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

A holiday, a hiatus, the horror of living in a construction site and of course, the Wedding

Hello, not sure if there is anyone still to say hello to after such a long and unplanned break, but if anyone is still interested... I am back!

Firstly,  many thanks to the gorgeous people that emailed and left comments checking in on me.  I was so touched to hear from you, and Julia, your comments had me giggling (they always do though!).  We actually have been sort of at sea! We have been away at the beach house, a place so lovely but also so remote that there is no mobile service and also no internet service.  I know, it is kind of hard to believe in this day and age, but yes such places do exist!

The other reason for the lengthy hiatus is that our house is currently a construction site.  Anyway more about that to follow soon but for those that have asked, we are 99% sure that we are going to paint the house Dulux Oyster Linen, the same colour as the house in the first two images of last post, with chalk USA trims.  The front door will be either black or gunmetal grey but this is still to be decided, ...the  door knocker I have chosen is  black and is currently on it's way from France.  When it gets here I will make a final decision regarding the house/door colour!  More about the renovation to follow very soon! 

Meanwhile, here are some holiday snaps:

... and, despite the construction site it is wonderful to be home! I am currently watching the Royal Wedding (and typing this!)  in a room in which two of the walls are comprised solely of orange plastic.  The doors out to the backyard are nailed shut and the rain is slowly drifting in.  Nevertheless, I am curled up on the couch, cocooned in a blanket that my grandmother knitted for my brother when he went off to boarding school at Timbertop (where Prince Charles went briefly), enjoying a glass of champagne and reminiscing about the last itme I watched a British Royal Wedding.  It was 1981 and we were on posting in India.  I think my parents might have been out or away as I watched the Wedding with my Ayah (nanny) and all the other servants and their families,  in the servants quarters behind our house.  There were at least a dozen of us squashed into a tiny room, watching the wedding on an even tinier black and white television, but I can still remember how thrilling it all was to a little 9 year old.   It was the only thing that I saw on television in India and in English during the course of our posting to Delhi. 

Hope all are well and I will be along to visit you all soon. xx

edited to add:

Julia, this is the new spa:

Exterior/Street Front Inspiration for Chez Pirate

The renovation is about to begin in earnest and the pressure is on to make some decisions.  For some time I have been photographing houses in our neighborhood and the surrounding suburbs for inspiration and one of my husband's hobbies is to spend hours perusing real estate sites so we have amassed quite a collection of images to inspire us in our latest renovating endeavour!  Currently concentrating on exterior colour, weatherboard style (ie. classic,rusticated etc) and fretwork...

Love the colour of this house (am pretty sure it is the house in the Dulux ad!) and we are also planning to do a similar path of sandstone pavers across the back lawn to the pool.

Closer shot for y'all of the colour!

This house is in my Aunty's neck of the woods and everytime we drive past I swoon!

Another divine weatherboard!

Love the porch light!

This house is even further North at Palm Beach and is truly spectacular.  Image is from Architectural Digest and if you want to see more photos of the interior (divine) see here.

Love the colour of this house as well, in fact I love it so much that I knocked on the door once on my way back from the beach with dripping wet hair and still in my bathers and asked the owner what the colours she had used were.  She was just gorgeous and very kindly shared with me!  (Image originally from Domain.)

Another jewel on the Northern Beaches.  The pirates often play at the playground across the water from this house and I find it very distracting! (Image originally from Domain.)

Here are all the colour samples painted onto the side of the house... we are leaning towards the centre one.  Any thoughts? 

Two lovely things happened to me today!

Which is especially lovely as I have a horrible flu like cold at the moment! 

                         Lovely thing number one:

In the mail arrived my first giveaway win ever, infact my only win ever!!!! I won a copy of The Outside Boy on Julia's fabulous blog and I am so looking forward to reading it!  Thank you Julia!

 Lovely thing number two:

I popped into our local Salvo's store (my favourite shop EVER) and look what I found!!!!  A perfect, unchipped immaculate Carlton Ware single flower plate.  AAAAHHHH!  Rufus Wainwright was singing the chorus from Hallelujah in my head as I walked out of the shop!!!!  I have been collecting Carlton Ware since my early university days and I have been looking for one of these plates for a LONG time.  I feel better already.

A lazy weekend.

Recently we have been frantically busy.  Partly as we are just about to undertake a fairly major renovation,  (plans approved, builder engaged, organising storage and rearranging bedrooms right now!) and partly due to the Captain starting school and R's business expanding.  So it was a lovely change to have a relatively quiet weekend with only a few comittments to attend... and for the first time in ages we actually managed to capture all four of us behind the lens.  This is such an unusual event that I have posted the photo!  Here we all are, admittedly not the best photo of all of us, but as Jane would say... we're keeping it real people!

Saturday night we went to Hugos Manly for dinner. A truly great local restaurant.  It is in a fantastic location on Manly Wharf and has an amazing colonial/plantation style ambience.  It also manages to simultaneously be both intimate and romantic and yet family friendly!  We have had dinner there on date nights and also pizza early in the evening with kids and it is perfect for both.  Not many restaurants can accomplish this!  Can you tell I love it? 

The view from our table.  Note the bicycle leaning against the railing outside.  Every time I looked at it I thought of Julia and her fantasy bike collection.

This is the dish that we go there for... not the little one's pizza, although the pizza is fantastic, proper crispy thin crust! No, we get cravings for the... Wagyu beef carpaccio with roasted baby beetroot, whipped goat’s curd & balsamic  glaze!!! Delicious! I also recommend the Pimm's cocktail.  As a Pimm's aficionado I often find it undrinkable unless I have mixed it myself.  Hugos gets it right everytime, half ginger ale, half lemonade and just the right amount of fruit to cucumber!  Refreshing, delicious and perfect for a late afternoon or early evening cocktail.

The boys like it there as well. He is spotting fish!

Project Organise: The Car (plus some photos of the wall mounted TV for Rachael)

                As the back seat of our car always seemed to look like this:

I decided that some Project Organise was necessary.  A quick trip to Kmart and I purchased this little canvas storage unit to put in between the boys car seats.  I measured the space first as there is not much room between them.  I know this as I had to squash myself in the back the other day when we were dropping my MIL home... to the other side of Sydney!  Anyway, inside I put all the various items that the boys use to entertain themselves on car trips.  Books, colouring-in items, a couple of puzzle toys and a few small matchbox cars and planes. 

Fits perfectly!  At the back is a Crayola Travel Turtle.  I am really hoping to avoid going down the DVD player in the car path, so this is my way of trying to keep the boys entertained on long car trips! Audio books on CD have been fantastic as well.

For Rachael:

Photo of the TV, it is wall mounted above the sideboard.  The bracket for the TV is not centered above the unit as it needed to be attached to a load bearing stud.  Something to think about if you are wall mounting!  The TV moves around on the bracket though so we can position it at different angles.  In the above photo it is pushed back to the right against the wall.

My paternal grandparents were anthropologists. I inherited many of the artefacts that they collected in the 1930s/40s.  These pieces are Aboriginal and Samoan and are hiding a speaker. The DVD player and Foxtel are also here, but when we renovate next month and this wall gets ripped out we will relocate these items into the sideboard itself.

At the other end of the sideboard, is the amp, another speaker, one of my WW1 ashtrays, an aboriginal knife and a painting by June Bird.