The weekend...

Meet Percy:

I love him!  Made by a local artist, wish I could credit him/her! 

Apologies for the appalling photo, husband took it on my phone.  Lucky his job has nothing to do with photography!  Anyway, on Saturday night we attended the Ronald McDonald House Gala Ball which was lots of fun and excitingly they reached the target of a million dollars raised in one night!  Husband also acquired a signed jersey belonging to Cadel Evans from the 2011 Tour de France in the silent auction.  He has been instructed to hang it in his office.

On the Sunday my Mum and I took the opportunity to duck out and explore a nearby garden that was open for the weekend:

Set on 8 acres with meandering paths beside creeks, waterfalls, ponds and rainforest gully's. It was a fabulous place to wander through and explore.  Dotted throughout the garden were all sorts of lovely treasures.

Including this divine little fairy house. 

One of the highlights of the garden is Lily:

She reclines in the garden permanently! Her face is carved out of sandstone and her body is made from moss.  Truly magnificent!

The base of the waterfall, the water trickling down the rock has created a natural waterslide into the pool. The pirates would have loved to try it out!

The garden was also full of interesting plants.

Lastly, I think that this has probably done the blog rounds but as it is my favourite love song and now a love song to an iconic Sydney landmark I wanted to share it with anyone that might have somehow missed it:

A renovation update

Years ago there was a teacher at my boarding school that eventually went on to write a series of books about Australia at war.  The Tomorrow Series. In the first book Ellie (the narrator of the books) says that: 

"time spent in reconaissance is seldom wasted"

It is a quote that frequently pops into my mind, along with "touch it once" (but that is a post for another day).  If I remember correctly, Ellie names Napoleon as the source of the quote, who was probably referring to military type matters when he said it.  Nevertheless, to my mind it is perfect for renovating.  My number one renovating tip would be to do your research.  Take your time making decisions, think everything through and especially take the time to check references.  You are much less likely to make decisions that you might regret if you are not too hasty. This applies to everything from selecting tradesmen, to making decisions on fixtures, colour schemes and layout.

The colours that we have chosen are Dulux Oyster Linen for the weatherboards and Aspen Snow for the trims.  My sister in law is an interior designer and recommends painting a house a minimum of three colours to make it visually interesting and her suggestion for the roof is a neutral shade, complimenting the other colours you have chosen.  A neutral shade for the roof is probably a wise choice as it will need to work with any future exterior colours changes.   

For years I have been collecting pictures of  pretty Sydney weatherboard houses so I had a reasonably good idea of what colours we were going to use long ago. Even so we painted lots of sample colours onto the side of the house before comitting to a decision.

The front door is gloss black.  The door people were horrified that I was painting a cedar door black.   As a teenager though I lived in the States for a few years and really admired how much effort the Americans put into decorating their houses, in particular the seasonal decorations on porches.  A wreath looks stunning on a glossy black or red painted door.  I would have loved a red front door had we gone with a grey/white colour scheme but that had a more Paddo inner city style weatherboard feel to me rather than a beach house!

The new bathroom is now finished, hurrah!  All that we are waiting for is a mirror to hang over the vanity. This bathroom is fairly small so we were very careful with our use of the space and I am super happy with how it turned out.  I absolutely love the travertine floor!

 

Now we are fiddling about with this bathroom:

Yesterday we moved everything around in it a number of times using a chair as a toilet and blue painters tape to mark out the shower screen location.  We are doing a wet room area similar to the one that Jenna and Josh (from The Block) did in their ensuite, with the bath positioned behind the shower screen:

Image

We are now wondering whether or not to run a shelf all the way along the length of the wall.  Josh and Jenna stopped theirs at the shower screen, probably so they didn't need to have a kick in the glass but we are thinking of continuing the shelf all the way along.  I would love to hear what people think about this idea!  Does anyone have a shelf in their shower or one of those nook things, are they hard to clean?  Love to hear any thoughts/feedback regarding this!

The renovation continues...

Behold the new front deck:

Merbau boards au naturel (currently anyway!)

Looking down onto the deck from the driveway.

We also have a new back deck, with the same divine roof panelling as the front deck, minus the exposed eaves for a bit of variety.

Please admire the balustrading, many hours of research went into it!

We recycled some of the original merbau boards on a little feature screen along the eastern boundary. 

Steps down to the back garden.  At the top of the steps is the laundry door, on the left are the french doors into the new playroom.   Next step is to pick up a paintbrush, which may lead to another possible new career path.  I nearly fainted when I read the quote for the painting.  So, we shall be doing it ourselves thank you very much!  Wish me luck everyone!

Photo Challenge - Day 14

"Eyes"

This weekend I painted the front door gloss black.  It looks amazing!  I helped husband put the gyprock walls and ceiling into the new living/dining room.  It looks ok!  Once the plasterer has been I am sure it will look amazing too.  Back breaking work though and why I am running so far behind with the photo challenge!

I am also considering re-qualifying as a plumber.  They are obviously making way too much money.  Any pumbers out there?

Bathroom vanity plans....

I am interrupting the photo challenge for a quick renovation update, more specifically a bathroom vanity update!  Hours of research have gone into the vanities which may help to explain why I am so excited about them!  Over the years I have saved many images, filed carefully away in my home inspiration folder.  Unfortunately, I neglected to save where I sourced them from. If any of the following images are yours (or if you know who they belong to) please, please let me know and I will credit those appropriate immediately! 

When husband and I went to look at bathroom supply places we found lots of sinks that we liked, some taps that we liked... but not a single vanity.  Even the ridiculously expensive, high end vanities left us cold.  We really wanted something that had a beach house feel and didn't look too modern, but there wasn't really anything in that bracket.  After looking through all the images that we had saved and flicking through our extensive home magazine collection we started to get a feel for exactly what it was we wanted, plus I found this vanity that another blogger had had her husband whip up:

As you do, what a handyman!

I wish I could find her blog again to credit her, as her gorgeous vanity and the vanity that she identified as being her inspiration:

became our inspiration and it was these images that we showed to the various cabinet makers.  I investigated wood vs stone benchtops, 120 year old Kauri Pine vs recycled hardwood and after much deliberation decided to go with a laboratory style basin on a recycled hardwood base.  I decided against a stone top as I love the look of the wood top:

 The basin is just balancing on top at the moment as the plumber hasn't done the waste yet or installed the taps but you can get an idea of how it will look.  I had intended to put a couple of small cane baskets on the shelf below to store towels/bathroom bits and pieces in but I grabbed one of my vintage wine press baskets, as it was close, and now I love the look of it on the bottom shelf. 

Many thanks to the lovely Rupert at Beachwood for making sense of a couple of photos and creating a vanity that we are beyond thrilled with!

`

Photo Challenge - Day 2

"What I wore"

Cardigan,  possibly my favourite item of clothing, frequently worn in the evening on the couch - Country Road

Peasant Blouse - Country Road

Singlet top, I love layering, (not that you can really see the singlet top in this photo, but for accuracy thought that it's presence should be noted)  - Petit Bateau

Scarf (our house is freezing!) - Country Road (can you tell I love their basics?)

Jeans - GAP

Shoes - very dusty Campers (have had this pair since university and they are still favourites!)

Accessory - the Captain's scooter (these scooters are so cool they deserve a blog post of their own one day!)

Location - the new living room (perfect for scootering in)

"What he wore"

Cargo's - Country Road (love their kid's clothes too....)

Vest - Baby Gap

T-Shirt - Hand me down

Model's own scooter!

A nocturnal visitor

I woke at 5am this morning to R shaking me and saying... "I think there is a possum on top of the printer," ha ha I thought, he must be dreaming,  He wasn't.  There it was, a little ring tail possum perched on top of a stack of paperwork sitting on the printer.  The first thing I thought of was this book:

A popular bedtime read chez Pirate, about a possum that gets into the house and wreaks havoc in every room. AAARRGH!  What is it with the wildlife around these here parts, stuff like this never happened when we lived in the Eastern Suburbs!  Anyway, as these thoughts were racing through my head, amazing really considering the time of day and that I had just woken up!  Mind you I did have the  presence of mind to reach over and grab the camera!  The possum observing our discussing it sensed that it was time to make a jump for it and yep, made a flying leap into the space in the bed recently vacated by Ross.  I screamed. The possum wisely jumped back off the bed, dived under the bed, emerged on the other side and then clambered up the wall to a hole in the ceiling (grrr renovation) and back into the roof.  Now to get it safely back out of the roof before all the holes are sealed.

The renovation so far.....

For Betty in Brisbane (R's old flatmate who is a lovely friend) and Grandma and Grandpa in Morocco (having a glamorous holiday exploring places like YSL's holiday house) and for all the other people who keep harassing me/us for photos of the reno.... this is where we are at people:

The front of the house, photo taken standing on the driveway.  New roof (Colourbond windspray) and new front deck.  Loving Ross' decision to do double deck posts, so pleased with how they turned out!

Panelling under the new front deck.  Also thrilled with Ross' insisting that we do exposed eaves here.  I was initially a bit reluctant as all I could think about was the spiders that would be nesting around them, but I am so glad he won this one as they look fantastic.  Warning to all spiders: those eaves are going to be brushed regularly with lemon oil.  Move on hairy legs!

Standing on new front deck looking towards the driveway.  As you can see one of the apprentices has been "helping."  Mum and Dad, note the new retaining wall.  The Czech guy, who brought his Mum along to supervise and yell at him (in Czech) did a brilliant job.  It matches the rest of the retaining walls perfectly and you would never know the wall was moved to accommodate the extension! 

Front of house.  Front door will be in the centre little nook, set back a bit.

Inside the new front bedroom, we are putting vertical VJ walling in all the bedrooms, above the fireplace and also the laundry.  I really wanted to do it in the bathrooms as well but Ross the spoilsport was worried about waterproofing. It looks similar to groove and tongue for anyone unfamiliar with VJ.

Looking down the drive into the new "garage/playroom." 

The first half of this room will be garage storage for bikes, skis, surfboards, scooters etc etc The back half will be a playroom/spare room.

Looking up to the new extension from the garden.  Ash (one of the builders, as in a real one, not a pint sized wannabe one) is standing at the new playroom doors.  The next door/window to the right is the new laundry.

Looking up at the new back deck and bifolds into living room.

The back half of the house, the current living/dining/kitchen which is inside the frame in the above picture is getting pulled off next week to be re-built! Aaaaagh!  Further renovation updates to follow soon.

A fabulous discovery on the Northern Beaches!

 One of my most beloved cafes, The Boat House at Palm Beach, which I adore because of it's fabulous garden/beach setting:

and the scattered lobster pots:

Hmm, lobster pots, I definitely  have a thing about them!   As a littly we often holidayed with my cousins at our grandparents house, south of Bateman's Bay at Circuit Beach.  One of our many school holiday traditions was to jump into bed with Gran in the mornings.  Grandad would then serve us all (6 of us!) breakfast in bed.  In summer it was always buttery vegemite toast fingers and freshly squeezed orange juice. In winter, porridge with brown sugar and cream. As we ate breakfast and fought, sort of good naturedly  about whose feet were coldest and who was taking up too much room, we would all simultaneously be keeping a weather eye out on the little beach and rocky inlet that was literally at the bottom of their garden for the lobster pot man. He would row out to the pots in a little white wooden boat that we could spot from the bedroom window and it was always a great thrill if you were the one to sight him first. This early obsession with lobster pots has had some impact on me I think! 

Back to The Boat House though:

Fresh produce and flowers are for sale and the way it is all arranged is stunning!

But!!!!  Even better is The Boat Houses' new sibling Armchair Collective, a very short drive from Pirate HQ.   It is in Mona Vale just by the SLSC for anyone interested in popping in (worth it):

Same styling and fresh produce:

Inside there is so much more though:

Am trying to convince husband that we need this lamp (on my side of the bed of course):

Because of this chap that hangs out on the deck at Depot:

A claw foot has been on my wish list forever (still haven't got my way on that one) so I spent ages admiring this one and it's tree of birds (hoping to make evil husband feel guilty):

Anyway, the coffee is excellent and we have now eaten there a few times, everything has been delicious except the burger, husband is a burger connoisseur and he only gave it a 5/10.  He is very burger fussy though so it was probably delicious as well.

As for the renovation.  This is what our house looks like:

And, we are living in it.  Naturally, my dirt monkeys are adoring it, me though.... well, it is time consuming and overwhelming and the reason why I haven't been in here much or had time to catch up with all of you properly.  I don't want to jinx anything by typing into words here so will just say...  hopefully I will have more time to catch up with everyone soon!!! x