Look out for Kylie’s posts for the next 4 days – her tour of her Brisbane, Australia home continues tomorrow with her bedroom!
Living areas
When we bought our home in Brisbane, Australia, three years ago, we were particularly impressed by it size. While it’s a two-bedroom apartment, its rooms are unusually large. The living area is no exception — it includes a very spacious living room, a separate dining alcove, and a small hallway.
However, when we moved in, there was one noticeable problem: the colour scheme. The apartment had been in the rental system since it was built back in the mid 1970s, so they’d used cheap beige paint, cheap vinyl vertical blinds (also beige), and even cheaper blue–grey carpet. What’s more, someone had the atrocious idea to paint the dining alcove purple.
Being on a tight budget, we were not in a position to replace the flooring any time soon (even though I KNOW there is beautiful concrete underneath just begging to be polished), so we had to do the best we could with paint and furnishings. Thankfully, we managed to find a paint that complemented the carpet, and now our home is far less offensive to the senses. We were also fortunate enough to receive plantation shutters from my parents as a wedding gift, so we managed to get rid of the ugly blinds as well!
Aside from the overall picture, I’ve also tried to focus on small elements that can help to make our house more of a home. John and I are both fans of contemporary art, so we have a few bits and pieces adorning our walls (and many waiting to be professionally framed and hung when we can afford it!). I also like to hunt around both vintage and ‘new’ stores (both in the real world and online) for new pieces to place around the home. My favourite is, of course, the black flying ducks that adorn the wall of the dining alcove (and where my blog takes its name from). One evening I was sitting on the sofa staring at the blank wall, and suddenly I had a vision of black flying ducks. I couldn’t find any suitable vintage ones, but I found some great new resin ducks from the UK. Perfect!
If you enjoyed this home tour, and you’re interested to see how our home keeps evolving into the future, keep an eye on Flying Ducks!
I think you did an excellent job with the color scheme! I love all the birrsd, and the red accents really bring everything to life!
Crazy Cat Lady
ccllibrary@aol.com http://crzycatladyslibrary.blogspot.com/
Um, that should be birds…not sure what my fingers were thinking! LOL!
Wow how cute! and I love the gray and red
Thanks for the giveaway. What a totally cute necklace. 🙂
eclairre(at)ymail(dot)com
Love it. I like that you don't have much stuff and when you do it is really interesting.
oh this is fun!!
Your living space looks great! 🙂 I am inspired to buy paint. Amazing how much paint can perk up a place… CUTE necklace!
Cute necklace!
Enter me dear 🙂
Contact me dear 🙂
liz_crowny(at)yahoo(dot)com
pintaliztiirene.blogspot.com
Anw, you can join my first giveaway which is F21 peach statement ring at
my blog. The merrier is more fun 🙂
Thankies dear
<3 Liz
———-
This necklace is so cute!
Thanks for the giveaway. I'd love to win
I love how neat and appealing your bookshelves look. Mine are overflowing with books. It's time to pack some up or give them away and put some nice knick-knacks on display.
Ziggywag at yahoo dot com
Grey and Red come together so beautifully…and I love the framed pieces as well.
dhesh at webmail dot co dot za
That's adorable!
alionandalamb at aol dot com
So jealous, that's a lot like how I want my house to look, I love the mix of grey, black, white and red, they're such classic colours! That necklace is adorable, and I've just gotten a DS so it'd be fun to wear 🙂
My recent post A Kawaii Giveaway at Kawaii O Onegaishimasu!
So lovely! 🙂
Also, I’d adore to have that DS (I’m a big nintendo fan), so I’ll throw my name into the hat.
so.kitsch at gmail dot com