Guess what?!

You know the saying "man plans and Gd laughs"? we'll Gd is probably in hysterics at my attempted planning. Ill start from the top.

Friday last week was my last day for tying up all loose ends before I begun my 'Eurotrip' - and I put it in bunny ears because I'm more here to study at the London University of Arts in their interior design summer course - OAH YEAH!

So back to the Friday, there I was getting my nails done, buying all the right adaptors and attempting to buy mine and Julia's tickets to Paris.

The Plan

                Sunday

3:30pm Arrive in London  and head on to the hotel my dad booked for the night. 

8:00pm Dad arrives at hotel (he was coming home from a business trip and redirected past London so we would meet up! isn't that adorable?! Otherwise between his trip and mine we wouldn't have seen each other for over 2 months!)

              Monday

Sleep in. Taxi into town. Drop my luggage off at a friend. Visit old relatives. Have lunch. Dad goes back to the airport for his flight home. I meet up with Julz (my travel buddy this trip) at our friends place in London who now lives here with her husband and a baby on the way! Grab smaller bags packed for Paris. Train station. Take away food. Train. BOOM - PARIS!

We had booked our accommodation weeks ago as Paris get incredibly busy, spend a ridiculous $1000 on return train tickets that I had booked on the Friday (mind you, I have yet to find anyone who got so ripped off! but we were determined!) andddd then this is how Monday really went.

        *achem*....Monday....

(Train leaves at 8pm and the gate closes at 7:30pm)

4:00pm leave dad and go meet Julz at our friends place

6:00pm we are on our way to the train station at Kings Cross st. Pancras International

7:00pm buy delicious take away dinner

7:15pm were outside the check in

7:16pm me: "k, Julz, take out your passport"

             Julia: "what?"

             Me: "Your passport......"

             Julia: "oh shit....."

             Me - Paris flashing before my eyes

            Me: "ok, we have a few minutes to find it, ill call Sara (our friend) to look at her place and you      pull your bag apart!"

**********lots of swearing, sweat, weird looks******

Julia later found that on the Heathrow lost and found website an Australian passport had been listed as found since the day of her arrival - how lucky?!?!?!?! 35 people had lost their passport that day...i think thats pretty insane dont you??

anyway we missed our train and lost the tickets!!! then we cancelled our accommodation (in hindsight though, that was probably not the best idea) out of fear of being charged for not showing up...and there we were, at the station in a situation we never expected to happen.

Julia: "are you hungry?"

Me: "You know those girls that are just all 'oah noo I'm so stressed I cant eat!'...yeah I'm not one of them. And I'm upset! but I'm going to sit and enjoy my mixed grilled veggie salad with goats cheese on the side and balsamic dressing! 

Tuesday we attempted to go again and Julia kindly offered to book and pay for both our return tickets but the problem was not accommodation - there was none. SO there went my trip to Paris with Julz. I'll try again on Sunday with some friends from home who are planning on being there.

After leaving the train station with all our bags for the second time (after our failed attempt of Tuesday) we called it. Tok our bags back to Sara's, went to Leicester Square went out for a stunning dinner - with lots and lots of wine - booked at theatre show for the next night, went to a comedy show that night and planned a shopping trip for the next day. Needless to say todays modern society has the best remedies for bad situation such as these; a gorgeous white white, blogging and retail therapy. Could we be a worse society?? probably

Anyway, its 7:30am Wednesday morning.  Thought I'd update the old blog and all. Missing my Vegimite on toast right about now but looking forward to my day of shopping! Fingers crossed I'll see - and then post - some beautiful interior designs. Follow me on twitter on The Runaway Design Company for more interior tips and pictures. It's updated more than my blog.

x

Two highly recommended reads!!

Not exactly interior but isn't there an element of design in everything?? 

Redesign and fitout: Office Edition

Evening all,

A few weeks ago I entered a competition to redo the fitout and design for a company in Sydney city.
Pro: If I win it will be a huge step in my career and gets Runaway Designs into the big wide world.
Con: I am about to travel Europe for 2 months....mmmm

But I was 'blessed' with a warped sense of reality and a somewhat unrealistic perception of limits [a most potent cocktail for success might I add]. We were given a month to have the plans put together complete with concept boards and somehow, in-between my part time job and nannying I have come up wi a brilliant - thats the cocktail talking - office plan layout! its daring, its drastic, its fantastic! and I love it!!!
I do have to give credit though where credit is due. Rob Meyerson [a terrific architecture friend and mentor] has been nothing but helpful so thank you!

I have emailed the company and am ready to present them with my ideas this week and if it all works out I will have a job waiting for me on my return home....in 3 months :s

Wish me luck! I'll put up pictures of the plans soon

“The question isn’t who is going to let me; it’s who is going to stop me.” (......possibly my competitors?? Ha!)

- Ayn Rand

delight by design: beautiful {built in beer menu} booth

Such a classic and classy design for a bar! definitely one to archive for future reference!

delight by design: beautiful {built in beer menu} booth: A friend recently introduced me to the work of one very talented craftsman, Tyler Bradford .  Tyler is based in San Francisco and specializ...

My Blank Canvas

I came across this picture on the famously time draining Pinterest...you know that place where you pick and chose all the aspects of your life that you want but it somehow only remains on your computer...or in your trash after a failed DIY project...ya that place (check this out http://themetapicture.com/when-things-go-terribly-wrong/)

Anyway, this particular picture got me thinking that this is probably my blank canvas.

All of a sudden I had all these ideas of what I would do to this wonderful space.

I love every piece of furniture in there, and the best part? The cost of doing this place up would probably cost way less that your thinking.

(If the door position is in my favour) I would move the bed under the window, put in some long flowing dark linen curtains that slip through the crack between the bed and the window. The rug will follow the beds movement too. 

Think of all the possibilities of a blank wall!!! paintings? photography? extra shelving or storage? if so, floating shelves in a contrast deep wood? or a consistent satin white?

I dont know why, I just see so much potential with this space....what I would do to get my hands on it!

What would you guys do??

2 Weeks to go

Hi all,

Does anyone have any packing advice?! I am stressing out between trying to finish up deadlines for work and figuring out what to squeeze into my Suitcase.

Pro - I'm only going for 7 weeks....3 of which I'm backpacking, 4 of which I'll be shopping :)
Pro - If i decide that London is just too good to leave...I can always give mum and dad a call and have them send my things over right?
Pro - I can bring 2 suitcases home!!

Cant seem to think of any con's at the moment...but maybe thats a good think. Positive thinking!

Also,
If any of you have traveled to Paris, Scotland, Amsterdam (soon to be added to my travel list) or London and have come across amazing places to visit or have any travelling tips please leave a comment! I would love to hear.

So happy to be sharing with you all. Hope you stick around to see how it all goes down!

Not a hipster

The most bizarre thing happened to me yesterday.

I have planned a trip to Europe in just over a month with a friend of mine from Melbourne. But at some point in the trip my friend Julz abandons me and goes back to Melbourne for uni and I will be in London for 1 month. Wait for it.....studying at the London University of Arts - Boo yeah!
So naturally i began to look up sentences like this in google 'London for Hipsters' or 'the hipsters guide to London' but nothing that I was interested in really came up.

Now, lets just one thing clear, I am  not a hipster. But my logic path was more like 'I'm not British and i love bicycles so maybe over there I'd be considered a hipster...i mean comparing Bondi and Buckingham Palace, i thought I was on the right track....turns out I'm way off.

Not only are there a gazillion hipsters in London, but most of them even ride obscure bicycles such as these

- Taken from Buzzfeed.com 

Soooo I was way off and in need of some serious research. Nevertheless I couldn't find the right kind of blog for me! I was looking for a blog that showed the in's and out's of London's awesome places tourists would never find, cool off the map shops be it clothing or furniture and awesome bike routes and tips for the travelling tourist. So naturally, I then decided to create my own.

Im very excited to take you all with me, follow me on twitter and keep your eyes open for new updates.

oh and just so you know where your going.....

1 week Paris

4 days at the T in the Park festival Edinburgh

2 days Scotland

2 days Ireland

1 Month London...but I may make a few spontaneous trips in between....still getting over the fact I will not be stranded on an island there #Australia #10hourstoanywhere 

enjoy!