Goodbye 2013...

The time has come to farewell another year. 

2013 has been a mixed bag for us, with lots of highs but also a few terrible lows, one of which was the sad passing away of David's father.

David and I celebrated our 50th birthdays, whilst daughter No. 2 celebrated her 21st and moved out of home. Mum turned 80 and we had a few months worrying about Dad's health but after some recent successful surgery, his recovery is looking very positive.

S, David and J learnt to knit!

The house plastering was completed this year, and we added a walk-in linen cupboard, main bathroom, guest bedroom ensuite and outside pool W.C to the list of finished rooms. I had an entertainment unit custom made and installed and started a coffee table project.

I shared a few client's projects with you, the most exciting one being Mum and Dad's home renovation. Oh, and David's Avoca Beach Project making the cover of a major magazine. That was pretty awesome too!

That pretty much sums up this year....

Thank you for following my blog, taking an interest in my life and home construction, and for taking the time to leave much appreciated comments when you can.

2014  here we come!

x KL

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An update....

Davey took this pic of The Tree; 2013. He fooled around with camera settings and I think it looks much more realistic in this shot. Fairy lights are difficult to snap!

In exciting news, the stone top for the entertainment unit is being delivered tomorrow! Woo Hoo!

and the glazed, guest en suite shaving cabinet doors are ready for collection. Yay!

Desperate for Christmas gift ideas? I found this yesterday....

...at Adairs. The most DIVINE scent, and exquisite  crystal refillable bottle...

Yup. One for a gift, One for me. LOL!

The whole house has been 'pimped' with Christmas words & phrases that delight the children with the  opportunity to rearrange and generally pi** me off.

 

Lovin' my li'l gold accents...the lounge is old and tired but this CR cushion looks very festive to me!

Finally got to do a sweet little Guest en suite vignette.  So much more to do in this room though, looking forward to the mirrored shaving cabinet doors the most! They're ready for collection...guess what I'll be doing tomorrow?

 Even Bindi has received some Christmas decoration! I bought the paper garland from the U.S via Etsy. LOVE it! And the 'Emperor' cap is a recent pressie for J, from my elder sister who has recently returned from China.Very in. Very now. 

I don't know about you, but for the first time in....

Y O N K S

I'm feeling POSITIVE about the year ahead... 

Whatchathunk?

x KL

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bits and bobs....

O.K! sooooo, I've had some eBay hit 'n misses of late. The Foo Dogs in the middle image are definitely those that were advertised (Left) and which I received. But their size, as seen in this wee  re-styled space shows it pays to read-the details; importantly, the dimensions!!!!

Like wise my cheap-from-China, necklaces-to-be-turned-into-Christmas-Decorations! The mini pearl encrusted bags (eBay image, left) were dirty bronze (eeek!see middle pic) but the parfum bottles and duck posted about HERE were gorgeous! Still waiting for three little soldiers to arrive....

In better news, love my new mani / pedi combo....hopefully I'll get a few days out of the pretty nail colour 'cause I'm sooo rough! 

Had my hair cut and coloured too, and for once am happy with it; a rare event! 

These treats coincide with a fix-me attitude ATM. Booked waaay overdue (Shhhh...don't tell Mum!) visits to my cardiologist and endocrinologist. Have had lots of blood taken and have received an urgent call back. Eeeek! Mammogram booked as is a skin-cancer check. Have had a colonoscopy and endoscopy. My optometrist prescribed new glasses. Have sparkling clean toothy-pegs! Sleep clinic next week!

Not much left to prod or pull, I've gotta tell ya!

J co-incidentilly brought home a gorgeous little multi-coloured 'worry doll' from school. L.O.V.E. He made it from an old wooden peg and cotton tip and I decided to frame it. I used an A4 brush-out of his bedroom-to-be wall colour; Dulux Red Box, super glued the little figure to it and popped it into an IKEA Ribba box frame. Too easy and cute!

Played around in the main bathroom, zhushing some bits and pieces....Love the pop of colour this Missoni hand towel brings to the room!

  Have sorted all the DVD's, Blu-Ray, X-box, PS2, PS3 and Wii discs into plastic tubs inside the new entertainment unit. Whew! 

I couldn't get the clear tubs I was after but these coloured ones do the job!

And....drum-roll....the Guest Bed, ensuite vanity is in! Stone top and all!

Some more tiling to be done, a bit of stylin' and another room will be complete! Yee Hah!

Christmas seems to be approaching like an out-of-control, run-away train so I'm going to concentrate on that next...

 

x KL

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My week...

H e l l o ! ! !

It's been a busy week here with lots of different stuff going on. 

I've decided to start a de-clutter, commencing with my wardrobe. Why? 

Because I have have not come to terms with never being a size 6 or 8 again! *sob* 

(Still holding out hope for a 10 or 12 though! LOL!)

I found this brand new Oroton bag in the back of my cupboard! Eeeek! Took it for an outing to Grand Designs on Sunday but I now like a longer strap to keep my hands free so onto eBay it went. Click HERE if you're interested!

Love this little Jonathan Adler tray in silver (and the gold version too). Wishing someone in Oz would stock it so I can avoid those exy US shipping charges.

The lovely people at Rolling Stone Landscapes have given me the faux lawn supplier's deets! Yay!

Click HERE for further info!

I was thrilled to receive my recently ordered West Elm cutlery after THIS fiasco. Um....x 2!

1800 # assistance quick to apologise and easy to to get on to, but after three lengthy conversations, still no promised return authorisation docs. Apparently I wasn't charged for the $600+ of merchandise (they were very grateful I rang!)... hopefully they can survive these teething problems and don't scoot back to the US prematurely!

Darling daughter # 1, S purchased a new laptop. Oh My! Techno loaded and pretty too at < $1K!

The BF's parents have returned from OS bearing gifts....too funny!

And oops! I wrote a little one where a zero should've been on the custom shaving cabinet drawings.

A half hour installation turned into a four hour re-make, then install. Lucky he loves me!

Needless to say the vanity waits for another day. Thank God the other crucial deets were correct. 

When glazed, the cabinetry will sit perfectly flush with the walls. Whew!

Oh, and although this isn't my pic above, Mum & bub whales gave my girlfriend J and I a very similar show at brecky! Love living in paradise!!!!

x KL 

Thank you for stopping by my blog. 

You are very welcome and encouraged to comment, I love receiving feedback!

 If you enjoy my ramblings, perhaps consider following by Email, Bloglovin' or Google+.

 Join this site via Google Friend's Connect so I can follow you too!

More custom design!

 My lounge looks like this today....Eeeeek! But, I'm overjoyed!

The custom designed vanity and shaving cabinetry for the guest ensuite is in this lot, as well as my entertainment unit for the family room. Yee Ha!

The vanity will look the same as the one I designed for the main bathroom (posted HERE) but instead of floating over a wall of mirror, the large mirrored shaving cabinet will be above to supply copious storage. See an inspirational picture below:

Trying to get the details right was a nightmare. Simple looks easy, but getting everything to line up perfectly and be flush is very challenging. My fingers and toes are firmly crossed that when David installs it all, all those triple checked measurements are correct!!!!

I'm hoping that the custom entertainment unit is going to save my sanity too.

A tall order, I know...

As many of you are aware, living in a home being renovated is difficult, so say the least. Living in a half built house, over a long period of time, is also. Both David and I are just about 'over-it' and as David has just commenced a new project in Sydney (adding commuting to his schedule), I anticipate work here will be negligible. So, I've decided that taming the mess pictured below, is a priority.

The black Chinese cupboard can be relocated to...(? !) and all that equipment can disappear behind two-pac doors. I initially designed the unit with wide drawers but after receiving the quotation, changed them for doors which reduced the price by two thirds!!! I still have to get a ceasarstone top made for it...

I chose to have the exterior sprayed in satin two-pac (shows less fingerprinting than gloss) in the same colour as the walls; Dulux Natural White. I had planned to hang it on the wall so it floated like the ones in the images below...

 ...but am now considering adding support to make it portable should we sell this house.
Wall hung, full steel base or just legs is the next dilema!
These units are similar in idea...

I've got a fair bit of mess-sorting to do before anything more can be done so better put that to the top of the list for now! Would love to hear your thoughts...

and look forward to showing you the finished project soon!

x KL

Thank you for stopping by my blog. 
You are very welcome and encouraged to comment, I love receiving feedback! 
 If you enjoy my ramblings, perhaps consider following by Email, Bloglovin' or Google+. 
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DETAILING: Guest Bedroom / Ensuite

Yesterday, I mentioned that I was getting the Guest Bedroom Ensuite vanity and shaving cabinetry made and it occurred to me that I haven't posted about this area of the house before. 

So here we go....

Although having relocated from Sydney to the Central Coast eons ago, the benefit of being able to provide guests with accommodation has become entrenched. 

Initially, as an unanticipated single Mum, I bought my eldest daughter a double bed to be utilised by the occasional guest (Nana & Grandad) whilst she happily snuggled with Mummy.

My eldest daughter's bedroom circa 1995; aged 7

  17 years on, friends and ever welcome interstate family, have cemented this need.

Located directly off the entry in this house, the guest suite offers privacy for the inhabitants and the host family. (Us. He he!) There is a small robe and en suite and easy access to the secondary kitchen on this level.

In retrospect, I should have utilised the entry coat cupboard as a small robe for this room, allowing a more generous en suite experience. My original plan was for a walk-in-shower which was thwarted by a lack of a few centimetres depth.... Ah....the value of hindsight! *sigh*

The detailing of these rooms were quite complicated and a bit disappointing in their conclusion, proving that even seasoned renovators can 'get it wrong' occasionally!

 I realised that the best way to enjoy the view, for this rooms inhabitant, would be a reflected image from the bed, as seen above. (excuse the mess!!!!) I created a niche for a mirror and although it works perfectly, it negated the opportunity of using a cavity sliding door to the ensuite (the opposite wall cavity houses an in-wall cistern). We were snookered! Damn!

A traditional swing door was installed, reducing valuable floor space and further changing the walk-in-shower to an enclosed style due to light switch placement!
One change ripples on to many....

Anywho, it doesn't now 'work'. The room is too small for an inward swinging door and we've breached the building code too. The door will have to be changed to outward opening or re-hung with removable hinge pins for access in emergency situations!

TIP! If a change to plans is required, follow through mentally with ALL repercussions before committing! In this situation, I could have just hung that mirror on the wall, had a CSD unit, saved money and gained better aesthetics and functionality!

TIP! Ensure all inward opening bathroom / W.C  doors meet the Building Code of Australia:

"Clause 3.8.3.3 sets out that access should be possible by having either a door that opens outwards, a cavity or face-of-wall sliding door or for a door that opens into the sanitary compartment, that it be readily removable from the outside, i.e. capable of lifting off its hinges, unless there is a clear space of at least 1200mm between the closet pan and the nearest part of the doorway."

So...we'll be renovating before we finish building! LOL!
The joy!!!!

The ensuite to this room was based on many inspirational images but the major consideration was storage as I wanted a minimal floating vanity. (Concept below)

By recessing mirrored shaving cabinetry you gain additional storage which compensates for limited space within the vanity unit itself. It's no-bending access too = extra ticks!

TIP! In small bathrooms, hide as much in-wall as possible. Think cisterns, doors, storage, niches'.  It eliminates visual clutter whilst optimising space efficiency.

For continuity, finishes (including underfloor heating) in this ensuite match those in the main bathroom which is also located on this level. 

*Crema Perla Marble *Dorf Motif Towel Rails *Scala Basin tap *Caroma Cube wall hung pan *Gerberit in-wall cistern & flush plate *Dorf Myriad Shower rose * Parisi Box semi recessed sink

So, there's this area posted. We're currently using it as our bedroom / ensuite before moving upstairs and it's messy, hence the lack of pics! More to come with the imminent joinery fit-out!

x KL 

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