HomeMADE: Final Post

I feel dreadful I left updating this poor little blog so long: I was going so well whilst HomeMADE was on, it's left a rather large hole in my viewing schedule! To wrap that particular issue up (in case anyone was sitting on the edge of their seat to find out what I thought?!) I am very happy Jason won. He consistently created beautiful rooms throughout the whole HomeMADE competition. If I were a betting woman, I would have probably put my money on Richie, but I think, in reflection, Jason was a more consistent candidate and was just such a gentleman throughout. The room Chontelle and Richie put together in week seven was just fabulous - all black and white French chic, and I loved it.







If you are looking around for some interior decorating inspiration, flicking through the picture galleries on the HomeMADE website is a great way to get some ideas for simple design concepts and how to really pull together a room with accessories and styling. I know I walked away from watching the entire series with lots of ideas for decorating our own home and I honestly learned quite a lot about the decorating process in general. I tuned in to this series with great interest as generally, I don't watch a lot of television and I was excited to see something relating to serious interior design made by an Australian network. I hope this is the first of a few more shows like it.

The big news, in a non-television front, is that two exciting things have happened to my little business over the past month and I will be elaborating on these over the next few days, but thought my blog in desperate need for an update!

More regular blogging from now on, it's a promise!

HomeMADE Week 5

Week 5 eh? Yikes! I think everyone saw it coming this week re: elimination episode. Oh well. On with the rooms highlights (there's only a few this week)!



Jason put together a GORGEOUS bathroom (which actually involved a bathroom/study room swap, which was ambitious but worked out to be a great idea). I love the dark walls, the clean white details, the gold mirror above the sink. It was really really lovely.



Leonie's kitchen was amazing - a risk that really paid off - it was this dark dark charcoal/black on one side, paired with lots of clean white and grey. The chalkboard was such cute idea. Leonie's style is distinctive, very modern, even artistic with a few feminine touches - and more often than not, it works SO well.



Richie's guest bedroom was funky - I liked the over-saturated cream/champagne and blue, I think it worked against the white of the furniture. The little nook near the window was lovely too.

2 designers against 3 next week and the show will now only be shown on Tuesdays (well, I THINK, after last time, well, I will tune in Sunday just in case!). I think poor Darren will cop it this week. Seems hard to come up against the cool kids of Chontelle, Leonie, Richie and Jason. Will be sad to see this show finish in a few weeks time!

HomeMADE Week 4

It's that time of the week again - how quickly it rolls around - I happened to miss HomeMADE when it screened Tuesday night as I was out of town at a client meeting, but made up for it on the BigPond site the next day. To be honest, I wasn't a huge fan of much of the work this week - not sure why that was, I just couldn't imagine it in my own space, but I think it worked well in the identical homes. Here's a handful of highlights:



I really liked Darren's remake of a study space - the Audrey panels and the lush rug.



Matt's bedroom makeover for little Sophie was a great one: very bright, fun, lots of attention to the little details. The surfboard above the bed looked really cute too. I'm sure she'll love her new room. I was sad to see him go this week, he seemed to be an earnest and hardworking designer who perhaps just got a bit of a case of the nerves.



Chontelle's bedroom makeover was another highlight: very soft, romantic and restful. Candles above bed were really lovely. Chontelle is very consistent in her rooms and always does a great job, she's leading the pack in terms of delivering beautiful rooms every week.



Jason's kitchen was immaculate, another leader. I'm starting to think that he's a bit of a dark horse to win - most seem to discredit him based on the fact he's been designing for 10 months but he's proved he should be in the competition over and over and over...



It's no secret I'd like Richie to win - he's lovely and a great designer - and I think I am including his bathroom as I like him as a designer, even if I don't absolutely love his room this week. A touch of green always looks lovely with that colour scheme. I actually just read on the HomeMADE website that Richie is an interior decorator with a degree in graphic design AND a landscape artist! Pretty impressive.

I guess it's getting down to the business end - three designers each team - it seems apparent that Annie will get voted out of the competition at some point soon as no one wants to work with her, but I believe they'll probably keep her in for entertainment value!

HomeMADE Week 3

I keep hearing mixed reviews of how the Australian viewers are enjoying "HomeMADE", I hope it doesn't get canceled due to poor viewing statistics! Another week, another episode, here are my highlights:



Jason's becoming quite a dark horse, another beautiful bedroom makeover pictured above, I think if it were me I could have gone crazy in that room with greenery, palms, etc. I love what he did with the picture frames (painting gold frames white to match the room) and also the cushions were a great choice that really paid off. He also did a wonderful job in his living area, by placing two blue-striped wicker chairs which just popped - I agreed with the judges, they were a great choice.



Here you can see Jason's living area and part of Richie's dining area. I wasn't a huge fan of Richie's room this week (which feels bad considering I love all of his work so far) but I think turning a little room into a scullery was a great idea!



Chontelle's crisp bathroom makeover - such an improvement on the small lavender bathroom originally! Chontelle used really large glossy tiles which she said gave the illusion of making the space bigger - which was a good tip.



Annie re-designed the kitchen, which made the space very big and stylish. I think a kitchen island in the middle would have finished it off and made the space more practical, but she did a great job. Also, the wall colour was more of a rich brown on screen, which I adored against the clean white.



Leonie's 'white on white' bedroom makeover was another highlight. She re-arranged the bed on David's suggestion and it vastly improved the room.

It was a shame to see Stacey go - although I wasn't crazy about either of her rooms this week, I think she acted with a lot of dignity and professionalism during the show. She seemed to speak from experience a lot of the time, and really focused on working as part of a team, rather than an individual designer. She also wore really cute dresses to each of the elimination shows! I'm sure she'll go on to great things.

Looking forward to the next episode, as always. This is becoming such an interesting show to watch in that I'm learning a lot about interior decorating. It would be lovely to have a $50,000 budget to work with, but even the little tips in re-using what they've already got are appreciated.

HomeMADE Week 2

As you may have guessed, I'm really loving HomeMADE, which is currently airing on Australian television, both shows have become regular viewing. Here are some highlights from last night's show that I really liked and will use as inspiration into my own home:



Chontelle's dark kitchen and Annie's choice of wallpaper - just gorgeous and worked really well side by side! I can't say I'm a huge fan of either, but I think they made great choices for their rooms this week. For those interested, the wallpaper is ‘Lace’ by Catherine Martin, from Porter's Paint.



I really liked Leonie's bathroom renovation - it looks bright and airy thanks to putting in a skylight (a great idea for any dark spots). Leonie is a favorite of mine as she seems to keep her head well during the stressful moments of the show.



Jason's canvas artwork above the bed - such a simple idea but really well executed and the red looks great amongst the grey, white and champagne. I love the palette of this room!



Richie's room made my heart sing for that amazing wallpaper (something that I'm sure many viewers also hated!) and also the wall of photos of the homeowner's homeland of Ireland - such a lovely touch! Richie is proving to be a favourite of mine for his amazing style and that lovely Queensland drawl of his!

It should be interesting to watch the show as it progresses, I think there is going to be a lot more competition, less 'We all get on great!' behind the scenes!