The Green Herring

Just a tip. When you're in a tile shop in Noosa, and a lady called De De tells you the tile you've selected is 'very special' and 'made to order', don't bother getting too attached to it. If these tiles aren't going to drive you around in their convertible Porsche or take you on holidays to Monaco, you're probably going to be hard pressed to justify the cost of them.
These are the ones in question, they look harmless enough don't they?

 And they would do the job we had in mind for the downstairs living area, which was something like this.

However, at $180/metre plus delivery, presumably in the convertible Porsche, they are cost prohibitive over 45m.
Here's another tip. When you go to 10 tile shops and everyone tells you the tile you are after doesn't exist, go to the 11th one and they'll have it.
We finally found our more affordable floor quality subway tiles at The Tile Mob in Mitchelton. They have an amazing collection of tiles for such a little shop tucked away.
We're now waiting on our first quote from the tiler to lay these babies, one by one, over the vast living area and laundry. There'll be tears, I know. Then there'll be more trips back to the drawing board.
When you're renovating I know that the budget is annoyingly dominant in what you do and don't do, however, I think there has to be one element of your house that is non-negotiable. You can't finish the job and still be without something that you absolutely loved, and got in the end. So far, we've been non-negotiable on the vj walls and ceiling, the skirting and trims and the doors, all of which could have been done for a lot less if we'd used more inferior and less traditional materials.
Maybe the floor will have to give? This is what we have in mind - black and white herringbone. The tiles we've picked are smaller than these ones below, but still a honed stone look with square edges.

Tiles can be laid in all types of patterns if you want to get creative about it.

Or this....

Tiles and paint, that's the fun stuff for me. So now we'll sit and wait for the first laying quote to come in, then we'll go from there. Fingers crossed people!

Sans rose-coloured glasses

While I enjoy keeping a record of our house renovations, I think it would be remiss of me to edit the process, and break it down into cheerful chapters, like the musical interlude in an American rom-com.
Can't you see it? Perhaps Lady Gaga's Edge of Glory booming, with images of me painting the fence in my denim overalls (complete with heart shaped applique), my husband comes over and dabs me on the nose with white paint, I throw my head back and laugh, cut to me and my husband smiling and nodding over some paint swatches, finishing with us falling into bed at the end of the day, exhausted but satisfied with our work.
The reality is more likely us arguing in a tile shop before making the silent trip home empty handed, or becoming unhinged at seeing jobs that need doing everywhere we look, or spending a sleepless night wondering how the hell we're going to pay for all the work.
If you are currently shopping the market, or just about to embark on your own renovation for the first time, I feel it my duty to give you some insight into the rather less glamorous flipside of renovating. It is an exhausting, messy, costly and consuming process.
It can't be disputed that Motherwell is a beautiful house, but let me tell you, she is also an old bitch.

She steals from us, she does, whatever she can get her hands on;  holidays away, beautiful handbags, birthday parties, new shoes, dinners in fancy restaurants, and worst of all a splurge at the Easton Pearson sale.
She's like that Billy Joel song. 

And she'll promise you more

Than the Garden of Eden

Then she'll carelessly cut you

And laugh while you're bleedin'

But she'll bring out the best

And the worst you can be

Blame it all on yourself

Cause she's always a woman to me

And when she's not thieving our money, she's taking all our time instead. Then there is the constant mess and dust, and nothing is quite right, at least not yet. It's like living in an unfinished puzzle. Everything seems temporary and all our hopes are pinned to something in the distant future, a time when all the work will be done and final. I worry that the house is too taxing on us and too distracting, and will it all be worth it in the end? Wouldn't it be easier to live in something smaller, newer, more manageable? I look at those brand new apartments that are always being advertised and imagine the customised shoe racks displaying all the new shoes I would buy. I eyeball sweet little cottages I see for sale that seem just the right size for the four of us. They seem to be a lot less responsibility. I don't mean to sound ungrateful. At the moment I'm just feeling overwhelmed. Of course, I know me, I know the process. This is a lull, and now I've got it out of my system, I'm sure I'll wake up tomorrow all refreshed and ready to workshop bathroom cabinets again. I'll put a bit of Gaga on to get me going.

Renovation Don'ts - Part II

Every time I open a property paper lately, I see this beautiful house for sale in Coorparoo and it reminds me of, what I believe, to be a very important 'Renovation Don't'.

You don't need to race in and change everything about a house immediately for the sake of change. Think people.  Once features are ripped out, they're gone for good, and there's some things that can't be faked, like the patina of age and time that gives a house its charm and character. If you don't want charm and character, if you want everything to be shiny and perfect, maybe an old house is not for you?

Every time I see a picture of the kitchen in this house, I automatically think of that saying; 'Fools rush in'.

How beautiful and gracious is this kitchen? I can just imagine the lady of the house clicking around in it in her kitten heels when it was brand new, making sandwiches for her girlfriends and a tray of g & ts on a hot day. Call me a pessimist, but I just know some doody head is going to make it their mission to rip this pretty girl out and install some sleek pre-fab eye sore.

This is how I would have loved our kitchen to look, but the existing 'kitchen' in our house was more just a room with a sink and a recess where the wood burner had been.

Just look at this beautiful house. It's at 251 Chatworth Road, Coorparoo.

If you're about to renovate, may I suggest living in your house as is for six or twelve months. The plans that we had in mind when we first moved in changed completely after living in our house for 12 months.

You probably don't remember it, but when Alex Baldwin's character was made the head of CNN in 30 Rock, he say's 'Well, the first thing I'll do is redecorate my office, even though it's perfectly fine the way it is'.

It's human nature to go into a new place and mark our territory. Remodelling or redecorating is the more civilized equivalent of peeing around the boundaries.

Just keep in mind, it's not always necessary. Old houses are gracious and romantic, two qualities that are being wrung out of the world on a daily basis. You may find it very refreshing to forgo fashion in the name of something more classic and nostalgic.

Say no to remodelling and redesigning more, and embrace the practice of restoring and preserving, at least that way, you can always change your mind.

The don'ts, flowers, Penny Scallan and leopard print carpet.....

I love our house and we have felt at home here the minute we moved in, however, there are some changes I would make if we were renovating again.
For instance.....

• I would have a larger linen cupboard
• I wouldn't have black floors, then again, we didn't have a lot of choice, since the newly replaced floorboards were white and the originals were honey coloured.

•  Pedestal sinks look fabo, but where do you put your toothbrush - or your lipstick, make up primer, serum, eye cream, night cream, day cream, tinted moisturiser or mascara? I'm a girl who is heavily dependent on both bench and cupboard space in the bathroom, and I should have thought about this more.



• I would also tile the floor of the shower rather than having one of those built in units.

Nothing major I suppose, but worth workshopping, and maybe handy to know if you're about to embark on some work yourself.

A few things just quicky before I go and park myself on the couch for a comfy Saturday night in.
We had some freaky fog during the week. This is what we saw from our back verandah.

It's no secret that I love a bargain and this morning I got myself a good one. I went to Trades Secret (shh!) in Capalaba, which is so far over the southside you need a valid passport to get there. I didn't find anything too exciting, then just as I was about to leave, I spotted some seriously discounted Penny Scallan bags. Unless you have a kindy or school age child, you probably don't know who Penny Scallan is. Technically, I'm not sure exactly who she is either, but her name is usually plastered over cute, although overpriced, backpacks and lunchboxes, etc.
However, this morning I stocked up. I got this cute little apple backpack for Peaches. It was $60 reduced to $20 - love it!

Also picked up this big zippered bag so now they can go for a sleep over at their grandparents without taking ten little bags each. It was $18, down from $60. I also got a new lunchbox for Mim for only $10, usually $35 and a couple of drawstring library/swimming bags, $8 from $24. When you have young children you can't have enough hats, shoes or bags.

Some quick flowers......



These red roses are from Grandma and Grandad's garden. The fragrance is unbelievable. I love home grown roses. They are a thousand times better than those waxy, fragrantly impotent little phonies sold at florists.

Now, to finish up, some leopard print carpet. Just because.  Not everyone's cup of tea maybe, but I think it's a case of being so bad, it's good! Just the thing to go with your leopard print Snuggie, and I know some of you have them!

Stay warm!