dinosaur Designs, Designer Rugs has made a name in quality design that adds an artistic edge.
“We work a lot with our designers and artists in Australia and adapt their designs with the help of our in-house design team,” says Shane.
“People tend to stick to the contemporary modern designs – chevron prints are still very popular as are abstract graphics and a few people make their rug a feature of the room but a lot choose their rug to blend in with the design of the room.
As to how to choose the best rug for your room, of course Beadles is here to help, but Shane also advises considering fabric and size first and foremost.
“A high traffic area should stick to New Zealand wool whereas a bedroom where the rug is only being walked on a couple of times a day can incorporate a silk fibre,” he says.
“If you want to centralise a room with everything being symmetrical it’s good to have a border on the rug.
“Some people like to have the furniture sit on the rug and some like to have their furniture just touching the edge, so choosing the right rug for the right purpose is very important.”
As an instant lift, a rug can make a big impact on the overall mood of your room.
“A rug can easily soften a room and bring a room together; it just adds texture to the room,” says Shane.
“Particularly in Queensland, a lot of people have timber floors, so using a rug can soften the room, give it some texture and act as a good sound barrier, especially with timber floors.”
Ask us how to choose the best rug for your home and check out www.designerrugs.com.au
Cheers,
Beadles
13 Sep
Cliff notes – top design tips from Cliff Beadle
Image: Re-upholstery makes a big difference – a Dexter rocker is given an update with a modern fabric
This year Beadles celebrates 35 years in business This is a milestone we can’t quite believe is here already, but looking back, has seen us enjoy so many creative moments, which we still have just as much passion for today.
Over the years we’ve collected a fairly extensive mental library of design secrets, some of which we like to think of as our top tips for any interior project. Here’s a selection of our top three:
- Use fresh flowers throughout the home
Although fake flowers have come a long way in recent years in terms of their realism, our preference is always for fresh. Not only do they look more beautiful but there are proven benefits to your environment for having fresh flowers and plants inside the home.
If you don’t have experience arranging flowers, simplicity wins every time. Lillies always look fabulous and don’t require arranging, but anything en masse (roses, daisies) works well, don’t try to mix too many varieties unless you know how.
- Experiment
Don’t be afraid to experiment. If you develop a confidence about what you’re doing, you can mix styles together quite successfully.
Eclecticism is the art of layering. If you collect loved items throughout the years, an expert eye can help you rearrange them in new ways and tie your existing pieces in with more modern items. Just moving things around can really change the look of a room entirely, then you can look to add new cushions, a new coffee table or some artwork.
- Re-upholstering makes a big difference
Often people have wonderful pieces of furniture in their family but the pieces look dull and lifeless. Rather than accepting the old aesthetic, consider using a more modern fabric on traditional furniture pieces when getting them re-upholstered. We have a Dexter rocking chair in the Beadles showroom we’ve upholstered with a beautiful velvet feature fabric, breathing new life into this classic piece.
We’re always happy to share our design tips. Visit the Beadles showroom to find out more about how you can make the most of your spaces.
Cheers,
Beadles
11 Sep
The wonders of upholstery!
We have just delivered to a delighted client, this amazing example of the wonders of upholstery!!!
Altogether it’s a three piece suite in a stunning fabric by Robert Allen, an American fabric design house.
Upholstery can turn old furniture into remarkable treasures, which you will love and, which will be uniquely yours to cherish. You won’t see these chairs in every catalogue!!!
Old furniture pieces usually have solid, good quality frames, which most mass produced items these days do not have. That’s not to say you cannot get the same quality of furniture frames, but you pay for what you get.
We have an abundance of Australian, NZ and international fabrics available to us and just love being involved in the transformation of either inherited family items or antique purchases, into the stunning examples of fine furniture like the images above.
I bet your looking around the house now thinking ” what can I recover????”
Until next week,
Beadles
14 Aug
COLOUR is back
I can’t tell you how excited I am about this – Colour is back!! There’ll still be a place for ‘boring’ beige in the scheme of things, but with some colour to break the monotony. And if you’re a little more brave, considerably more colour than beige will be the go.
Talking about colour, I’d like to mention a fabulous new range from Sanderson called “Colour for Living”. It’s a vibrant collection of prints, weaves, embroideries and wallpapers, compiled as seven complete decorating stories arranged in distinctive palettes, each with its own character.
The range has tremendous possibilities for either the contemporary or traditional project. The fabrics are suitable for all types of application including curtaining, blinds, upholstery etc.
We’d love you to visit our Showroom at 120 Bridge Street Toowoomba to view the complete range. A large selection of other Sanderson ranges are available to see. Plus a whole lot more.
We will be featuring this range with other beautiful product at Weengallon’s “Pink Ladies Day Out” on Tuesday 28th August. It’s the most amazing day with 500 ladies (dressed in pink) attending to give ongoing support for breast cancer sufferers. For more information on this wonderful event, please go to http://www.pinkladiesday.com.
Cheers for now,
Beadles