Saturday 25 February 2012

Don't worry it will be all white

Before we moved in a few weeks ago the new house needed a little freshening up so the easiest way to do that was paint - or so I thought. Because it is a small space we decided to paint it white - easy right? Not really - what white? White is not white. In fact I have decided it is one of the hardest paint choices to get right.

There is the whole warm versus cool decision, the tint to consider (you can often see yellow, blue, grey and even green) and the light in the space which is so amplified by white in a bright space like ours it can glow or burn if you get it 'right' or 'wrong'.

To make it even harder to decide the house has picture rails and a quite large cornice which we decided to do in a contrasting white. White on white - hard to get right.

After much deliberation and several sample pots we chose Dulux's Fair Bianca Half for the walls with the Dulux's Sago Quarter for the details. Of course it is almost pointless to show the swatches here as there is no way to see what it really looks like on a screen but it might give you some idea.

We are happy with the result. I was a little unsure at first - especially as we had chosen the colour when the old grey carpet was down and not the newly refurbished floorboards (an unavoidable no no in this circumstance). The Sago quarter is quite a nice, very pale, warm grey and the Fair Bianca Half is a soft white that I think sits nicely between warm and cool.

When trying to decide I was speaking with a friend and we both got excited when she told me that her kitchen was also Fair Bianca Half - I may have had subliminal influence because I like her kitrchen. We were both saying how we liked the very popular Antique White but stepping out of that comfort zone has worked well for us both.

You should explore the white swatches next time you are at the hardware and see what white is you. I think this combination has worked well in this space and Fair Bianca Half might be a favourite for a while but I will always spend a lot of time deliberating on white for any space because it is not all white in the end.

I will post some actual images of the space in the next few weeks (once the boxes are out of the frame)


Friday 24 February 2012

Found Friday

I am almost down to the wire and at risk of missing a second FF and not posting anything for 2 weeks. Sincere apologies but here is what I have found

Life without Internet access is almost impossible in this here time of ours!

I had no idea just how much until I was without it for this entire time.

I did also find lost bolts and connectors for furniture in boxes I didn't properly label at that end of the move, power cords for electrical devices and that a giant huntsman spider had moved into our old house when I went back to clean. I am still searching for time to sort, room to fit things in this little house and some images for my next post so you are not so bored. Back soon now I'm connected.


Friday 10 February 2012

Found Friday

Just in the nick of time - a really quick FF as I am still packing and we move tomorrow.
Still a lot to do - far too much stuff. But one more little thing can't hurt right?

My FF this week is courtesy of an unknown neighbour on what is soon to be my former street.
I love hard rubbish and trash piled high outside someone else's house always warrants a longer than average look from me.

This neighbour has in the past been responsible for me dashing across the road without shoes and returning with a washing basket full of art glass, 70's plastic ashtrays and a cat shaped teapot, among other things. Yesterdays parting gift to me was this pink luminous art glass vase. I couldn't leave it as it was - abandoned on the street - I definitely needed to offer it a home.

I have loved living here and will miss it - thanks street for my final pressie.


Sunday 5 February 2012

Neon, Neutral and Natural

I am currently loving the trend of contrasting neon colours and neutrals.  I have been seeing it everywhere since last year. Often they are in a natural material as well which highlights the synthetic quality of the neon. I think it may be the 80's child in me - of course we weren't as sophisticated as these pieces in either the way we put it together or in the fact we called it glow.
Here are some of my favs















Friday 3 February 2012

Found Friday

I forgot to mention that the little house we are moving to used to be Craig's grandparents and he has nice memories there so it is kind of sweet that our little boy will be living there even though he never met his great grandparents.

Looking around the yard doing a little bit of a tidy I turned up a bit of a fence shoved under the house and found this little guy in this state.



































So we just need to dust him off and find the perfect spot for him to watch over us.

Craig recalled that he has been at the house since his grandparents lived there.
I have now declared him the house mascot. I have a good feeling he will take care of us.

As a side note I asked Craig to take this 2nd pic for me today while he was at the house working - the
message I got back was "We need glue" - a brief moment of panic and superstition before I checked my emails and found it - he's hilarious.

Thursday 2 February 2012

Little Houses on the Hill

So my big news is we are moving. We are headed west, not the wild west in a wagon or anything,
but the south west of Sydney. In 2 weeks we will call a new place home.
This little place actually (pre makeover).













It is little! Quite little compared to where we are now and thinking of all our stuff in there - a lot in the garage mind you - is daunting. But it is charming and we are grateful for it and the opportunity we have been given to make it a home.

I will outline over the next few months our plans for it. For now I am spending my days sanding, painting, cleaning and packing in preparation for the big move. Super big as we have been where we are now for 6 years and we both have collector tendencies.

I think it may be the idea of this little house that has helped me see all the cute little house things there are at the moment, I have seen them everywhere - you know how you suddenly see what you have or have just read about everywhere because a little light has been switched on.

Below are some of the cutest on the street - I have found some myself online and in magazines but am also quite enjoying 'Little House' pinboard on Pinterest - you might like it too.




















Left to Right
1. Painted handmade houses fabechsfabrik.blogspot.com.au
2. Wooden house chopping boards ferm-living.com
3. Concrete house candle holders sinnenrausch.blogspot.com.au
4. Town blocks via 'Little House' pinboard on Pinterest via anthologymag.com
5. Candleholders via 'Little House' pinboard on Pinterest via designsponge.com
6. House shelves ferm-living.com