The House Dressing Company

Hi everyone – it’s been such a long time since I last blogged.  Life just gets in the way sometimes, and before you know it, so much time has flown by!

Have you all been enjoying this amazing weather?  I sure have but I have to admit, I’ve been away on not one, but TWO trips recently that took me to warmer climates.  One trip was to Mexico for a week with my husband and girls and the other trip was back to my homeland Australia, to spend time with my elderly parents.  On both trips, I was really struck by the amazing colours in the natural surroundings and the brilliant and strong light that accentuated the colours in the landscape.  Of course, I love the tropical plants and flowers and am always amazed at their sometimes gawdy colours and over-the-top enormous leaves.  It’s almost like they are showing off!  Who can blame them really, when they grow in such perfect, warm conditions and in such beautiful places.

It got me thinking about the relationship between the colours and textures in nature and the colours and textures we can bring into our home decorating in the form of furnishings and accessories.  Of course designers have been taking inspiration from nature for ages, but sometimes, if you’re not sure what colours you’d like in your own home you can look to nature to see what colours you are naturally drawn to and go from there.

Some people are naturally drawn to the cool colours of green and blue whilst others love the vibrant colours of yellow, orange, pink and red.   Natural textures and neutral tones are a favourite too, and are often used as a background to the other, more flamboyant colours.

Here are a few ideas and thoughts I had using my pictures from the two trips and pictures of some products we have in the store.

If you love the blues and greens of the tropics,  you can bring these colours into your home with pillows, vases, placemats, rugs and bedding.

If you are drawn to the many shades of coral, yellow, orange and pink that you see in so many beautiful flowers in the Summertime, here are some examples of how to bring these colours into your home.

Of course, during the summer, our inspiration in decorating often comes from the seaside and all the wonderful, natural textures and colours it brings.  Things like pebbles, sand, driftwood, shells, starfish,  textured, neutral coloured fabrics and wicker.

And how could I forget the beautifully coloured plumage of the tropical birds and the vibrantly coloured fish that I saw on my trips! Talk about inspiration!  Here is a photo I’d like to share of a cheeky Rosella parrot sitting on the telephone wire overlooking my parents’ backyard.  He’s holding a stem of seeds and having afternoon tea in the sunshine before a dip in the birdbath below him.  Imagine having all those colours in your house!!  Wow!  Isn’t he gorgeous?

“With glowing heart”, I’m so happy to be back in this beautiful part of the world with it’s soft skies, silvery blue waters and deep green trees.

Enjoy the early Spring and all the lovely colours it brings!

In all my years of working with customers who are conscientious about making their house a cozy home I have always found that one of the biggest differences you can make in a room besides the paint is the style and scale of the furniture.  Above I have featured one our our favourite rooms from the Pier-nice hey?  Do you choose items that reflect your personality and your lifestyle?  I find that this is key to putting together a cozy room so that when you are using this room you feel completely at home because it’s you, thru and thru.  Each of us has a style that is uniquely ours and we are constantly refining it to reflect our values.  We are fortunate to own a lakeside cottage that I enjoyed decorating thus my design style for this summer oasis was chosen to reflect the lazy carefree days of summer and with easy care washable slip covers and lots of bare wood floors for shoes and wet feet to easily sneak thru without destroying carpets.  Here’s  peek at a corner of our living room at the lake.  We love this room and we pile all of our guests in here snuggling on the down filled sleeper sofas for movie night or as pull outs for slumber parties.  Do you have a cozy room that you love being in?

At home, upholstered furniture, cozy wool rugs and hall runners, are suitable for our family since the sandy shore is miles away.  However, my little ones can still enjoy playing with ease in a home that allows for “oops and yikes” to happen and no one loses an eye!  Creating your perfect space takes careful consideration and attention to the details of style, scale, size, fabrics and not to forget care & washing instructions especially if you have pets and little ones- even us big people can spill our red wine quite effectively! -don’t you think?

At The House Dressing Company we work hard to offer you our wisdom and expert advice as you choose your new furniture.  We assist our clients by  giving our customers the much needed time with specific information and recommendations to assist them with selecting the perfect fitting pieces reflecting their vision for their home.  We understand that most home owners don’t replace their furnishings very often and that it is a big decision in a household to invest in new furnishings.

We take pride in our customer service so that you can make your decisions for any new furniture with confidence.  Our team will assure that you have the right scale for the room, the correct dimensions to fit the space, and a pleasing style and fabric choice that reflects your personal style.  Previously, Helen McIntyre was our design consultant available to assist you with this.  However, she has recently switched gears and moved into a brand new career in Real Estate- watch for her in Sidney.  We wish her much success and will miss her as will some of you who have worked with her.  Have you met Liz and Ingrid of our store’s team? Both of these gals have worked on our team for a few years now.  Liz has an extensive background in design with formal training in the fashion industry and then years of styling and design in retail.  She is thrilled to be able to assist you in the store Thurs- Sunday for your furniture design needs.   Ingrid also has many years in retail with a sharp eye for style and design and loves our customers (and they love her too) and enjoys assisting them.  Ingrid is available most weekdays in the store.  She is also one of our contributors on this blog and will be writing more frequent content for you-aren’t you glad?- she’s such a good writer!  Both of these gals are valuable members of our team whom our customers have grown to love.  Ingrid and Liz will be ready and waiting for you and your furniture design needs, so pop in when you are ready and they will be happy to help you.

Change is good!  And a change in your surroundings from ordinary to extraordinary makes you feel great!  Life is meant to be lived to the fullest- don’t you think?  Creating the perfect environment plays a big role in living a cozy lifestyle since most of us spend a great part of our lives in our homes.  So be sure you love your home and your furnishings and if not, give us a dingle , we can help and we would love the journey of working with you.

If you are looking to bring an exotic yet elegant flavour into your home you might want to take a look at Moroccan decor!! From vibrant colours to intricate mosaics, this luxurious and dramatic style is sure to WOW you! It is also becoming increasingly popular in homes all over the globe! Due to Morocco’s blending culture, it’s decor reflects many textures, patterns and styles from lots of different places such as: France, Portugal, Spain, Africa, the Mediterranean any many more.

The hot, blazing sun forces Moroccan’s to bring the outdoors inside, where they can enjoy the beautiful landscape from their cool inside oasis! They are able to achieve this environment by using energetic colours, beautifully embellished furniture pieces, potted plants, bold patterns and soft lighting.

Due to Moroccan decor truly becoming a prominent design style…..we at The House Dressing, of course had to bring in some great pieces in order to create our own “Moroccan” Look!!

I love it………so cheerful and strikingly different! It’s nice to have a punch of colour around! I’m really excited about this look as I’m sure you will be too!

Make Sidney your destination for the day…..Come explore with a girlfriend, walk along Beacon Ave and down by the water, have lunch at a great cafe, grab a coffee in the afternoon and don’t forget to come into The House Dressing Co…..our vibrant display is right at the front!

Let me know what you think?

Oh how wonderful that the sun brings us joy and gorgeous blooms!  It lifts our spirits and energizes us with it’s brightness and warmth.

I couldn’t resist taking a wee bit of time to appreciate my surroundings on this glorious day.  I thought you’d enjoy a glimpse of what I found in my garden.  Take a peek!

Don’t these springy greens make you smile:)  I was amazed at how lush the plants are becoming with all this warm weather we have been enjoying.  Those daffodils are about to peek open any time now.  And my euphorbia (bottom left) is bursting with my favourite chartreuse green.  The moss carpet is even perking up with it’s lovely green creeping between my stones.  It must the Aries in me that completely wakes up when spring arrives and I am loving that it’s incredibly early this year.  Don’t you?

And these blooms, my word!  See the happy little faces of the crocuses looking back at you, sooo lovely.  The snow drops are not lonely today with all their bloomin’ friends.  They have been waiting a long time for the flower gang to join them!

Why don’t you take a moment and check out your yard or your neighborhood while the sun is out and see what you can see emerging?  A nice walk in the sun to catch some much needed vitamin D would do us all good.  Our trusty weather man says lots more sun to come….. bring it on!

Have a glorious day:)

Yeah!!!! We have just gotten in some great Spring stock!

We have all been anticipating some new product in the store! Christmas is packed away for another year…thank goodness! making room for all the new fabulous colours, patterns amd textures. We will be getting our new stock in waves….so it’s important to come in regularly and have a good look!

I’m really excited about the new items. It is so nice to see bright colours and decorative, fun patterns around the store. Spring is definitely coming and I love adding a “spring touch” to my home at this time of year! What I like to do is change my sofa pillows, add a decorative spring textured throw,  swap my vases for some fresh white ones or glass and add some fresh colourful flowers! I also love to start on some new projects around the house! I have started to fill my picture frames that are on my staircase wall. (I mentioned it in an earlier blog) I am super excited…and am having fun choosing the perfect photos to liven the wall! I love magazines and I love to change the pile that sits on my coffee table on a regular basis! Choose a really colourful, fun cover for the top of the stack! This will sure get your creative, spring juices flowing!

I wanted to give you a little glimpse of some of the new lines we just got in! Take a look…….

Garden Party

Beach House

Inner Journey

Have a great week!