The rough in

Once the wall and ceiling frames are done, as ours are now, it is time to do what is called the plumbing and electrical 'rough in'. This is when the plumbing pipes go in, and the wiring for lights, switches and power points. You need to consider how the finished rooms will be furnished. Where would a desk and bed go in a bedroom, thereby dictating where powerpoints are required?
It's a bit confronting to be faced with such fine details when the rooms still look like this.

In the main living room, which is quite large and long, we are having a coffered ceiling. This is a ceiling with recessed squares or rectangulars. In our case, the coffered ceiling will hide beams and the plumbing under the upstairs floorboards. The end will hopefully look something like this.

We are as allergic to downlights in our house as we are to Ikea, so I have been looking on-line to see the best positions on a coffered ceiling for lights. It seems they usually go in the recessed areas, but not always, making it annoyingly confusing.

Here's a pretty example of a coffered ceiling. It has sconce lights. I'm really not getting much clarification here.

On a different, but related subject, here are some examples of why you should stick to classic, rather than fashionable design - especially when it comes to your kitchen. This is what happens when the adults are in charge.

Now I have a laundry to plan.....

Lily Pulitzer 1931-2013

Lily Pulitzer died yesterday. She was 81. Lily was a wealthy American who lived on the East Coast and became famous in the 1950s for her outrageously colourful frocks. After her old school friend Jackie Kennedy was photographed in one they went beserko.
You can read more about Lily here.
She eventually sold her company and Lily Pulitzer merchandise is still available. Vintage Lily Pulitzer frocks sell for a bomb. I think the Happiness Place in Paddington stocks new Lily Pulitzer bits and pieces?

This is Lily in her store in 1959. As the story goes, she ran a juice stand in her husband's orange grove. She designed the fabric so the juice didn't stain her dresses. I think this story sounds rather flawed. Why would a person who described having a budget as 'embarassing' have a juice stand? Anyway, whatever your motivation or inspiration, thanks Lily.

I love this photo of Lily with her two daughers.
Below is an original Lily Pulitzer advertisement.

Below are some of the newer Lily Pulitzer products with her trademark eye popping colour.

Excuse me. The shoes!

A Lily Pulitzer interior. You've got to love the palm trees. Very Florida.

This below is, I think, Lily Pulitzer inspired Prada, but correct me if I'm wrong. Please.

Is Don. Is Good.

Don is on his way back in season 6. Prepare yourselves!
You can read a teaser on the new episodes here.  Apparently Don is up to his old tricks and the season focuses on the women. That all sounds good to me.

Borrowed time

This absolute gem is also in Rockhampton. When I was little it was the posh-est restaurant in town. It sits on a prime position riverside, and once sold will most probably be demolished to make room for tres ordinaire high rise units. I think it deserves a moments silence.

You can read the full listing here.

Finger crossed, through some miracle, she manages to stay on her feet.

.....and then there was one

Look at these beautiful dahlias my friend gave me, and all I had to do was feed her little cat. They are from Bangalow, from a prize-winning dahlia grower. Magnifique!

Did you know that The New York Times recently ran an article called 36 Hours in Brisbane? You can read it here. Of course, as you'd expect, the goddam koala features. Call me heartless, but that unattractive, unintelligent looking animal gets more than its fair share of exposure. All they seem to do is laze around looking uninterested and occasionally peeing on a visiting dignitary. What about the dingo, the emu or even the common old kangaroo is a more impressive animal?
Speaking of animals, Eric the guinea rabbit (remember I rebranded them) passed away from an unknown cause on Tuesday morning, so now we're just left with the one. Unfortunately, our very sensitive Mim was the one who found him. Peaches, the cold fish, couldn't have cared less but cried anyway, mainly due to seeing her big sister so upset I think.
Have a look at this fabulous old building that's for sale for only $590,000!

Imagine what a magnificent home that could be. The only catch is it's in Rockhampton, but if you're still interested, you can find out more here. It was built in 1883 and it's huuuuuge.
Work on our downstairs is coming along nicely. The framing is almost done, then we get the plumber and electrician in to 'rough up', then we can line the walls, and it starts to get really exciting!
I'm off to enjoy the rest of my day, my last as a 40 year old as my sister kindly pointed out.
I'll leave you with a beautiful photo my friend Rachel took in Paris. She has just moved there to live for the next three years.

Au revoir!

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.