Hope!

I know I have been MIA for a little while - I have been super busy with work, renos, social and family commitments. I do have some new pics for you...but not today.

It doesn't feel right to share how wonderful my home is when I have some very dear friends who are doing it tough...all the time. I am heading out for a very brief catch up with one of them later this evening, and it's all I can think about right now. I promise that when (not if, but when) they find a home for themselves and their precious daughter (Hope!), I will be ringing and writing every 'we come and fix up your house and garden in a weekend to help make your life a teensy bit easier' show, to go and visit them, and do everything they can.

Some people out there have a really rough life, through no doing of their own, and I remind all of you to hug your children, your partner, your friends and your family, and tell them you love them. And ring someone you know, who might be struggling a bit at the moment, to remind them you are there, and you love them.

OMG, OMG, OMG!!!!

Ok, so clearly I am excited. Something wonderful has happened!

The lovely, Nichole, over at Sparrow's Nest has nominated me for a Beautiful Blogger Award!!! She has such great style (check out her AMAZING kitchen mural here), and I am really honoured. Thank you SO much Nichole!

So, the rules are:
1. Thank the person who nominated me for this award. (yup!)
2. Copy the award & place it on my blog.(yup again)
3. Link to the person who nominated me for this award. (yup - please do visit her beautiful blog!)
4. Share 7 interesting things about myself. (eeeek!)
5. Nominate 7 bloggers. (YAY!)

Alrighty...7 things about me. Oh wait, interesting things about me, that's going to be hard!!!

1. My hair went prematurely grey all over, and up until recently I coloured it. But now, at age 28, I have embraced reality, and gone natural.

2. I am a self confessed lazy perfectionist. I want things to be 'just so', but it takes me forever to get it done.

3. I love to cook, but I always use recipes for 'inspiration' rather than instruction. Or I don't even bother with recipes, and just make it up!

4. I used to be in the Rockabilly 'scene', and get around in hot rods, go to rock'n'roll dances on Saturday night to see bands (that always had a double bass in them), wear Brothel Creepers (shoes!) and pencil skirts and bright red lipstick and generally live a 50's inspired lifestyle. I still love the music and the clothes and the cars (I ADORE hot rods, and aim to own one - A 1928 Ford A Model Tudor, with a 28 stud side valve V8 motor, by the time I retire!), but am not 'involved' anymore.

5. I consider myself very fortunate to be young enough to use all the amazing technology we have now, but old enough to appreciate what it was like without a lot of it.

6. One word that came up a lot in the speeches at my 21st was that I am 'unique'. I grew up in a small town, and always wanted to be different, so I shaved my head, had piercings and wore unusual clothing. Not long before my 21st I realised that I didn't need these things to be different, I simply was because there was no-one like me anywhere else in the world. And I stopped trying. And people still consider me unique and interesting!

7. The first time I met my now husband (at a hot-rod show with my then boyfriend!), the first thought that ran through my head was 'WOW, that is the best looking guy I have ever seen'. We were friends for a few years before we got together, and we have now been together for 7.5 years, married for 3.5 years and I still think he is the best looking guy I have ever seen!

Are you still there? Have you fallen asleep yet? No? Good, because now you can head on over and visit these wonderful blogs!

1. Kellie @ Ada and Darcy

2. Kylie @ All Things Lovely

3. Rose @ Able Mae

4. Lesley @ Life at Number 10

5 Melissa @ Undomestic /Mumma

6. April @ A City Girl in the Country

7. Cyma @ CHEK

Thank you so much for nominating me Nichole, you really have made my day!

Be Afraid...

...be VERY afraid. For your hip-pocket, that is!

Anthropologie now ships to Australia!

Is it too late to cancel my upcoming holiday and spend the money on gorgeous Anthropologie items instead? Hmmm...

Turns out I am a chair!

Via Table Tonic . My new favorite blog, by the way. This is so funny! Ikea-arise your name here

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!