Volume building experience

Working for a Volume builder:

So I haven't been posting anywhere near as much as I should because I've gotten a second job working in the showroom of a volume builder whom I wont mention just in case it might get me in trouble! Not that I have anything bad to say of course...but you can never be to careful!
As a young designer whose been out in the industry just over a year I really cannot believe how incredibly lucky I am to have found this position and I highly recommend looking into it if you are also fresh to the industry!
The product knowledge alone is incredible. Even just knowing the colorbond colour range off by heart is an amazing skill that is crossing over amazingly in my other job contracting for an interior designer. But seriously, building processes, colour pallet practice, especially for exteriors as I'm an INTERIOR designer haha, product knowledge and continuous updates from the building world are really giving me a leg up.
Also seeing how clients react to all of a sudden having so much freedom with being able to choose literally EVERYTHING and seeing how they deal with that is a very interesting thing to watch and be a part of.
Sometimes they know exactly what they want and you cant tell them any difference and sometimes they clutch at you desperate for your opinion on everything from the colour of their down pipes to the taps they choose for the kitchen!

Being a part of the process with people like that is a very rewarding and amazing experience and I love almost every minute of it.
Also as someone who of course wants to own their own house one day, I would definitely go through a volume builder. But I would use them for an investment home before using them for my own home as its my dream to renovate a little terrace house :)

The home office

In today's world, many of us work from home. Stay at home parents, contractors in many fields like private accountants, photographers, interior decorators/designers and stylists like myself, seamstresses, florists, cake decorators and thousands of others. But what I want to talk about is what makes a home office and how a functioning one should be.

I cannot talk from experience as my home office consists of me sitting on either my bed or couch and using a laptop table from IKEA to properly rest my computer on, and that's if I'm feeling like sitting on my bed is being too lazy! and my experience and projects aren't enough paper work that they have filled more than one magazine storage box yet so I will no doubt have to invest in a desk very soon, but for those who have an established business that they run from home and attend every weekday like a real office, the info I touch on might be helpful.

The Space - The office needs to be its own space, it shouldn't be a desk in the family room, or a nook in the kitchen. It needs its own room where you can open the door and arrive at work, and shut the door when you leave so your home again.

The Lighting - The room should be well lit, bright, natural feel lights for the winter months when its darker, and a nice window for those summer days and beautiful mornings!

The Air - Always choose a well ventilated space with adequate heating and cooling should it need it. Having a fan for the summer is a nice touch.

The Furniture - Always choose this carefully. If your business is one that involves reps, clients, other workers, or sub contractors to your office, you will need a table and chair to hold meetings at. Unless your home is huge and can accommodate for meetings with these people elsewhere, like a formal living room, then a table and definitely extra chairs will be needed.
Also think carefully about your desk or work bench. Depending on your occupation, you will need different things for example, I'm a designer, so I need a desk large enough for me to have my computer plus all the drawings, plans and possibly physical models all sitting on it at one time. If I was to go out right now and purchase furniture for my home office, I would probably get a desk and a table so I can really spread out and not have to pack things away just to look at something else. But if you are an accountant who does most of their work on a computer, then a small desk and a chair may be all that you need.

The Storage - Never limit the amount of storage you'll need. Shelving is an amazing invention, used to hold all manner of items, books, folders, wine bottles, magazines, files, sample boxes etc. You will need room for all this. Never get enough storage for what you have. Always get too much, you'll be amazed with how quickly you fill it. You may be a super organised human being who files everything away into boxes and stores them in your garage or attic and that's OK too. But always over prepare.

The Equipment - Pencils, erasers, pens, rulers, scissors, paper, printer, scanner, sticky notes, pads, diary, calender, markers, white out and highlighters are all basic office equipment and tools. They are the basics you will need to start out but as you go along, your drawers and jars will fill up and overflow. Make sure to throw pens out when they run dry instead of sticking them back in the drawer and try to keep your space as organised and clean as possible. And always have spares! There's nothing worse than trying to print out a concept proposal with ten minutes until your client arrives and running out of ink!

The Decoration - When it comes to styling in offices, having beautiful images, flowers and artwork around are a must! Who can work in a boring, dull, uninspiring environment with nothing beautiful to look at? Not this girl that's for sure! Something in particular that I'm loving for an office at the moment are beautiful hand made typographic inspirational quotes! Even just a simple bunch of flowers livens up a space.

And with all that information I leave you with some of my favorite office spaces that I've been collecting for some time on both instagram and pinterest :)

Ellen xoxo

sources:
http://media-cache-ec2.pinimg.com/originals/8c/77/90/8c779043210dba665db684b315368fef.jpg

http://camillestyles.com/life-2/10-best-office-spaces/?slide=2

http://media-cache-ec2.pinimg.com/originals/8c/77/90/8c779043210dba665db684b315368fef.jpg

http://www.etsy.com/au/listing/105556219/dorm-decor-preppy-trio-home-office-decor?utm_source=etsy_success&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=etsy_success_073112_0&euid=XCzbUDp-VrAHjjX-cYjMJnApFT7v&favorite_listing_id=105556219&show_panel=true

http://www.chictip.com/inspirational-interiors/inspiration-10-beautiful-home-office-designs

http://peltierinteriors.com/an-organized-interior-design-office-space/

St. Inspire plan design.

warning: this is a plug post!

Happy days!

One of my University besties and I have started a small business that we''re hoping will take off! 
It's a styling and consultancy company specialising in events and property styling and design! We are going to start small with just consulting and concept design and advice and hopefully later, depending on how in demand we are we will expand to a full design and planning service!

Tell your friends and check out the Facebook page or even pinterrst!
St. Inspire plan design

https://m.facebook.com/profile.php?id=585541028180655

Ellen. Xoxo

Indoor plants for cleaning the air

I know I already wrote a bit about indoor plants on here but I was just on pinterest this morning  and found this really helpful site about what plants to get if you want to purify the air in your home!

If your thinking of getting something for inside it may as well be good for you or be edible like a herb or tomato plant etc. Personally I think I'll be getting an alo vera or on of the ferns, in particular the bosten.

Anyway the site has heaps of sustainability ideas for beginners so take a look!

http://www.sustainablebabysteps.com/types-of-houseplants.html

Greenery in design

I've really got an obsession at the moment with succulents on desks, garden walls, pot plants and terrariums in kitchens and herbs in draws! These are all such good ideas! They make the indoors so much nicer and soften harsh architecture as well as bringing the outside in! This is something anyone can have, small house, big house, it doesn't matter how much space you have, it can always work and freshens up any space.

This is a photo I've taken at my own home where myself and my housemate have started a herb garden, it's on our balcony but I wish we had more bench space in the kitchen so I could keep it in there! One day I'll have my kitchen herb garden...one day. I'd really like to get a little cactus pot for my shelf in my bedroom too but I'll see if I can keep these baby's alive through the summer first.

I absolutely love this idea. Hollowing out corks to put tiny succulents in them and pinning them to a wall makes a beautiful wall decoration for indoors or even outdoors on a boring wall next to an outdoor living area.

This one is very 'better homes and gardens' isn't it? It's very neat and simple to make and very effective. Very good if you are super keen to have plants but have no floor space for them!

This is by far my favorite and I'd love to do this one day. If your interested, I found a basic tutorial on design sponge.com on how to make upside down planters so feel free to try it yourself!

http://www.designsponge.com/2010/04/diy-project-recycled-upside-down-planters.html

Happy Making! Ellen x

Colour choice

I took this photo in my boyfriends backyard on a damp, cold morning. The glass had been knocked off a desk and had smashed in the middle of a courtyard area. 

I just had to take a photo because I loved the colour scheme of the scene as I stood surveying the yard from the porch so I got down on my hands and knees to take it. 

I love the way that the sharp pale blue of the glass plays against the brick and also tiny but of green weed behind it. The moss on the brick ties it all together. 

The colours in the shot make me think of somewhere in Asia, (not that I've ever been) with bright clear oceans and the dark red wood of boats going to market. 

That glass just was so astounding in it's simplicity. 

Anyway that's enough rabbiting on about glass in the dirt!

Shop Front display

The following are some displays that I put together with my boss for the new mothers day campaign at the kitchen ware store that I work in. There were key products and brands that needed to be a focus but because the store is a franchise, there was more flexibility in what we could do and work with.

This is a table which I get to redo later as its being replaced with an outdoor furniture setting. For now its a tea party featuring a certain crockery range and cupcakes from a store nearby. The Easter eggs are left over from a guessing competition we had a few weeks ago! I have slowly been eating them with the help of customers.

A display cubby of 'enchante' crockery. Such beautiful pieces! 

This is what you see as you walk into the shop. Theres a cabinet identical behind where the photo is taken from. It also is full of candels. You cant see much detail here so I posted a photo below of one bay.

I made those flowers myself from tissue paper. 

This is the front window! Kitchen Aid is of course the star of the mothers day campaign so I chose the colours to match the posters behind them. I'm actually quite proud of my display in this window :) the colours are really nice and its so simple and I see people stopping to look often, which is of course what we want!

Above is the second window. I'm less proud of this one, its not as simple and eye catching as the other. 

Working in retail when its a change of campaign is actually quite challenging. There are so many rules with presentation to follow. The store has certain display styles that it wants so that all stores have a continuous experience. I enjoy trying to push those rules though, as bad as it is to admit, my boss encourages me to try and think up new ways to promote products and brands!

Until my next break from procrastination, Ellen xx