Let the Hammering and Dust Begin!

It's my birthday soon and my lovely (and very organised) friend Anna gave me this beautiful chartruese cup and saucer...and matching bangle.

It's amazing how a bit of colour can give you a lift.

Work on our downstairs rooms has started in earnest, and we are currently operating in the usual chaos that renovating creates.

This is the wall and ceiling frames. We have a large loungeroom, two bedrooms, a bathroom, laundry and study.
I've found the most beautiful interiors store, only problem is it's in Woolloomooloo, Sydney. Still it's worth a look here.  It's called Pad, unfortunately. They obviously didn't consult any branding specialists before naming it. But aside from that, it's absolutely beautiful, with equal parts classic, vintage, glamorous, unique, surprising and freshing.

I'll have that chest of drawers and chair...

that ottoman and settee, and throw in the drums and all the stuff on the sideboard....

plus I'll take that settee, the drum too and those two chairs, plus some bits and pieces in the background.

I'm petitioning for a CMC inquiry into the price of flea treatments. After paying $80 for 4ml of Frontline (excuse me that's $19,500/litre), Honey Bunny seemed to actually get more fleas. The company assured me that no matter how many fleas she had, she'd have more if I hadn't treated her with Frontline - that's a convenient argument. Now we're trying another one, Comfortis, which I have found priced from $59.99 on-line to $105 in-store!! What's going on people-who-make-flea-treatments?
Anyway, I've said my peace and I feel better for it. Now I'm off to prepare for our house guests.

Buckle Up

The day after tomorrow is a very big day for us. We start the downstairs of our house. It's built in at the moment, but not fitted out. It's been a very handy space for the past couple of years. It's housed our temporary laundry, temporary study, weights room, play/making room and storage area.
Hopefully, within a couple of months time, it will be a permanent two bedrooms, downstairs living room, study, laundry and bathroom.
I've been workshopping ideas for the bathroom. It's not without its difficulties. The room is small, narrow, dark (or 'grim' as our architect described it), and we're working with a limited budget.
It's my personal belief that these hindrances can actually encourage more creativity and in the end you can turn out a top notch room - we'll see, I won't talk it up too much.
I've just been filing a whole bunch of bathrooms I like the look of, and from there I'll see what elements of those I can work into ours.
I seem to be attracted to dark cabinetry. Really love this one below, especially the marble bench tops.

I've popped this one in the file because, unlike our other bathrooms, I'm putting a major focus on storage, and bench space. Storage and benchspace. It's like rhythm and melody.

The next two are super pretty. I love the mirrored cupboards below.

Love the colour on these cupboards too and the style of them....and the bench tops and sconce lights....and that little blue footed bowl with the flowers in it.

I'm thinking that subway tiles will make an appearance.

Beautiful. Although, having just said our bathroom is small, narrow and dark, I think we can all safely assume the end product will look nothing like this.

My, I love this colour, but probably not for the bathroom. You've got to love a good pedestal sink, they're so pretty, but user-friendly they are not (I know this because they are in our other bathrooms).

I love the different compartments here, the dark floor with the light cabentry, the wallpaper on the walls and the space. It'll be difficult to replicate much of this in our bathroom.

Beautiful light, chair, floor, and probably cabinet?

This is a perfect example of 'pretty' with only the tiniest regard for practicality.

So, I'm nowhere near a firm plan, but the fun is in the research and the possibilities.