Hubby and I have stayed in Venice twice, once with our young children. We took a vaporetto to Murano to visit the glassworks. Fascinating to watch the men work. The kids each were given a beautiful clear glass horse figurine, which all these years later they still treasure and display. On our last trip, we visited a small shop run by siblings. We purchased the last of a collection of seven pendant light globes their father had blown for the shop. They were all the same shape but different colours of glass. We purchased them for the new modern house we planned to build the following year or so. We are pleased and grateful to have such unique, handmade and time-honoured beauty embellish the spaces in our home, and the lights always interest guests and we then have a story to tell.

Oh C'mon V Richards...every epoch has its treasures. B4 you make a mad run for it stop a while and consider the period and the reasons for the style...it can be extremely enlightening....unless its not the period you want to escape from but from some of the opinions. I spent many years of my youth outside of Australia living surrounded by old ruins in Europe. I forgot what it was like here. When finally I returned to Australia and found myself living in some of the 60s and 70s places..I found much to admire and wonder about. I may not have fallen in love with much of it but there was a certain mistique and a feel that I can still conjure when talking about certain places. Not saying that it was all romantic and pleasant but it conveyed something of the era and the kind of Aussie from those days.

Hi Kathy, so thrilled to hear my comments got you started thinking of the big picture, it has been a pleasure working with this. When you are starting totally from scratch like this it is easy to become too close to the issues and the brain becomes overloaded so you can't see the woods for the trees. I think this is also a classic example of why I always tell people to live in a house for a year before beginning to decorate, as hard as it is to be patient and wait, you do need to get the feel for a house and relate your lifestyle to it. I do like your idea of splitting the room into two areas, the room looks big enough to give you this option, and to me intimate spaces within a room create a more welcoming and homely feel. When you have a good idea of the furniture you would like, put what you have in the room and measure anything else before you buy it, use newspaper or cardboard boxes the size of the pieces and put them around the room to ensure you are going to get the desired result. It can be so easy to over or under estimate just how much space furniture will take up. Sorry the green lounge in the study didn't work out, but glad this has helped you see options. Just my personal opinion, one of my joeys had a lovely old grandfather clock in her lounge room and while it was a beautiful piece of furniture to look at, I just found it a little on the intrusive side - with its constant chiming it just didn't make the room feel relaxing, one was just so aware of the passing of time. Of course this can be advantageous when certain rellies visit. She ended up moving hers to her entrance foyer where it was a stand out feature and the lounge room became so much more relaxing. Love to see some photos of your landscaping.

A great concept, I've often considered doing so myself. Whats great about your bodo boards, and the schemes put together on this poll, is that they are quite adaptive with a neutral foundation. They can be easilyapplied to everyone. I love an emphasis on tone and texture, and in place of colour, visual interest is really added by accents, architecture and artwork. The australian bush scheme is very textural, although I think the palette could explore some of the more chromatic tones in our bush, some organic notes of green and taupes, but perhaps with vibrant yellows or deep indigos for example introduced. as for the romantic industrial, lovely, but it is only so because of the rose pink. A feminine take on industrial would to me be softened with humanised accents. Please explain, industry is mechanical, and romance or femininity is softness, so perhaps signage featuring lettering, or bespoke handicrafts which show the connection between industry, and loved spaces created out of collecting. Almost a way of feathering our nest. waterfont is cool, calm and yes collected. Literally. I love coastal schemes, but they can become a little predictable when they are literal interpretations of sea and sand. Coastal can easily be adapted to a relaxed style and I feel many colours can be applied to demonstrate this costal palette. . The key is in muting the scheme and enhancing the textures from nature. Tha grand! Oh the grand. I love it. Who doesn't really. Its very now, but the drama and edge is lost in applying same old collaborations. The geometric tile, chevron, hexagonal or penny rounds are gorgeous, and befitting the current style, but more so appropriate in specific architectural styles, not everyone an have a warehouse or loft, or grand 1920s residence, although we all try to use these same materials and formats. Precious metals and stones are the height of popularity and luxury, brass, marble and glass, are all in favour, actually have never been out of it. What I want is to see the used in a contemporary fashion. It is my pick, because it actually does respond to my own homes architecture, so I'm always on a hunt and gather of images and ideas to develop this gorgeous and luxe style. Whats next? Usually in an effort to be new and different, we move away from what's in front of us, but ever so gradually. I think the appreciation for industry, form and function, man made objects, formats, collaborations will be in favour for some time, so to in an effort to be different, organic will evolve. Colour notes, timbers, sustainability and natural form will emerge. Not to say literall greens or Browns, but more so, soft geometry, tactile materials and surfaces, perhaps a focus on light and shade over shimmer and style. bespoke practices, so things if stone and wood, and one off designs, as in using products that can't be replicated in process, like bricks, every ones different, veneers, grained materials, and unpretentious designs. Hand scribed lines, patterns or prints, I think will favour. Thestyle of now is definitely one we aspire to, as in luxe and indulgent, the monochromatic scheme which is actually ACHROMATIC people is overdone, but will never be out of favour. It is classic. When done right, it is the epitome of style, only the definition of that is what changes! love what you do....I can't articulate the value of conceptualising your style in finishes and fittings, design is often felt not learnt, and we respond to our environments, so it makes sense that seeing your style emerge from a collective consciousness in the form of a board, will literally transform your ideas in reality. As a designer myself, I'm constantly creating them. My own home is a work in progress, which I've created many concepts for. I'm very interested in seeing your perspective on it though, and I'd be very grateful for a bodo board from your design perspective. ml