DIY white-washed patten floors

11 Jun

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Well, what a weekend – need another weekend to get over the long weekend! But thrilled with the results of our newly white-washed, patterned floorboards in the Sunroom. If you missed it, here was the photo that inspired this look here. And the best thing, Mr B loves the floors!

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This was back-breaking stuff, but worth every ache and pain. A whole day of prepping and sanding the floorboards in the sunroom, mudroom and bar area. Having previously been an outside verandah, it had some serious coats of ‘weathshield paint’ but surprisingly the floorboards were in great condition. Continue reading →

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We have some big news!

6 Jun

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We have some very exciting BIG news… Continue reading →

DIY Mudroom striped wall tutorial

4 Jun

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Now I’m not claiming to be some ‘stripe’ expert (although I do have an unhealthy amount of striped clothes in my wardrobe..?!) – but in terms of painting stripes, I found this relatively simple if you can spare a few hours. Slow and steady wins the race on this project.

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What you will need

  • Spirit level
  • Rule (long one is helpful)
  • pencil (I used the lightest pencil I had) – there might be a specific ‘trades’ pencil out there!
  • rubber (for mistakes!)

Step 1 – mark lines

Use your spirit level to see whether the wall / window / major feature of the wall, you’re measuring from is straight (I realised our wall wasn’t straight until the third line!). If like our wall above, you have a window in the middle, I would align the stripes to the window rather than the far right / far left wall. Your eye will pick up if the stripes aren’t straight against a window in the middle. Continue reading →

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Mudroom striped wall

3 Jun

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For those who follow me on Instagram (you’re probably sick of my updates!), but on the weekend I completed a striped wall in the mudroom. And I’m rather pleased with the result! Full tutorial tomorrow – have a great Monday :)

Painted floorboards

31 May

To paint or not to paint?

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We pulled up the carpet in the sunroom and what a difference that made. Currently the floorboards have a ‘painted’ finish on them – I’m assuming the original stain from when this was an external verandah.

This is my inspiration (white wash instead of black wash):

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What do you think? I think it will be a ‘bit of fun’ as this room will become a reading room / sunroom / children’s playroom etc in the future. And I’ll probably add in some sisal rugs to help soften the space. Would love to know your thoughts – Mr B’s thought was a straight up ’No’. But then I’ve heard that before with my thoughts on the hallway! Might just let this idea sink in over the weekend…!

Have a great weekend – and would love to know your thoughts.

(image via Homelife.com.au)

A week away (and more renovations)

31 May

We were fortunate enough to escape the winter blues, last week for a holiday up in Mooloolaba. A week away relaxing by the beach, playing a spot of golf and eating our body weight in seafood! It also gave us me time to reflect on our current reovations and what the next project will be (more on that later).

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just chillin’

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a spot of golf

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My parents in law (who are absolute SAINTS) stayed at ours whilst we were away and looked after Wilbur. They also said they would help paint one of the existing bedrooms. However, when we returned, I was blown away…. Continue reading →

Half painted walls for bedroom 3

20 May

Our house is 92yrs old and with all the character and charm comes the reality of ‘old’ walls. The walls in bedroom 3 are looking more like a mexican wave, than straight walls. So my idea of rather than pulling down all of the plasterboard and replace it, maybe we could install panelling/wainscoting instead?

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I believe the French (or so say the magazines) are favourable to painting the bottom half of walls – in grey of course! and thought that would be a nice continuation from the hallway (see here). I would paint it Dulux Tranquil Retreat, to what we’ve used elsewhere .

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Do I just paint or add a chair rail? Or go the ‘whole hog’ and add panelling?

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I could display pictures on the chair rail, if I selected the right one (like above). Continue reading →

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Some graphic rugs for bedroom 3

17 May

I’m tackling bedroom 3 at the moment and looking for some ‘pops’ of colour and graphic inspiration… that’s affordable! Luckily IKEA has come to the party – its been ages since I’ve been to IKEA and just cruising through their site, I was reminded of how well they do good design at small prices.

The walls are currently painted Dulux White on White and is a little dark, which is why I’m swaying towards something graphic and/or bright accessories, that can be updated and changed. And a rug is a great option:

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And the best thing, these are only $49 – $99 each! Crazy. I will reveal my other accessory choices soon :)

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Autumn picnic idea

16 May

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I saw this simple and rustic table setting via Sweet Paul Magazine - isn’t this a fabulous idea for Autumn outdoor picnics? I love the simplicity of the linen drapped between trees, hovering over a simple trestle table. And of course the food looks divine too!

picnic_2 Continue reading →

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Welcome Autumn – nice to feel you

19 Apr

fireplaceWell Autumn is finally here – although the weather has been glorious the past couple of weeks, there’s a chill in the air today that’s screaming “Autumn’s here – rug up!” The other thought that popped into my head was “ohhh, I can legitimately light the fire this weekend”.

twist2 A great tip I saw recently via Katie’s blog Bendy Street Emporium, were these very clever (and resourceful) paper twists, for helping light the fire. I share her enthusaism for lighting a fire from scratch, unlike Mr B who likes to use every last firelighter and if that fails, a quick run to the shed for a (un-healthy) dose of fuel. Nothing like plumes of dark smoke filling the house and close-by furniture fearing for their lives!

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Full instructions on how to make these paper twists here - I’m looking forward to the weekend at home, twisting the copious piles of ‘The Land’ and weekend papers into something more useful. Continue reading →

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DIY Before and After – Lamp

12 Apr

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Just before Easter I needed a lamp for one of the spare bedrooms and had wanted a yellow lamp – but as the usual story goes, when you’re looking for something in particular, you never find it. So my solution – make it!

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Before – found that tall, brown lamp base on special at Target

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After - a couple of sprays with yellow spray paint and voila! Continue reading →

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In the garden

12 Apr

The recent Autumn weather has just been magnificant – I am loving spending my weekends in the garden. We recently added to our (farm) family – 3 Sussex Light Hens.

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Last weekend I let them have a pick around the garden, whilst keeping a very close eye on Wilbur. He is interested, but I think these girls would put up a mean fight!

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Our vegie garden is blooming, I’m very impressed with our rocket – peppery enough to blow your socks off! And lovely mint growing under the tank – always a nice addition to drinks.

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and these gorgeous roses I picked from our garden. Still blown away that they can grow all by themselves, without any assistance from me (lucky for them!). There are such a array of colours and rose varieties – some plants even having three different hues of pink! The best part is, they’ve lasted over 10 days in the vase and looking like they have another week - you don’t get this longevity from store bought roses. Continue reading →

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Easter table decorating ideas

28 Mar

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Easter is nearly upon us and usually I am not this organised, but thought I should make some effort this year towards Easter. Usually, I just gather the trusty linen tablecloth, simple glassware, vintage silver and fresh flowers from the garden – this year I thought I would try something new. Easter Sunday lunch is usually  a long, lazy lunch outside, lots of laughter, good food and wine and an Easter egg hunt (mainly for the adults!).

Here are two table decorating ideas I  had, with all of my own existing tableware and some ribbon I had around the house:

easter_blue_emmyandmouse Modern, yellow and navy: A fun and bold theme, with this cute yellow polka-dot ribbon and spots on the eggs (obviously I drew them on!), with white china and pops of yellow.

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Country, floral, lilac and gingham: Again, with this lilac gingham ribbon, I tried to create ‘bunny ear’s for the eggs – I think if you stitched these together, they would sit better. But thought it was rather cute. My vintage floral dinner set worked perfectly with these colours and our lilac Crepe Myrtle tree outside is blosoming also. Continue reading →

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Before shots – tennis court, spare bedroom and garden

27 Mar

Late wekend we achieved so much around the house and garden – helps when you have big toys to play with (dingo)! Here are a few before shots – will reveal the ‘after’ shots next week:

Spare bedroom 1: This room had a ‘teal’ green feature wall – after two coats of undercoat and top top coats, its looking really great! But cutting in those battons, with 14ft ceilings was a bit of a nightmare.

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I’ve gone for Dulux Tranquil Retreat below the picture frame and Dulux White on White above:

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Tennis court: This was resembling a paddock, just with a large fence around it! Such a difference an hour or two makes with a Dingo:

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Then we decided to pull out some of the front garden Continue reading →

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DIY typographic labels for storage jars

26 Mar

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On the weekend I discovered that some local mice have been hiding our in our pantry – having quite the party. So yesterday, I bought about 20 glass jars to store our food in and prevent future mice parties. I had seen a similar DIY project before and thought I would try it out myself.

Step 1: All you need are some glass jars, a ‘Sharpie’ (or other permanent marker) and some names printed in black and white. I used the free font “Lobster” to create my names.

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Step 2: Cut out the name and sticky tape inside of the jar. Then trace over. I found it easier to draw the outlines and then, remove the paper, and fill in. Then fill with your dry ingredient and you’re done!

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Hope you enjoy – now just have to finish off a few more jars :)

Please excuse the photos – they were taken last night and the lighting isn’t all that great.

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Graphic Design : new clients and concepts

13 Mar

So I’ve been rather busy (freelance) working on some new clients – below are some screen shots (instagram) of concepts for clients.

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I will upload final approved artwork. Hope you enjoy them :)

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A week of photoshoots and painting

7 Mar

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If this week was a person, he would be a big, hairy biker, standing over me and yelling. Yup, it feels like one of those weeks! i’ve been arranging (art-directing) a 3-day photo shoot as part of my real job for Dubbo Tourism and whilst this sounds all fun and ‘glamorous’, its been quite stressful (working with small children and animals!) but also rewarding, when the shots I had planned finally work out and look amazing. Can’t reveal too much, but took this (above) quick snap last night down by the river, and it is by far my favourite shoot of all the shoots. The light was just magic filtering through the old gums – and how fabulous is this MG! Today is the last day of the photoshoots (3 locations today) – so looking forward to the weekend!

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The whip has been cracked and painting is continuing at a good pace. Second coat of Dulux White on White gloss on all the trim in the hallway and second coat of Dulux Passionate Blue on the lower walls, which makes a huge difference. Which doesn’t sound much but when you’re painting over 25m of trim, 25m of skirting boards and 6 doors – it adds up!

Thank you again to all of those who stop by my blog, like posts and comments – it still blows me away that people are actually interested in my little world. I do hope to post more next week when life settles back down. Have a great weekend :)

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DIY farm animal hooks

25 Feb

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Saw this DIY project this morning via Country Living magazine (US) - how cute is this idea! If I had children, I could imagine these in a bedroom. But I am going to add these to my mudroom for a bit of fun. I will update you once I get cracking on our mudroom (next few weeks).

Hope everyone had a great weekend. Our weekend was very busy (socially, and it was my birthday on Friday), so this weekend I’m cracking the whip on finishing our painting in the hallway, spare bedrooms and mudroom. Have a great week :)

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Spare bedroom ideas – to wallpaper?

21 Feb

I have been dreaming of using wallpaper in two of the spare bedrooms we have – they face west and are quite dark. So having already painted 3 white undercoats (to cover some darker exisiting walls there) – I have been thinking about adding some colour and interest to one wall of each bedroom with wallpaper.

Next conundrum – finding wallpaper that I can justify spending on a spare bedroom! The wallpapers I love are around AUD$250 – $300 a roll + shipping costs to our home = ridiculous amounts (see my Wallpaper Pinterest board). So discovered some pretty wallpapers on Laura Ashely. Usually I find their stuff a little too ‘pretty’, but have been drawn to these two patterns:

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Hydrangea Camomile

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but this is my fave – Nolita smoke

Here are some moodboards based on the above wallpapers:

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leaf cushion | green cushion | recycled glass vase

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yellow cushion | bluve chevron | petal vase

Continue reading →

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Our house : Hallway update

19 Feb

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Our hallway is still such a working progress, like the rest of the house - must finish the second coat of blue paint (so excuse the above photo) – but it feels like its coming together slowly. Finally got around to putting up some rustic hooks in the hallway (which I bought over a year ago at Our Corner Store, Bangalow). I had been tossing up whether I should attach them (4 in total) to a rustic piece of wood and then attach to the wall. But I blu-tacked them up to the wall and liked the ‘clean’ look of them. I thought I would add the two additional hooks to outside the front door (to hang the really dusty jackets).

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And replaced the exisiting lamp shade with a vintage bird cage I’ve had for a few years. Until I save up for the exact lighting I want for the hallway, the bid cage is perfect for adding a bit of charm and character to the hallway.

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You can see from the above picture, I need to finish painting all of the door trim in white. And I’m yet to pick up our two new ‘heritage’ timber flyscreen doors – which will make a huge difference to the front entrance. Looks like more painting this weekend…!

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