I'm back

Sunday evening at my place...a snapshot! Stuff on the dining table (that I promised pictures of about 4 months ago!), unpainted plasterboard behind the couch, church pew that needs sanding and staining. But there are so many things in this picture that I love, I can see past all of that. I think I have finally accepted that our home...wherever that may be...will always be a work in progress!

Yeah, so I'm a little slow!

Ok, so I have just made the most amazing discovery. I know everyone else discovered this ages ago, but for some reason its taken me until now.

Its called Ebay, and I am in love! I am supposed to be saving towards renovations (kitchen, bathroom, laundry, electrical, doors, roof...Promise to tell you all about it soon!), but I made a fabulous purchase just a few weeks ago, and won my second item today!

Item 1: This gorgeous 80 year old (approximately) dining table.

It doesn't look like much here, but with a good clean, it came up beautifully! I don't want to sand it or stain it, as I love its charater so much. It reminds me of the dining table we had in my family home, growing up, and we bought it from a family who had it while their children were growing up too! We love it. We sit down and eat our dinner at it most nights, and instead of sitting with guests in the lounge room, we often sit around the table and chat. I will post pics of it in the dining area just as soon as my camera battery is charged! It originally came from a farm in Tangambalanga, near Albury, and is made of Kauri Pine. Oh...and it cost me $133.50

Item 2: A church pew!!!

We currently have a bench on one side of our table, but it's a dark stained timber, and it doesn't look right next to the lighter colour of the table. I am happy to mix my timber finishes (a new acceptance!), but the bench is both modern AND dark, so there is too much contrast. I am going to move the bench to the sitting room (to be!) as a coffee table, and replace it with this! I will most likely paint it black, which will look great with our white floors and shutters, and dark grey walls. I love it...and even though it wasn;t as much of a bargain as the table, it was cheaper than the cost of 3 chairs!

On the other side of the table, I think we need something a little more retro, to work with the light, and prevent the whole area from getting too 'matchy matchy', so I am thinking of perhaps some Eames DSW side chairs in Black

Or the original plan...the Tolix A chair in galvanised

What I love about buying items off Ebay, is the personality they have. I felt that my home was becoming too plain, and beginning to appear a little like I had bought everything on the same day, from the same store. It wasn't welcoming...it didn't feel like a 'home'.

These pre-loved pieces are making a big difference!

Bar Open

Oh, where to start! There is so much going on in my head 'house-wise' at the moment, that I barely know where to begin.

Ok - dining area! All along, I have loved the Scandinavian aesthetic - hence the white on white on white!

Then, I found elements of this look didn't work so well in this house...since I don't live in a Scadinavian country, but instead in Melbourne, Australia! So I painted the dining room grey.But it still didn't feel right. We bought a new light...which we LOVED, but the rest of the room just felt bland. I have been playing with the house quite a bit over the last few days, instroducing some more 'neutrals', and lighter wood tones (a whole nother post!), and wanted to incorporate a little bamboo table my husband rescued when his parents cleaned out their office.

I had been intending to paint it, probably black (I am also introducing black...and loving it!) but I decided to leave in its natural bamboo finish for now. I added a few things we had around the house...and some that were still in a box, waiting for a home, from when we moved(!!!!), and now we have a little bar in the corner of our dining nook. You can also see our new light at the top there - it's retro style works really well with our bar. I just need to hang the print that is resting - it was a limited edition Dinosaur Designs one that came with Inside Out (I think!) a few years back, and I have never had a place for it. And now I do!

Some 'almost' afters

So, we didn't get quite as much done as we had planned, but still, there have been a few changes around here! Hopefully the new light will go up this week, and we will pick up some shelves for that empty wall in the dining room, but it's coming along!

Here we go...piccies! I take terrible pictures, it's something I really need to work on (I like to blame our camera, but really, it's just me!)

This is the pic from the internet listing of the lounge/dining room - it doesn't look too bad, but the living room was quite small, and the colours weren't right - and the kitchen was hidden away behind a door! The wall with the picture on the right has moved back about 2 feet, and also has a cut out through to the kitchen.

And now - our new white sofas (or one of them!), charcoal dining room - see how perfectly the colour matches our dog!

My husband won't be thrilled about this pic, but it's a 'mid-way' picture, taken last Winter.

We love the effect of the white shutters against the new dark colour! It also helps define the dining area from the living room. The light will be fantastic against this colour too!

This is another real estate picture. It doesn't look too bad either, but the benchtops were sticky...ew... the paint was quite grubby, and check out that lino! The tiling was atrocious and there was nowhere for the microwave! Plus...it had no character. We removed the return with the stools under it, replaced it with a cabinet, and added an island that we already had! We made a feature of a the bulkhead (which we hated, but won't come down until we do a complete kitchen make-over) by painting it in blackboard paint. I change the quote about once a month though!

The splashback needs to be painted again (they mixed the paint with the wrong base, so it will be a little darker, and the brackets will be painted too, and we need to add some trim along the top, but it's definately an improvement. You can't really see the limewashed benchtops here either, but they are great!

More excitement

Our sofas, with their new white slip covers, are being delivered back to us on Saturday afternoon!
The light for the dining area is being picked up on Friday afternoon, and we are hoping to get the walls of the dining room painted dark charcoal before the sofas get back...wet charcoal paint and white sofas are a scary combination...but dry charcoal paint and white sofas? TO DIE FOR (I hope!)!

OMG, sale time!

The Lucient Pendant light, and the Tolix A Chair (in a galvanised finish - a replica too) are both ON SALE right now. Mr Limecello and I are going internet shopping tonight...woohoo!

Hopefully this weekend I will also have pics of our temporary kitchen makeover - I am painting the splashback tonight!

Lights 'n' Chairs

Ok, so I have a whole lotta lights I love, and a whole lotta chairs I love, and I have to say it like that, because I love the song 'Whole Lotta Rosie' by AC/DC.

I think they all work together, but the styles vary quite a lot, and I was trying to figure out how to make them all work in our dining room, study nook and kitchen, without any one area seeming too industrial, too rustic, too cottage-y, too modern or too retro. And incorporating white, metal/stainless steel and dark wood tones!

BUT, it would seem, I have finally come up with a plan...and both Mr Limecello and I LOVE IT!

1. The white drum light (which we already have), and white slip-covered sofa (we have nearly finished paying our slip covers off, and will hopefully have them by the end of January) are the living room. I thought it was important to include them as a reference.

2. The Barbados light from Beacon Lighting is perfect for our study nook, as its a bit of a feature, but will soften all the hard edges and corners in the little area. The Bertoia chair (yes, it will be a replica) will add a little glam in stainless steel, and not dominate too much either...its a pretty small area!

3. The Lucient pendant from Click-On was the final piece of the puzzle, and I only spotted it this morning in the latest Home Beautiful. It will be just right over our dining table (the Liatorp), with the cross chairs (again, we already have these) and our dark wooden bench on the other side. The Tolix A Chair is one we have both loved for a long time, and will sit at the heads of our table (we keep it in its oval format). If we paint the dining area grey (which is pretty likely!) both the light and the end chairs will sit beautifully against the colour.

4. And finally the kitchen. We will hang 2 of these Foto shades over the wood topped island in the kitchen, and the Ghost stools (replicas again!) will bring a bit of 'fab' to the kitchen (stay tuned for an update on that plan too!)

We both love chandeliers too, so fortunately there is room for 2 of them in our hallway!

I am so happy just looking at the plan...I can't wait to make it happen...even if it takes a couple of years!

Light and Dark...Dark Grey in fact!

After seeing these stunning pics over at A Life's Design, its confirmed. I am going to paint our dining room dark grey. All the white features pop so beautifully against it, and it will highlight our gorgeous shutters - plus seperate the room from the living room, and give it a little 'intimacy'. You can see the room here. Ooh I can just imagine!

I don't think we have anything on on Sunday...should i do it then?

Speaking of light and dark - dark grey, I have decided this is going to be my other 'colour' to break up the white. Each room will have a charcoal/grey feature of some sort in it.

In the bedrooms it will be the carpet and in the bathroom, the floor tiles. The dining room will be as above, and in the kitchen? Well, I have decided our wall unit/pantry/ display cabinet would look incredible in grey, filled with white china and colourful accents, with the rest of the kitchen in white.

The only room I can't decide on, is the living room. I was thinking maybe charcoal roman blinds in front of our bi-fold doors, but I am concerned they will be a little heavy and distracting. Maybe a rug...maybe a light...maybe a button tufted ottoman? Now there's a thought!

Saturday Morning in Winter

At my place, looks like this...

Husband reading the (delivered, the old owners forgot to cancel their subscription!) newspapers, dog/rat/cat/bunny/seahorse (as she's known) hanging around, and making sure she is in 'the middle (between us...always!), and me enjoying the view!

You can see here our white floors, painted walls, plantation shutters and somewhat colourful accessories. Considering this room used to look like this (from a slightly different spot!),

we are very happy with the result.

We are hoping to replace the light with a chandelier at some stage, but the white drum is a good temporary solution!

I can also finally show an 'after' of our new wall, plastered and painted (the floors still need to be done, obvioulsy!)

Remember the before, urgh...such a dark space, with no visability from/to the kitchen and that walk in pantry, which was wasted in a house this small!

And the after (though, due to the rain I am standing inside those doors for the after, and have cut out most of the loungeroom!)


Though, with the kitchen in its current state, I'm not sure how keen I am on the viability - check out the missing kickboards along the bottom. Not a good look!