Linen Loving

I knew the jig was up when Sean spotted the oversized Target bag. While I did not confirm it (using a suitably vague answer when he asked) yes - I had been linen shopping AGAIN.

I can't help it. It is a sick addiction! Something about fresh new linen in a room soothes me. Besides I think our other doona cover is more of a spring look whereas this new one works better in summer. Work with me here, OK? I need to sell this to Sean :P

I have learned my lesson in the past - buying new covers has necessitated new valance, new fitted sheets and new secondary pillow covers, too. So I was keen to ensure any new doona cover works with all of those, and this one does!

They say a change is as good as a holiday. Well I am quite pleased with the new spread. And since it was on special, I actually SAVED money if you think about it ;)

 

 New bedspread in the Master.

Another Job Done

One of Adelaide's Christmas presents was this cute origami artwork from Short Story. With her Japanese dolls and butterfly themed room, it just seemed perfect!

However the frame itself was difficult to hang - especially if you wanted to use removable wall hangers rather than just a nail in the wall. So today Sean drilled into the back of the frame and added a hanging wire. It looks just lovely in the space, and has brightened her still rather plain bedroom.

 

It's nice to see her room slowly come together. It's a big space, so in time I plan to add a toybox and maybe even a little play table and chairs.

Then I need to start thinking about Oscar's room. He did have a space theme at the old house, but he's developing different interests, now. For the time being I am keeping it fairly neutral but I am slowly gathering ideas for a bigger boy room.

Laundry

After seeing my friend's lovely laundry, I decided it was time I spruce mine up a little. Admittedly I am not sure one can do a great deal with laundry decor, but a little art brightens up any space!

I've loved the Marimekko Lumimarja design since I saw it in San Francisco. As soon as I saw it I knew I needed to have it somewhere in my house. In our old house there was an obliging wall at the end of the kitchen so it hung there - but no such spot in the new home.

Until I thought it might look well in the laundry! And now it's up I think it's just the spot for it :)

Coffee Table

When we got the rug, something just didn't look 'right'. Turns out it was the coffee table! New one arrived Friday and I finally put it into place on Sunday.

I am so happy with it - much lighter and brighter and what the space needed. Now I just have to fix up the couch legs to match and get some colour happening in there cushions wise. I want to go teal, red and linen. So off to Spotlight in the next week or two to pick some fabrics up!

Coffee Table

So if I am getting a new rug and new stools to match my new table and chairs and office chair, then I figure I need a new coffee table, too ;)

I wanted something 'interesting' but simple visually - and possibly oak. And then I found this:

 

I really like :D Better still it's on special for the next couple of weeks. Will see how it looks in place - but I was thinking I might need the matching occasional tables, too ;)

I think it is just the right amount of casual - not too much not too little.

Anyway. Now to talk Sean into it. Actually - I might just order them and surprise him when they show up!

Rug

So as I have mentioned several times - the family room really needs a rug. It's so echoey without one. And it's stalling decorating that area.

Now finding a rug big enough, and in a pattern or style I like, has proven difficult. So I decided to look into having a piece of carpet edged into a rug.

I wanted something textured, hard wearing and something with a bit of visual interest. So I popped down to my local carpet shop and had a chat. And they suggested this:

 

 Sample of the carpet I am considering
for the family room

It is graded for commercial use - so it should wear well. The colours look good with the existing furniture. It should cope with pug fur quite well, too.

Am going to think about it overnight - but I think this might well be the one. Thoughts??

Study Chair

Now I know I promised the next post would be about the shed. But to be honest I am a lot more excited about my new chair!

At the moment I am using one of the kitchen chairs at my study nook. It does the job - but I did have something a bit prettier in mind. Have been looking for ages, and really liked the look of something on EBAY. But it's in Sydney. Shipping was going to cost another $100 which really was not worth it.

Noticed the same seller was selling the stools I liked (and which I finally found for the same price in Melbourne). So on the off chance they came from the same supplier, I emailed the Melbourne store where I bought the stools - and yes they can get the same chair in for me!

I think it is going to be just the thing for my study nook (which I am still tidying to photograph, April :P). Better still, the chair is going to be in on Saturday's truck!

Happy to have one more piece of the decorating puzzle in place. We're starting to get into the 'silly season' of birthdays and pre-XMAS entertaining - so I suspect decor may take a back seat for a while.

Echo echo echo echo echo....

So the back room echos. Badly! Two young kids, two dogs, a large TV, dishwasher, robotic vacuum cleaner etc. and it can be hard to hear what people are saying. We NEED a rug!

But it's a BIG space. I'd really need a 12 x 16 foot rug or thereabouts. And they cost. Big time. And with a big rug, and a big cost, I need to be sure and play it safe. And I kinda wanted to be a bit more out there and vibrant in that room.

So then I started looking at edged carpets - particularly patterned ones. Some of them are really really inexpensive! E.g. $300 for a massive rug. And that's when I came across the Laura Ashley carpet range. SWOON!!!!! Their Isodore teal/duck egg blue carpet calls to me big time:

But I ruled it out, as I have a large open plan kitchen / meals / family room - so the theme would need to continue across the space - and integral to the kitchen is Mabel the mixer:

And as you can see there are neutral benchtops and a brown splashback to consider, too.

I was bemoaning my carpet lust when a friend suggested I do a teal/duck egg blue and red theme with chocolate. Which I immediately poo-pood. Until I googled and thought what about TEAL and red (same theme I wanted for Adelaide's room) and suddenly got inspired!

It has that slight playfulness I want in the casual living spaces! I can see it looking fresh and clean and modern. And I am really loving it as an idea.

So I started to look up some inspiration...

 

Stools

You might remember I posted a while back about the lovely table and dining chairs for the new house. I've taken the chairs across, and they are just the perfect thing for the spot. So then I started to look for stools.

What an exercise that turned out to be! I wanted something similar to the chairs - ideally backless. And try as I could nothing seemed right. If they were a similar style then I could not get them in natural oak. Or if I could they had a back or arms. I seriously thought I would never find what I wanted. Eventually I found the right thing on EBAY but in Sydney - and shipping was going to cost a bomb.

Then I did a google image search and came up with these:

 

Of course, when I went to the website of the store they're from, it was no longer listed as available. However a quick call today, and it appears yes they still stock them and while they don't have 4 in stock at present, they can easily order them in.

So off to Hawthorn today or tomorrow to have a quick look that they're the right height and colour - and if so then the stool dilemma is sorted!

Big Girl Bed

Over to the house again this morning. This time to drop off some chairs and Adelaide's beds. I bought two cast iron beds for an excellent price on EBAY, and was going to use one for her and then sell off the other, but decided that as her room is HUGE - why not let her large collection of soft toys also enjoy a bed?  So twin beds it is!

Off to buy her a couple of mattresses this afternoon, probably, and then Sean wants to do a load with the trailer to get more out of the garage.

Seriously need to get a rug into that house ASAP. With blinds only in 3 rooms, and hard surfaces everywhere, it's noisy when the kids are in and screaming at one another.

Decor wise, it's certainly developing its own look. Can't wait to fully move in!

Ponderings

I spent the whole day at the house today, pretty much. The kids were off early for an all-day grandparent visit - so it was a great chance to get in to the house and give it the sort of clean I'd like it to have before we move.

Generally it was pretty good - but because of the floor sanding/final polish, the walls had lots of red dust on them. Not immediately obvious, but in some rooms where the light hit it just right you could really see it. So much of the day was spent with the feather duster. Also started on washing down the walls in the bathrooms. Although they've already been washed over, they really need another few goes to get all the grout and dust off.

Tested the windows, doors, handles etc. as I went through. Only 3 need attention (the double hungs are all stuck - and the ensuite window is sticking). A few tiny little touchups needed - but really I'm quite pleased.

Sean had thoughtfully taken a few bits and bobs over last night along with my cleaning stuff - including 2 chairs! They're the new chairs to go with our new meals table - and I am happy to confirm they are really comfy - and look great in the kitchen/meals area! As soon as I saw them insitu I thought 'got THAT right!'

Late morning my lovely friend Margie came to fit blinds in the spare and kids' rooms. They look great! Eventually I plan to add some overdrapes for interest - but will wait until I am decorating each room to decide that part. For now they have nice blockouts in a textured off-white which will work with any scheme I introduce in the future.

 

New blind in the spare room. Same in the kids rooms

Also (FINALLY) decided on what to do in the master bedroom! We're going with 'Eggshell' drapes on a chrome decorator rod over box pleat sheers. The drapes will be hung 20cm above actual window height - and extend beyond the edge of the windows so when they are retracted you get full light. Looking in to getting (or making) a matching padded bedhead to tie it all together.

 

This sort of rod, but with pinch pleat drapes and sheers

Am doing the same rod and sheers in the front room - but will decide on the actual drapes at a later stage. Means we can pin a blanket to the rod for privacy and buy a bit of time to think about how I want to style that room.

Also having an off-white shutter in the recess between the ensuite and bedroom, and matching off-white venetians in the ensuite and bathroom. Would have liked to have done shutters, but the winder on the awning windows protrudes too far - so wooden style venetians it is.

Our landscaper, Warren, also dropped by to check out the site - as he is eager to start this coming week. Suits us!! Reminds me - I need to ring and get our electricity switched over...

Curtains

So - two posts in one day!

This afternoon I am thinking about curtains. Specifically for the master bedroom and possibly the sitting room.

Over the months I have had numerous thoughts on this. Initially I had thought of quite a complicated design - but as usual my ideas have become simpler and simpler as the time goes on.

For me most of the time less really IS more!

One style I kept coming back to is plain neutral drapes with a sheer underneath. Classic. Timeless. Elegant. And for someone who likes to change bed linens as often as I do, practical!

A very elegant woman I know (R) used this style, and I much admire it! Here are photos from her home (used with her permission).

 

Simple curtains in a neutral fabric.

 

Pinch pleat sheers underneath.

After I found out the material name, I was able to go to Spotlight and see the full colour range there. While there are about 40 colourways all up, these are the ones I was most interested in:

 

Thanks to R's kindness sending me a swatch of 'Sand' which she still had, and Margie's assistance procuring swatches of Oyster and Eggshell, I started to think about what look I want.

In real life Sand is quite a deep colour. Absolutely gorgeous, but maybe too deep to match with my planned blue and greens bedroom colour scheme? Oyster looks quite blue/green in the above photo, but in reality is a little less so. It would match with my planned bedlinen etc. but might limit future decorating ideas for the room.

Eggshell is ambiguous. In some lights it looks as though there are a few green 'threads' in it - yet in other lights it looks a bit more taupe. It's more taupe and less pale than the above photo indicates. I really like the eggshell - but I am worried it may look a little insipid? I took swatches when we visited the house today and it did look good...

The idea is that it would be on a decorator rod like this:

 

I think I will end up going with the eggshell. In the master at least. Really not sure what to do in the sitting room. I think I might hold off on that one until inspiration strikes. As I have only 2 pieces of furniture for that room I really have nothing to guide me. I suspect I will furnish and decorate that room in one hit - so I'll leave the curtains until then.

Little Girls with Curls

So today our daughter got her 'big girl' bed. She's in her cot, tonight, but I'm going to time the move to the new house with her move to a big girl bed. And WHAT a big girl bed <3

After looking around I found a couple of local bargains:

 

Bought them both - and now have to decide which she will have. Initially I thought the bottom one would be hers - but seeing them I now prefer the top one. They are both lovely, powder coated, and in great condition.

 

And this is her linen. I love red and teal (and Korkeshi) so this was a given when I saw it.

Of course, I still need to think dressing table, rug, wall decor etc. But at least the bed is now semi-sorted!!Just need to get her a mattress.

Curtains Revisited - The Kids' Rooms

So as you know I have been thinking hard about curtains. The downside of a bright house is lots of windows to consider!

As I mentioned previously, my friend Margie runs a curtains and blinds business and kindly came out to talk window coverings with me a week or two back. I had a pretty good idea of what I wanted for the kids' rooms and then I found this in her 'completed work' gallery! Blockout roller blinds topped with decorative eyelet sheers.

 

 

I think this is going to be just the thing. As per the pictures above, I'll go a plain blockout roller underneath to roll down for nighttime - and during the day these curtains will give privacy as well as a bit of interest to the room. Not sure what colours to use on the top. Hopefully something fairly bold yet adaptable so it can continue to be used as the decor is updated. Am thinking navy or denim for Oscar. Not sure for Adelaide.

Better still ready made eyelet curtains are inexpensive - so in the future the kids can change the look quickly and easily, if they want to, without hitting me up for new curtains!

So - that's two rooms down - now just the rest of the house to consider!