This post is sponsored by Porter Davis
L
ast week I was invited along with my mate Stacey from Veggie Mama to a Porter Davis event in Melbourne. The whole experience of wandering around the show room took me straight back to my childhood. Being the daughter of a plumber, I spent most weekends in the industrial suburb of Fyshwick in Canberra, while my parents looked at taps and paint samples and I almost died from boredom.
Now that I’m a grown up though, I freaking LOVE looking in bathroom and kitchen stores, so Porter Davis was like visiting Disneyland for me. I’m also incredibly Type A, so all the neatly arranged plates and knick knacks were right up my alley thank you very much.
I think I’m like this because I grew up in a house that looked like a hotel. A hotel that people weren’t allowed to stay in. A hotel that had a full time maid (AKA Mama Smaggle) that would follow you around picking up your shoes and dirty plates and tutting disapprovingly every time you sat on a perfectly fluffed cushion. It was while I was wandering around Porter Davis and resisting the urge to tell Stacey to stop touching things, that I got the inspiration to share with you a few home hacks I learned from the fabulous Mama Smaggle. [divider type=”standard” width=”1/1″ el_position=”first last”] 
This was Mama Smaggle’s ‘formal lounge’. It looks like Marie Antionette threw up in there. I think I sat in this room twice in the entire 13 years that we lived in that house. White carpet. I still can’t even fathom why she did that.
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5 Home Style Habits You Should Steal From Mama Smaggle
Throw away (almost) everything
Mama Smaggle is extremely unsentimental when it comes to possessions. If she hasn’t used it/worn it/loved it in over year, it gets donated to charity. Useless clutter is the enemy of style so ditch everything you don’t need.
Take your sweet ass time making design decisions
You can actually live without decorator items so don’t settle for something that’s almost right. Hold out for something that delights you and add slowly to your home.
Have a design mantra
The house I grew up in was ‘Victorian’ with lots of antique floral patterns, liberty print fabrics, vintage furniture and terracotta. My home is more ‘Playful Designer Eclectic’ which means shite loads of monkey toys interspersed with humorous art prints, Eames chairs and weird spiky plants. If you have a few key words that represent your style it makes SUCH a huge difference when you’re shopping to decorate your home. If you’re totally confused try this World of Style quiz. It will narrow down your style to a main category like Classic or Modern and then give you several options within those categories. It’s perfect for people who literally have no idea where to start or people who’s style has changed and they can’t quite figure out what direction they’re going in. [divider type=”standard” width=”1/1″ el_position=”first last”] 
All teasing aside, I freaking loved this house. I’d pay GOOD money to have just one more soak in that tub.
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Follow your gut
If you see something you love, get it. Deep down you know whether or not it’s something that will fit in your home. Even if you see something that you ‘love’ your gut will tell you that a giant plush pink sofa shaped like a pair of lips is not going to work in your Nautical Hamptons sun room.
Cleanliness is next to godliness
I am not joking about Mama Smaggle and her clean freakiness. My brother and I weren’t even allowed to keep our toothbrushes on the bathroom counter because ‘they’re not exactly decorator items!’ *insert eye roll and scoff* [divider type=”standard” width=”1/1″ el_position=”first last”]
Anytime Mama Smaggle get’s too twitchy about things being clean I always scream ‘Surfaces! Surfaces darling! No THINGS on PLACES!’ at her. Check out the video at 3.30 to see what I mean.
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I’m not quite as anal retentive as Mama Smaggle but I do enjoy a clean home and if you go to all the trouble of decorating your home beautifully, it will only be ruined if you’ve got piles of washing draped all over your beautiful red leather lounge or if there’s three feet of dust on your Scandinavian bookshelf. Dedicate a few hours a week to tidying your house or outsource the job to a cleaner. Simples.
If you’re looking to upgrade the decor of your home or even renovate (lucky bastards… I’d LOVE to renovate a home. Hello bedroom bathtub!) it’s definitely worth checking out Porter Davis. They know their stuff – there’s a whole wall of over 64 different styles you can choose from and they have all the stuff you need to make your home Designer California or Contemporary San Francisco or whatever mood board tickles your fancy. You should also like their Facebook page – they’ve got some bonza styling ideas in there and they aren’t all weird and brand-ey like ‘Blah blah blah PORTER DAVIS… blah blah PORTER DAVIS!’ they actually encourage you to mix and match stuff in your home to get a style that’s unique to you not a weird robot version of you.
Oh and just for the record I DO keep my toothbrushes on the bathroom counter in my own house because I’m not a giant weirdo.
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This is the bathroom I had growing up. I’m not even kidding about the toothbrushes. They’re in those drawers… along with my sanity.
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