15 James St - time to shine.

The retail / commercial building on the corner of James and McLachlan Streets in Fortitude Valley is starting to shape up.

The notorious power lines which have held up construction progress have finally been pulled down so now construction can charge ahead.

My role in this project was consulting for Trapp Architects to deliver the interior scheme in addition to the external paint colours and feature walls.

You can't see it yet, but the curved feature wall on the corner which will be unveiled shortly will be a defining feature.

On the interior side, I had some fun with the Ground Floor retail arcade and lift lobbies. A strong black and white theme was chosen with a play on texture, scale and angles.

I have chosen Mosaic tiles (again) as the feature element - their durability, colour and ability to create great patterns & shapes makes me fall in love with them each time.

I look forward to showing you more as construction continues - completion is scheduled for March.

Don't forget to look up next time you drive past...

 McLachlan Street perspective.

Trapp Architects continue to deliver great buildings for the benefit of Brisbane.

Side view. Dulux Domino was the charcoal coloured paint of choice.

A perfect choice to ground the building.  

Watch this space. The building wraps the busy corner providing the perfect canvas for some bling.  

Heavy Metal

To me, good design is about the combination of new & shiny objects sitting comfortably beside revamped second hand items. The eclectic mix & detail results in an interesting space.

I found this outdoor metal display cabinet and loved the patterning on it. It's a little Coco Republic meets Jamie Oliver!

A coat of paint (the green will go) and a couple of minor modifications and this cabinet will make a great water station in Mirra's courtyard!



Mirra - outdoor drinks...

I've been toying with the idea for a while of including a new outdoor bar in Mirra's courtyard... well, happy to announce that the idea is coming to fruition!

I have found a bar that is perfect and collected it from the Gold Coast yesterday.

The timber hardwood bar has perfect proportions - right bar height, width and length for the courtyard area. It is in desperate need of a glam makeover which of course is one of my favourite past times!

We'll place it on lockable castor's so when not needed, it can be wheeled off to storage. Also, if Mirra's clients don't need the proper function of an outdoor drinks / food bar, it can simply be used as a divider or display counter etc.

I'll work on the revamp design and will keep you posted - but with a little vision, hopefully you will also be able to see how this grand lady will look in a few weeks time post makeover!

Bar front.

Still undecided as to if I'll keep the pointy end or cut it off to make it rectangular in shape...

Side Angle.

On the inside... great storage space!

Can't wait to attack it with a paint brush....



New Loose Furniture items for Mirra...

More loose furniture items have been purchased for Mirra - check them out below...

Some glam high bar tables.... LOVE LOVE LOVE. 5 of each colour ordered.

Curtains have been ordered. Black velvet for behind the bar area and taupe velvet for the dividers in the main room.

First day for Work Experience Student Erica!

A big thank you to Erica, my new Interior Design work experience student who started with me today!

Today was spent designing the soon to be revamped Nagomi Japanese Cuisine & Bar and Sono City Restaurants & Erica was a wonderful help and sounding board.

It was so much fun having another creative mind to bounce ideas off - thanks again Erica & see you next week!

Leonie

I've been busy shopping....

Welcome to 2012!

The year has kicked off with a bang with quite possibly, the busiest few weeks I have ever had! And sadly, it is only going to get busier for me with Mirra renovations, Guilty As Designed client projects and my own wedding in 9 weeks time! With the obvious choice of Mirra as Guy & my own wedding reception venue on 24th March, the pressure is on to deliver a fabulous space for all!

Over the holidays, I have been busy trawling the internet and shops looking for one off pieces & accessories to finish off the design. My search has been as far South as Forster, 3 hours North of Sydney, all the way up the central coast to Brisbane. The great news is, I have found some wonderful finds and can't wait to put them all together in the newly renovated product.

The first treasure find was these 2 x wooden panels - the detail is sensational and once cleaned up, will look a treat as our new bar front. I plan to finish the edges of the bar with a bunching of period styled detail legs shown below.

Wooden panels

  Sexy legs!

A rough look at how it will sit on the bar front....

The result is very effective... even in these early stages!

A second fabulous find was a gorgeous chandelier, Italian design of circa early 1960's, which will sit proudly in the large void in the Long Room. The diameter of the chandelier is 2.1m which is sensational - I needed a big wing span to fill the void!

The light shades will be the transparent light gold coloured spheres which will allow visibility of the bulbs inside. The finished product should be stunning and I can't wait to see this chandelier hung.

The Octo-Chandelier!

 The chosen glass sphere shade.

I also found a pair of these fabulous wall hung console tables - I will give the colour a spruce up and the top is a deep black glass. These will look lovely positioned against the new charcoal grey walls in the Long Room.

Think that is about all for now - I'll post up some more of my Mirra shopping items shortly.