Current Floor Plan (W x H)

• Kitchen/Dining – 5m x 5.6m
• Living – 3.6m x 7.5m
• Bed 1 – 3.5m x 3.2m
• Bed 2 – 3.5m x 2.8m

New Floor Plan (W x H)

• Living/Dining – 5m x 5.6m
• Kitchen – 3.5m x 3.3m
• Bed 1 – 3.5m x 3.5 to 4m
• Bed 2 – 3.5m x 3.2m
• Bed 3 – 3.5m x 2.8m

Bathrooms (W x H)

• Bath 1 – 2.3m x 1.8m
• Bath 2 – 2.3m x 2.8m

I personally wouldn’t extend the Bathroom 1, I feel it is a lot of work for little gain. That bathroom functions fine the size it is currently. I don’t want to rip out the old linen press. I love her. I also, don’t want the current Bed 2 door to be on the wall opposite its window. I like its door where it is.

I also want to try and not touch the 2 bedrooms we have currently. I don’t want to rip out work we have already done. Even though we are going to be doing a bit of that with this idea, but I think it is worth it.

We are renovating to add VALUE and hopefully sell our home and make a little profit. When we sell is not a major thing, we are not in a hurry. We want to maximise what this house has to offer.

I feel at present, the living room is great and with a fireplace it will have wow-factor. But the 2 bedrooms it offers are small. and 1 of them doesn’t have a built in wardrobe (Well it did, but it was crap and we pulled it out as it was too big for the space)

The room at the back, the dining/kitchen is nice with lots of windows, but it is square and it is hard to put a kitchen in there and the dining, as there seems to always be a corner of the room that is not being used at all. It is just an awkward space.

I just need to figure this out, so I can figure out where on EARTH we are putting this kitchen!!! We have been living here for nearly a month with no oven! (Hasn’t been a problem so far and I can see us managing for a while to come while we SAVE SAVE SAVE!!)

Thoughts?

Would you say that the changes we are thinking of doing would be considered BIG, in terms of impact to us (While living in the house) or it is fairly minor, just putting wall up and knocking through another? Although the cornices would need to be done again in a few places.

. . . . .

In other news! It is our houses’ HOUSE WARMING PARTY this Saturday!!! I checked the weather, should be nice!

We are having a BBQ out the back with friends and family!

I am sooooo excited!!! Should be a decent turn out, minus a few super disappointing people. . . . . anyways….. (does this shit happen to everyone when they plan parties, or is it just to my husband and me?)

I have borrowed stuff from everywhere with our parents being lovely and lending us a whole heap of stuff. The garden is looking as good as it can be, considering it is, well, ugly!

Tomorrow will be a massive prep day for the food (or I might procrastinate and get up super early on Saturday to do it, I work better that way)

Today I need to finish cleaning the house and I will have lots of piccies to show you of how the house has come along!

I know what you are saying!

Hurrah!

I have finally put together the floor plan for this place.

We never received a floor plan when this house was on the market, so I had to draw it up.

This is not exact, things are a bit off, for example the right hand outside wall is straight all the way until in comes in a bit for the 2nd bathroom, but I can’t see to get it right as I just measured the interior walls.

Anyways, this is just an indication.

I would love (NEED) your feedback on my ideas. I have created an animation for you Because I am bored designer!! I thought it was a good way to show what was moving, when it flashes to the next floor plan as opposed to looking at 2 separate images.

(Animation goes for 3 secs then loops)

Currently, we have a 2 bedroom home. The bedrooms are not big. There is also 2 bathrooms, which seems a lot for just 2 bedrooms. And then there is the long living area which is fantastically beautiful and long, we can re-instate a gorgeous fireplace and there is plenty of room for our desks/work area. I can see it as a great congregating family area with plenty of room to stretch out.

The new floor plan is an idea. What do you think? It involves putting up a wall and knocking through another to make it a 3 bedroom house. My only concern with this idea is that the “living/dining” area might be a little too cramped and NO I do not want to entertain the idea of an extension to the back of the house.

If the animation is just a bit too much for you, here are the 2 separate floor plans

(I just want to please. LOL)

Thoughts???

Please throw them at me.

Also, if you have other ideas, I would love to hear.

Now to get my CAD skills up to scratch.

Uh oh, someone please confiscate my credit card. It has been getting a little swipey action lately.

Don’t fret, I didn’t spend too much. Everything was at bargain prices.

First up

My 2 black cast iron urns! I have wanted a pair of these for a while. I have planted a buxus in each.

I am following strict instructions from my new topiary book.

I am attempting this style for the back door

And I need to buy 2 more urns (or more cost effective pots) for the front door, and I want to flank either side of my entry-way with spiral topiary. Challenge accepted.

I have my book, it is just patience. I will get there. And more importantly, it will look so amazing when I do!

So, I went on the hunt one day last week to look for an outdoor setting. I thought a teak one would be particularly nice. I found a nice shop with a nice owner and I was about the pull the trigger on one, but I wasn’t 100% happy with it. It was a bit too plain, matchy-matchy for me.. I was after a bit a mixture. (I am SOOOO HARD TO PLEASE)

(and a bit too $$$$, I mean, it was worth it, but I didn’t want to spend. . . that much)

I know I can put together something with way more personality, for a bit cheaper and still have the lasting power. I.e no cheap branded alternatives, that will be cheaper in price, but last only half as long. (Then you will just have to buy it all over again and in the end, spend more and then what happens to the first set that just ends up in landfill??)

This is something that is really starting to bother me and I am extremely conscience of this. You can’t just by cheap disposable items that end up in landfill because they are not worth repairing or not made out of materials for re-purposing!!! And these cheap materials can be TOXIC!!! Sitting there…. In landfill. It is actually really worrying. I have made a vow to buy as much as I can that is 2^nd hand. I am not a greenie, lets save the world, I don’t want to give a false impression. But this is definitely something that I am taking into consideration when purchasing items. I know sometimes you can’t help it, but a little creative thinking goes a long way.

I could have bought 6 fold up teak look-a-like chairs from Bunnings for my outdoor setting.

Number 1. They have a weight limit of 100 kilos….. I know lots of people, especially men, that weigh more then that and I don’t want to be scared to offer anyone a seat and have it break under them or myself, because that is MORTIFYING.

Number 2. They are made of “mixed wood” Umm what is that???? And made in Indonesia.

Number 3. They are cheap, nasty knock-offs, ‘nuff said (hate knocks, don’t understand them)

Number 4. They cost $69.00 each and for 6 that is a total of $414 And will last me, hmmmmm 2 seasons tops? And then I will chuck them in the council clean up.

Then I will go to the shops and buy. . . . ??? what, more?

When for pretty much the same money, I have bought 6 chairs that will last for a bloody long time and may just need a lick of paint here and there and maybe some new fabric for the upholstery.

So for these chairs I was at my favourite antique shop, that is closing down and moving to the Southern Highlands. I went inside to pay for my urns and spotted 6 iron dining chairs. I was like. . . “umm what are they… how much etc etc”

He tells me they are 6 Italian dining table chairs and the table is in the carpark, the owners bought them 40 years ago (the 70’s) for $7000!!!

I saw the table but wasn’t keen on it as it was round, I want rectangular. He said he was selling the chairs separately for $500 for the 6 of them!!! Bargain! Sold.

So, they were originally inside dining table chairs, but they are iron, so I can put them outside. Just seal them with a coat of paint. The upholstery is mushroom suede. It is just some screws that come undone and I replace the foam with outdoor grade foam and recover with marine grade fabric. I am thinking a smart black and white stripe, very French for the fabric. This is an easy job to do, I have done it a few times.

Now I just need to find a complimentary outdoor table. I really like the look of those faux stone, fibreglass tables, but I can’t find ANY!! WHERE ARE THESE SOLD??? The only place I have been alerted to is Yardware.

I would like a real proper antique stone table, but… nooo. Way to heavy to lift and move around if we have to and way too heavy on the pocket.

While at the antique shop, I purchased 2 mahogany side tables with octagon turned legs and a marble top. They are solid and just smashing. I can always find room for these.

I also got this chair for the bedroom.

It is TRES OLD, as in really old. And beautiful.

I am smitten with it. I actually bought it for my husband, even though it is a girly chair, but we have been looking for an antique or small chair for the bedroom as my husband, likes to drape his clothes on a chair and currently we don’t have anything for him and he is in disarray I tell you. (he use to put them on our settee, which was in our apartments bedroom, but no room for it in this bedroom)

So this chair is my little project. It is in need of a complete overhaul. I have saved this link from Design Sponge from when they did a re-upholster tutorial for a spring based chair. Which this chair is. I tell you what, they don’t make them like they used to. The centre wooden motif of the chair is damaged, but apart from that, it is perfect in its joinery. It doesn’t wobble or rock. It is solid. There is not many places you could get a dining table chair that was made the way this one was – especially with the spring base… and this is walnut!! You might be able too, but there would be no change from 1k PER CHAIR.

So stay tuned for this one.

Back again at Bunnings. I have a love-hate relationship with that place. I got this porch light cover (just goes around the existing baton light globe) for a mere $10!!!!

Can’t complain. So my husband puts it up, looks great. It is only temporary till we buy something really nice (I want a hanging lantern style one) Come nightfall and we switch it on to see how it goes… and well the cover blocks a lot of the light!! Arghhhh.

Ohh well.

Gosh I can talk.

. . . It has my name!

Does anyone else feel like this, Über special, just cos’ they saw their name?

I get giddy!

I know it is not an uncommon name. . . but . . . lol

If anyone feels like I am indeed “Their star” you can purchase it here!

Love it!

x

Not only do I have a super talented computer nerd husband, he is also semi ok with his hands!!

He put these lights up!

And they work as well.

(Okay, yeah, they are the $19 lights from Bunnings. Not ideal, but the lights I really wanted can only go under a cover as such, not full weather protected, even though they are outdoor lights… hmmmm ok, so these are just for the mean-time)

(Can’t wait to rip that ugly cover/awning/thing off. And level the concrete and make a nice patio area there)

My husband is just the best, so loving and so very nice and loyal to all his friends and family.

Just the sweetest guy on the planet.

In other news! Check out my LUSH bamboo!

It has come back from the brink of death.

This is a pic of it from December 28th. Not very lush like there.

(and this is not the worst state it was in)

I really want this!!!

It is $88US but they would like to charge me

this:

Umm ok, no thanks.

That irrkksss me.

I just sent of something about the same weight as that and 3 times the size to the US for $24.45 (registered mail)

I absolutely adore this look of makeup!

Coral cheeks, nicely groomed brows, nudes lips, middle part! LOVE!!! Honey skin!!!

VIA

So, I said, I was going to tell you all about my the night before my birthday, but I won’t now. I am over it.

I’ll just tell you one little thing.

My sister left one of her cake decorating books at my in-laws when I was living there and she was visiting.

So, I picked out what cake I would like for my birthday. I told her that I wanted the Woodcutters cottage. Like a gingerbread house, but made of chocolate.

She agreed, we were both super excited for it. She spent $80 on all the ingredients and 2 days making it.

It was finished it was perfect. She gets in the car to come here and it sort of starts to shift and she gets a bit miffed.

Anyways, long story short. The woodcutters cottage, ends up on my dirty kitchen floor before I even got a proper look at it.

She also hadn’t snapped a picture of it either.

. . . .

Why does things like this happen?

I looked toward the sky and I was like “Why God, Why me???”

(You know, just having a total Serena Van Der Woodsen moment, yes the world revolves around me….)

Everyone was in a sour mood.

Then……………

I was setting the table, 6 glasses, 6 place mats, 6 plates, 6 bread plates

2 forks, 2 knives!!!!!!!!!!!!

I thought because we had pulled all our plates and bowls out and we found all our utensils like salad serves and tongs that we too, indeed, had CUTLERY!

NOPE. Poor assumption. And the husband had been on my back all week about unpacking everything.

So then it was a frantic goose chase opening boxes to find SMASHED GLASS looking for cutlery.

I am just sooooo angry. The no cutlery was my fault. But I am really pissed out this whole moved. Yes I packed up only 2 of everything because we were doing a kitchen renovation FIRST. But that all went out the window & and opposite end of the house got done first. And I only packed all the boxes, so the smashed glass is my fault, but when I did pack them SOME 4 effing months ago, I thought they were only going to have been moved ONCE and been unpacked a few weeks after! NOOOO

These boxes have been moved and shifted everywhere and had things on top, taken on, put on ahshahsdhsdhfaisdbofaefnasvnanvoiwhaidh df ARGHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Anyways, over that too.

We still haven’t found the cutlery. Which I am on a mission to find today.

So my salad I made, didn’t really get eaten and everyone was eating with their hands.

 . . . . . .

Then, it was my birthday. I had the day off and what marvelous weather we did have!!!

My husband took me to Bowral and Berrima!

We looked at antique shops and ate lunch. I saw some stuff I would truly love. But we didn’t buy anything.

I LOVED THIS CHAIR!!!!

It is so unique. It is similar to this chair from the house of windsor

But I reckon the one I saw was better!

But what I was on the hunt for was a dresser for our bedroom.

Like this

So I can style it like that too!

But I did see some gorgeous crystal decanters!! But I couldn’t get a pic. THEY WERE HEAVEN. I wanted them really bad.

There were 3 of them in a set and they sat in a silver filigree holder (that hugged the curves of the bottles and had a pole up the middle and a little handle so you can walk around with it) and around the necks of the bottles they had like little necklace/nameplates on a chain.

They were just sooooo darn pretty! And $950.

. . . . .

So our house warming party is fast approaching. Time to get this house in order!

That is what I will be doing today. Oh and going to the post office to post of my latest etsy order!! WOOO HOOO!

I need to start on my 2 wedding invitation custom designs. One is for a client that has told me “DO WHAT EVER, I WILL LOVE IT, YOU DO AMAZING STUFF!”

How good is that??? Free reign!

The other, I am most excited!!! Is for a couple that are eloping in PARIS!!! (The invite is their story on one side and the other is an invite to a post celebratory party, one here is AUS and the other in the UK!!!)

How fab! I love the whole thing. I am so excited for them! How romantic.

I wish I bloody did that. Because when it comes to my husband and I putting events on! All I can say is:

“SOME PEOPLE FUCKING SUCK”

Yay!!!  It’s my birthday today and I have the day off to spend with my husband. I hope we have a lovely day together. A lot better then the night I had last night with my family. I was so excited for it then that bubble bursted quickly as soon as they arrived. Arrrghhh family, can’t pick ‘em.

I still had a nice night but everything went wrong. I am to blame too. Tell you about it later. But for now I am going to try and go back to bed.

24 is nothing to be kept awake for, after all.

No, I am not pregnant, nor trying. But it will be soon-ish, so I am starting to gather ideas.

Is that weird?

Oh well.

I have come across this fabric and I have fallen in love with it.

From Brochier available at South Pacific Fabrics

We swam with penguins in the Galapagos Islands on our honeymoon and these cute critters have a connection to me.

Check out this photo of me from our honeymoon.

Then we tell the baby how cool mummy and daddy was.