The Renovation

Can you believe we have been living in New Zealand now for 2 years! Crazy huh?

I remember when I first wrote item #32 on the Life List: 'Live and work overseas for a year', we were envisaging somewhere exotic like New York. But it turned out to be Wellington... and we have never regretted the decision to relocate to New Zealand from Australia.

Living in Wellington has been difficult. It has been hard being away from our friends and family, but the positives have outweighed the negatives.

We really feel like some days life in Wellington is really like 'Living the dream'.

Soon after moving to New Zealand, we made the very rash and crazy decision to buy our Dream House. It was a decision that could have gone very very wrong, but so far we have never regretted it.

One thing about owning your own house is that you can decorate and renovate it as much as you like!

So we are currently in the midst of doing a FULL renovation of our main bathroom.
It isn't because the bathroom is old or dated. But rather due to some terrible decisions made by the previous owners which resulted in a leaking roof (which rotted the bathroom beams and weakened the tiles) and a very leaky shower. Because of this we have needed to gut and re do the bathroom.

This is what the bathroom looked like before. It was absolutely fine and usable. But because of all the leaks and damage we needed to do something fast.

Given I am a frustrated Interior Designer at heart, I have relished the challenge to re do our bathroom. I really don't think I have been this excited about doing a 'project' in a very long time.

I have been trawling through countless websites, Pinterest boards and catalogs to find the dream bathroom. Finally we have settled on marble and white subway tiles, with a feature wall where the shower will be located.

This is what we have decided on.

 We just loved the feature tiles. We would have loved them to cover ALL the walls, but alas we could not afford that.

From Yellow Trace's Instagram

It will look something like this (sort of).

From Home Beautiful

 Feel free to have a look at my Pinterest board - that shows all the new bathroom details.

This is what the bathroom looks like now. A bit of a bomb site.

One thing we discovered when the builders gutted everything was a space in the wall where the original vanity must have been located (when the house was first built in 1930).
So we have decided to make this a niche in the final design.

The niche

I can not wait until it is done!

Maybe even I can tick #13 off the  Life List: "Have my home appear on Apartment Therapy or similar".

#11: Renovate a terrace - inspiration

I thought I would start sharing with you the interior inspirations I have for Life List #11, 'Renovate a terrace in the inner west'.

I saw Kathryn Tyler's beautiful Scandinavian-inspired house when it was featured on Grand Designs and I fell instantly in love.

Kathryn studied Graphic Design at Falmouth College of Arts, but her love of furniture and architecture lead her down the interior design path.

Her Scandinavian inspired home, includes a collection of recycled, reclaimed and refurbished furniture, that work perfectly together.



I have never coveted something so much as I have this book shelf/stair case! How amazing is this?



Something to add to the mood board...

Images taken from ooamouroo

#38: Add more flowers to my life

 

A Pink Quill Bromeliad [image by Zahara Dessert]



#38 on my Life List is 'Do a florist course and add more flowers to my life'.

It is now Autumn here in Australia, so I wanted to buy some indoor plants that would add colour to my house, as the days are getting shorter and colder very quickly.

So yesterday I went about tackling #38, 'adding more flowers to my life'. 

On my shopping trip I discovered some amazing and unique plants that I just had to have!

I ended up buying 6 plants which came within my $50 budget that I was given (I tend to go over board when I visit the garden centre, so I need limits!).

The most striking plant I bought was the Pink Quill. It is a member of the Bromeliad family, it gets its name from the plume of bright pink 'feathers' that apparently last for months. The plant is from Ecuador and has small roots, which are used to anchor itself onto trees. Because the roots don't drink up water, these plants gather moisture and nutrients through their leaves. So hopefully they are harder to kill?

I also read that the Pink Quill needs a lot of filtered sun light so I moved it from the top of my bookshelf to the TV entertainment unit which is near our large living room window (see picture below). 

I also found some cute Mini Cymbidium orchids. As you know I have a love of orchids and #18 on the Life List is 'set up a greenhouse to grow orchids'.

Given they were inexpensive at $8 each, I thought I would give growing these orchids a go. On the label it says that I should expect 12-20 blooms from July to September and I should expect multiple spikes per bulb.



My miniature Cymbidium orchids, one is called 'Toowomba Gold', while the other is a 'Velda Joy'
[image by Zahara Dessert]



Both the Cymbidium and Pink Quill are originally from a nursery called the Collectors Corner, they seem to specialise in rare and unique plants.

I also bought some mini Cyclamens.

I grew up with Cyclamens throughout the house. They are a beautiful flower to have in winter as the produce so many flowers and brighten any room they are in.

On my Entertainment Unit [image by Zahara Dessert]

What I do need to do now is find some decorative pots to put these plants in. I couldn't find any I liked or fit at the Garden Centre. Hence why they are all still in their ugly plastic containers.
 

On our dining table [image by Zahara Dessert]



In our bedroom [image by Zahara Dessert]



Hopefully I don't kill any of these plants.

Wish me luck!

Gotham City

[image by Zahara Dessert]

I have always been fascinated by the Clock Tower building in Brooklyn, ever since I read this article in the New York Times.

And when I saw it while I was recently in New York, I loved it even more.

Below are photos taken from the New York Times, when it was put on the market for $25 million.

 

How great is that stair case?

Look at the view!

Do you like?

I can't wait to go back to New York!

Mr Sparkle

Ever since I saw these stairs in The Happy Home Blog, I have been in LOVE!

I have been trying to figure out how this 'look' would fit in my house.

We have a very similar stair case, however I just don't think I would be able to get away with it in my house.

Such a shame.

But it might work in my bathroom?

You can have a disco in your bath!

Currently my bathroom (below) is blue and boring. I would much prefer the above bathroom look.

I have never liked my bathroom's blue floor tiles



I want to replace the blue feature tiles (above) with silver/metallic glass tiles

I think the wall tiles in my bathroom would look MUCH nicer with reflective, silver tiles, like the photo below.

It would just be a simple and relatively inexpensive change... that would make SUCH a big difference to the look and feel of my bathroom.

I also like how the gold tiles look in the kitchen below.

Sigh.

Something to seriously think about.

I just might need to convince a certain husband, as I don't think he will be so keen on the idea.

Do you like? 
A bit much?

The house that time forgot

While I was waiting for my morning coffee, I saw this in the paper and I had to share it with you.

93-year-old Lina Diacono's house was built in 1964, and time has stood still since then.

She had lovingly cared for her home and has never updated it since it was built.

Lina is moving to be closer to family, so the house is now For Sale.

 

The real estate agent has said this house has been very popular:
"There are plenty of people looking for a property that's not run of the mill. They want something with character and charm, especially in the eastern suburbs and the inner west" 

I want that lamp! But alas she is taking all the furniture with her when she moves



Her niece says "It really looks like a scene out of Mad Men... My sister and I have such fond memories of this home - we spent most of our school holidays here with Aunty Lina and I can say the house hasn't changed at all. Nothing is different."

It is such a breath of fresh air to see a house that is so unique and well looked after.

Don't you think?

House details can be found here

All images taken from the Daily Telegraph and real esate house link