Abigail Ahern and Cushions

On the weekend I attended one of Abigail Ahern's masterclasses at Megan Morton's The Studio at Koskela in Sydney. It was a fun day and I learnt many things such a how to age a mirror and how to bulk up Ikea shelving.

Here are some pics of her stylish interiors, which are very glamorous and dramatic:

She is so engaging and enthusiastic that I came home prepared to paint the boatshed and indeed all other properties I am involved with in a dark charcoal rather than the Berkshire White they are currently. And I think the darker hue would work in all of them. But then I realised that for myself I don't love pops of red, yelow or hot pink against charcoal. I prefer whites, pale greys, pearl pinks and generally washed out colours for cushions and other accents. Also, to paint everything again is a huge amount of work, considering we've only just painted one house interior in white.

As readers of this blog well know, all my places pretty much look like this (George's on the Basin):

More of the same (Villa Mimosa):

And yet more washed out-ness (Edna's at Erowal Bay):

And still more (Blackwattle Bay Apartment):

And then there's the boatshed itself:

So, not very adventurous and not a lot of scope for electric blues, olives or chartreuse in a big way.

However, there are some things from the masterclass that I will implement, such as having several light sources in a room, playing up texture, having flowers spill over the edges of vases, building up layers, using vintage, and combining expensive with less expensive items.

Which is where these cushions come in. Yesterday, I had a sewing day. I had previously bought a cotton sheet from the op shop for $4 and it was hanging around in the way as were a few cushion inserts. So I put them together, and for the price of a cup of coffee I have some pops of colour in Edna's, albeit a washed out blue ticking stripe kind of colour:

For George's I needed something to store cushions for the outdoor table, I saw in a catalogue something called a "cushion box" but didn't think it wass necessary to fork out the requisite $100 or so. So I painted a basket white and popped some more of the new cushions into it:

So there you go - pops of colour, layering, vintage, inexpensive items - I did learn something after all. And there's even a touch of charcoal grey in there. Thank you Abigail.