Pictures...slowly getting there

I thought I would quickly post some pictures of my house of how it looks at the moment. Still so many things to add...mainly the final touches. The brown lounge and rug are from our old house, they look OK for now I suppose. I still need so oversized art pieces, cushions, rugs, vases and all the other stuff that makes it into a warm, welcoming space. You will notice that our fireplaces are in...not without dramas either. The builders cut the holes too big so the plasterers still have to come back and patch up the gaps. At night we all 'retire' upstairs to watch TV or read a book. I think we are finally getting use to the space of our house.

I am still here!

Hi...to all my wonderful blog friends.

I am still here, just having a small break from my blog but hopefully back in the next few days totally refreshed with more pictures. I am slowly decorating my house and our garage is almost empty of all our belongings. Some of our paintings are up so our so it is all beginning to take shape. We haven't stopped entertaining for the last 4 weeks and it has been fantastic...having the space and the kitchen to finally spread out and cook for all our guests.
I have a big event coming up this week, my friends 40th Birthday party that I am hosting. I think I am going to cope and the house is looking good with almost everything completed. I cant wait to take pictures of the house when I set it up for the party to show you all. I will not go over the top but rather just use what I have got already....this has been my philosophy since moving and decorating my home.
I also wanted to say a big HELLO to all my friends from work who have finally found my blog and starting to read it.
Anyway, I must go to check what has been happening with all my favourite blogs...I do miss you guys and I promise to start commenting again...I feel like I have neglected all my online friends...(a special big hello to A-M and Kelly& Victoria whose journey I have followed from the start)

Mrs B

Pictures that inspire...Part 1

I want to start a series of posts highlighting certain elements in decorating that best represents my own personal style. Up until last night, I never really knew what my style was for this house. I know what I like, what colours look good together but really it was beginning to difficult for me to visualise how I was going to decorate the whole house for all rooms to have some unity.

Whilst browsing through all my blogs, a comment by Patricia Gray caught my attention and as Oprah would say...I had one of those light bulb moments.

In an interview she did recently on All The Best by Ronda Carman Patricia was asked to describe her design style...this was her answer

I like furniture to have good lines, rooms to have 'good' bones, juxtaposition with good antiques and art work with modern design.

This is my design style. It wasn't until I saw it actually written down in words that it all clicked. I love my antiques but I equally love modern art and contemporary design...I was somewhat torn between the two but it all can work together now.

There are literally hundreds of pictures I could use for this post. Strangely, I knew exactly which pictures best represent my ideas that I have for certain parts of my house.

I will start with two designers who have had a great influence on the direction I will be taking. Each picture has a certain element in it that I absolutely love! No way will I (or even able to) replicate each room but to really use the decorators ideas as a source of inspiration.

So here we go...Patricia Gray and her beautiful decorating style....

Patricia Gray

What attracts me to this stunning room is the contemporary art work and over sized mirror. I have noticed that Patricia users both these elements in most of her rooms...Love it and will definitely be using the same concept for my bedroom and perhaps the downstairs entrance hallway. The light coming into the room is just so beautiful and inviting.

There is something magical about this bedroom. It's the stunning blue lampshade bases (I cannot find anything like this in Melbourne) with the silver lampshades, the over sized mirror again and the contemporary art work on the wall. Combine all this with the dark wood....just lovely!

What is there not to love about this kitchen. The use of granite is sensational in this picture.

Patricia Gray

Finally, a picture of a dinning room...the table almost exactly like mine. In this picture, once again, the big mirror, classic and contemporary fittings working together. Even the crystal vase with the big white flowers....sigh!

The next decorator is Nathan Thomas who was the winner of Top Design (I love my decorating Shows)
Once again, when I analysis why I like these rooms so much, it is the combination of classic and modern ideas combined.

Nathan Thomas

Beautiful wallpaper, antique desk with contemporary objects beautifully grouped together. I still cant work out how to group things effectively in a space but that will be for another post!

Its the Art Work I LOve!

I saw how he did it on the show and thought...I can do that! This will be my upcoming project...pictures to come only if it works haha



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When I saw how he grouped the pictures together, I was blown away by how good it looked. This potentially could have been a disaster but because he has a great eye for design, he has collected a group of fairly 'daggy', old fashioned portraits in frames that have seen better days and created a wall of art that won him the title of Top Designer! The judges loved what he did with this wall and I cant believe how it works so well. This is my inspiration for future projects I have in mind.

Hope you enjoyed reading about what inspires me....many more rooms to come...

Mrs B

Decorating a Modern Home...Finally

So here I am, two weeks living in our beautiful new home. I am finding that I am beginning to be very picky and fussy as to what objects and paintings actually come through the garage door! There have been some 'teething problems' but I am prepared to live with them a little longer just because I love living in the house. I will give you an example...



Our Fireplaces...The house was designed around having two fireplaces, yes I know a bit of a overkill but this was my thing! I love fireplaces and if I could, I would have one in every room. Downstairs is going to be one of those normal gas log fires but upstairs was going to be the 'special one' It is one of those white long pebble fires, not for warmth but purely for looks. Like my chandelier, I have always wanted one. Anyway, today was the day of the installation, no more empty holes to look at. 7am the guys arrived, within 15 secs they told us it was too hard to install because our fireplaces were an inferior brand (Australian made mind you!) and they cant install them. Also there are 2 steel beams right in the way of where the pipes are going both up and downstairs. Mr B rang our builder, he was at our house in 15 mins. The installation guys just went to their next job.
There is no point in getting all upset when these things happen...after all, we are in our beautiful new home and nothing is going to spoil that!

So...What are my decorating projects at the moment! My bedroom will definitely take a while to evolve. The pictures here are what we have at the moment, a bed, bedside tables that can stay or go and our beautiful antique Table. I have a simple white bedspread but will definitely dress up the bed with cushions and a blanket. I am looking for an oversized contemporary art work to hang on one of the walls and also some drapes to dress up the windows. here are some pictures of my bedroom and ensuite to give you an idea of the space I will be decorating.

Main Bedroom



I would like some sheers to frame this window...just to give the room a more completed/luxurious feel to it. We already just had blinds installed in this room.

Ensuite


My lovely SIL gave me this jar (its called something else but I have forgotten the correct name) as a house warming gift. I put my Grandma's shells into it...

Another view of the ensuite...it needs something else with a bit of height, maybe a vase with flowers?......

At the moment, everything is very sparse and I cant wait to get all my pictures, plates and vases into the house. Everything takes time and its amazing how my tastes are changing all the time. I really do only want things that are beautiful to look at or sentimental to be on display.

My next post will be a few inspiration pictures that have given me some great ideas!

Mrs B

I am still here!.....Landscaping Pictures

I don't know why, but since we have no phone line and are on wireless internet connection, everything to do with blog land is so slow since we have moved into our new home. I have almost given up trying to load all my favourite blogs to read. I just wanted to say I hello to everybody and I am so sorry I haven't been able to comment on your blogs for a little while. I am still here, just frustrated that pictures are not downloading properly and often it takes a good 20 minutes to open up some of my favourite Canadian blogs...I have soooooo much catching up to do when we finally get this land line.


So....what has been happening at my end. Slowly we are moving possessions into our new home. Mr B has made numerous trips to the Salvation Army and the tip but finally we now have all our household with us...mostly in the boxes in the garage. I have been absolutely appalled by the amount of useless 'crap' I have stored and collected over years and concerned by the wastage of money that has gone into buying stuff that really we do not need. So much of it has gone to charity but even charities are beginning to be very picky as well and will not take large tables, sofas, desks etc. people do not have room in their houses for such items. I could go on about our 'throw away' mentality in our society but this is really not the time and place for it. I will just say however, I could of easily just walk away from all those unnecessary possessions, collect just a few pieces and be happy with that! It has made me even more determined to decorate this house with what I have got. The only things I really need are display cabinets to display all my mothers and grandmothers crockery...later more about this.





Landscaping...as part of our contract, our builder did our garden for us. This has been this biggest blessing as it really has completed our home, instead of looking at builders rubble, we look at beautiful little plants that hopefully will grow into healthy plants that produce flowers for the native birds.

Back Garden

We added all our 'garden accessories' to the back area. The decking is being stained today which I am very excited about. not much of a back yard but we are on a reserve where the kids are able to play.

A nice area to sit during the day and watch the world go by.

The last two pictures show plantings of native grasses and kangaroo paws. This area mostly gets sun during the day so hopefully the plants will do well here.

I have a more updated picture of this area, will post it later on. The small tree at the back is a Silver Princess (Australian Gum) and produces these amazing gum flowers that the birds love.

Front Garden

A small front garden as most of the space is taken up with our driveway and front decking. The landscaper took about an hour just to place the rocks in those positions...they are all hand picked for our garden as well.

Front Door

I still am amazed at how many neighbours and friends have commented about the colour of my front door. Some have said in a certain time of day, it looks like a golden colour. The front door is my pride and joy...thankyou to Michelle who picked the colour for this door.

The house is now starting to look like a home. the nature strip still really annoys me with all the builders rubble left behind but Mr B will clear it up and make it look as if it belongs to the rest of the garden. My lovely neighbour has looked after our council tree for us during the house build. It may look a bit wonky but it has survived!

I hope you have enjoyed my landscaping pictures...Day 5 of moving in. hopefully, I can post up to date pictures of the garden as it grows.

Mrs B