Open plan entertaining...

Our lounge, complete with amazing Swedish Rug from Etienne (one of my fav Adelaide stores) but also available from here and here.

Photography and styling in this photos & all below by the always fabulous Katie Dawson

This room only needed a coat of paint, especially on the skirting boards, door and window frames. However we also changed the light fittings as they were just paper lanterns and the ugly pink Venetian blinds! This room also needs new flooring, but we refrained from doing this as some people like carpet and some like hard floors, so the new buyer can choose (and install).

Our house has an unusual layout with a double narrow carpeted entrance and room next to the kitchen/family room. It makes no sense to have two living spaces in the one room and it's awkward to make it into one large lounge room due to it's narrowness and fire place orientation. So styling is was a challenge for Katie, but as usual she made it welcoming yet stylish. Our dream was to put bamboo floors through this space. I don't get dining rooms over carpet in family homes, everyone knows it's only going to end in disaster, but it's the only logical way to create two living spaces.

Our own dining table and chairs from home. We are currently eating on our old dilapidated blue couches (you know how I feel about blue). 

The thing I love about this room is our amazing couches. We designed them at the manufacturer. We literally called Beilby's and popped into their workshop. Lou the owner was great and we chose a general style and then negotiated measurements of every component of the the couch. We widened and lowered the arm rests so they would be easier to operate a computer mouse on and comfortable to lie down on. Then the huge decision of fabric! This took us a while, but in the end we decided we loved the two dark fabrics we had narrowed it down to so either way we would be happy. The greatest feature of the couches is the life time warranty on the cushions, yes lifetime. It's made out of this awesome better-than-foam type stuff that lasts. It's a really environmental choice as foam isn't great to create or throw out, so I'm glad it's going to last.

Our fabulous life time guarantee (cushions, 10 years on frame) couches from Beilby's. 

Cushions from Freedom, Ikea and Target.

Nest of tables from Freedom.

Plates and bowl from Freedom.

Candle holders from Ikea.

Do you have any styling successes that you would like to share?

A trip down Kitchen Renovation memory lane...

Our very blue and dysfunctional kitchen

Before we moved out of our family home we replaced our hideous blue lino with bamboo floating floors and while we were at it I snuck in a new kitchen too.

No more blue! And relatively eco friendly too!

After... our fresh blueless kitchen!

Photography & styling by Katie Dawson

The complete kitchen, don't touch, I don't want to get it dirty!

Photography, styling & cheeky photoshop chalk by Katie Dawson 

This kitchen was put in when I was pregnant, not the best time to renovate! At 8.5 months I insisted on sitting on the sink and painting the window frame. Clearly nesting as Missy Moo came a few days later!

We are very lucky to have a super handy dad. My dad is a cabinet maker by trade and allowed me to design exactly what I wanted with out a scrap of measuring! I literally got out EVERYTHING I owned in my kitchen and put it into piles on the floor to work out where I would like it stored it so it would be in easy reach of where I would use it. I made a preparation, cooking and cleaning zone and thankfully it has really worked. This kitchen is the only thing I have missed since moving from this house, which is why I thought I would show it off first!

Stay tuned for more rooms soon!

What would be in your ideal kitchen? Colours, style, practical items? Thermomix? ;)

We're selling!

I know, it's been a while... but I do have a good excuse and some lovely photos over the next few days to show you! 

A few weeks ago we made the decision to sell our house, not the one we live in, we rent, but our former dream family home. It was the dream family home, near the beach, open plan, interesting features, towering ceilings... until our dream of family changed. Originally we had planned to have more children, however having children can alter your dreams as the reality of day to day living plays out. We also became too focused on creating a great space that we spent all our time renovating and missed out on what was important, spending time with friends and family. So we bailed on the four bedroom family home in the suburbs and moved into a two bedroom apartment in the heart of the city, selling a vast majority of our 'stuff' along the way.We had the best year of our lives, hanging out, being spontaneous and saying 'yes' to joining in with things happening in the city... it was bliss. We moved a stack of times since then and are now very settled in our one small orchard, walking distance to our beloved old apartment. 

The decision to sell our former home was made in one evening over a short conversation. It was easy as we aren't attached and it just made sense. The next morning I called the agent who sold us the house and I met him that afternoon. 

Then came the obvious list of things that needed to be done. We had tenants that were mostly great, but there was the inevitable damage to walls etc. that needed patching, which leads to painting, lots of painting. All of a sudden our lofty ceilings were a curse, not a blessing. Six or so weeks later (returning to our former obsessed renovating lifestyle) we are finished! We've:

• painted inside & out
• done endless amounts of patching on a range of surfaces, liquid nails and no more gaps are my new besties! 
• installed new curtains
• tiled the bathroom
• installed a new bench, basin, taps and lights in the bathroom
• installed new light fittings
• my dad created shelving to hide a bodge job of bare wall that a former owner created
• installed a range of fittings
• and removed a mountain of hooks (another former owners were into feng shui)
• shopped and styled, okay this wasn't a chore, but it did take a lot of time and research ;)

 I only have iPhone or really old photos of the exterior at the moment, but I'm going to share them anyway as I painted a majority of the exterior of the house by myself.... it wasn't as easy or as quick as I thought! Never the less, I finally got my dream of transforming our mission brown house to the ironbank grey it deserves! And I'm kind of proud of my efforts....

What would you love to do to transform the front of your home?