byzantine design in belle magazine

Imagine my excitement 2 months ago when I received an email from only the top Interiors mag asking if I would like to submit some product for the Oct/Nov issue featuring Kitchens and Bathrooms.
What did I do? A little happy dance....
To get support like this helps any small boutique business like mine more than words can say.
The page...amazing
Have a look yourself



Now, the lowdown on the 6 products featured

Zagora Limestone

This is by far my favourite stone at the moment. It's a gorgeous dense limestone from Iran. It has grey-green undertones with beautiful red & white veining.
Perfect for bathrooms or living areas, it is also available in a brushed finish for outdoors.


Carrara honed hexagon mosaics

These mosaics are 50x50mm and come on a 300x300mm sheet. Divine for bathroom floors and even feature walls


Carrara sculptured

There are no words to describe how beautiful this is. It's a new product for us at byzantine design, imagine how amazing this would look as a feature wall?
Tile size is 300x300mm.
I just love the star pattern in it.



Pantera blend mosaic

This is part of what we call the Heavy Metal range. This range is a blend of stone, stainless steel and glass, just quietly, they are divine. Perfect for bathroom walls or splashbacks.

Pantera - Nero Marquina, Stainless Steel & Black glass

Metallica - Limestone, Stainless Steel & White Glass

Sepultura - Marble, Ivory glass and Stainless Steel

Metallica -Carrara Marble, Stainless Steel & White Glass

Infinity Range

This is a three dimensional range for feature walls. There are 2 options - square set or off set. 3 colours available - Basalt, Limestone and Crystal Marble




So excited by this. If you would like samples or pricing please drop me an email dara@byzantinedesign.com.au

Just landed - Polished Carrara Penny Rounds

I am super excited to announce that I will have some ah-mazing new product coming in over the next few months. And this is the first of many.

Polished Carrara Marble Penny Rounds, they are $28.50 per sheet + GST. Sheets are 300x300, this equates to $313.50sqm + GST, and I always love a good negotiation!

If you would like a sample or quote, please drop me an email at dara@byzantinedesign.com.au

Here are a couple of divine bathrooms using penny rounds to inspire!

pinterest

pinterest

The Black Diamond...in Paris

If you're ever in Paris, I think you MUST have a look at this Hotel. It is called The 7 Hotel Paris and these suites will blow your mind.
Each room is themed differently, this one is called the Black Diamond, I think you can see why. It's very Rock Star.
The basin and bathtub are inlaid with Swarovski crystal, the shower is described as a full body shower which also has LED lights within the jets.
Pricing for the night starts from 312 Euros.

Open the door to the "Black Diamond" as you would open a jewel case, with delight. Filled with joy, you'll never want to leave this precious jewel.

Open this precious case and let your eyes delight in this dazzling, sophisticated atmosphere. Explore a designer jewel where black becomes a colour, where comfort and luxury meet to create this exceptional suite. Glamour and romanticism are the essence of a passionate, dream-like stay.

And there is also a James Bond Suite, have a look here

Tile Tattoos - even tiles need tough stickers sometimes

I was flicking through a copy of Living etc (one of my all time favourites) magazine and a small little editorial caught my eye...tile tattoos.

That's right, Tile Tattoos.
They are gorgeously Retro in style and will fit over any 150x150 wall tile. The company responsible for these delightful DIY options is called Mibo, their website is cute to boot, also with gorgeous paper animals, teatowels and prints. Have a look here
Perfect for those who are renting or waiting to start that kitchen or bathroom renovation and want to add a little somethin somethin.
Great weekend project, I would estimate it would take all of about 15 minutes and you are done. Perfect justification for a jug of Pimms, really so you may sit back and admire your handiwork.

Very Mad Men.

Good news is that they will post to Australia or worldwide, they come in a packet of 8 for just under $20.00 AUD. There are also some new colours and designs coming soon.

'Design is the New Food' as seen in Aprtment Therapy

When I woke up this morning there was my daily email in my inbox from Apartment Therapy called Design is the New Food. Intrigued, I opened it to read an amazing article that I thought I would share with you. This article is part of a ten part series celebrating 10 years of Apartment Therapy.

Something has been going on in this country during the last decade that I believe is changing how we relate to design. I titled this section "design is the new food" because this is a revolution that has already occurred in the food category, and it relates to how passionate, curious and knowledgeable we are becoming about design in a non-faddish way.

Why? Because we, as a country, have reached an age where we are less focused on blind expansion and are finally paying attention to the details and quality of what we eat and how we live. Or you could say that, as a nation, we've entered middle age.

Take food as an example.

When my father was my age, his idea of a good home cooked dinner was a steak on the grill, iceberg lettuce and a cocktail or beer (remember, Americans didn't drink much wine back in the 50s and it certainly wasn't cool, unless you were an artist, beatnik or poet). If my father were to be just coming up now, even not being a foodie, he'd be talking instead about a ribeye steak, arugula salad and he'd definitely be drinking wine, let's say a Burgundy or a Pinot Noir (because he'd know that this goes well with red meat). He'd have to, because the choices available to him are just not that simple anymore, and it's OK for guys to be into this stuff. Being knowledgeable about food is macho.

Cooking and food have changed.

As a result of the work of countless chefs, writers, and merchants since World War II like Alice Waters (Chez Panisse), Julia Child, and Chuck Williams (Williams-Sonoma) who brought to America a deeply European knowledge of good food and cooking, we have taken a good deal of our leisure time and paid attention to food and the cooking behind it (and broadened our influences).

The kitchen has replaced the living room as the center of the home with a wide variety of home appliances that not only cook really well, they are also status symbols. Restaurants, specialty food providers and wine makers have proliferated to feed, teach and serve our desire to eat well, eat diversely and know more about where our recipes and ingredients come from. McDonald's wants you to know they’re healthy and young, hip tattoo covered urbanites treat running restaurants or starting breweries with the same intensity that their counterparts in the 60s "turned on, tuned in and dropped out."

And then there's television.

When you have entire channels devoted to food like Food Network and The Cooking Channel and celebrity chefs popping up everywhere like prairie dogs, you know something's happening. As the Chicago Tribune says:

"We may be living in the golden age of food television. Twenty years ago, you had to wait for Julia Child and a few others every week on PBS. Today, it's such a hot commodity that ABC is canceling soap operas and replacing them with a foodie version of "The View" hosted by chefs." (Chicago Tribune, April 18, 2011)

Bottom line, as a culture we undergone a massive education around cooking and food. We've "gourmetized." We want to eat a greater variety, shop smarter, cook better and talk about it.

But it's been quietly now happening with another aspect of the home: design, or what used to be called decorating.

For the very same reasons, we've begun to take a similar interest in who designs what we put in our homes, where it comes from, what it's made out of and how we can do it all ourselves.

The growing environmental consciousness has had a part in this, but so too has a desire to increase our style knowledge via design.

While design may not be quite as juicy as food, the easily identifiable beauty of a nice home that is both comfortable and intelligently put together is central to our lives and now something that we all want to focus on.

From the Eameses, Frank Lloyd Wright, Buckminster Fuller and Edith Heath to Martha Stewart, James Dyson, Muji and Jonathan Adler — we look to designers now not just for the things they make, but for how to live.

Better design = better living.

It's a practical passion, but it's also aspirational as we try to create apartments and homes that express ourselves and work better for simple things like having guests for dinner, working at home or adding another child without moving.

Suddenly, everyone wants to be an interior designer and not just a cook.

And this is all a good thing, because it means that deep down we want to gain greater mastery over our lives.

As Socrates famously said, "The unexamined life is not worth living." Little by little, we're examining the corners of our lives and really enjoying it.

So, who designed the chair you're sitting on, what style is it and what is it made out of?

If you don’t know the answers to all three questions, I bet you will.

It’s just a matter of time.

I wholeheartedly agree with this post, with the influx of social media available to us now people are now so much more aware of what is availalble, where to buy it and drop the name of who designed it.

I guess the question that I have is what about the designer? Where do we fit into the grand scheme of all of this. How do we adapt to this shift in awareness and believed self skill in decorating? The best outcome would be that designers become accessories and people drop our names as well.

What do you think?

My week in review

...no wonder I am exhausted.

Saturday night I went to watch Eddie Vedder play a live acoustic set at the State Theatre. It was such an amazing perfomance - he performed many of his songs from Into the Wild & Eat Pray Love soundtracks. He is such a dude, you just want to have him over for a BBQ and to strum out a couple of songs. Unfortunately Johnny Depp was not there as well. Imagine having both of them over for a BBQ? Ba-nan-nas.



On Sunday night all of my dreams came true when I got to watch my favourite band Stone Temple Pilots play at the Hordern Pavillion. I have been a huge fan of theirs since around 1995 and they have never toured here, until Sunday night. OH. MY. GOD. They rocked it, it was amazing.



Then my parents were here from Laurieton, near Port Macquarie. I made a fabulous lunch then we all went on a family mission and came home with this little bundle of joy.



Meet Jersey the Spoodle. He was purchased from Tails R Wagging in Rozelle, my parents are simply smitten. I think we all are, how could you not be?

A close friend of mine Michelle and her partner Stu have purchased a very large home in North Rocks, in Sydneys Hills District. The home has 5 bedrooms and 3 1/2 bathrooms. They have asked me to help them with all of the interiors, bathrooms and tiles. It is a massive job with over 200 sqm of tiling, 2 new bathroom designs, a ktichen and living areas. These are the before photos - I will keep you updated with the progress as we go along.

I am really excited for the 2 of them and to help them create a beautiful home for them and their future together.





I have also started with another new client L, she has a beautiful 3 storey home in Rozelle. To start with we are renovating the top level bathroom which services the main bedroom. I will upload some before photos shortly. This is a massive bathroom, I can't wait to get in there with a redesign. This is the first part of a very large project - stay tuned.

My new website was launched this week as well.....huge news.

If you haven't already had a look, you can here

You can view stone samples and completed jobs online, as well as being able to request samples or quotes. It has been a long time in the making and I am really excited to for it to be live.

I was also able to share my most favourite bathroom deisgn so far. I just love htis bathroom, and I can honestly say that this client is now a friend of mine. If you missed it, please have a look here

What a week.....have a lovely weekend y'all.

Dedicated to Elizabeth Taylor

vintageparlour

What an amazing lady Elizabeth Taylor was - "Age cannot wither her, nor custom stale her infinite variety."