R U G S

We recently bought a Moroccan rug for our dining room {pic directly below} the dining room of the Retreat is rather large and nice open space to the kitchen and living room making it perfect for having guests over! Because the space is so large it really needs a rug to define the space and really make it the 'dining room' area. I've always been a fan of Moroccan rugs {Safavieh have a nice range} and the colouring of it ties the white and grey of the kitchen over to the dining space bringing the two areas together.

I'm a little rug obsessed and a few of my faves {and wants} are pictured below. I would love to put a Turkish kilim {Table Tonic has a great range} in one of the bedrooms, patchwork cowhide in the media room for a bit of luxe and the Armadillo marigold rug would suit perfectly in the main bathroom, especially during the coolers months when the tiles are freezing to stand on!   

Rugs can cost a fortune but if you do a good hunt around you will come across a large range at a great price, I regularly keep a watch out for rugs at www.templeandwebster.com.au , www.thehome.com.au , www.freedom.com.au and www.ikea.com.au

However!! Before you rush out and buy just any rug that you love, you must follow a few design principles order to make the rug work in your space:

Dining room

Living Room

 

Bedroom

Via www.burlapandlaceblog.com

 

 

picture of the Marigold rug is from the lovely www.kararosenlund.com home

P A L M + L E A F + P R I N T

Palm leaf print is one of my faves and is a bang on trend print that can easily {and in so many ways} be introduced into your home.

For the daring the Martinique Wallpaper "The Original" banana leaf print has been touted as one of the most recognizable wallpapers in the world {catch up if you had no idea!}, which was created by decorator Don Loper in 1942 for the Beverly Hills Hotel. For me, I think this wallpaper would look great in our study or powder room BUT much to my detest Alex loathes it! So, to the 'not-so-daring' items I shall have to stick with! 

For the not-so-daring the banana leaf can be added it small {and removable} ways shown below.

And if you're loving it but still not feeling it enough to place throughout your house - try these here!

via Peppa Hart Art Shop

Acrylic tray, bedhead and pillow via Furbish Studio

via pinterest

via Peppa Hart Art Shop

Via Peppa Hart

via Peppa Hart Art Shop

via: songofstyle.com

via:
bijouandboheme.blogspot.com

via pinterest

FIDDLE LEAF FIG

F I D D L E  L E A F  F I G

My obsession with Fiddle Leaf Figs (Ficus Lyrata) began when I stumbled across them while researching design ideas for our house {never having seen them before} and from the moment my eyes laid on the lushy-green-goodness I was set on getting one for the house. They make amazing indoor plants with their lush green {huge} leaves, only requiring filtered light and a watering once a week! 

Getting your hands on a fiddle leaf fig can either be completely tricky and cost a small fortune or you strike pot-luck and find a bunch of them for sale at a really great price. I almost bought one for $150 from the Gold Coast {here} however, was lucky enough to have heard back, right at the last minute, from a local lady on the Sunshine Coast who had baby plants available for $10 each! Sold! Warning - they are super addictive and I have now purchased 3 in total. 2 baby plants and 1 larger plant. 

Baby fiddle leaf figs from here - they aren't actually open to the public but do sell at the Yandina Markets.

Larger fiddle leaf fig from here

My fiddle leaf fig

found via http://www.abeautifulmess.com/

Found via www.designsponge.com

Found via www.desiretoinspire.net

Found via
remainsimple.tumblr.com

1 YEAR ANNIVERSARY SINCE HANDOVER

It's been a while since I blogged {the year is flying by before my eyes!} and since it is the 1 year anniversary since handover at the end of this month I thought it was quite timely to blog and show the progress since the keys were all ours 1 year ago!

The house is by no means complete and we still have a lot of work to do but we are slowly ticking boxes and making progress.

I the last few months have seen us add more plants to the gardens, installed white venetian shutter blinds throughout the house and white plantation shutters for the bathrooms. We finally frosted the glass to our en-suite toilet door and built a letter box!

The gardens have grown a little bit in the past few months that they have been planted. I never really noticed how much until I went through the photos today. We have also planted 2 large raphis palms in each garden bed. 

Before photo - when first planted

 

After a few months of growth

 

Plantation shutters in the bathrooms have now been installed

The house has also had it's first party - for my 30th Birthday in March! I must say, this house is the perfect layout to host a party. I had a cocktail barman in the kitchen whipping up cocktails - the kitchen is such a large space and with our island bench being super huge it worked perfectly and was utilized exactly the same way as a bar! While the cocktail barman was busy creating delicious cocktails the doors to the alfresco were completely open allowing friends to walk freely from the the cocktail bar to the food on the alfresco deck.

New Year, new you or new garden perhaps...

The garden alongside the driveway has finally been planted after much procrastination. While visiting my parents and attending an engagement party on the Gold Coast over the holidays we popped into a garden nursery before coming home - a little look turned into 4 Cascade Lilly Pillys (to hedge), 2 Little Gem Magnolias and a Grass tree! This haul was on top of the 4 Cordylines (negra and rubra) and 2 Foxtail Palms that we had purchased from a nursery on the Sunshine Coast a few days prior, so we had no choice but to get planting with the huge amount of plants that we had purchased. All the new plants were planted alongside our Pandanus trees and Cycads.

I'm not usually a fan of Lilly Pilly trees - the only kind that I like are the cascade and weeping variety and with the weeping variety growing quite tall and not appropriate for the space, the cascade was the better choice.    

The Magnolias have been flowering almost every 3 days and the flowers are huge and smell amazing - I think I may have to purchase more of these when we create another garden. With the Magnolias and Gardenias flowering it is smelling amazing this Summer!

Now we just have to tidy it up and plant a few more smaller plants along the edge of the driveway (in front of the larger plants) to create depth to the garden and let it grow into itself. A watering system may need to be on the cards soon too!!

New Year // 2014 // a Fresh Start

Happy New Year from House of Hayward

Here's to it being the most amazing year yet

FESTIVE SEASON

It's beginning to look (and smell) a lot like Christmas at House of Hayward! My їnnoscent Christmas candle has been non-stop burning all weekend long and with a 180 burn time it shall be burning for a long time to come. I love this time of year and it always helps to get me in the Christmas mood by having my house smell divine as well. Last weekend we had a Street party with the neighbours and closed off the street with a festive table running right down the middle of it. Each neighbour brought along their drinks, chair and plate of food. Such a great night and so great that we have such fantastic neighbours! On Sunday afternoon the Developer organised a Christmas party at the Rec Centre (we have a recreational centre in our estate that has a lap pool, kids pool, gym, tennis courts, conference room etc.) for the entire estate to join in and meet each other and seeing as though we know half of the neighbours already it made for a really fun night which led to one too many jugs of sangria!  

їnnoscent natural soy candle an absolute must for any household

Christmas movies played by the pool (while floating on a pool ring)

Mulch complete and view of curtains from the outside