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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

Ahead of his time, interior designer Barry Little had a significant influence on Australian interiors in the 1960s and 70s

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

Fanlight, timber, circa 1836

Architectural remnants from The Vineyard - Subiaco

The Vineyard at Rydalmere NSW (later known as Subiaco), designed by architect John Verge for Hannibal Hawkins Macarthur and completed in 1836, is almost universally described by architectural historians as one of Sydney’s finest colonial homes

Chip-carved table

This demountable occasional table was produced by English trained carpenter George Stevenson Liggins (1874-1907) shortly after his arrival in Melbourne, Australia around 1902

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

'Flannel flower' figured rolled glass samples, distributed by James Sandy & Co, Sydney, 1909-14. 9.5(h) x 4.5cm(w) [each sample]. Caroline Simpson Library & Research Collection, Museums of History NSW. L2007/252.

Decorative architectural glass: 'figured rolled' samples

Figured rolled glass is a type of 'obscured', commercially produced sheet glass which is smooth on one side and has a figured or patterned surface on the other

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

Window cornice (detail), Drummoyne House NSW, c1870s

Drummoyne House window cornice

The carved window cornice from Drummoyne House is a rare example of Australian decorative arts