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Some graphic rugs for bedroom 3

17 May

I’m tackling bedroom 3 at the moment and looking for some ‘pops’ of colour and graphic inspiration… that’s affordable! Luckily IKEA has come to the party – its been ages since I’ve been to IKEA and just cruising through their site, I was reminded of how well they do good design at small prices.

The walls are currently painted Dulux White on White and is a little dark, which is why I’m swaying towards something graphic and/or bright accessories, that can be updated and changed. And a rug is a great option:

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And the best thing, these are only $49 – $99 each! Crazy. I will reveal my other accessory choices soon :)

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Welcome Autumn – nice to feel you

19 Apr

fireplaceWell Autumn is finally here – although the weather has been glorious the past couple of weeks, there’s a chill in the air today that’s screaming “Autumn’s here – rug up!” The other thought that popped into my head was “ohhh, I can legitimately light the fire this weekend”.

twist2 A great tip I saw recently via Katie’s blog Bendy Street Emporium, were these very clever (and resourceful) paper twists, for helping light the fire. I share her enthusaism for lighting a fire from scratch, unlike Mr B who likes to use every last firelighter and if that fails, a quick run to the shed for a (un-healthy) dose of fuel. Nothing like plumes of dark smoke filling the house and close-by furniture fearing for their lives!

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Full instructions on how to make these paper twists here - I’m looking forward to the weekend at home, twisting the copious piles of ‘The Land’ and weekend papers into something more useful. Continue reading →

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In the garden

12 Apr

The recent Autumn weather has just been magnificant – I am loving spending my weekends in the garden. We recently added to our (farm) family – 3 Sussex Light Hens.

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Last weekend I let them have a pick around the garden, whilst keeping a very close eye on Wilbur. He is interested, but I think these girls would put up a mean fight!

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Our vegie garden is blooming, I’m very impressed with our rocket – peppery enough to blow your socks off! And lovely mint growing under the tank – always a nice addition to drinks.

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and these gorgeous roses I picked from our garden. Still blown away that they can grow all by themselves, without any assistance from me (lucky for them!). There are such a array of colours and rose varieties – some plants even having three different hues of pink! The best part is, they’ve lasted over 10 days in the vase and looking like they have another week - you don’t get this longevity from store bought roses. Continue reading →

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Before shots – tennis court, spare bedroom and garden

27 Mar

Late wekend we achieved so much around the house and garden – helps when you have big toys to play with (dingo)! Here are a few before shots – will reveal the ‘after’ shots next week:

Spare bedroom 1: This room had a ‘teal’ green feature wall – after two coats of undercoat and top top coats, its looking really great! But cutting in those battons, with 14ft ceilings was a bit of a nightmare.

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I’ve gone for Dulux Tranquil Retreat below the picture frame and Dulux White on White above:

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Tennis court: This was resembling a paddock, just with a large fence around it! Such a difference an hour or two makes with a Dingo:

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Then we decided to pull out some of the front garden Continue reading →

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Graphic Design : new clients and concepts

13 Mar

So I’ve been rather busy (freelance) working on some new clients – below are some screen shots (instagram) of concepts for clients.

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I will upload final approved artwork. Hope you enjoy them :)

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A week of photoshoots and painting

7 Mar

MG

If this week was a person, he would be a big, hairy biker, standing over me and yelling. Yup, it feels like one of those weeks! i’ve been arranging (art-directing) a 3-day photo shoot as part of my real job for Dubbo Tourism and whilst this sounds all fun and ‘glamorous’, its been quite stressful (working with small children and animals!) but also rewarding, when the shots I had planned finally work out and look amazing. Can’t reveal too much, but took this (above) quick snap last night down by the river, and it is by far my favourite shoot of all the shoots. The light was just magic filtering through the old gums – and how fabulous is this MG! Today is the last day of the photoshoots (3 locations today) – so looking forward to the weekend!

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The whip has been cracked and painting is continuing at a good pace. Second coat of Dulux White on White gloss on all the trim in the hallway and second coat of Dulux Passionate Blue on the lower walls, which makes a huge difference. Which doesn’t sound much but when you’re painting over 25m of trim, 25m of skirting boards and 6 doors – it adds up!

Thank you again to all of those who stop by my blog, like posts and comments – it still blows me away that people are actually interested in my little world. I do hope to post more next week when life settles back down. Have a great weekend :)

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Our house : Hallway update

19 Feb

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Our hallway is still such a working progress, like the rest of the house - must finish the second coat of blue paint (so excuse the above photo) – but it feels like its coming together slowly. Finally got around to putting up some rustic hooks in the hallway (which I bought over a year ago at Our Corner Store, Bangalow). I had been tossing up whether I should attach them (4 in total) to a rustic piece of wood and then attach to the wall. But I blu-tacked them up to the wall and liked the ‘clean’ look of them. I thought I would add the two additional hooks to outside the front door (to hang the really dusty jackets).

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And replaced the exisiting lamp shade with a vintage bird cage I’ve had for a few years. Until I save up for the exact lighting I want for the hallway, the bid cage is perfect for adding a bit of charm and character to the hallway.

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You can see from the above picture, I need to finish painting all of the door trim in white. And I’m yet to pick up our two new ‘heritage’ timber flyscreen doors – which will make a huge difference to the front entrance. Looks like more painting this weekend…!

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Close up objects

28 Jan

I tried my hand at a few items with my macro lens – still haven’t read the instructions, was hoping all of this knowledge would just ‘come to me’! Alas, I will endeavour to sit down and read the instructions and work out what i’m doing. 

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I think my neon green ribbon threw off the camera!  Any tips for Canon amature?

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DIY Spotty wall revealed

24 Jan

Following on from yesterday, I finally downloaded some photos from my camera (not instagram!) of the completed spotty wall. Hope you enjoy :)

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Although I’ve completed the spotty wall, I’ve yet to finish furnishing/styling the office. Below is a quick snap (excuse the blurry photo) of the hallway, which I used the same blue – Dulux Passionate Blue. What do you think?

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Friday wrap-up

18 Jan

The week that was (via instagram) - 40+ tempretures again made for unpleasant painting conditions, so both attempts were put on hold. Instead I continued setting up my office (with spotted wall) and planning a gallery wall:

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I have seen so many great examples of gallery walls, but still have the hesitation of installing one. Maybe its that i’m not 100% happy with the collection of images? Not sure, but the above collection just so happended to be all illustrations (both hand and on the computer) of animals – amazing how those things work out. I’ll keep you posted as to whether or not this arrangement makes it to the wall!

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I popped into our local Vinnies and found a beautiful Churchill dinner set, a few plates missing here and there, but overall 26 pieces for $10 (bargain!). Most importantly the full six tea cup, saucer, plate set was complete. I think there’s something lovely about having a cup of tea out of bone china sets.

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I discovered this very cute, #free, downloadable calander via Instagram the other day. You can download your’s for free via Toffee Magazine’s Facebook page here >

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And finally, my morning cup of tea out on the verandah before the tempreture sky-rockets to 40 degrees again. Obviously Wilbur is completely exhausted from his walk – oh to lie around all day!

This weekend, the tempreture’s dropping below 35 degrees, which will make it a nice change. And hopefully more plesant weather for painting. So I hope to have more house updates next week (remember you can follow me via instagram – internet still not working at home). Have a lovely weekend.

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thanks – free graphic

15 Jan

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The year is storming ahead and I still haven’t written my ‘thank you’ cards from Christmas – apologies friends and family! I quickly drew this at lunch, and thought I would give it away for all those who haven’t written their ‘thank you’ cards either!

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To download, click on image and then right-click and save to desktop:

  1. PNG  below (no background, best for printing on coloured backgrounds), orthanks_emmy_mouse
  2. JPG (white background, best for printing on white / paper)

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Enjoy!

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Our home – story so far

19 Dec

So we’re finally in and unpacked (except for a few rooms, where the doors will remain closed!). Despite the lack of posts, I’ve been wanting to share with you all of our progress with our house. Unfortunately, my mobile reception is fairly rubbish out there – hovering between one bar and nothing. So whilst running around the house and garden, trying to upload a photo to FB/Twitter/Blog, is amusing to those around me, its rather a nuisance.

Anyhoo, see below some of my instagram photos – apologies for the quality my iphone was the only camera available at hand.

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A nice, warm summer’s day to move in – 43 degrees! The pool certainly got a work out that day.

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Luckily for the wide verandah’s – they provided invaluable for storing all of our furniture whilst painting.

Painting – we took 3 days to paint the following, before we moved in - our main bedroom, lounge room (below), dining room, bathroom and hallway. Replacing some ‘traditional’ greens and maroons, with grey’s and white. I was amazed with how light and airy the spaces became.

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Next we started on the hallway, again replacing maroon with white (Dulux White on White) and adding in a decorative chair rail. Below the chair rail, we painted a warm blue (Dulux Passionate Blue). Overall I’m really impressed with it and looks like its been like this forever!

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At the moment, the lounge and dining are looking finished (except for the odd skirting board here and there). I am sooooo looking forward to having some time off over Christmas to finish all of these little items and start on the bedrooms (again replacing bright feature walls with white).

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Finally getting to sit down and enjoy our new lounge with a glass of wine and Christmas edition mags! Will post again soon – promise :)

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Weekend wrap up

16 Nov

If you follow me on Instagram (@emlouisebarrett), then you’ll know what I’ve been up to! If not, you can follow me here and enjoy the picci’s below. Capped off last Friday, with a G & T and my subscriber “Christmas” edition of Country Style, sitting out watching the sun set – bliss. If you haven’t read this edition, you must – there are so many great recipe  and decorating ideas. And all of them in true’ Country Style’ style – realistic, unpretencious and with soul. No need to stay up until 3am, with an array of staple guns and glue guns!

So inspired, I decided to paint a spare dresser we had sitting in our spare room. I’ve just painted it with regular ‘wall’ paint, so may need to coat it with a sealer to protect it. Plus I’ll have to drill some new holes for some new handles. But for the moment, its in our bedroom and a nice addtion.

I then started to recover this (hideous) spare sofa lounge, in another spare room, with leftover heavy-duty cotton fabric I had. I’m thinking I’ll mix it up between a small floral on most of the sofa, and then a larger floral for cushions (and the fact I am slightly short of the small floral to cover the whole sofa – but who’s to tell!).

This weekend, I will complete my sofa and post some more photos – so if you’re on instagram (@emlouisebarrett), follow me and I’ll follow you back. Have a great weekend – the rain has literally stopped, after raining all day, perfect timing for the weekend!

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Happy 1st year (+16 days!) Emmy & Mouse

13 Sep

Yesterday, I realised that I had missed my blog’s first ‘birthday’ – whoops! To say its been rather crazy the past month is an understatement. So anyway “Happy first birthday (and 16 days) Emmy & Mouse“. I wanted also to say thank you so much to everyone who stops by, those who take time to comment on my posts or like posts and those who share my blog – its truely more than I ever expected when  I first started this blog. Continue reading →

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Featured: Style Magazine ‘I love Dubbo’

10 Sep

Caught up with Jacqui, Style Magazine, last week whilst she was in town meeting new businesses, for a quick coffee and catch-up. Read all about the new businesses in Dubbo, NSW >. I’m a bit in love with my new Nookie ‘leopard’ coat – which I picked up on Sale (even better!). Thanks Jacqui, your words are too kind! :)

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Featured on ‘Behind the Desk #7′

9 Sep

I can’t you how thrilled I was to discover that my humble little blog was featured in this week’s ‘Behind the Desk’. Usually I spend my Friday mornings checking emails and reading my enews (including ‘Behind the Desk‘), however I was (finally) getting my hair done. A good friend of mine – Jacqui, Style Magazine – text me excitedly to say I was featured this week (squeels soon followed!). To say I am chuffed, is a slight understatement, I’m so ecstatic to think that my blog is worthy of sharing to so many people. It definitely gives credit to the countless hours I spend on my computer, that maybe I am doing something ‘right’.

Thank you Clare, a big thrill and to all all those to have stopped by (over 360) – thank you – I hope that my future posts may have you stopping by regularly! If you haven’t read it, or subscribed, please do – I know its certainly the inspiration I need for my Friday mornings here >

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Portfolio: Logo designs

4 Jan logos_5

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Logo and brand identities I have designed (below websites were not designed):

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Lazy River: Fashion, Food & Fine Art

26 Sep FFF_A3_poster_logo

Lazy River, is a winery located in Dubbo NSW. The brief was to redesign their ‘market day’ to promote Fashion, food and fine art in a market and family friendly atmosphere. All stalls will be held on their lawn by the river.
Included:

  • Logo design
  • Promotional collateral – posters
  • Press advertising

Dandy Cup

26 Sep banner_home_logo

Dandy Cup, is the inagural race meeting for Narromine Turf Club. The brief was to design something bright and attractive for the upcoming Spring race meeting.
Included:

  • logo design
  • website design
  • print advertising
  • event design
  • promotional collateral – invitations, posters, banners

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Hello

21 Sep

Hello and welcome to my new blog – emmy & mouse. Wondering what the heck the name is all about? Quite simply, it is just about me (Em) and my mouse (not animal), creating beautiful designs and providing you with other inspiration from around the world.

A little bit about me? Well, I am a professional graphic designer with over 8 years of industry experience. I have worked in the fast pace world of catalogues, the sleek world of design studios in funky inner-city suburbs and large Government agencies. I also run a business with my sister, called Littlelki Boutique, and I run my freelance design business in my spare time! Find out more here.

I hope to share on this blog my design projects for clients, as well share the many inspirational things I find in Pinterest, Twitter and general web. Hope you enjoy! em

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