checking in

Just a quick one today to say hi, and I haven't forgotten you all! We've been quiet on the DIY front the last few weeks-and not because all of the painting turned us off! We had a weekend away in lovely Yamba, I've been writing school reports (so I have spent what feels like every waking minute while not at school staring at the screen-hopefully almost there!), last weekend was absolutely full, and this weekend is my birthday-30!!!!!

What a beautiful view to wake up to in Yambo

Gorgeous Angourie-the site of my first ever 'surf'!

Stormy seas while the boys surfed

Yamba is an awesome town-I loved it! Amazing (and cheap!) cafes-Beachwood Cafe is INCREDIBLE-we came away with a cookbook. Highly recommended! Irons and Craig was fantastic for breakfast too. Both offered different options than your usual fare.

I have some Christmas DIY in the works and more painting very soon!!

Hoping everyone around SE Qld is finally enjoying some much needed rain. We didn't get any until Saturday, and unfortunately it bought some cricket ball sized hail with it. Our house was fine, but I was at the hairdressers, and now need a new windscreen, and have some big old dings in my car too. Not ideal, but it's all insured, and can't change it.

it's alwhite: part 2

The french doors are done (well one of the five sets of french doors), but we've also had the white paint out on the front verandah railings. It has to be the most frustrating of painting jobs, fiddly, time consuming and boring, but now it is done I love it, and kind of want to start on the other verandahs too!

Don't mind the few missing posts-they wont be missing for much longer

I love gardinias-I will be so sad when ours finishes flowering-one of my
favourite smells

A few befores to remind you of the creamy, pinky yellow that is no longer

Painting on the other railings won't be happening for the next few weeks though due to a crazy end of year coming up at work (reports, finishing up and moving classrooms) and a few things on over the weekends.

Do you hate railings? Any tips to make it less painful?

it's alwhite: part 1

I've said it before, and I'll say it again-It's amazing what white paint can do. I was a bit negative on painting last weekend, but every time I've caught a glimpse of the finished product I've felt re-energised-even for the other railings!!

Starting the doors that day ended up being a fairly spur of the moment decision-what do you want to do tomorrow? I might start on the doors, and apart from the sanding dust in the house was fairly pain free. We took them off their hinges, sanded them and the door frame back, taped the glass, 1 coat of primer, 2 coats of white paint and rehanging all in a day. We started pretty early-no daylight savings in Queensland is good for getting started first thing in the morning.

Sunday was touch ups, removing the tape, scraping the glass, and a few more touch ups when needed. Every time I look I find another bit I missed with the razor!

Here are some before to remind you of what it used to look like.

And an after to leave you with. Thanks for all of your opinions when I asked whether we should varnish or paint. They look amazing, and I am so glad we decided to go white. I just needed to make sure other people didn't think I was making a mistake!

The front verandah is certainly not done, but a few hours and a bit of paint over the last few weeks have made such a difference.

quilt shopping

I've been hinting about the need for a new quilt cover for our room for awhile now, but L didn't see the need. Although I still like the one we have it is only a Queen size for our Queen bed, and I would like it to be King size. We recently bought a new bed for downstairs, so I figured it was a good time to shuffle this one to another bedroom, and have a nice new King sized quilt on our bed. Plus it's been about 2 years-time for a change. L came on board as recently he has had a few crazy dreams about spiders and snakes in the bed and is blaming the patterns on the pillows. It would be ok if he didn't start trying to kill them by whacking them!

I've had a few ideas, and I'll check them out in person over the weekend.Initially I was all about colour and pattern. We already have a plain white quilt cover in the blue bedroom, and our current quilt cover is mostly white too.

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But I think I have changed my mind, and will go for white, and bring in colour through sheets, cushions, blankets  and other items like art and books and pretties. Considering we still have to paint the room, and don't really have a full plan in mind, and the fact I keep changing my mind might make this a much wiser option.

I would love linen, but it's probably out of our budget at the moment. But I can dream...

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Hmmm, it's definitely time for us to do some work on our bedroom.

if you need me you can find me painting

A friend asked me what I was up to this weekend, and I replied painting. Then I realised that I cannot see a time in the next few years when that wont be on the cards.

Purple walls and ceilings-be gone!

Our immediate painting plans for the next year or so include 2 more sets of verandah railings and a set of exterior stairs, our the walls and ceilings of our purple lounge and dining rooms and probably the kitchen too, all the trim in those rooms and the exterior of our house (with at least some done by a painter).

Three verandahs worth of railings to become white, and repaint the house grey
(I should find a spare weekend to sew some new covers for this free furniture!)

So you'll find me in my sweaty paint splattered clothes and hat, with a paintbrush in hand or at the paint shop handing over money.
Hopefully I'll have some afters for you after the weekend!!I will finish these front railings (if the rain and wind stays away!!)

**My current negativity toward painting may be due to my hatred of painting verandah railings. Walls and trim and cutting in I don't mind, the railings are doing my head in... :)

laundry inspiration

Now that our laundry update planning is definitely underway I've been looking at lots of lovely laundries, so I thought I would share some with you. There are a few kitchens-but just turn them into laundries in your mind. Here's a refresh of our current plans:

This first one is one of my favourites, and a similar layout to ours, but ours won't have windows. It feels so nice and bright and clean!

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Another favourite, again with a similar layout. This one also has no natural light like ours. We wouldn't have a potting station at the end. Look at that amazing storage!!

Not sure of the link-it's a fake one from pinterest

I like the green flashback and the dark handles on the cupboards. All three of these so far have had similar cupboard doors. I like the mix of cupboards and shelves, but don't think I would want clear glass in the laundry.

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Similar again, but silver pulls.

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I'm seeing a theme here.... 

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Another kitchen-so simple-very clean and fuss free. All just stainless steel, white and wood. It's a bit more modern.

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Maybe an expedit on the opposite wall for some extra storage.

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Have you seen any nice laundries? Which is your favourite? What would you incorporate if you could? 

what to do?

The exterior of our house is a mish-mash of paint colours. Blue, navy, white, cream and yellow. Plus our now sanded and oiled decks, and five wooden french doors. 

I've begun the big job of painting our verandah railing white (if this wind ever stops I may one day finish!), but we can't decide what to do with the doors. They were varnished, but it has mostly worn away.

Our options

a-sand and revarnish in a natural tone

b-sand and paint in white to match the windows and new railings

I'm planning on recovering the outdoor furniture in a white/natural colour. 

Please excuse the mostly old photos-I haven't taken many new ones, and our front verandah is currently a mess due to being mid paint!

Our nice new deck floors-they all look like this now!

The next photo shows the front verandah from the street-you can see how faded the left hand door is, compared to the open interior side. Would it be too much white? Or would it just make sense, and match the rest of the house?

The back verandah-one white door next to another set of doors 

Bottom verandah

Top verandah

 What do you think? Keep them wood, or paint them white?

laundry plans

After all of our work downstairs in the garage we've decided it's time to look at doing something to our laundry.

This is what we currently have to work with.

It does the job, but there are some pretty big flaws. 

-It lacks effective storage

-It has zero bench space

-It's open to the garage, meaning that it is impossible to keep clean-there is often sawdust, dirt, potting mix, glass clippings, leaves etc blowing into the laundry

-There is a lot of wasted space

There are a few problems to start off with. The washer and drier are on a fake dividing wall, behind the dividing wall? Nothing. It's just storage space (basically empty now apart from golf clubs and a bike). 

So, our plan is to build a wall between the garage and laundry area (where the step up in) to divide te two areas, and knock down that fake dividing wall to open up the space.

We will then have a galley style laundry, with everything along the existing exterior wall-we wont be moving plumbing, but we will be able to have the washer and sink up one end, with the dryer on the wall. Then will be a nice big bench, with lots of cupboards underneath, and a tall cupboard at the end for linen. We will have either open shelves, or cupboards, or a mix on the wall above the bench. L has been busy planning, and we have knocked up a bit of a sketch. Things might change a bit between now and then, but this will be our basic layout. 

Because it will be such a wide space, I think we will be able to have cubbies or shelves on the opposite wall for more storage-probably for beach gear and sports equipment.  I've been pinning like a crazy person! At the moment the surfboard racks will probably stay where they are, but in the future we may look to moving them, and putting in a fridge/freezer in there. 

Our plan is to go for a flatpack-probably Bunnings or Ikea, but we will figure all that stuff out over the coming few months. We will do most of it ourselves, with the help of a carpenter friend for the new wall, plus plumbers and electricians. It's exciting. It will also mean we will be getting rid of more of the lovely green paint, and getting some nice new flooring in there too! YAY!