Books and bookcases for decoration

This mornings weather is perfect for curling up with a good book. I have woken up to a wet looking Sunday and just want to grab a coffee and book and spend time in rooms like these....

I would love to have a room with bookcases covering one wall. I also love the colour books add to the room and I personally not only have a number of bookcases around my house but have piles of books too as decoration.

I am hoping though that the weather fines up as I have a fence to paint today. We got a new back fence put in early in the week and as the posts are untreated needs to be painted quick smart (photos soon).

Also just as an aside, I am now on Pinterest (see icon in sidebar) and I have 'pinned' a couple of bookcase photos there too. I am loving it as a great way to collect images for inspiration.

Hope you are having a great weekend.

G

A bit of IKEA

I recently went to visit the new IKEA in Melbourne. Slightly larger then the Richmond one it was great to walk through, but due to it's popularity many of the items I was actually after had sold out.
Even so I managed to grab this $5 rug with the plan to put it just inside our new stacking doors but instead decided it made a great table runner, for a dining table that has seen better days. Lets just say with two young kids that much desired provincial dining table I would like to purchase is a little while away. So dressing the current one is the next best thing.

Hope you are having a wonderful weekend.

Trip to Melbourne Zoo and design ideas

Day three of Blogtoberfest and thought I would take a day break from before and after photos as today we enjoyed a sunny day at the Melbourne Zoo.

And who would of thought it would give me some design ideas both for the side of our house and our alfresco deck.

Starting with the elephant trail, love the bamboo and the idea of using this in big stone pots down the side of our house.
Then entering the orangutan enclosure love the wood slatted pitched roof and the amazing lights.

Shoes and bags - where do you put them?

What do you do with your shoes and bags when you come into your house? Is your place a shoes off kind of home?

Ok this is a post that says a little something about me which some of you may go, don't be so precious but here goes...

My house is a no shoe zone, has been for a while and since we have had the boards sanded and polished recently we are even more hot on it.

Of course this means my kids are well trained on this particular thing to the point of going into anyones house will immediately take shoes off. The issue I am facing at the moment is getting others to do the same. Some friends and family do easily but others need constant reminding to the point where it is getting uncomfortable. Would it be bad to put a sign in the hall saying Welcome - take shoes off here! - maybe a suggestion for one of you lovely graphic designers to do a print?


And then there is bags, now of course these are allowed in the house but the issue I have is where to put them? I am finding most people walk down the hall into the kitchen and drop them onto the central kitchen island bench. For some reason this gets to me, probably because it is my main food prep area (I like it to be clear). Or the put them on my lovely sideboard, pictured above and this I don't like much either. But I can't bring myself to ask them to put them in the nearby bookcase where I have a vacant shelf. My family who I can ask to move bags just look at me like I am a little mad!

So is there where you are going to tell am I am a little over the top? Maybe but even though I like these two things to be neater I do not run a minimalist, sterile house by any means. I love photos and kids stuff and things from our travels around the place, plus a big fan of bookcases.

So any suggestions? Do you have any house pet hates yourself?

Blackboard easel for decoration and Happy Birthday

This blackboard / white board easel from IKEA has become a bit of a feature in our new living space.

As can be seen in my previous post we have a long white wall joining the kitchen and new family area. The easel now sits proudly in the middle of it and I am finding it works really well to add that personal family touch.

We have written menus for dinner, had kids drawings and written special messages on it.

Like today it is my gorgeous Mum's birthday and my five year old decorated the easel accordingly. Mum is over from Adelaide helping out with the school holidays, which I am so grateful for. My Mum gives me so much help and support. Happy birthday Mum!

Hoping to get more pictures on this wall .......

It is also nice with this visit to have the inside of the house almost finished and a bedroom for my Mum to sleep in away from all the noise. She used to sleep in the lounge on the fold out sofa bed.

Anyway will show pictures of new bedrooms soon just want to get a bit more decorating done.

Does size matter?

I have discovered recently that size matters to a certain extent but as long as you use what you have well and you cover what is required, bigger doesn't necessarily mean better.

Now before I go too far down this track I suppose I better explain that I am talking about house size! There is a general Australian trend for houses to get bigger and bigger hence the term McMansion. I have to say personally though that having inspected so many houses I have found the the medium size houses, with good storage and design are so much more appealing then the large ones.

Our house before we started the reno / extension was a two bedroom, one bathroom home with a toilet through a small laundry. We also lacked storage. This started to feel too small with two kids and regular interstate visitors (that would sleep in our lounge). Now by adding extra living space, two more bedrooms and extra bathroom and loads more storage the house feels huge but I know we will use every bit of space well.

A house much bigger to me means more cleaning, and also ones I have visited seem to often lack that homely feel I love. Instead one of my favourites is a friends double fronted cottage that isn't a big house by any means but is well designed and gives my friends and their three kids plus two dogs plenty of space to live. The house has such a warmth about it and you immediately feel comfortable.

What do you think? Do you love a well designed classic cottage or do you prefer a more modern larger house?

Tea anyone?

I love the sales at this time of year, especially when you find something you have been looking for at a good price, such as this gorgeous tea set. I bought it from General Trader at half price. Not only is it great for a cup of tea but it looks good on my side board and goes with the general red Winter theme in the new living space.

Now just waiting to hang our new mirror with a thick black frame (also bought in the sales) above the side board, but can't do until we have finished painting the walls and the floorboards are sanded and polished.

And just to show it is not all about red, I am still using my favourite colour blue in places and mixing it up with silver, black and white.

Decorating - creating spaces with a touch of colour

The cold Winter weather this week has meant a lot of time inside with school holidays. Hard while still renovating but have tried to reclaim areas and do a bit of decorating.

To try and warm up the room and bring some outside in have added red followed by some cuttings from one of our three Camilla trees. Love these trees for their beautiful dark green foliage and Winter flowers.

Nearly there - the slow reveal begins!

We are heading into the last week of our building contract and even though the builders will not meet the deadline and be finished, we are certainly getting there.

And so over the next little while please join me on the journey of the slow reveal - before and after shots and finally photos of rooms as I finish them off with interior decoration - ideas which I am getting from the many wonderful blogs out there.

We have spent the last few months, when sitting in the lounge room staring at these doors, not being able to open them due to builders working on the other side.

And as much as I love the doors I have started to feel a little claustrophobic having lived in the house for seven years with them open or half open most of the time.

Well just recently we have been able to open them again and start to decorate the area on the other side.................

This used to be our family space but now we can use it for it's original purpose, a dining room, as we now have the new family area beyond the kitchen (at the left of this picture).

Also loving this new servery, it really opens up the space. This used be a solid wall.

So we still need to paint and I have so many more ideas for decorating the space (including revamping the dining setting) but I have to be patient as other things need to be finished off first. I also can't wait for the alfresco deck to be built on the other side of the stacking doors. Good thing it is Winter so don't really want to sit outside as yet but in a couple of months I hope to.

Do you change colour with the season?

Well now in April, day light savings has ended, leaves are starting to change colour and fall, frost has appeared on a couple of mornings and Winter fashion is in the shops, we are well and truly into Autumn.

Our canadian Maple the centre of our garden.

With this in mind when I saw a gorgeous red coat for my daughter the other day I snapped it up as we have already had cold days. This got me thinking that as far as fashion goes I make a shift in colours for the season but should I do the same in the house?

I often see in magazines the promotion of splashes of cool blues and green for Summer and then a change to the warmer orange or red cushions and throws for Winter.

Our house with mainly white walls (except for the new blue hallway) decorated with pictures in black frames, wooden floorboards and wood or white furniture really does provide that great neutral palette to change the accent colours for the season but I never really have.

This is probably because blue is my favourite colour with red being a close second, so I have both around the house all year around, so I suppose I naturally cover the seasonal colour spectrum. And I must admit, though I have these colours in my house all the time I am constantly moving things around to give different effects no matter what the season.

Hallway blue makeover

Those that have read my blog for a while may remember a post I did ohh some four months ago about painting my hallway blue and changing it from the dirty cream it was. Well It took us a while to decide on the blue (British Paints, Distant Shore) and with other continual renovation distractions even longer to paint it.

Love these Paris boxes that a friend bought me from a $2 shop. Great for keeping bit and pieces in. Have even managed to get Hubby to empty his pockets into these when he enters the door.

Now from the images below you can see we still need to paint and decorate the rest of the hallway..............

You can also see the edge of a cupboard door here (our linen cupboard) which you see as soon as you enter the hall. So am thinking of ideas to spruce the doors up.

Hope you have a good weekend, I may even try to finish painting the hall but with the weather so nice here in Melbourne I think I might just get out and about.

Kids bedrooms

Now the build is well underway I have got even more focused on interior design ideas. Interestingly enough the rooms I am looking forward to doing the most are the kids bedrooms, I think because here you can potentially have the most fun.

Images from - http://www.livingetc.com

I do like these neutral styles above but with my kids love for colour they don't really suit.

I also love this beautifully classic style bedroom below but it would be more appropriate in a house a lot older then ours, plus my little girls favourite colour is red.

Image from - www.besthouseinterior.com/classic-childrens-bedrooms

Image from - childrensbedrooms.blogspot.com

This room would suit my five year old daughter more but with red instead of pink. I would also think of painting the wall behind the bed red. I do love bunting as a form of decoration.

Image from - homes-designing.net

And some good IKEA style and colour for my little boy. I think he would prefer a Lightening McQueen or Buzz Lightyear theme though if he had his way.

Thinking about the kids rooms I visited Adairs Kids the other day and was very tempted by the bed linen form the Morgan collection pictured below. Funnily enough they say it is for boys but my daughter would love the red. So maybe red for her and blue for my son.

Images from - www.adairs.com.au

We already have these star lights in the bedroom the kids share and I know my daughter will be taking them with her to her new room, so I am thinking of getting car shape ones for my little boys third birthday.

I can't wait to decorate these rooms but a few months away still, so I will keep collecting ideas.

New bathroom with a splash of red

Well the ensuite is fairly much finished. We still need to put in hand towel rails either side of the vanity and the toilet roll holder. Minor things so thought would share some pictures with you with my new red towels bought especially for the ensuite.

Those of you that read this blog regularly will know that I am a blue girl but do love splashes of red here and there.
Loving the walk in shower and the new gooseneck showerhead. Certainly appreciated it even more after not having a shower in the house for over seven weeks!

The kids are missing their bath as this is our only bathroom at the moment. The builders will be starting again with the rear extension which includes the family bathroom at the end of January. It is nice having these few weeks with just us in the house and not having to deal with builders mess.

Hope you are having a good weekend.

Bedroom dreaming

Wow time can really fly can't it? I have just realised today that I have not only not posted on my blog for over a week but I haven't even had time to comment on others either. Now I have a bit of catching up to do.

I have over the past week been a little distracted and exhausted by the very slow finishing off of our ensuite and walk in robe, which also impacts on our main bedroom. I so want my bedroom and bed back, a little over sleeping in the lounge on a sofa bed. Can't wait to get back in a redecorate.

So what has been happening besides gastro, head lice, work, Christmas and birthdays parties and planning, painting and cleaning? We have had serious discussions with our builder about a few things we were not happy with, which are now being fixed but at a very slow rate.

We also have had a disagreement about installation of the shower screen, something in our building contract which we think the builders have stated they are doing but they don't. We eventually got to the point of organising it ourselves (and it got installed today and needs 24 hours to set). We will at this stage pay for it and try to get reimbursed. For us is not just about the money but the misleading wording in the contract and discussions we have had with them. If we were clear they weren't going to do it we would have organised a couple of weeks ago as soon as the tiling had been done.

Good news is we have had a shower in our new bathroom even without a shower screen as it was all sealed late last week, we just had to mop the floor and wipe down the toilet after every one.

The other frustrating thing is there is still some minor carpentry work required in our bedroom and hall, which we were told would happen today but didn't, so we still can't sleep in our room. It has now been seven and a half weeks (doesn't help that a colleague of mine has been doing similar work at his house, started three weeks after us and has already finished). Not sure when they will finish off as can't seem to tell us.

What I do know is with the shower screen going in today and the mirror being installed tomorrow (maybe because we organised both ourselves), the bathroom will be finished and ready to decorate this weekend. As soon as that is done I will post some pictures.Thankfully too the building waste that has been sitting in our driveway was cleared today just in time, as we have about 20 kids descending on our house Saturday morning for my daughter's fifth birthday. Fingers crossed we have good weather as the garden is looking great, with all the rain Melbourne has had.