White bedding...

... is a mainstay of many a stylish interior including most if not all of the best hotel rooms.

Some printed duvets and pillow covers are tempting, particularly those by designers such as Diane Von Furstenburg...

Paper Cheetah Duvet via dvf.com

...but it's hard to beat the versatility and the crisp, freshness of pure white bed linen.

Here are some of my current favourite bedroom images featuring white bedding.

above 4 images via Lonny

In these examples, simple white bedding is the perfect counterpoint to colourful and often patterned elements including cushions and blankets on the bed itself as well as soft furnishings, curtains and wall treatments.

The only drawback?  Keeping your whites pristine!!  However I recently came across this method for getting your whites really white.  Here's how it goes:

• Fill bucket/sink with hot water and add 2 tablespoons of washing up liquid.  Soak whites for 15 mins.  Remove and rinse with warm water.
• Fill bucket/sink with hot water and add 2 tablespoons of ammonia.  Soak whites for 15 mins.  Remove and rinse with warm water.
• Fill bucket/sink with hot water and add 2 tablespoons of white vinegar.  Soak whites for 15 mins.  Remove and rinse with warm water.
• Put whites in washing machine on hot cycle (I also used a pre-wash) using your regular detergent and an oxy-action product.  Dry in the sun if possible. 

Et voila - even my yellowed pillow cases (yuck I know!) came out whiter than white and worthy of any 5* hotel room (if I may say so myself!).

A nice cup of tea and sit down

Mug and Tray by Freedom
Chocolate Brownie by me!

Sometimes, it's the little pleasures in life that bring you the most satisfaction.  I'm a tea addict and always feel like a good cuppa will go a long way towards sorting most things out!

By the way, what so you think of this little red lacquered tray I bought today?

It's from a set of five by Freedom and all for the very nice price of 69.95 NZD.

via Freedom.co.nz

I think these are going to be great for organising bit n bobs and doing little displays around the house.  It wasn't that long ago that I was lamenting the complete lack of nice trays to buy in NZ (see here) so thank you Freedom for introducing these lacquered numbers!

Another great little purchase I made lately is the ceramic owl vase.

This one is a bargain from Ezibuy (cost around 30 bucks).  I think it's very Jonathan Adler-esque!

Stacked Bracelets

This is a look I really, really like and must surely master.

I love the randomness of mixing watches with bad girl stud bracelets, friendship bracelets with luxe brand leather bracelets/cuffs and all this with maybe some rhinestones and some other other glitzy bits thrown in for good measure.

Here's some more inspiration:

Here's an example including a Hermes enamel bangle.  I've blogged about these before.  I seriously need (ok, want) one.

Here's a more luxurious take on the stacked bracelet look:

All above images via Refinery29

So!  I've got some work (and some rummaging in the jewellery box) to do to ramp up from this...

... to this!

DIY Store Finds

Sorry I've been MIA the last week.  I started a new job last Monday so I've been pretty focused on that.  Anyways, I've promised myself to be more disciplined about posting going forward.  I'm also starting what I'm calling my running experiment.  It's going to be a staged programme over the next 6 weeks to get me up to running 5km's straight.  So currently lots of new endeavours in the life of Stylish Irish!

But back to the post at hand.  'Himself' and I recently made an excursion to Bunnings DIY.  Now NZ does not have a lot to boast about when it comes to shops but one thing they do impressively well is DIY Superstores.  While the purpose of this trip was to pick up materials for 'himself' to build another veggie patch (more on that in due course), I always like to have a hunt around DIY stores for homewares bargains.     This trip yielded this greek key doormat which was only 35 NZD. Now the greek key thing hasn't really hit NZ so I'm pretty sure Bunnings had no idea how on trend they were with this!

Greek Key Doormat

My other DIY store find happened yesterday when I was sent on a mercy dash to our local Mitre 10 to pick up some more potting mix.  I'd been looking for a new pot for the plant in our living room for a while - I'm ashamed to say it had been sitting in the icky plastic pot it came in for the last 1.5 years!  This was only around 30 NZD and while simple, I think it looks pretty good for the money.

Goes to show you can pick up some stylish bits in less than glamorous places... and at a great price.  

Have a great week everybody!

So here's what's going down...

... in the life of Stylish Irish.

I bought a cover for my Ipad.  It's pretty simple, you might even say low-key...

...and only cost 25 bucks from Typo.  I might still indulge in the Marc Jacobs one I blogged about before  but in the meantime, I'm pretty happy with this.

So, I've also come over all domestic goddess lately.

We had some beetroot from the vege patch that needed using up, so I made some Cous Cous with Roasted Vegetables at the weekend.

 

Of course I didn't think to take any pics of the finished product but it did look more or less like this (the recipe is courtesy of Kiwi cooking and lifestyle star Annbel Langbein).

Finally, look at this gorgeous book that arrived for me earlier today:

It's a late birthday gift from my honey and I love it.  Take a sneak peek inside:

Almost as good as the real thing... better in a way because I don't think I'll ever own more than 200 different hermes scarves!!

Now I'm, thinking I might need to buy a new coffee table to display my new pretty book on...

Laters!

Upstairs at the dream house

So previously on Stylish Irish I was 'fantasy decorating' my dream house that's currently on the market back in Ireland.  I'd managed to work my way through main rooms downstairs, so now it's time to move on to the first floor.

Wowee!  Not only 5 bedrooms to decorate but 5, yes 5 bathrooms AND a generously sized dressing room!!!  Shall we start with the Master suite?  Here's what I'm thinking...

Click for a closer look

I've looked to Suzanne Kasler again for inspiration here.  I'm loving lattice print right now and this neutral colour scheme is restful while also being sophosticated. 

via Suzanne Kasler

It's the interiors equivalent of a classic camel coat - luxurious and elegant without being showy.

That's my idea of style perfection.

Decorating my dream house

A while ago I blogged about my dream house back in the home country.  Check it out here.  Then the other day I was reading Blue Fruit's blog (a current favourite of mine) and I was totally inspired by Virginia's 'Rescue me Please' post.  Basically, she imagined buying a diamond in the rough Art Deco house currently on the market and imbuing it once again "with dignity and drama".  Well it occurred to me that I should also embark on a fantasy redecoration project and what better subject than my dream house.

There's quite alot of floor area to play with here so let's chunk this down and focus first on the ground floor.

What's our vision?  I'm thinking classic with a contemporary twist.  As a jumping off point, I thought of this photograph by Mario Testino:

If you look carefully at the picture of the stairs in the 'before' photos, you'll see there's already a black and white tiled floor to work with in the main hall. 

I like the idea of mixing the classic checkerboard floor with a more contemporary approach.  For example, the hallway below a la Suzanne Kasler is classic but contemporary in its simplicity and lightness.  I love how fresh and unstuffy it looks.  And bye bye Mr Red Carpet on the stairs (what were they thinking)!!



The room below is again by Ms Kasler.  I'm a sucker for black and white and I think extending the colour scheme from the formal entrance to the drawing room provides continuity.

You gotta admit, it's a step up from the current arrangement.  For some reason, terracotta is a big hit in Irish interiors (yuck!).  At least the carpet is neutral but I wonder whether original timber floors lurk beneath...

Next, let's step into the dining room.  I'm thinking of a scheme somewhere in between the following two looks, one of which featured in a recent edition of Lonny and the other is by Kelly Hoppen.

via Lonny 

Once again, it's about striking the right balance between classic and contemporary.

Now, what about the kitchen? What I ask is that navy stripe about?

How about something a little more like this...

via Lonny

and this...

via decorpad

It's fantastic that with such a large space, there's ample room for both a generous kitchen and a less formal dining area.

Every home needs a comfy living area for some serious relaxing, coach potato-ing even!  So here's what I'm thinking for the sitting room that's directly off the kitchen:

Winters are cold these times in Ireland and it's hard to beat an open fire as a focal point.
And finally, the study:

Soon to follow is the upstairs.  There are still five bedrooms, numerous bathrooms and a dressing room to go so the fantasy decorating is far from complete!