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A day in the life of an interior designer

Musings from the desk of an interior designer and design educator. How do I spend my time and  what do I find interesting? This is a photo of my design studio which is set in the garden of our Californian Bungalow. It gets plenty of natural light and has lovely views of our garden. It is also the repository of many of my books on design. Yes that is an old Imac that I am very attached to. I still do much of my graphic layout work, for projects on this machine, but internet and auto cad  I do on my MacBook Pro that I take everywhere with me.

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Winter Treat

1/7/2014

 
Yes it is still cold but all that rain has to be good for our water catchments if not for my renovations. So to make the most of having time to snuggle down this weekend I decided we might christen a tea set that I bought a few years ago and have been waiting for a special occasion. So I baked a cake, donned the cashmere and we settled down to enjoy a cup of tea in our lacquer red  coloured sitting room, where just the colour warms you up. We cleared the brass and glass coffee table of its usual 'tablescape' and laid out our Rosenthal tea set. I placed it on an old 'Liberty of London tray'. Two generously sized tea bowls, and saucers, two  side plates matching milk jug and sugar bowl and a grand teapot. The design originates from the 1780s and is the classic blue and white  hand painted floral pattern. You can see from the photos it is very pretty and very classic. I served black tea that we bought in Glasgow at the 'House for an Art Lover' in its Charles Rennie Mackintosh tin, which has a 'chinoiserie  feel'  being black with some little red accents. When tea was first introduced to Europe it was very expensive and the caddies where the tea was stored were items of beauty and kept on display in the sitting room rather than the kitchen. I trimmed the cake with bay leaves for decoration and we broke out the silver teaspoons and cake forks and played ladies for a couple of hours, basking in the warm reflection from the red walls. This room we designed to be used as a winter sitting room or a dramatic night reception room.


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Our table awaiting tea. Everything glows in the rich red room
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The large timber box plays music. The glass top table shows the fur rug and display box underneath. This room is full of objects in warm colours. The white porcelain and door make crisp contrasts.
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The lovely hand painted detail is seen best on the plates

    Author

    Hi I am Elizabeth  an interior designer who lives in Melbourne, Australia in a little Californian Bungalow cottage with my partner, Max, who is also an Interior Designer, and our beloved furry children, Doris & Ernest. I believe that design can make our lives more rewarding and productive. I love, architecture and design theory but my everyday passion is fabrics and decoration, as I don't think we should get too serious but have fun with our homes and enjoy the process of creating our own environments.   I am interested in classic cars, and collect Georgian and Mid Century furniture.

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About Us

Design-Digest is created by the design team at Crichton Interiors. All images used in this site are photographed by the author unless referenced.

Company

Crichton Interiors was established in 1958, in Melbourne. 

Our Services

Working in both traditional and contemporary interiors, we specialise in designing and producing hand made soft furnishings as well as offering a full design service from documentation of concepts to schematic and working drawings. Incorporating antiques and artwork is our speciality.
Contact us at: [email protected]

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contrast lined contemporary styled curtains
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Werribee Park Mansion drawing room featuring specially commissioned silk damask