Countdown!

It's been 6months!  The lease is up!  Time to u-haul home!


So, this was the weekend past:  we had lots of things to do, which meant staying past dusk
and getting to play with the lights ( ooh! )





As you can see, my stove is now in!  Bought cheap ex scratch-and-dent before the reno
ever started, freighted from Sydney sight unseen.  Phew, it looks ok ;)  I really wanted a
dual oven, but not a wall oven.  I'm looking forward to honing in on my suzie homemaker
mad skillz  ;)

Down the hallway .. my exposed brick wall is looking the goods, and the drum pendants
are perfect.  I had a cut out of those pendants blu-taced to my laundry wall for like 2years ..
luckily they didn't go out of fashion!






Finally .. my bedroom..

The WIR is now in, and the funky bedroom light that will make instant wallpaper patterns
on my wall.  Love.





Just the carpet to go in now.  I have picked a Carpet Court exclusive - the GAIA wool range,
and from that, the Rivers Collection ( go look at the names - I am a sucker for a good product
name and feeling *invested* ) .. so I picked the colour Swan.  As in the Swan River, Perth. 
Makes me feel all dinky-di and patriotic.  I had to laugh they didn't have a Yarra River to
choose from.  I probably would have picked it too.  The poor old Yarra gets a bit of a bad rap :/

I would have loved to have gone a loop pile .. but i'm worried one of my naughty cats might
pull at it when my back is turned and then I would cry.  So a cut twist pile it is. 
I can't wait to see it installed!


Today they are waxing my boards. I went with an oil/wax combo rather than your usual poly.
No idea how that will go, but I want the grain and depth of the wood to be cranked, and
apparently this will do it. The wood is still a lot lighter than I prefer it, although I know from
wood-bought-past that it does indeed darken with age and exposure to sunlight.

I want my boards to look like an old ship's deck, me hearties!


This is how it looks with just the oil so far:








Wacky angles due to me just sticking my head around the doors etc.
Very tasty!


Well, I can't believe we're finally here!
I kinda have to keep pinching myself that it's true!

xx

Hello Deliciousness! x

I wanted to  title this post "Holy Sh!tballs"!  .. but then, i'm not crass like that.

Much.

Sometimes.







Actually, I don't like swearing a whole lot, it makes me wince to hear it.
But it lends impact at times, and I enjoy it as a humourous exclamation point.

In other words: it's ok when I do it, but if you do it...


( i'm a really excellent mother, my fave game being do as I say, not as I do )









But seriously, I went to the house last night and they were still at it hammer & tong ( note: no tongs actually witnessed ) until 5.30pm!  Normally I pop in after school and they are just cleaning up, or sometimes already gone.  I got these just as the light was leaving, and cranked the ISO. 

Smoke & mirrors.





I.freaking.LOVE.IT!





Lights!  Pendants!  Splashback!  Cabinetry!

Those blokes had it all goin' ohn, and it's starting to look *amazing*


Eep!

Paintin'

Looks a lot more 'smell the cawfee' here than in real-life.

I think anyway?  I hope so?  I hate being more beige than I feel...





All systems GO atm .. AB popped over this morning and there was a million people
there apparently.  Which is good, as we need to move back in about 3 weeks time?

- The painters worked all last week and there's only some touch up things to do.

- Our lovely cabinetmaker got very ill, but apparently our living room/tv cabinetry
  goes in today

- The tiler will be doing my splashback today. 
  Just realised no-one asked me about grout.  Bugger.

- The builders have been working on a little deck thingy off the laundry
( previously there was some concrete steps, but they got demolished - aww, so sad, too  bad )

- I think lighting goes in today too

- Tomorrow the sanders come, and I think they oil on Friday?? 

- The WIR configs arrived, but there's something wrong with them or something (?) -
   I did noticed a chunka-hunk out of the back of one of the drawer stacks - dropped perhaps? 

   They also have tres ugly handles on them ( apparently no-one cares what drawer-pulls look
   like in a robe where no-one will see them - um, hi, I do ).  Knew I was being a bit precious,
   but the drawer pulls I like cost $4 at Masters and their horrible ones $6. 

   And when AB saw them, he unprompt-ed-ly said "what's with the ugly old lady handles?". 
   See?  Justified.  Hello peeps, just ASK.  Choice of two even - you like this ... or this? 
   Choose.  Give people a choice!  Anyway, not a biggie, I just get miffed when not consulted..



 
What else needs to happen? 
Organised carpet this morning via the lovely peeps at Carpet Court.


We are SO ready to move in now.  Sick of the tiny flat with the mess everywhere as there's
nowhere to put the dirty washing, or the sports gear, or the kids...  Tired of having to do
cold-water washes over at the other house on the weekend and hoping it's a fine weather day..
and of course, we just want to be back.  The cats are desperate for some outdoor romping,
and i'm sick of the no-fridge limited cooking/lunch packing. 


And of course, I hate myself for complaining.  It's small stuff, don't sweat it etc ..
I think we're just eager to get moving, get back. 


Now there's an end in sight, we're restless and impatient and excited.

Not long to go now!

xx

And Now For the Stuff I Really Like ..

The things I do like, the colours that come up time and again, the textures and finishes.

I feel like i'm in an ep of "Who Do You Think You Are" and getting closer to discovering my
true self ( ha! ).  Too bad my family is just a long line of nutjobs...
( and I can say that because i'm not without my ishews too ;)


L-R on the Clockwise...


Round Sisal Rug

It's funny, because i'm sure a lot of dislikes come from my childhood, but then so does my likes. 
I love sisal.  In the home where I first lived ( as a baby ) we had seagrass matting. 
Oh how it *cut* into my soft baby soles .. I was scared of it.  But I also loved it. 
Our first rug as a couple was sisal.  I was sad when it was finally time to say goodbye -
rugs in general are just awesome.  I also grew up with a cowskin rug and love them too
( my dad chose a cow with a nice pattern, then we had it slaughtered, tanned, and we ate
the cow .. barbaric, huh?  ).  It wasn't very warm or soft to sit on, but it felt and smelled nice.


'Ribbon Stool'

I love a touch of red in the living area.  We've had red couches in the past which I loved,
and I think red will make a nice counter-foil to all the grey-blue in the room. 
These are from West Elm, but I can't find them on the newly-opened Australian site.  Boo. 
Lucky there's lots of industrial styled stools around the place I love. 
None with red metal i've found yet, but that's ok.  That's why paint was invented..


IBride Tray/Art

When I first saw IBride's art a few years back, my eyes popped.  I immediately tracked them
down to a stockist in Prahran and stood for a long time in that store admiring a $$$ platter
with an empty purse.  It was beautiful.  I took my husband with the understanding it might be
more than I could afford, and i'm sure if i'd wheedled I could have nabbed it .. but ultimately
it was my nail-nibbling financial calculations that bravely made me turn away.  Regret. 
But maybe one day..


Floor Lamps!

Well, any lamp really.  When it comes to ambient light, i'm like more, more MORE! 
I love this one, but if you showed me another i'd probably love that too.


Bench Seats

This picture reminds me of a lovely home I lived in for a little while once in Califormia
as a student.  In the seats were all manner of fluffy throws and cushions. 
There is nothing better than a seat that uses a window as backing. 
To curl up and watch trees and birds and raindrops on the glass.  Heaven.


'Pallet Style' Coffee Table.

I was saying on facebook the other day that i've never owned a coffee table as i've never
found one that i've liked enough to buy ( although we did have one once, as part of an IKEA
starter set when we first moved in together, but hello .. that was 2 decades ago!? ). 
Anyhoo, these.. are.me. 

This is my favourite by far around the traps, but it's from Birmingham, England. 
I've toyed with making my own too .. hmm ..


Industrial Art

I don't know why I like metal typography and reclaimed pieces as much as I do. 
Is it the aesthetic you pick up as a starving Uni student, where art and furnishing is seen
in every empty milk crate?  Is it a yearning for the past?  I think a lot of the time I like things
because they are used, not perfect, a bit dinged.  Perfection makes me nervous.


Mustard Lounge Suite with Chaise

I've always wanted a chaise.  'Nuff said.  This chaise isn't GOLD, btw .. it's mustard. 
There's a difference :)


Egg Chair

Again, always wanted.  This would be for me as I rarely get a spot on the couch. 
It would cup me while I read and the yahoos watch tele.  I quite like this emerald green too. 
The arched back would add some curvature to the square-ish room..

I love chairs the way I love lamps..


Split-Level Living

Our house is on a bit of a slope, and it makes me sad we couldn't split-level it. 
I love sunken lounges, mezzanines, split levels.  Another house maybe ..


---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------


Anyhoo, no spending for me in my immediate future i've been told by the boss :/


We move back in at the end of next month.  The painters are making everything look all
fresh & breezy right now and the tiler starts on Monday.  Then they're oiling my floorboards.


Yes, oiling.  Something else I went backwards & forwards on and gathered much opinion
( resulting in a pretty even 50/50 split of opinion ).. but I just took a call from the builder
and he's all in favour of it.  I could tell from his voice he just saw the same awesome awesome sample I did and he was pretty excited.

I also assume it's something new he can sell to other people if it works for me,
so that decision is happily made.


So what do you think of my style?  I guess it's sort of natural/rustic?  But not overly so? 
If I had to describe myself i'd say i'm kinda autumnal? ( my fave fave fave season! ) ..
happiest always in my boots and a jacket .. my garden is practically all deciduous,
and the colours here are the colours of the leaves as they fall on my bluestone tiles ( t-Ziing! ). 
It definitely has a cooler weather vibe to it I think.

A friend of mine is contemplating a move to Beechworth.  From Sydney. 
I told her I never felt like I belonged until I moved to Melbourne ( from NSW ).


Home.



( BTW - feel free to show me the things you love and hate too - i'd love to come take a peek at what you come up with ! x )

I Like Stuff

Recently I ran into a friend in the socks-n-jocks dept of my local Shopping Centre. 
We hadn't caught up in ages so we had a little chat and she asked me how the renos were going.

I said to her the hardest part was (a) hoping my choices all turned out ok, and how my forte
is fixing up and making pretty the bad space .. NOT .. doing things from scratch .. i'm micro,
not macro .. the big picture is scary .. best focus all energy on knobs, then you can move
onto tiles .. and hope .. all those micro moments = a big picture that "goes together"..

In the course of this, I mentioned it's also hard because "I like everything" .. I mean,
I could fill a seaside home with this look, then my inner city pad with another, and of course,
there would be my country house .. all completely different and all would make me happy. 

I mean, by by-line has always been "I Like Stuff". 
It's true, but it's also ambiguous, and as I thought about it, also a big fat lie...

Because I don't like everything, in fact, i'm quite opinionated on what I like and don't like. 
Why I *think* I like everything is because I surround myself with people of good taste
( ho ho - that would be you, if you are reading ;), and so I find myself gasping and agreeing
and nodding along vigourously with them.

What i'm forgetting is that there is whole other worlds of people "not like me" admiring
and vigourously nodding over ornate gold tapware and ugly bling-y things. 
I remember Kyle Sandilands and Tamara Jaber's house was like that - all money, money,
and no taste, taste.  According to me, anyway, and they'd probably find my style "homey"
and "boring" perhaps..

And recently, I was overwhelmingly bored to be shown Matt Damon's Miami Beach Estate.
What's up with the downtown brown Matt?  Could it be any more blah?  Maybe it's cliched,
but seaside living should be all breezy gauze white billowing curtains,
Brett Whiteley artworks on the walls, potted plants and rattan.  Light!  Bright!  Breezy!

Words to live by:
You know the garden's full of furniture, the house is full of plants

( thanks James *mwah* )




Ok, so now Angie said something to me by the Size 12-2 socks that made a lot of sense to me. 
She said she had stopped asking her clients what they liked .. because it was too all over
the shop, and now asks:   Tell me what you don't like?  She says while people are
wishy-washy and inarticulate about what they DO like .. they are quite definite in things
they dislike .. things that make them recoil, wince, shudder, vom, retreat in horror..

So I thought about the things I can't stand and came up with this:





I even used a Papyrus font, because I don't like that either, and it goes with all
the other things I dislike.

So this was an interesting project, because I just randomly thought of stuff I don't like
and popped it into a google images search.  But look how well it all goes together? 
It could  someone's LIKE board it's so cohesive.

Starting top right and working clockwise:




 
Tiled floors
I hate tiled floors.  I know people like them when they live in the tropics, but I don't like them ever.
Same goes for slate tiles in the country.  Love slate, love tiles .. but not on the floor thanks.

Dark Rooms
I can't live in dark houses, even if they're all swish. 
Deep dark leather lounges, black furniture .. all wrist-slashing depressive territory for me

Tribal Art
do.not.like.  Unrelated, but I don't like seeing white New Zealanders doing the Haka
at sporting matches either.  Seems wrong.  My mum used to be into a whole native
American Indian vibe.  To be fair to her, it actually suited the house she lived in. 
But ochres, rusts and blacks = not me.

GOLD!
Always believe in your sooo-oo, you've got the power to know .. you're .. ugly. 
Sorry Gold.  I don't mind a bit of Spandau Ballet, but I don't like you.

Aboriginal Art
Ok, so this could go under "tribal" but I note a lot of people seem to loooove this stuff. 
I know it's a good investment, so perhaps that's why, or maybe they just like it,
but I can't stand it.  It also ruined my wedding 20yrs ago.  True story.*

Overtly Branded Stuff
WHY?  Why would you want this Versace bedspread?  It looks cheap and tacky and everyone
thinks it's a ripoff anyway, even if you did buy your Louis Vuitton handbag from the
Paris Flagship store and not on eBay from HongKong.  Note also the use of black & gold. 
Not a winner.

Apricot Verticals!
Ah yes, funnily, when I googled, I assumed i'd get a lot of images people had taken
of the horror of their pre-reno spaces, but no, I got a lot of current curtain supply stores,
and this seems to be still a bestseller.  mmMmmmm .. muted peach tones ...

and finally..

Visible AudioVisual Things
CORDS and WIRES, powerpoints .. all should be hidden if possible, minimised at least. 
Also, more black furniture here.  No.  My family sometimes leave their charges
and earphones laying around and the cat chews through them.  I shrug uncaringly. 
Shouldn't have left them around. 


* what happened was, we booked a venue and they mentioned the art collection on the
walls is always changing and it would be different when it was our wedding
( I think there were Impressionists up when we looked ).  That's fine, we said. 
It was a beautiful old house built in 1856.  When we were married, it was a collection
of Aboriginal Art, which didn't suit the venue at all, IMO, and it peeks out awfully
in the background of all the photographs thus ruining them for me.  Yuck.


Let's end on a high note though .. Celeb Homes I do Like ..
click through for two different kinds of awesome:


Elton & David in Beverley Hills
Ellen & Portia in the Country



( to offset the ANTI- of this post .. i'll do another tomorrow .. a storyboard of things
I *do* like .. promise! x )