A chair to finish the nursery

The wing chair for Leo's nursery required a month to be made, so I was almost happy when he didn't arrive on the due date because I'd only ordered it three and a half weeks beforehand. I couldn't hold him in forever though, even for a chair! He was eight days late but the chair was even later, eventually arriving two weeks late.

I'd been nervous about having a chair made in my choice of fabric and having to commit to it before seeing it finished. I sweated over the fabric choice. There were hundreds of options and I can be a procrastinator when deciding on big items like this. A neutral fabric would have been an easier choice but I really wanted something a bit more fun and distinct.

Eventually I settled on a Warwick fabric called Mystere Honey.

I found the manufacturer on eBay (seller rosemedley). They are a small, Melbourne company and hadn't made a wing chair in this colour before, so I had to visualise the fabric on this chair. 

Not long after ordering the rug, I stopped in my tracks while reading Domayne's Winter Launch 2013 catalogue because there were a few items covered in the Warwick Mystere fabric. I loved how the colour appeared in the catalogue, making me feel less nervous about my choice. Though being a velvet, I knew it would look different depending on the lighting in the room. Here's a shot of an armchair from the catalogue. My chair only looks this colour when it's really bright which isn't often given it's the middle of winter in Melbourne. 

Last time I shared a picture of the room, the wool dhurrie rug from Temple & Webster had arrived but there was a sad space in the corner.

The room feels a lot more complete with the chair, even though there are a few other things I'd like to do in here, namely another artwork for over the cot (haven't decided if I will create something myself as I did with the others here). For now, I love putting my feet up and watching the world go by while feeding in this sunny corner.

Best of all, Leo seems to enjoy cuddling up on the chair. Well, I don't really know that for sure. He definitely enjoys the milk I feed him while we're on the chair, so that's a start. I think his favourite spot in the room is the change table! Perhaps it's the undivided attention he gets on there, or maybe the nice feeling of having a dirty nappy removed? Whatever it is, I just enjoy the smiles and cute noises he makes on there. Can you see him in the picture below, holding his stuffed puppy and waiting patiently for his mummy to take photos?! What a little beauty he is.

Speaking of the change table, I've added more baskets since the baby arrived. I particularly wanted somewhere handy for the dirty laundry, so one basket at the bottom is devoted to that, but there's now lots of storage generally which is always a good thing. I'm not a big fan of stuff not having proper "homes"!

I'm currently working on a nifty little home for picture books so stay tuned for that. 

A lamp makeover to light up the nursery

Yesterday, I posted about the first step in putting together a room for our baby - finding a cot in a traditional Jenny Lind style. Today I want to share with you a lamp makeover I did soon after. At the time, we'd started painting the room too but I was excited to move ahead with some fun decorative elements. After all, we had spent many hours cleaning out the room and the huge built in cupboards that take up an entire wall. The prep work is never fun! It meant many trips to the op shop to donate unwanted clothes, linen and other odds and ends we had crammed in there. The upshot of this is that one day I decided to wander around the op shop and stumbled across a lamp base that I thought had great potential. I'd just read Good Bones, Great Pieces (a book I'd recommend by Suzanne and Lauren McGrath) which perhaps inspired me to see beyond its current state. At $5.99 for a tagged and tested lamp, I could hardly go wrong. 

After wiping it over, masking the cords and the bit where the bulb sits, I set up my painting station in our front yard and gave it a coat of primer, followed by two coats of white. As I was doing this after work, I waited a day between each coat. You could do another coat 1-2 hours later but it got too dark for me to do that.

To do the red coats, I needed to spray without any breeze so I relocated to my brother's shed and enlisted his help as I didn't want to inhale too many fumes with a baby on board. You may now be wondering why I did coats of white when I wanted a red lamp. I did this simply because I wanted a bright red which I thought would be easier to achieve with a white base. In the past, I've found that the red appears dull when painted straight over the grey primer. In the end, we did so many coats of red that it may not have made a difference. I think we ended up with 3-4 light coats of red before we were happy with the colour and the coverage. So many coats is probably not something the experts would recommend but I figure you gotta do what you need to sometimes. 

Next step was a lampshade. As it didn't come with a shade, I used several shapes of shades I have at home to get an idea of what would look best. A barrel shade looked better than a drum shade so I picked up this one at Freedom. 

I tried it on in the shed before the final coats were finished on the base and my little brother instantly said it was too big and looked all wrong. I didn't want to believe him. After all, what does a 23 year old shed-loving male know about lamps? Turns out, quite a lot because it looked so much better with a smaller Ikea JARA shade ($29.99), with less variance in the diametre of the top and bottom on the shade. 

The final touch was a piece of yellow bias binding around the base of the shade, although I'm yet to decide if this is permanent. It is secured with one small piece of double-sided fabric tape at the rear of the shade so could be very easily removed. I'm yet to decide if it's too bright a shade for the rug and armchair we'll be bringing into the room. More on those fun elements later. 

Guest post: Turquoise and red bedrooms

Today I'm welcoming a guest blogger to Charles Whyte to inspire my own red and turquoise bedroom. Take it away Jenn! xEllise
 
Hi everyone! I'm Jenn and I write for Arcadian Home Decor, an e-commerce website that specializes in top home decor ideas around the world. I helped my mom redecorate my bedroom when I was a teenager and I've been addicted to interior design ever since. Now I get to write about home decor for a living and I get to guest post for amazing blogs like Charles Whyte, where owner Ellise's ideas keep me coming back daily. Thanks for letting me write here today Ellise! Sometimes the most unusual of colours look incredible when paired up in a great home decor plan, and an example of this are turquoise and red bedrooms. These two flashy hues come together in stylish harmony to help streamline and add visual impact to both modern and traditional spaces. Check out these eight one-of-a-kind turquoise and red bedrooms.

A blast of colour

There's no shortage of colour in this eclectic bedroom - the turquoise headboard and red leopard-print cushion, as well as the orange accents, make a surprising match.

Patterns show the way

In this beautiful bedroom, turquoise and red patterns in the bedding and window treatments meld in a unique yet pretty way.

Subtle style

More muted tones of turquoise and red in this bedroom still creates a serene environment - the flowery accoutrements used throughout the space help to tie everything together.

Darling daybed

This cozy daybed is flanked by a red fabric headboard and a turquoise accent wall, which takes centre stage and is truly the star of the show.

Gorgeous great room

This modest apartment is decked out in complementary shades of turquoise and red, seen in the soft red accent wall behind the bed and the funky turquoise glass light fixtures with table decorations.

Boutique hotel chic

This guest bedroom looks well-dressed in red damask along with turquoise and white stripes. The hues are mimicked in the wall hanging as well as the wall colour.

Perfect for baby

Turquoise and red (along with a dash of yellow) are calming but still trendy colours for a modern nursery. Image credits: { 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5 - 6 - 7 - 8 } What do you think of the turquoise and red color bedroom ideas? Don't forget to check out Arcadian Home Decor for more home decor ideas!


Thank you Jenn and Arcadian Home Decor! My favourites are the 'darling daybed' and the 'blast of colour'. These images are so bright and have inspired me to swing my attention back to my own bedroom. It incorporates these colours but needs a few finishing touches (see here for the painting my mum did to start it all).