Interior design

Barry Little in white suit leading a group from the Society of Interior Designers of Australia on a visit to the Philippines

A Little archive that tells a big story

The recent donation of an archive of material related to the career of interior designer Barry Little enriches our understanding of Australian design and style in the second half of the 20th century

Matching wool colours using a late 19th-century pattern and unfinished Berlin wool work sample from the Caroline Simpson Library and Research Collection

A stitch in time

Tatting, knotting, knitting, pin-tucking, crocheting, pinking, stitching, stuffing, embroidering … needles fly at Elizabeth Bay House

Light fittings

A world of designs

Trade catalogues, published to illustrate the products for sale from a manufacturer, wholesaler or retailer, reveal the surprising wealth of choice available to Australian consumers in the 19th century

Cool Colours

In Spring 2015, Museums of History NSW was asked if it could assist in the recreation of a 1950s colour palette for Hillary’s Hut, located at the Scott Base, Antarctica

Window seat, c1840

Designed with intent: colonial vs modernist chairs

This selection of furniture juxtaposes the old with the new: early 19th-century colonial seating and modernist styles made over a hundred years later

Five women pose together in front of a wooden building
11 October, 6.30pm
Talk

Experiencing a Technical Difficulty

Join Dr Catriona Quinn on a journey through Australia’s rich interior design heritage and a deep dive into the studios of design educators in Sydney in the 1940s, 50s and 60

Marion Best Pty Ltd: 'A room for Mr. Peter Sculthorpe' by designers Marion Hall Best and Deirdre Broughton, [Rooms on View 1971]

Finding aid: SIDA collection

The Society of Interior Designers of Australia (SIDA) was a professional body, founded in 1951, to represent the interests of interior designers in Australia. It promoted interior design to the general public and also set standards of practice for the profession

A colour chart of ready-mixed paints

Historic colour in the home

This webinar explores the many sources found in the Caroline Simpson Library that can bring colour to the homes of past

Kirnbank ceiling rose

This plaster ceiling rose comes from the ballroom of the now demolished house Kirnbank in the Sydney suburb of Arncliffe