Live Breathe Decor

Hello there. Remember me? It’s been awhile - quite a long while - since I last posted here but I’m happy to be back in the blog world. I never really intended on taking such a lot of time off, but for the past few weeks my energies have been utilized elsewhere and my daily blog ritual slipped down on my long list of priorities. Blogging became a bit like exercising - I felt good doing it but I was sick of making the time in my day, so I stopped until I was desperate to get back into it for the sake of my mental health! There has been so much happening and so many ideas fighting for space in my head that I need the catharsis that is this little blog.

Can I just say thank you so much to the many readers who emailed me wondering if I was still alive? It’s always slightly surprising to me to be made aware of the fact that there are people who read what I write here - and it is so, so encouraging to hear from people who share my interests, style and passions (obsessions?).

I won’t go into great detail about what I’ve been up to since I last posted (work, kids, more work, house-hunting - you get the picture), but one consistent theme for me has been dreaming of a place in the country, and figuring out how that can actually become a reality for us.

Would we keep our house in Melbourne and just buy a little weekender? If so it would need to be cheap. Or do we see our lives as ever being based more outside the city? This would mean at some stage possibly uprooting the children from their school but it would also mean I could start looking at bigger houses, more character, more land… But we’d still need a small base in the city, mainly for my work purposes. It was in this mindset that I looked at - and loved - an inner city apartment recently.

Yes, it was pretty ugly. Blue carpet, very small and crusty kitchen, bathrooms all in need of replacing, but boy, could I see the potential! It also had a fireplace, french doors, soaring ceilings, an office for me and you could walk to the cbd.

I had it all mapped out; I’d lose the ugly wall lights and blue carpet and install pale bleached floorboards with a hint of warmth. In the dining area (above), I’d put a long buttoned upholstered banquette against the wall, and pair it with a long, narrow timber farmhouse table with walnut bentwood chairs to contrast with the pale floors. Above the banquette I’d have a wall of artwork.

This is a bit more provincial than what I had in mind but I do like the pairing of a bench seat with simple chairs:

I would have opened up the sides of the ugly 1980′s staircase so that it looked more like this:

I imagined a new lantern pendant in the stairwell, nicer handrails and a wall of large black and white photos - probably of the kids as only the boys’ bedrooms would have been upstairs:

The upstairs landing was big enough to house a long desk for homework, a small sofa and maybe a tv on the wall.

In the living room the overall scheme would be my city version of blue and white ‘Ralph Lauren style’. My plan was that this would leave me free to go with darker, richer colours and fabrics in my country place. Think sisal, white sofa and curtains, armchairs in navy with white piping, black mirrors against white walls, tan leather buttoned ottoman for a coffee table, bookshelves with a ladder to the ceiling on either side of the fireplace housing mainly books but some blue and white chinese ceramics too. I really did have a vision!

After a couple of weeks of indecision, we agreed to put in an offer, only to find that it had sold the day before! It was - I want to say disappointing - but it was more than that to me. I had become ridiculously emotionally invested, and in my mind it was already my new city pad, so refocusing on the property search was actually a little difficult. That is, until the next place came along.. (which I’ll tell you about tomorrow).

It’s nice to back, and thanks for reading.

Naomi xx