Designalogue

You may remember (or even just scroll down a bit to see my previous post on the subject!) that I was invited to be one of 9 fellow designers & bloggers to participate in the Feast Watson Re-love project. Well, I finished. Its all done! To refresh your hazy minds – I accepted the challenge to give a piece of furniture some Re-loving using some Feast Watson products to do just that! I chose this wee stool as it was a nice & simple shape, small enough that I could manageably takle its overhaul easily enough myself &  small enough to easily transport it around to those who I managed to rope in to assist me in the transformation!

Here tis BEFORE some re-loving was applied:

Still before…

So on with the transformation….

I selected from the Feast Watson range Black Japan stain & varnish. I wanted the timber frame to have a bit of depth of colour that the Black Japan offers. Its not a heavy black, like a paint black – its a murky dark dark almost black with a tinge of walnut (yeah – i’ll stick with that as a colour description!)

Next I coyly sent an email to the lovely people at Signature Prints & explained the project to them & what I was planning. They were very happy to get on board with the project & donate some fabric for me to use! woohoo! After feeling a bit like a kid in a candy shop as I had so SO many gorgeous goodies to choose from, I selected one of my favorite from the Florence Broadhurst fabric range- Aubrey on a cotton base cloth in black & white.

Here are all of the goodies together all ready for me to get cracking!

Get cracking I did! I roped in my clever friend Nicko in to assist in the transformation. To be fair he wasn’t given too much of a choice about his participation!! Its true that I may have basically just told him of his participation -but as he is like my brother from another mother- I felt I could get away with it!! Also he has a shed, and lots of boy toy tools, and loves doing this kind of thing -that boy loves a project! He sanded & got it prepped & ready for me to stain.

The stools existing proportions reminded me a little too much of a Star Wars At-At walker (google it!) & as I was planning on altering the shape of the upholstered section, the existing legs length would’ve looked even more out of proportion. So whilst in the care of Nicko with his tool shed, he cut down the legs by a few centimetres. Much better!

Usually when I am sourcing or designing a piece of furniture for a project that I am working on I need to take into account everything else that is going on in the room so it fits into the space with continuity & balance – thats my job! But as I dont know where this piece will end up, it gave me a bit of design freedom to play with & try something a little different for this lil solo stool!  So from out of the depths of my closet came my old sewing machine. Its been a while between sewing sessions. In fact Im not even sure that this machine that Ive had for about 10 years has ever even sewn on fabric! – its been pretty much solely used on paper party invitations!! (yeah thats a thing – I love a good party invite!)   I took this sewing selfie!  - you know proof that I was doing it & all that!!

The plan was just to embroider a small section of the fabric pattern & give it a lil sumpin with the copper thread. This picture shows early progress – I’m sure you can see where Im going with this!

Right, so on with the staining… Nicko had graciously sanded the stool back & prepped it ready to stain.  So easy! Brush on & whamo – it changes right before your eyes!! Here tis after just one coat of the Feast Watson Black Japan.

Two coats was all it needed!

Lets just take a moment to look at this corner of Nicko’s man shed – work bench with neatly organised man shed kinda containers all stacked up. He is a perfectionist – just the man to have you assist on a DIY job!!

Next step was off to visit my upholsterer Wayne who also kindly donated his services to this project!

This picture is purely just to show off Waynes factory! See all the -stuff! I love visiting my suppliers factories! I love seeing where stuff gets turned into excellent stuff – its inspiring!! We decided to alter the shape of the upholstered top to a cushion top. I like the proportions better this way & think its a better fit for the design of the stool & the does more justice to the gorgeous fabric pattern.

Next up & finally: I wanted the stool to just have another little bit of special! So I visited my super clever friends Chris & Tim at Lump who also agreed to make a wee sumpin for this project out of some copper bits they had on hand. (its very handy having clever friends I tell you!) I just love the contrast of a dark stain with a copper pop. You may remember the kitchen I designed last year with a copper kicker? Looksee here .

So finally here tis. The finished result:

and here be a detail of the embroidery.

Im quite happy with the end result & I think it will look quite gorgeous in someones home!

The plan now is that my wee stool as well as the 8 other pieces that are part of the re-love project are going to be auctioned off on Ebay with the moolah raised going to a really great & very worthy cause – the Salvos Stores.  Click here for more info on the Ebay auctions & feel free to bid to give this lil fella a happy home!

Special thank yous to the following peoples for their help on this project:

Nicko of his own domain! & of course Anna for just finding it amusing that I boss her husband around!

Helen & Gemma at Signature Prints

Wayne at Edgeworks Upholstery

Chris & Tim at Lump Sculpture Studio

Its been a fun & satisfying project to be a part of – so thank you Feast Watson for inviting me to be a part of it!

I was rather chuffed to hear the news this week that I had a won a award for 2 of my projects in the inaugural Your Future Home Green Interiors Awards!

I won 2 of the categories!

One for my bamboo bathroom project:

& the second for my bamboo kitchen project

The major sponsor & one of the judges was Jen Bishop of Interiors Addict had some particularly lovely words to say about my projects:

“Camilla Molders so impressed us that she won both the kitchen and bathroom categories. These rooms in her Elwood project made great use of bamboo, a renewable and durable material. It also looks fantastic and gives the kitchen and bathroom a much warmer feel than you’d usually expect. I loved the handmade Australian tiles and the environmentally friendly paint choices too.”

Well, isnt that a bit nice!

More on Your Future Home here.

Wowsers, its 2013!  Happy new year peoples!

I had a pretty quiet NYE, I’d celebrated my birthday the day before in a very liquidy way, & as I turned 37 – not 18, I dont bounce back quite like I used to! So my NYE was spent on my sofa flicking between Graham Norton, The Rocky Horror show & a Rolling Stones doco on the TV. Truth be told – was quite happy!

2012 was a great big year for me both personally & professionally. It was the year  that I got my first magazine cover, worked on an international project , travelled to Vietnam, worked on some really exciting & challenging projects & hilariously was invited to do a screen test as a design expert for a TV show (psst I was terrible! – a robot! Bloody hilarious experience though!) met some amazing & inspiring people, took a pottery course & made my own set of dinner plates, took a basket weaving course and topping it off in December I moved to a new house & office. A big year!

Ive enjoyed a few days over this break just doing a bit of nothing. Ive slept, taken long walks, Ive sorted out the new house – decorated it, got bored with how that looked so re arranged & redecorated again! But now I ‘m nearly ready to get stuck into it all again!

Right out of the gate I have some great projects to get stuck into, as well as some to finish off . Im excited & raring to go!

By the way, Im often posting pictures of project happenings over on my facebook page – so if you wanna, go like it – to keep in the loop! go here

like this – a snippet of a very colourful project nearing completion!

And thats that! See you back here soon!

A couple of weeks ago I had the great pleasure of working with the very lovely chick & super excellent photographer Martina Gemmola. We shot a project that I have previously shared with you  here & then a little more here. And because I’m a caring sharing lass (sometimes with an over-sharing tendency -truth be told!)  Im going to share even more of it!

So checks it out!

Thank you Martina! You were such a pleasure & great fun to work with!!

And so here I am!

I thought it was about time to share some happenings that have been keeping me busy of late & I’ve been busy!

One of my current projects is a pretty cool warehouse conversion. I  cant wait to show you more of that, but for now we will make do with some pictures taken mostly on my phone  for now.

(Psst – I think its long been established that I am a terrible photographer- look past the blurs people!)

I was so excited when this wallpaper was installed on site. Look closely.

This is in the master bedroom! Oh yes!

This is a snippet of the powder room upstairs. I think the tap is super sexy. but so is the basin. And the tiles!

This is the ensuite down stairs.  As you can clearly tell by this picture – its not finished, nor was it styled!! But I couldn’t not share! The stone bath, mosaic tiles & custom coloured tap ware – its a pretty special place to be!

Upstairs its all happening too!

We’ve got some pressed metal action in the ceiling & one the facing which makes me happy to look at! And the up-stand (which I was so excited about seeing out of my head that I had a ‘moment’ when it was installed!)  is a huge piece of reclaimed timber that was previously used as part of the near by Princess Pier. Its so chunky & delicious. Yes, I am saying that a giant chunky piece of wood is delicious!  Actually when I was first discussing this with my brilliant cabinet maker, he made a note that ‘it had to be the dream piece of wood’! He was taking the piss ofcourse – but as long as I got my point across Im happy!! & he delivered!

This just gives another view of the up-stand. I loves it hard.

In the living room we are waiting on some new furniture still, but this will give you a small idea of whats going on over there. And yep, that pole there is what you are thinking!

Its a house with a lot of character & been so excellent to work on! Still a fair bit to happen before its all done – but i just couldnt wait to share some of what has been chocking up my brain space of late!

I will also be sharing soon some other projects – very polar oposite to this one that have been keeping me busy!

Im not gonna lie, its always a squealy woohoo moment when I see my work in a glossie!

No exception for the current issue  Home Beautiful (Nov) where my project has been featured in their before & after special

Check it out!

I will be back here soon to share some of my recent happenings – loads to share! (this is a note to self more than anything else!)

This morning I was interviewed by a student for her end of year assignment. The questions were mainly all about how I work & my inspiration etc, but one question that she asked was what do I do in my spare time?

Hmm, spare time? I have a vague memory of this concept & something called a life, but it is a distant memory!!

Oh, sounds a bit sad doesn’t it… really its not!  Im pretty happy with what Ive got going on!!!

One thing I have been getting up to all this year is taking a pottery class at Cone 11. And yes, to answer the question you are  thinking (as everyone I tell about the classes automatically asks!)  - it is totally & exactly just like that scene from the movie  Ghost. Un cannily so in fact! The song & everything. The same.

Anyway…moving on.

I loves it! I love getting filthy & filthy I do get. I always come away covered head to toe in clay splatter which just adds to my personal satisfaction! (weirdly no one else in the class gets as splashy messy as me!!!) Im on to my 3rd term now & soon to go on to my 4th.  Which means there is barely a surface in my house that doesnt have a kooky misshapen bowl on it!

Oh, I didn’t yet mention that I am not brilliant at it! My bowls are usually crooked & wot not. No matter, its just so satisfying to make a little sumpin sumpin in my own 2 hands!

This is the studio – located at the Abbotsford convent, & right beside the Collingwood Childrens farm - there is just something special about wandering through the convent grounds that is inspiring!

These are my most recent pieces ready for glazing.

In previous terms I have completely lost my shit when it comes to the glazing. I forget the less is more thing that I rant & rant to my clients, & have made nice simple shapes look weird & just wrong by using multiple colours without having the skills to carry it off!

Case & point:

(not all – but certainly some!)

These are my most recent creations after glazing & firing. Um, so it is meant to be a dinner plate. But as you can see by the forks size, its more of a muffin plate – or at a stretch a toast plate!

and this is a very shallow bowl! Good for soup I suppose!

This one from my first term has turned out to be quite useful – The wonkyness got turned into a small spout which is perfect to rest my tea spoon in! – you know just like it was meant to be!

This isnt the prettiest of shapes & does illustrate the glazing mania I get in!

(Psst – in this pic you can kinda see my silver braille-celet! A recent side project (huh I DO have a life!) of mine that I designed & had it made – it has a message written in braille to me on it!!)

Here is another example of me loosing my shit in a haze of glazing fun! Although I think the splatter is kinda cute!

This gives you a good idea of the scale of my earlier peices! Tiny!  But now I have the perfect place to keep my  eraser! – as you do!!

I could go on, and on. But im sure its a topic that is far more interesting to me than to you! So I will spare you any further examples but at least now I have proof that I DO have a life!

If you want to see some good ceramics – check out my teacher the super lovely Iiona’s work on her website – here. Great stuff & top chick!

Almost a year ago I posted here about a hot pink velvet chair I really really really wanted to do for a project I was working on as it was just perfect for the project – perfect I tells you! It didn’t look like it was going to happen due to boring things in life like budgets (yawn!), but then…the clouds parted, the sun shone through & here tis!  A very lucky little little lass (as in a 4 year old little lass!) has a very pretty chair in her beautiful room!  Its as good as I knew it would be & it makes me happy!

Just to clarify, it also makes the baby mamma happy  and the little lass whose room it is also was quite excited by it…perhaps not as much as a new kitten or battery operated something would’ve – she is only 4, & 4 year olds generally dont get as antz pantz excited as someone like me does about furniture!

In the same room the bedhead was also something I was eagerly waiting on! So in the spirit of sharing, have a looksee: beautiful chocolatey linen with feature buttons in pink & white stripe for just a lil bit of sumpin sumpin! & the cushions are bit of  eye candy too!

So thats todays deliveries for your perusal! I will be back soon to share lots of other exciting things that have been happening over in my part of the world!

But  thats enough about me – whats been happening with you?!

Had to share these great BEFORE shots on a project I am working on!

Clearly its a fun project to be involved in!

Its about time to share another before & after dont you think! Well I do, & I think I’ve established Im the boss of this Blog!

Moving on… This project was a classic case of good house gone bad!

The house is a beautiful art deco house found in a Melbourne beach side suburb & was a victim of a 1980′s renovation resulting in a weird cramped, ugly & dark kitchen.

You know the pictures above are before shots right? right?!

As the house was in need of structural work (it very clearly leaned to one corner – great for indoor skateboarding & Tonka truck playing, but not so much for general living!) we were able to make bigger changes than just cosmetic. The architect on the project had the genius idea of swapping the kitchen over from one side of the room to the other which allowed an entrance to be opened up & a line of sight right through the house (also letting more light in) rather than sticking with the weird rabbit burrow as it was.

True to form – this site shot does include a shot of my hand bag!

I was quite excited to see the kitchen go in & I was not disappointed. I had designed it to be more like a fixture in the house rather thadiving n a feature. My client was determined to have dark timber floors (so SO beautiful, but a b*#ch to keep clean – stock up on swiffers if you want dark floors!) so we chose a dark timber veneer for the kitchen cabinetry so it was quite seamless.

To bring a little sumpin sumpin & personality to the kitchen design I added a copper kicker.

The contrast of the copper with the dark floor & cabinetry looks quite WOW! (no, I will not say WOW factor! - I ban that saying on my projects!- true story!)

The copper just adds a ‘little special’ & brings such life to the space without overpowering the simplicity.

I loves it. I loves it hard.

Oh & when I say I added – I mean very literally I -being ME! I was the one down on that floor installing it! I can not ever be accused of not being ‘hands on’ on my projects!

And so here is the finished kitchen result:

The picture above is a shot I took – as you can see my hands in the mirrored splash back above!

The following pictures were taken by the builders to showcase their clever handy work!  (Once a few more furniture pieces are in, I will get my own pretty pictures taken with non builder eye styling done!!)

And from this angle

Due to one of those real life annoying things – budgets! we are yet to replace the furniture, but will over time.

See the carpet there on the stairs – its Alpaca wool. Ah, so divine! Its hard to resist a little roll around on it! (oh but i did…)

The window furnishings have all been installed & they also made my heart skip a beat! We have put Roman blinds through out & then two large windows in the living room have been dressed with a linen sheer with a simple S Fold heading & block out blinds hiding underneath. The black rod pics up the dark floor & once we have replaced the furniture with gorgeous big linen sofas & gorgeous things – the space will look stunning!

To quote my clients message to me once she saw the window furnishings installed ” I F*****g  love them SO much! Thank you, now my house looks like a home!” I think its safe to say she is happy!

Do you think I should use that message as a testimonial on my website?!

And just a snippet of the laundry. Perhaps the prettiest laundry I’ve ever seen!

Still a fair bit to happen on this project, but it is coming together beautifully- it makes me happy!