via Lonny

I adore black kitchens.  In the kitchen world, white reigns supreme but how can you not love the depth and beauty of black.

via decor pad

Black is classic and won’t date if it is done with the right sense of style and good dash of white on the walls and countertops. I think black cabinetry gives Carrera marble the best backdrop to make it come alive.

via Houzz

Black works in both modern homes and those with a contemporary traditional style.

Atalanta Homes & lifestyle

Are you brave enough to go with black cabinetry?

You can always go for a two toned kitchen or even just make your island a black beauty.

Now this my friends is a house…… It is utterly full to the brim of fabulous spaces so I will cover it in 3 posts, firstly the exterior, the kitchen and then other rooms.

I am imagining this is my home and I can hear the gravel crunching as I drive through the gates….sigh.

This image is not the best as it makes the front door and planters look black, when they are a beautiful rich blue.

I love the simplicity of the colour palette, the painted brick and the quioning (corner brick work). The house was designed as a concept house by designer Windsor Smith.  It was commissioned by US magazine Verandah and different designers worked on various rooms.

Gwyneth & Chris snapped it up for a cool $10 mil.

This style of home looks like it could be in Sydney or the outskirts of London but it is in LA. To me that proves that classic design is both timeless and has no geographical boundaries.

Stay tuned for the kitchen, its amazing!

Desiree Ashworth

I know many of you readers are here because you are searching for inspiration for your own project.  I am so happy to have this blog to share great pictures, ideas, colours and the work of many talented designers whom I admire.

I do work professionally as a Colour Designer and work with clients to create the perfect colour scheme for their homes, inside and out. My clients are charged for this service and I put many hours of time and love into delivering them these customised colour schemes.

I receive many emails asking for advice from readers of this blog. I love hearing from you and am always happy to share ideas or suggestions of other sites to look at, places to source similar furniture from etc.

I will continue to do my best to be as helpful as possible……but I can no longer assist with actual paint colours or colour schemes.

I would love to help everyone and I truely love what I do, but it is not fair to my clients for me to be giving advice on specific colours via email or phone to readers at no charge.

The schemes I do create with clients are confidential. It is for them to share if they like but not for me to post on my blog.

The good news is I have a possible solution to offer….E-design services (exterior only).  This is great for those of you that live in other states or in regional areas. Stay tuned as I will be creating a pages with the services outlined soon.

A new year, fresh start and a new house colour……

January is the time of the year when everyone embraces change and its one of the busiest times for people to decide to repaint.

So if  2013 is the year to update the colour of your house I have a few tips.

# 1

Take your time to find out what look you really love. Drive around your neighbourhood or even better take a weekend drive around to a suburb that gives you house envy and get some inspiration.

# 2

If you find a house that has the perfect colour, please don’t pop out from the bushes with a colour swatch or start snapping photos. I had a client who almost reversed over a lady who was standing in the driveway trying to scratch some paint off the render and then proceeded to yell at the homeowner! Knock on the door and tell them how much you admire their home and ask if they will share their paint colours.  Flattery and respect gets you everwhere, I have even been invited in a number of times and shown photos of the renovation etc.

If no one is home, I leave a note under the door and leave my card or email address asking if they would be kind enough to tell me their paint colours.

# 3

If you cant explain the look you are after then go through magazines, pinterest or blogs to find houses you like. Keep them in a scrapbook or digital file and keep going back to look and you will see a pattern of similar styles emerge.

#4

Go darker, darker darker…..

The most common mistake when it comes to choosing exterior colours is selecting a colour that is just to light for the exterior.  My rule of thumb is to pick a colour and then go 4 shades darker to get the look of the sample you have outside in the sun.

# 5

Always buy a sample pot and test on all sides of the house.

For more tips on Exterior Colour Schemes click here.

Happy 2013 to all of you.  I hope you have enjoyed the first few weeks of this fresh new year. Pantone’s colour of the year for 2013 is Emerald Green.

Pantone 17-5641 Emerald, a lively, radiant, lush green is the Color of the Year for 2013

 My all time favourite colour to wear and I always love it when its paired with black and white for interiors.

Not much activity here lately at Stylish Livable Spaces…….I must confess that each and everytime I get onto blog, I end up becoming a blog reader rather than a blogger.  I just cant help myself trawling through blogs and pinterest for hours.  Such amazing inspiration for home design, interiors and lifestyle.

Will try to share some of this design eye candy soon.

This home at Balmoral Beach, Sydney is a perfect example of a clean contemporary beach house.  The views are simply amazing and the designers Arent & Pyke have used deep inky blue throughout the house that creates an undeniable sophistication.

Cant get enough of this kitchen.  Its a different “blue” and thats what I love about it. It also has perfect balance with white so the home remains light and airy but grounded with the blue.

The bathroom has a classical Hampton-esque feel.  I am loving the wood panelling with the subway tile. In the absence of a bold colour there is texture.

 This laundry is perfectly designed simplicity.

Can you believe this, what an amazing view to draw a colour palette from.

Juliette Arent and Sarah-Jane Pyke are a fabulously talented duo that create the most amazing interiors.  I have a serious design crush on them.  Click here to see more of their inspirational work.

This stunning white Federation home in Auckland NZ has recently undergone a renovation and oh my…its fabulous. This home is featured in the latest issue of Trends Renovation.

New Zealanders have their exterior colours worked out.  They have a different light than we do here in Australia, but they balance this by having their exteriors in a slightly greyed off or muddier version. This creates a look of depth rather than eye blinding bright regardless of the colour.  Its for this reason that I love the Colours of NZ palette that Dulux brought out recently.

This house has been given new life for a family with the extension that has been designed and executed so well (Darren Jessop, Jessop Architects Auckland & Sonya Cotter Design).

I love the large skylights in the verandah (very clever) that allow natural light to flood in. Note the lovely ash colour of the decking, so many options other than a deep reddy brown that can look to heavy.

It is the simplicity of the house that draws me in with the white on white colour scheme allowing the original period details of the house to shine.

And just when you think its going to be a wash out of white inside….the black cabintery does a stellar job of creating a dramatic modern kitchen.

I love the mix of the black and white here.  So bold and it really makes that fabulous Carrera Marble splashback shine.

Modern, sleek but to me also a family friendly space…love it!

Great use of a charcoal in a living room. The panelled ceilings are devine. Also they have created a secret wine cellar from an automated trap door in the kitchen, brilliant!!!

To read all about this amazing villa please click here to go to Trends Ideas.

Hello again…. I am finally back. Its been a long time since my last post and I have really missed blogging.

My mac has been slowly dying and was eating my emails and I was losing lovely posts left, right and centre. So I just took a much need break from my desk & my crazy computer. This week I finally took it to the Apple store and it has been fixed. Its just like a new computer! If only I had took it in 10 months ago when the problems started….

Anyway a big HELLO to all the new subscribers and all my other readers.

I am taking a break from Colour Consulting at the moment as I am working on a large project that has me busy until Feb 2013. But I am back posting all about stylish, inspirational spaces again.

I hope you enjoy.

via houzz

On a chilly winters night, here is some summer inspiration.

What an amazing pool/ guest house. If you had this beauty in the backyard you would (a) never get your guests to leave and (b) always have somewhere for your teenagers to hang out.

Love that polka dot rug and the wainscoting (paneled walls), loft sleeping area, porthole window, open shelving in the kitchen……etc etc. I adore all of it!

My office is in my home and its a great space but nothing like these beauties. Although these are designed more for people to share the key design concepts are great for a home office. I adore these simple & stylish work spaces and for me I am in love with all that spaces to keep samples & design tools.

Barbara Westbrook Office via Atlanta Homes Magazine

Source unknown...sorry

The use of natural fibers plays an important role in all of these spaces. It softens the spaces and brings in much needed texture to balance all the hard shapes & equipment offices have.

Home offices usually are the very last room that anyone thinks of to update, decorate or re-style.  Sometimes its just a matter of cleaning up the clutter, a fresh coat of paint and bring in some pretties from other rooms like a lovely lamp, some flowers. Don't forget to throw in some baskets to add some texture and storage.

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