Outdoor Entertaining Colour Schemes :: Colours of Rajasthan, India

The best thing about moving house is when you go through those last few boxes and discover old picture frames, holiday photos, lamps, ceramic bowls and items you purchased on holiday and packed away years ago as you never found a natural home for them. 

With this mind and together with my fond memories of India I would like to add a splash of colour to my outdoor entertaining space and finally find a home for those packed away holiday purchases. 

I am literally starting form scratch as I currently have no outdoor furniture.

So where do I start?... With a colour mood board and a theme. 

My colour theme for my outdoor dining area is going to be that of the intense mix of colours that I have found across India and especially Rajasthan. 

Here's my colour board below...

I have added a few photos from my travels along with my favorite colours & textiles. This blend of  bright colours instantly brings back happy memories of my travels. 

Yes you really can take a photo like this. The cows love the camera!

I cannot take credit for these photos as they are by others.
I have added these images so that you can see how intense colour really is in Rajasthan, from the sari fabrics through to the window frames and architecture.

For this type of colour scheme to work I will use intense colour across fabrics and cushions and keep the seating and furniture quite neutral, maybe white cane seats and white washed recycled timber.

This exercise is not something I am going to solve overnight but by starting with a colour board and theme it will help me keep focused on a clear approach.

Have fun.

Recycled Chairs :: Stackable Old School Chairs

My family and I have recently moved from our lovely 67 sqm Brisbane Post War home in Brisbane to a larger home by the sea in Hervey Bay. 

We plan to raise, extend and add a much needed deck to our Brisbane home at a later date but in the mean time we have swapped our city life for a sea change while we plan for the future new house build. 

This move has given us the opportunity to have outdoor living areas for the first time since we have been in Australia and this we are quite excited about.

So I now have some new "To do lists"...

1. Look for some second hand outdoor dining room chairs and recycle.

2. Reupholster and give some new life to some up my old dining room seats.

3. Look for some old timber doors or recycled timber furniture to make a new outside dining room table.

4. Find some old secondhand daybeds, refurnish to create to a new outdoor lounge area.

5. Start planning for the new build.

Now for Task 1 - Inspiration for new dining room chairs

Currently I have some old dining room, ply stackable, 'school style' chairs (originally from Ikea UK many years ago) and I am now looking for some ideas to give them a new face lift.

via poppytalk

This recycled old school chair has been given a great revamp just by adhering fabric scraps and samples to its back and base.

Here's a great idea if you love painting. These beautiful chairs from Anthropologie are hand painted with different flower and landscape scenes.

via decor8blog

Finally for something for softer. This comfortable revamp of a classic 1930's school chair by UK textile and pattern designer Ellen Calvert has created a cushion base and back by knitting the cushion and based with a giant woolen knit, then she applies a pattern print to then embroidering over on top.

Have fun.