30.11.11

My blog has been infiltrated!


The family have found my blog. Eeeek!
No more shopping posts (especially with prices), no more sparkly wish-lists, no more sharing of secret pressies, no more 'between-you-and-me' undercover finger wagging when I'm peeved! It's all out there now.
My blog might have to be about... oh,  I don't know....knitting patterns? (but I can't knit!).

Can you believe J (9 year old son) first cracked it (on my laptop no less) and directed hubby with 'how to comment' instructions!

x KL
Thank you for stopping by my blog. You are very welcome and encouraged to comment; I love receiving feedback! It helps me get to know you too!

29.11.11

Gotta love the $2 shop!


Taking a nine year old boy shopping with two big sisters is a recipe for disaster.
Thank God for the advent of the $2 shop for patient behaviour bribery!
 "straw- glasses"! Who'd of thought?
Priceless!

  x KL

Thank you for stopping by my blog. You are very welcome and encouraged to comment; I love receiving feedback! It helps me get to know you too!

28.11.11

Minimal for Maximum WOW!

 There are definitely times when less is more.
I love these images of a new house in Brighton that I found via A View on Design
Very well considered and edited interiors.




I love how both interior and exterior are so well suited to one another. They are very cohesive in style, material and colour palettes.
And I reckon this is the best 'invisible' garage door I've ever seen; built seamlessly into the exterior facade! Clever!

x KL

Thank you for stopping by my blog. You are very welcome and encouraged to comment; I love receiving feedback! It helps me get to know you too!

27.11.11

IT S.O.S... Calling all clever bloggies...


 I am a terrible speller.
As an ex teacher (general primary and secondary Visual arts trained) I survived 20 years with a 10" Oxford dictionary by my side. To me, Spell-check was the best invention - EVER!!!
In my defence, I was taught to read in the sixties using an experimental reading teaching scheme called the 'Initial Teaching Alphabet' ( I.T.A. or i.t.a.)
To save your sanity the link and relativity is above for those interested in our education history!
Anyhoo... back to the problem at hand.
How do I spell-check comments I leave for others? Am I missing some obvious button? (It honestly wouldn't surprise me!)

Looking forward to your replies....
x KL

Thank you for stopping by my blog. You are very welcome and encouraged to comment; I love receiving feedback! It helps me get to know you too!

26.11.11

Eeeek! Major Lounge Disaster!



 Am trying to stay true to my mantra....
 Am trying to stay true to my mantra....
  Am trying to stay true to my mantra....

I hate rats. I hate flooding rain. I hate mould.

Unfortunately a few months back we were rudely invaded by all three. The rats were discovered and dispensed with quick Military precision, the internal flood from a blocked gutter remedied as fast as I could prod poor old hubby up the ladder but the mould was a stealth trespasser.
Our upstairs ' work in progress /'storage' zone' was the area under attack and to my horror, my beautiful white fabric lounge fared poorly. 
Whilst cleaning up rat pooh (I used the vacuum!), I unwrapped the protective (ha ha) cover on the lounge and found, hiding under the removable cover... this mould! Eeek!


Always positive, I quickly said S%^t and BY$%^y HI#l and F*(#!. Then rang my friendly carpet / rug / lounge steam cleaner Malcolm who told me it was F^&#@d but didn't charge me for his visit and empathetic diagnosis.
I further rallied my positive outlook and suggested to the Hubby that a new white leather modular would look better in the room anyway...


...and he most generously surprised me with this:

His own Internet researched, mould exterminator formula. (It involved spraying two cans of Glen 20 to kill spores and then drenching the lounge with Exit mould.)

So, the glass is half full / empty again but this time I'm in quite a quandary with which way....

x KL

Thank you for stopping by my blog. You are very welcome and encouraged to comment; I love receiving feedback! It helps me get to know you too!

25.11.11

General Update...

 I'm back at home after two days in Sydney to take my daughter and BF to his final university art function and to then see them off on their Japanese holiday. 
Their flight left at 6:10 am (3:30 am start!) so we stayed in the Mercure Airport Hotel the night before and J and I were back asleep in the hotel by 7:30 am. Gotta love the airport shuttle to take the stress out of driving, half asleep on unfamiliar, busy roads at dawn!
I love hotels and of course took snaps of all the good design bits like bedhead, bar and ensuite!
(as you do!)

I was really impressed with the way they'd mounted the plasma. (See above) Obviously a room re-fit and restricted by what was existing, instead of recessing the TV into the wall (as you would a new home / reno) they made a very swish little box for it to reside in. It included space for remotes, TV guides and hotel paraphernalia too but I thought it was a great retro fit idea for residential homes. What do you think?
 The rain was unfortunately, relentlessly depressing and J was upset by his sister and pseudo 'big brother's' departure, so we skipped our city Christmas shopping plan and headed home.
Mini KL quiches; smoked salmon, sun dried tomato, bacon and mushroom varieties

I've  made 4 dozen mini quiches for J's school staff's Christmas lunch tomorrow after a two hour 'Nanna nap' and at  11:30 pm (our time) I received an email to say my sweet S and BF, M had arrived at their hotel in Osaka. Yay! 
My poor 22 year old baby suffers from Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS) and is ill already... her few alcoholic drinks from M's Design party causing her havoc. (The same exhibition I might add that caused all the travel re-scheduling.... really UTS; get your annual events timetable sorted earlier that a month before!) Grrrr...
 Anyhoo.... also in my busy week...

 I accompanied J and his Year Three class to The Australian Museum Sydney to see the Dinosaur exhibition and then to watch  'Flying Monsters 3D' at IMAX.
We've been to the museum quite recently but to watch the 'first timer's faces' was wonderful! J hadn't been to IMAX before and just LOVED it! Such a great experience!
I got this today too:

Jan Logan's 2012 Collection

The cover features my favourite piece; the  'Honey Quartz Gatsby ring'. (seen above and below)
I might need to adjust my Santa wish-list again....LOL!!!
And yes, that's my heater on in the background... it was packed away but brought out to dry woollies for Japan and we needed its warmth tonight! WT?
Drool!!!!!
We've had a couple of free 'wins' for the house too. A client ordered black marble for his bathrooms from a Sydney discounter only to be delivered tiles that were chipped, glued together or with extreme cracks running through them. When the company got the complaint they credited him immediately and told us to 'bin' the offensive material. (I think they knew it was crap in the first place.) My resourceful hubby salvaged 21 tiles out of the whole lot that if cut carefully and resurfaced will be OK for our upstairs powder room floor.Yay! On another job we scored some excess Oak Uniwood. Not much, but enough for the study floor. The colour is wrong but my hubby assures me he can sand off the finish and stain it black before resealing it again. Woo Hoo!


















The price is right for these flooring materials!

That pretty much sums up my week. I haven't had much time to catch up with my favourite blogs but plan to over the weekend! 

x KL

Thank you for stopping by my blog. You are very welcome and encouraged to comment; I love receiving feedback! It helps me get to know you too!

23.11.11

Off to the Land of the Rising Sun...


My little boy J and I are going to Sydney to see daughter No. 1 and BF off to Japan. I am so excited for them. This much planned trip celebrating the conclusion of their University studies has been postponed and booking dates changed twice with much emotional and financial distress.

Along with completing stressful and very time consuming assignments, presentations and exams they have planned this trip so very thoroughly.....three times over!  I am so very proud of them!

I hope the trip exceeds their expectations and wish them the best health and safety.

この両方が大好きです
 Mum
KL

Thank you for stopping by my blog. You are very welcome and encouraged to comment; I love receiving feedback! It helps me get to know you too! 

22.11.11

Thank you Rudolf! Ebay auction win!

I've wanted a set of antlers; naturally shed of course, for some time and yee ha I finally won these on e-bay! I've been bidding and been unsuccessful for about 6 months till this auction. Can't wait for them to arrive!

x KL

Thank you for stopping by my blog. You are very welcome and encouraged to comment; I love receiving feedback! It helps me get to know you too!

21.11.11

Love this!


x KL

Thank you for stopping by my blog. You are very welcome and encouraged to comment; I love receiving feedback! It helps me get to know you too!

20.11.11

Sea Mist

This is a picture that I snapped at Copacabana Beach yesterday at 11 am. It shows a heavy, dense fog drifting in from the sea. It looks so very eerie; J was waiting for a ghostly pirate galleon to sail in any minute!

According to Alex Krisman, a meteorologist at Weatherzone, the fog was the result of warm moist winds being drawn across cold air and condensing. Cool water temperatures had made the fog thicker and delayed its being burnt off. 

This morning it came back and at midday our cliff side house was still shrouded in thick mist. At least we weren't sweltering in the heat, and there's no need for air conditioning either!

Hope you are all having a lovely weekend!

 x KL

Thank you for stopping by my blog. You are very welcome and encouraged to comment; I love receiving feedback! It helps me get to know you too!

17.11.11

My hubby's wish list....hmmm

My darling hubby 
(Aka the Grizzly Bear, G.B. /  Head of Finance, HOF)
doesn't read my blog. 
He occasionally reads over my shoulder with condescending amusement / amazement that I have 27 followers. (Thank you each and every one!!!!)
Tonight he saw a  T.V advert for Myer with Ms Hawkins in a loooovely (wouldn't cover the pimple on my bottom) bikini and thought (out loud!!!) that she might be a good Christmas wish list addition.




Perhaps he's reading secretly....
Touche!
Enuf said. Hmpph!
x KL
Thank you for stopping by my blog. You are very welcome and encouraged to comment; I love receiving feedback! It helps me get to know you too!

14.11.11

I'm dreaming of a white christmas....















Just dreaming....

What do you dream of?

x KL


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10.11.11

Frederic Berthier Architecture

Appartment Poissonniere

This post is unashamedly lifted from PLASTOLUX, a new blog that I have started following that showcases modern design. I haven't posted many inspirational homes for a while and I just swooned when I saw these images.
As Plastolux says, this is an almost perfect minimal and modern interior.












Photos by Benoit Linero
All via PLASTOLUX

What do you think?
I adore it but I know I love my 'stuff' too much to realistically design a home and keep the aesthetic as clean as this. Great inspiration though! The chevron floors contrasting with the crisp white walls. A dash of dramatic black and generous use of stunning marble. Restraint.Yes, I should definitely try to incorporate these ideas.

x KL

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9.11.11

Dulux colour consultation

Today I met with specialist colour consultant, Gail Webb, who came to my home (eeek, it was messy!) as I had won a Dulux Colour Consultation through Viv's blog, ish and chi
I have never used the services of a colour consultant before and really enjoyed my time with Gail. She was very easy to talk to and never mentioned the mess once! So professional!
Although the colours were already chosen by moi, Gail made me feel far more confident with my selection. It was great to discuss the plans for the top story and get her feedback on chosen dark walls / V's white ones. She supported my black kitchen idea too; and I think it's given me the confidence to actually follow through with that.
After selecting a few outside feature colours (as seen above) our time was up and samples were left. The whole experience was very positive and I would thoroughly recommend the service to anyone requiring colour direction. 

Many thanks Dulux, Viv and Gail for my consultation!

x KL


Thank you for stopping by my blog. You are very welcome and encouraged to comment; I love receiving feedback! It helps me get to know you too!