Come on a journey of inspiration & adventure while renovate & restore a beautiful Victorian home 'St Elmo' in the picturesque Hunter Valley, Australia & laugh at a few of our family adventures along the way.




Tuesday, December 31, 2013

2013 A year in review

Like everyone, I can't believe how quickly the year has flown by.
2013 was a busy year for us as a family. A year of indecision.
Thankfully we have finished  2013 organised & with a plan.


We almost gave up hope of ever building the dream home, we even listed our block For Sale with a real estate agent for 3 months. 
Thankfully it didn't sell in that time because after looking at an extraordinary amount of homes, nothing ticked all of the right boxes & we realised we loved our little plot of land, its location & the house we spent hours designing. Nothing else was going to fulfill that need.
We are so happy we have made that decision to build the dream house. We put in a veggie garden, installed a bird feeder & started organising to construct our house.

 So let the build begin!!!


Career wise it has been a big year but change is under way in that department as well.
I work for a modular building company as a sales consultant. The best part of my job, I get to help people design their dream home.
Unfortunately my husbands employer changed his roster which completely destroyed the fine tuned balancing act we had going to make the two jobs work with our kids. This has made it pretty much impossible for me to continue in my position, My employers really have worked hard to keep me & have tried flexible working hours but unfortunately its making everyone elses jobs harder. They will be looking for a replacement Trish in the new year, leaving me unemployed.
Never fear.....I have a plan!!!!


I am currently in the process of setting up my own little online homewares store, it should kick off in January sometime.
I am EXTREMELY excited about this but will of course be calling on you all for ideas & opinions.
I would love to find a few US wholesalers  & see if I can get some fabulous goodies imported that we just don't have here in Australia, as well as using local suppliers.
Any advice greatly appreciated.
Feel free to come & like us on 
for regular updates. Our website is almost ready to go as well!!!


Dream child No 4 had a great year. She turned 6, completed Year 1 being able to read at a year 3 level, lost teeth & grew nice new big kid teeth, She over came her biggest fear & joined in on a school performance.



Dream child No3 also had a good year. He was elected house captain & thoroughly enjoyed the job.
He played in the schools touch football & futsal(indoor soccer) teams & just had an all round great year.
he will have his last year in primary school in 2014 & is planning on working very hard to ensure he gets a place in a good high school for 2015. 



Dream child No 2 had an enormous year.
She completed a Certificate 3 Business admin traineeship. The company she worked for loved her so much they have offered her a second traineeship doing her certificate 4. She has jumped at that offer as she had planned on continuing with her studies in that area.
She got her drivers license & saved up for her first car. She turned 18. I had a Chanel handbag cake made for the occasion as she is handbag obsessed.
She also kicked a lot of personal goals which has bought her a lot of self confidence & happiness. Her strength & determination in this area brings me a tear of happiness & makes my heart skip a beat when I think of how far she has come.


Dream child No 1 has led the charge for her siblings. She has worked very hard in her job to put a roof over her head & pay for her studies. She works at Recollections & Early settler in Leichhardt, one of my all time favourite stores.
She has also completed her first year of studies in fashion design, gaining some distinction's & credits along the way.

Its safe to say I am a very proud mummy this year & I know they all have lots of personal goals to achieve next year.


We did a Roar & Snore at Taronga Zoo in Sydney. I highly recommend everyone do this.
The best 'Glamping' you will ever experience!!!





We had a couple of weekends in Sydney exploring the sights of the city.
We did the Aquarium, the Zoo, Sydney Tower, the Rocks, Lunar Park & Sydney vivid.
I love Sydney!!



A couple of weekends in Lithgow in The Blue Mountains.


 & of course many fun times in our local area.

So that was 2013 for our little family.

Happy New Year everyone & thanks for following my little blog, especially when I got so slack with my posts for a while there.

CHEERS
Trish xxx






Friday, December 27, 2013

Pantone Colour of the Year 2014 Radiant Orchid

I was pretty surprised to see this one as the new Pantone Colour of the Year, but there are a lot of ways to use Radiant orchid in your home that I could embrace.


For me I would use it as an accent colour


You could go a little bolder & create a feature wall 
OR


if you're a major fan then paint the entire room radiant Orchid


Of course there are variations to the shade


Design Seeds alway come up with great colour schemes from nature below are some ways to use this scheme


Very relaxed & eclectic


or slightly bolder, I love it paired with Chartreuse.


Another design seeds colour scheme.This one feels a little more sophisticated


A little sultry & moody


or once again bolder. Very morrocan.


If using it in the home is not for you then how about using it in your next celebration

Drinks


Flowers


Cakes


Or  including it in next seasons wardrobe


I could definately live with these gorgeous YSL shoes.

So do you think you will be embracing Radiant Orchard this year?

Drop by my Pinterest Board for some more inspiration!

CHEERS
Trish xxx

All images via pinterest












Thursday, December 26, 2013

A Fabulous Christmas


Merry Christmas everyone. I hope you all had a fabulous lead up to Christmas & got to share your day with your loved ones like we did...



We do enjoy dressing for the occasion.


I had a gold, silver & white theme this year. I do love a good colour co-ordinated Christmas.



Me & my dream guy


We have started a new family tradition this year of taking a crazy family photo. It was heaps of fun!


There's not much room for our tree in this house.














Merry Christmas Everyone,

CHEERS
Trish xxx





Sunday, December 22, 2013

The dream house is starting

Well its been a long year of indecision & uncertainty but we have made it through.
We have explored every option, resolved all issues  & the DREAM HOUSE has begun!!!


We are tackling this as owner builders with the Dream guy doing most of the work himself.
He is kind of clever like that.


It will be a long slow process, painful for you guys to watch, I'm sure.
We do hope to be in for Christmas next year.


So here is a little reminder of what we are building.


I am super excited to be finally moving forward, so please celebrate with me & enjoy the ride.
I'm sure there will be some funny stories to tell along the way!


CHEERS!
Trish xxx



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