Renovations

thinking of putting this into my living room...im a sucker for bookcases as i have a million books, vogue magazines and vases/decor items to fill this beauty.

This is one of the 2010 colour forcast for Dulux Paints-hmmmm some of the darker blues would be nice as the feature wall for my living room...as it has around 6 bay windows and bifold doors opening it up...it has alot of natural light..so i think a dark colour is needed.. to break up all the white walls, gloss white furniture and off white leather couch..

I will just have to do with simple feature walls as I have been unsuccessful in convincing my bf to allow me to have wall paper...or to paint a chevron stripe myself...

Wall Art- Vintage

So i'm thinking about hanging these vintage images in frames on one of my feature walls... The feature walls in the bedrooms will be lighter blue/greys so the bold blue would really add some colour...thinking about large white frames to make the blue pop. Either in a 9 series of frames (3 per row) or just 3 large ones in a line. I also like how they look like coral or sea urchins to fit into my coastal theme without being too obvious with anchors and nautical items...Thoughts...

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The Weekend!- The Home Show

Yay! its the weekend. Rather than spending my days lying on the beach like in this photo...(taken whilst on my little valentines getaway)...I will be cleaning and painting the house...and....visiting the 2010 Home Show at the RNA Showgrounds in Brisbane. Im sure i will spend the whole 8 hrs walking around in amazement and then trying to convince my bf to install the most expensive items i find lol. Wish me luck!!!

Obsession of the week- Coffee Table Books

As I am still renovating in the early stages I am unable to make large purchases such as the lounge, coffee table, dining table etc so I have to resort to little decor items to quench my thirst for decorating. Here are some of the books I would love to have on my coffee table along with the countless Vogue Living and Vogues that already fill the draws and underneath of the table lol im a little obsessed. just over a year ago I fell in love with a day spa down the road from me when we were living in and renovating a town house. It is called Le Plunge Day Spa...which is a beautiful cottage style day spa that is filled with homewares, candles and beauty products in the front store. The books that they have are amazing ranging from HUGE designer biographys to photographic books to cute books showing the beauty of Italy. I must visit again to pick up some coffee table books. And perhaps something for me.....

Obsession of the Week- Ralph Lauren Home

(images via Ralph Lauren Home)

Here is my obsession of the week, the fabrics, the styling...i love love love Ralph Lauren Home..i love the mix of modern and rustic beach style...on my wish list is some of the fabrics which are to die for...maybe a belated valentines day gift????

Bedroom Number 1

As I have stated before- nearly everything needs to be redone in this house- so completing a bedroom even takes ages as we need to pull the ceiling sheets down, the cornice needs to be pulled down, all the built-in cupboards need to be redone and everything plastered and painted. Here is the bedroom number 1 as of today- still alot to go- we picked out our feature wall colour last week- a nice calming light blue with a hint of steely grey so it doesn't look too much like a 4 yr old boys bedroom- just nice and relaxing and full of light.

More of The Deck

Progress is happening slowly, the roof was put on over the weekend- where that ply sheet is on the side- another bi-fold door will be put in hopefully this weekend so once they are both open their will only be that hardwood post in the middle opening out onto the deck- note we will be rendering the whole house so excuse the horrible bricks. Aren't those hardwood posts gorgeous?

The Deck

So what would a coastal style house be without a beautiful deck that captures the beautiful and year round bay breeze? Nothing. My beautiful and most talented boyfriend has completed all the works on this house including- concreting the driveway- plastering, cornice work, painting and completing the deck including roofing himself -with some help from his father and brother (all part of their construction company Liona Constructions).

Here are some images from the deck- Being in the trade my boyfriend was able to source some stunning bi-fold doors which replace the outside wall which was where the breakfast room and windows were located- this was knocked out-replace with bi-folds and gorgeous hardwood posts.

Inspiration Board

( Elle Decor)

It is hard to tell from my previous posts with pictures of my house but it will be a beach resort style house with nautical and island life decorating. Yes very cliche but what I wanted was a house that once you walk into it-you escape your daily life and you would feel like you were staying in a holiday house at the goldcoast, noosa, bondi, the bahamas etc...

When you drive down the hill toward my house you have panoramic views of the whole of moreton bay and north stradbroke island so this style is very fitting.

Note: My favourite reads/websites are Coastal Living, Vogue Living, Celebrity Holiday houses, Elle Decor, The Wifestyle Files, Chichi and Luxe, Swish and Swanky, Lonnymag, etc so more than likely they have provided this inspiration for my future bayside beauty.

So here are my inspirations- I apologise in advance as I have been collecting these images for a long time so I am unable to quote all references etc so if you recognise these feel free to comment and I will add it in.

The House

One of the bedrooms

The new driveway- exposed agyrate in checkerboard- black and white stones- picture does not do justice

The desert more commonly known as my backyard

The hallway once we ripped up the carpet- not polished or sanded.

The Lounge Room

Suprising what you find under 20 year old carpet- mix hardwood floors, note with all my photos my good camera is broken so sorry about the quality- these pictures are of the floors without being sanded or polished. We were pretty stoked when we uncovered this beautifully laid and good quality hardwood. Once again you can see my most hated stainglass windows.

The House

This is after knocking the breakfast room wall down- and another 2m added to living area

This was a little breakfast/sun room that had a sliding door etc which meant we lost about 2 metres of the living area-don't even get me started on the orange/yellow stainglass window panels..

The hideous Kitchen

The lounge room- the photo does not show the full eekkness (not a word) of the carpet- but as I am told- 'you need to crawl before you walk'

The House

Okay, so keep in mind this house used to be the old farm house in the area. Needless to say the land all around was subdivided with beautiful homes and waterfront views. And we chose this house. My boyfriend as a builder decided "why should I spend all this time making other people's homes beautiful when I can create a masterpiece for myself".

So here is the beginning, I couldn't get a hold of the first picture for when we moved in but picture this: the land was subdivided so there was no grass, no plants, no trees, no mailbox, no driveway! and the house had been vacated for a while so think of the red dirt and dust that covered this house. The carpet was old school long shag pile which orignally was dark red- when we moved in the carpet was an almost fluro yellow/orange. Eekkk!

Welcome

Welcome, this is my first post so I am still getting used to the whole idea of blogging. I found myself losing several hours of my day browsing the design blogs so I thought I would jump on the bandwagon and share my struggles of renovating a house that needs just about everything re-done.

Photos are still to come so keep your eyes out.