New Lounge Dilemma

We have been contemplating buying a new lounge setting for our living room. We currently have a hand me down sofa bed in there that is really old and really uncomfortable. Well it's not actually in that room anymore. Since we got the new big TV and we have been using the living room more than the family room for TV watching we moved the lounges around and brought the lounges from the family room into the living room, I just got so sick of sitting on the wooden frame of the old lounge.... anyway we have been browsing furniture stores and testing lounges for the last few months (whenever we have had a chance). Unfortunately we are struggling to agree on a style of lounge we want. It has to be comfortable, we want to be able to sprawl all over it and watch TV so cushioned armrests are a must. We have finally agreed on a three seater and two armchairs. I would really like something like these.....

I love the white slip covered lounges, they look nice and they are comfortable and practical. The slipcovers come off, get thrown in the wash and voila, nice and clean again. I think white or off white is easier to maintain than a coloured fabric because you can soak them if they get stained and hang them out in the sunshine to dry. Colours aren't so easy, the colour fades and can look old and worn quickly.

All of the lounges and armchairs above are from Pottery Barn and unfortunately we don't have a Pottery Barn in Australia. Ikea does have a range of slip covered lounges but they have square arms and aren't as comfortable. I did find a nice set in 1825 Interiors but it seems that I will most likely not get my choice this time.

Anything I have found that is similar and is available in Australia is either very expensive and not in our budget or the size of the lounge and armchair are too big. We don't have a lot of space in our living room and if we opt for a large lounge and arm chairs we will make the room feel very crowded. W.H likes the look and style of these.....

I am not in any rush to buy these so I will see how long I can hold out.....

Tea Towel Bus Roll

I have just discovered Mel's fabulous blog "Mel's Rose Place" and she is having a wonderful giveaway. For a chance to win the Bus Roll Sign go and check it out. Mel's Rose Place

Dressing Rooms

I have been dreaming of having my own dressing room. Somewhere where I can have lots of pretty and glamorous baubles to admire and enjoy. A room where I can escape to for some me time to relax and pamper myself. A room to hold all my shoes, rows and rows of shoes (that I will need to buy to fill the shelves). Somewhere where I can lie back on my slip covered chaise and read a book whilst sipping a glass of wine and sampling chocolates.

Westchester Magazine

Decorpad

Aerin Lauder's Dressing Room Decorpad Distrust

Paul Schulman

Harpers Bazaar

Mariah Carey's dressing room

Habersham Home

House to Home

Rain

We have had a lot of rain lately, hopefully this will be the beginning of the end of the drought. Anyway the rain has been wonderful and it is great to see the green grass and the flowers thriving, well doing the best they can with our limited (but growing) gardening skills.

I have all of these new plants to put in the ground and photos to take so that I can share our progress in the backyard but I haven't been able to finish due to the rain, not that I am complaining. Just saying that I need to get more top soil and it is hard to get top soil when it has the consistency of soup.

I did sneak a few previews in, the rendered retaining wall and the new fence colour........ if you look closely.

Je t'adore

I love you, those three words have my life in them....

by Alexandrea to Nicholas III

A simple 'I love you' means more than money...

by Frank Sinatra

I love thee, I love but thee, with a love that shall not die till the sun grows cold and the stars grow old...

by William Shakespeare

One word frees us of all the weight and pain in life, that word is love....

by Socrates

Love doesn't make the world go round, Love is what makes the ride worthwhile...

by Elizabeth Browning

Photo source: McCarthy Designs

Wall Decals

Guess what was waiting for me when I got home today? I was so excited. My birthday present had arrived!! My birthday was a while ago and I got some money so I decided to use some of it to buy some wall decals. I have been eyeing these off for quite a while now and finally I had a perfect reason for buying some.

I ordered my decals from Leen the graphics queen you can find her at www.LeentheGraphicsQueen.com and I am really impressed with the delivery and service.

I knew that I wanted to put one of the decals here on the wall (support beam). I had originally planned to put the quote 'The Will of God will never take you where the Grace of God will not protect you' however I didn't measure before I ordered and the letters were too tall. So I had to reassess my plan.

After some deliberation I decided to re-configure the second decal and use it here instead.

As it turns out I am very pleased with the result. The two little blue bird were thank you gifts (from Leen) and I think they set it off perfectly.

The decals came with instructions on how to best apply them to the wall and it was very easy.

I ended up placing the other decal above our TV in the lounge room.

I am really happy with the way the decals look, thanks Leen you have one satisfied customer!

Retaining Walls

I will warn you now that this entry will not have any finished photos (I still haven't been out to take some) but I thought I could do some progress shots. Just to prove and remind us that we have been busy and we have made progress. This is the side of our house, this side faces North and when we moved in it was a mess. We don't understand why someone would build half a wall and then stop. Where the wall stops they placed rocks in an attempt to finish it off???? It was not nice, wood chips and little terracotta rocks, weeds, blue fence and blue gate. So we started the long process of cleaning this area. Given that this mess was at the side of the house and out of the way it was a job that kept getting put aside for other jobs. On the other side of the gate at the front half of the house we had this mess. More rocks, more blue fence and the neighbours driveway. First we cleared the rocks from the back half and moved them to the front half. We decided to work with what we had and create a rockery on the front side of the fence. We used all of the good sized rocks to create our edges and our wonderful Nan and Pop provided us with cuttings and plants from their garden to get us started. We bought some Pittosporum that we planted as a hedge along the neighbours driveway in order to create some privacy as it grows. Pittosporum is a fast growing hedge (about 1 metre a year from memory) that will grow 4-5 metres high. We will keep it trimmed at about 2 metres high. With some help from our brother Tom we began to finish of the brick wall. Tom dug and poured our concrete base then started us on the brick work. The brick wall that we began working on at the side of the house runs right to the back of the house and looks like this. This part of the brick wall is right outside our bedroom window. One day we will replace our bedroom window with french doors that will open up onto a little courtyard just for us, only big enough for a three piece table and chairs. Picture morning coffee and paper reading. In order to have a courtyard we need to make space so we started digging and knocking out bricks.

This photo gives you an idea of the layout. My WH is pouring the concrete footing for the new wall in the courtyard.

After a few Saturdays of work we finally have a brick wall all the way to the fence. Yes it is a bit wobbly but it was the first go and it isn't in a highly visible spot and we have rendered (photos of that another time) and I will be planting creepers over the wall to disguise the crookedness.

We also have a courtyard.

Proof that we finished this a while ago, there is only one old shed in the background.

At this stage of the backyard we left the walls as they were and then worked on replacing the rotting deck. I have already blogged about our weekend with the Dingo Digger and then our shed erecting.

So we have been working hard on bits and pieces, sometimes it feels like it will never end but slowly , slowly it is starting to come together.