Ash and Rustin, from art-furniture shop Fox & Dinky, are keen upcyclers and natural decorators. Every home they occupy fills with bold furniture and pops of colour. We visited their latest pad to see how easily junk styling brightens an unexciting rental.
Very few Australians live in one house for a lifetime and a competitive real estate market has slowly leached personality out of houses that are destined for resale. How many safe white kitchens and bathrooms have you seen in recent years? But, it seems times are slowly changing and we are starting to see designers working unusual textures and materials into walls and permanent fittings.
Hopefully that trend will continue to grow but in the meantime there is plenty of room for experimentation and fun with unusual furniture and vintage decor.
Upcycling may be a trendy new buzzword but visually-oriented people have been doing it naturally for generations. They see beauty in something old or discarded and work out a way to make it attractive and useful again. That can mean totally reworking a piece, or simply using it for a new purpose.
Rustin and Ash from Fox & Dinky are masters at turning used furniture into industrial/art masterpieces. But they get bored with only their own work and mix it up with bright soft furnishings, vintage finds and traditional decorator items. Their work may be wildly creative and cool, but you can see how easily it integrates with conventional furnishings.
Never be nervous about buying something a little bit crazy if you really love it. You can always work it into your colour palette; group it with other pieces; make it a feature in the room and build around it; or just keep adding to it until you have a happy eclectic mix.
UPDATE 2021: Fox & Dinky moved on to other projects and the shop is now closed.
