bits and bobs

I have come to the conclusion that my blog will never be regularly attended to. Thank you to my regular readers for your perseverance with me...

 I do like having a record of this house's progress though (albeit slow) and life in general (whizzing by), so here's an update...

Both the Main Bedroom En suite and Guest / J's bathroom upstairs have been waterproofed. After a council inspection next week we can organise the under-floor heating guys to do their bit!

No pretty pictures - sorry!

The dilemma regarding black walls - where? was resolved. I said 'there, there and there' and the stark white is history! If I win the Lottery I might add a bit of feature wallpaper!

TIP!  Use a tinted undercoat for dark coloured walls to ensure perfect depth of colour.

Painting the dining area end wall means that I'm also committed to my black kitchen! Eeeek!

My wee upstairs linen cupboard is complete and will adequately handle the overflow from the larger / main downstairs version!

I've also discovered Gumtree ... and have / am having great success; saying goodbye to furniture from previous homes. It's also an excellent way of helping those starting out with cheap goodies or freebies! And it's more simple to list than eBay!

Bye-Bye Bali Style...

 The Gumtree discovery was prompted by the return of one of our nest leavers (yay!) who was accompanied by a house worth of recently purchased appliances and furniture (um...not so yay). Some major culling was required!

All listed on Gumtree!

Fast forward to now, just three weeks later and a new work opportunity has seen her announce she's moving to Newcastle...never a dull day!

 Her 3-month old fridge is still for sale on Gumtree!  (RR$700 $500)

P.S: NOW SOLD

 The Scalamandre Leopardo Silk Velvet fabric I bought on eBay arrived but was not the correct length. Given its poisonous value, I was very grateful that the U.S. seller replaced it. Equally disappointing was the arrival our long awaited dining room lights which were damaged. It is at times like these that I really appreciate honest vendors and good customer service policies!

J is on school holiday but has the flu. Again. After he received the flu shot. Humph.

He slept till 1:45 today....I was tip-toeing in and checking on him like a new born babe!

At least I got time to finish and frame, a trio of little artworks for a friend's daughter. They should sit above her bed nicely!

 Hopefully J and I can have some holiday fun together tomorrow...

x KL

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Desperately seeking answers....a colour quandry

 Today was spent doing more painting....and finally the last of the upstairs ceilings are finished. Phew!
I have been told by 'the boss' David, that I am NEVER to design a house with these style of ceilings again. LOL. ATM, I don't think I want to design a house again, EVER.

 The time to commit to the wall colour has now arrived.
They are currently undercoated in un-tinted white which is very cold and stark. I'll paint most of the walls in the same white I've chosen elsewhere in the house; Dulux Natural White (ceilings are 25% strength). I want to break up the cavernous open plan area upstairs by adding charcoal features (Dulux Domino) and also to tie with downstairs.
It's just the where to start / stop issue that's making me nervous!

 Feature walls look best when used to highlight a single wall with no openings and paint starts and stops in internal corners. I'm wanting the feature walls here to be dark to recede them and to delineate the hall as a separate entity to the large lounge room.
I'm happy that the contrast achieves this in the renderings above.

 I also want some WOW factor when looking up the stairwell from the entry, to the main living above, so had planned that shallow recess to be dark too...

See the little nib wall on the right, above. According to 'ideal plan' it should be white but does that look odd? Unbalanced? Help!

And is it too much ?

 I had envisaged the end wall (with the two windows) and seen below, to be charcoal too. Eeeek!
I am SO overcome with indecision!

Some more deets: The floors are to be a wide plank, light to mid toned oak. The kitchen charcoal with a white island. A large dark hued carpet square will be inserted into the lounge room where there will be white slip-covered sofas. All of those dark walls will have substantially sized artwork on them.

Here's a plan, the RED lines showing where I'm considering using the dark wall colour.

I would dearly like your input on this...and be forever grateful!
...if you've never commented before,
or do so regularly,  
PLEASE share your thoughts!

x KL 

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Indecision

Damn. After thinking the main bedroom colours through for THREE YEARS I am in a serious quandary. Dulux Silver Illusion, Natural White or Domino?

(Detailing and ideas posted HERE before)

The problem is the bedhead. It is made from a beige-y French linen and looks icky against the grey which is the Silver Illusion; my top contender for all those years. It looks great in the Guest room against Natural White but the Main Bedroom is a much larger space and I'm concerned it will look too bland.

So... I'm considering leaving the French Linen bedhead in the guest room and buying a new bedhead for our bedroom. Perhaps a similar style but in charcoal linen or white leather?

Or a greyer coloured linen?

or velvet?

In our last house (seen below; no bedhead to cause drama!) I loved the darker palette than elsewhere in the house so maybe I could use my chosen greys and replicate that concept?

Or throw some of my favourite wallpaper in too?

David's on his way to buy paint as I type....he'll call for a decision any minute! 

Eeeeeek!

x KL 

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My Saturday...

Top to Bottom, Left to Right:

Unpacked these wee Kidrobot POP Balloon animals that I found on Ebay. They are sooo cute! I bought the cheapest ones as I want to paint them all the one colour. Gold.  Like Holly from Glamourmash did. Love. (PS: Check out Holly's Blog for some awesome glamour inspiration!)

The Middle Child, A, is contemplating leaving the nest!!! *sob*  

Maybe. 

Or going to Europe. Or back to Uni... 

Just-in-case the move wins her internal debate she bought this eight seater dining setting. A $250 bargain. In as-new-condition. She's my girl! LOL! And it is now sitting upstairs in a recently cleared area. I will not repeat David's enthusiastic exclamation at it's arrival. Aunt Mary's fridge and washing machine are to join it next week. Hooray.......N O T!

All those Pottery Barn, Williams-Sonoma and West Elm pre-opening blogger posts have had me enthralled and glued to my iPad.  

My invite obviously got lost in the mail.

 I'm more an online shopper these days anywho... so thought I'd give them a whirl. Clickety-clack and this PB faux coral whatsie should be knocking on moi's door. Will keep you up to date on the service...

Our main bedroom, walk-in-robe and the shoe cupboard are all ready for fit-out; architraves, skirting and doors. Then we can paint! Yippee!!!! (NO prizes for what David did today!)

My secret (shhhh) Mother's Day pressie from J.Crew arrived yesterday. I first told you more about it HERE. It is absolutely beautiful and antiquey looking but sadly is going to be returned. Maybe it's the old scraggy neck and a gazillion scars but it just doesn't sit right. It's shaped so it sits off the chest in a bulky way....I do not need more bulk! The second pic shows how it's curved. Must ask Ms Moth if hers does that too? 

Had a bit of a fiddle with the niche styling. I think the rear wall needs to be painted?

See the A4 swatch on the lower LHS of the artwork? Dulux Timeless Grey. 

Whatchathunk?

Drafted some landscaping plans....a girl's gotta dream! (And I was procrastinating from cleaning out the bird cage....LOL!)

Speaking of birds....perhaps this guy can replace the necklace for Mother's Day? 

Ooooh, there's a happy thought!

Hope you had a lovely Saturday....what did you get up to?

x KL 

Thank you for stopping by my blog. You are very welcome and encouraged to comment. I love receiving feedback! I also love watching a new pretty picture box added to my followers - would love you to join me so I can get to know you too!

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!

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!

The winning streak continues!

 Have you ever won something? It is the most glorious feeling. I seem to win in random allotments.

Nothing for, like ever and then a series of happy disconnected wins.

Picture courtesy of Dulux

I entered a Dulux Colour Consultation Giveaway being offered by one of my favourite bloggers, 

Viv of Ish and Chi and I won!!!! How delightful! 

Thank you so much Viv!

Viv's entry painted Dulux Western Myall after her Dulux Colour Consultation.

I'm pretty confident with my colour selections so have never used a professional before so it will be interesting to get their fresh ideas. Or perhaps I'll give the prize to a dear friend and soon to be renovation client. I better check the conditions of the prize first!

I also had my little win that I posted about yesterday and a big win with my biopsy results; no Cancer! So I've purchased a $30 million lottery ticket today.

Here's hoping I can advise you of that win from my private jet en route to Paris!!!

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!

Exciting New Arrival!

Well my new laptop has come sooner than expected.  AAAAnd it has working 'AAAAA's!!!!!
Yee Ha!!!!
My eldest daughter's BF is so very computer-clever and set it up for me and my ever patient hubby has transferred my beloved photographs and downloaded pics to the new machine. I can't believe how much quicker it is!

This is the playroom. So far it has only the one coat of paint and since this picture was taken the skirting boards have been added. I had to wait until the decision was made between carpet or floorboards. The former has won.  I'm worried that the wall colour may be too light in tone but will wait till it's finished before I decide.The colour is Dulux 'Silver Illusion'. The contrast of white skirting and dark charcoal carpet should help.What do you think?

The hall to be lower bedrooms is painted too. It is Dulux 'Domino' and I love it. The skirting can't be installed till the marble tiles are laid, but I can still hang my artwork! I painted this for the last house and it looks good against the dark backdrop. "Warrior" is (like most of our stuff), temporarily residing inside until landscaping is done and a home is found for him!

The main bathroom is complete with the exception of the vanity / mirror and some fancy wall lights. For the life of me I cannot source dedicated fluro or LED contemporary / minimal wall lights! The marble is 'Crema Perla' and it is stunning! Ivory with taupe and grey veining. This same marble in a larger 600 mm square format will be laid throughout the downstairs areas. Eventually! LOL!
x KL