Sorry

For the last couple of days I have been MIA however things have happened beyond my control which have shaken me up slightly. I promise to be back, just need to deal with police reports, insurance and "stuff" oh yes and I promise I will be back.

All I can say, to the person / people who caused so much upset in my life this week.... may you get coal for Christmas!

Something Less ... Intense

I realise that this week has been slightly emotional... oh yes, I am not that deluded to believe I was totally 100% justified in my ranting however I am also not going to apologise purely out of principal that I am never wrong. Heaven forbid, if I started apologising willy nilly people might actually start doubting I know what I am doing. (After re-reading this I may still be slightly emotional but im not sure)

However today is going to be slightly less intense, I have decided to write about one of my new favorite things.... painted furniture. There are obviously people who love the look of wood and in some instances I have to agree however I must say, there is nothing better than an old and worn out piece of furniture being given a new life with a lick or two of pain.

My favorite examples are often by the very talented Kate from Centsational Girl (here) and this is a perfect example of what she does

PSS.

My husband doesn't feel that its fair for me to bag him out on this blog without giving him a chance to defend himself.

He feels that its all my fault because I have a problem with shopping. Also he doesn't have "no vision" he just doesn't understand mine.

Fine - you have said it and now my response is .... i don't care. You are a big fat meanie my love and you should have let me buy it.



MY CHILDISH RANT IS NOW OVER!

Where is the Love!

Following on from yesterdays post I would just like to say.... Where the bloody hell is the love?

And trust, oh yes, I trust you to make the right decisions, I trust that your house wont look like a big ugly "blur" on the street (Words coming straight out of my fathers mouth). Have I made that many bad design choices in the past that its understandable that there is a slight hesitation with what I want to do?

NO!

I have made good choices, my houses have looked lovely and everyone trusted me completely to make the right choice back then because it was just like every ones else's house. It looked just like all the other display homes in the area, it had the same couch layout, it had the same one feature walls and creams and beige's and all those lovely things every other house has. Why on earth would you take a risk of you had a perfectly bland option available? Heaven forbid you actually try to do something that represents you.

I have to say, one of my lovely bloggy friend Jazz and Brett (here) have a house that suits them as a couple. You walk in and you instantly know what they are about. Why on earth would they want to stick with beige and cream and the typical decor placement when they can do something in black and bright pink.... its them and hey you can tell that its their house.

Why wont anybody trust me to just make a house out of all the things that we love? Why is it so important to be just like everyone else.... safe and just a little bit boring.

So - for the final time my love - this is what I am trying to do with adding old and new bits into the build.... this is what I want to achieve if I can.

I love how a modern sofa is made interesting with the addition of some pillows with a bit of a vintage print.

A retro chair with a modern built in looks amazing not out of place

This is a lovely modern looking house with that lovely little vintage box on the floor just making your eye run up and down the wall. It enhances the pictures - doesn't take away from them.


Look at this - Modern hall table, modern mirrors and a lovely light and then you add that amazing green boey and it just makes everything so much richer looking.

Finally this wall - it looks amazing with the old tin letters in a beautiful neutral room. How on earth can you not love this wall - it even takes the green wall from looking cheap and childish to a place I would like to sleep....

PS. I may be slightly emotional today.... I keep bursting into tears for unknown reasons but who cares.... today I am on the warpath!

The Drama of the Scales

On Sunday my husband and I had a small quibble of the style and interior design of the house. To be honest he has no real desire to decorate, he doesn't care about colours and if he had his way the entire house would be cold and minimal and stark. Saying that he does realise it isn't possible or practical to have a minimalist house and so up until now he has stepped away from any design aspects or decisions.

HOWEVER - Oh yes, I am slightly irritated however I will keep taking deep breaths and hoping I don't burst into tears just talking about my loss. Yes loss, I am grieving and the thing is it could all have been averted if only he had of just given in and let me have what I wanted.

You see on a Sunday I get up at the crack of dawn and head down to the local Markets to check out all the wonderful old "Stuff" and a few weeks ago I absently picked up these amazing red scales however it wasn't until i got home that I realised I HAD to have them. I realised I desperately wanted them but the following three weeks they are not there, the stall only comes every so often and I was really disappointed I had not paid more attention to them when I originally had them in my hot little hands.

Anyways, yesterday I saw them again and they were just as perfect, the woman told me they were old Australia Post scales and I was so excited I could barely breath (Although I will admit, I acted all cool and calm in front of the woman - hell I was still hoping for a deal). I ran back to find dear hubby, still over the moon excited that they were still there and dragging him by the arm I showed him my perfect find positively glowing with happiness I gushed over their fantastic red colour and even the tiny little rust spots on the base.... and then he did it. Then he stepped onto my heart and said....

"Nope - I don't like them"

Obviously I wasn't expecting it, I had thought / hoped that he would love them as much as I do, see I already had a shelf in my kitchen picked out for them. Anyways he said no and wouldn't even consider paying the $60 price tag. So I went home without them and for the rest of the night made sure he was aware of my displeasure.

I am determined to get it if I ever see it again but for the moment its lost again....

One thing he did say to me was that he didn't understand how I could add old items into a new house and not make the house feel old and antique'y. Tomorrow I am going to endeavour to explain exactly how old items can be used to make a house look interesting not old... I'm am sure all my other readers understand, we just have to convince my dear husband!

Style Compromises

Obviously from my previous posts you would have guessed I love a wide variety of design styles. I really love eclectic and interesting design, I love all the creams and beige's and how they mix so well with both vibrant and pastel pops of colour. I love how items like old cricket balls in a glass canister can look amazingly artistic and how old swimsuits or photo's make a house feel like it has a history.

The thing is - in Perth modern minimalism reigns supreme. I will admit there is a small smattering of Asian inspired decor however anything else is very hard to find and I'm not sure if my house would feel like it belonged if mix and mingle all the different styles I love.

How on earth am I going to mix all of these together...

A little bit of this (Modern minimalism)

And a little bit of this (Hampton's - cream fresh decor)

Along with almost a formal Victorian Edge


And lets not forget a really weird eclectic clutter



Finally I style I just don't know where to put - its almost luxury hotel.... I love it even though I cant name it

Its a fine line to walk on - the question is am a strong enough as a non professional designer to make it happen.

Cold Feet

I am writing today (well late Wednesday afternoon) as tomorrow my family is having Christmas. We have quite an interesting family dynamic and there are usually only days at a time throughout the year when everyone is home at once. Tomorrow is the only day between now and late January its possible to get everyone in the same room. (Unfortunately in order for that to happen my darling husband has to fly the entire breadth of Australia on the red eye just to make it happen)

So I thought since I will be opening presents and swilling champers tomorrow I would write today instead.

I wanted to talk about cold feet. I am sure everyone has them, mostly with getting married but at the moment I am having them about the house. We are building a very big expensive house and in doing so will have to put our down south dream on hold for a few years.... the thing is, what if I built a smaller house, what if we took out the pool, what if I could live with a house that didn't have a dressing room and a library and floor to ceiling tiles. What if we had just a normal little house and then we could also have our holiday home down south. I keep going back and fourth, I know I need to build the big house but i really really want the little down south cottage.... please let me win lotto, I want my cake and I want to eat it too.... More lovely images of my down south dream....

My dream land


The cute little cottage - maybe not so little

The white country kitchen

And of course the heavenly New England decor...

Upstairs Built In's

I am struggling at the moment to get my head around my upstairs living area. I have a library and a sitting room - The library is easy - Shelves however the sitting room will include a computer / home office, kitchenette and a small and cosy TV room. I would also love to incorporate a window seat if possible. I love the idea of window seats and am dying to find a place to stick one!

I know I want built in's for the study, kitchenette and the library and I want them all to match beautifully but how the will sit, what layout, colour and finishes I just cant seem to get sorted.

This is sort of what I was thinking - perhaps by putting it down on my blog I will clarify what I am after.

Stairway to Heaven

For some random reason I love the idea of staircases where the treads are wood and the "risers?" are white. It looks so clean and crisp and fresh and I think its such a wonderful way of contrasting the wood but I wonder if perhaps this is too much of a traditional look to be pulled off in my house. The first picture is quite modern but really it doesn't seem to work as well as the second two pictures which just blow me away.... the bottom one is my dream house, how heavenly is that. I can see my tiny little children with dark hair and hopefully neat bright red clothing running up and down them as they play. If only I had been brave enough to go for a traditional New England style house but to be honest, I stick to what I know. Clean crisp modern decor which i am hoping to make just that little bit eclectic. Do these stairs fall under eclectic I wonder?

Latest Lust Have

I am totally completely in lust with Mor Cosmetics. Not only do they smell divine but the packaging almost makes you not want to open them up. I say almost because to be honest once you smell it you cant help but want to use it all up.

This is my current favorite and I think it would look heavenly in my bathroom.