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.




Saturday, February 23, 2013

Dining style

Totally loving this look at the moment.
 
Source Lily G
 
Dining tables with NON matching chairs
I found these white crossback chairs on sale at
 
a nice little french provincial touch!!!
 
Source The house that AM built
 
I like either of these looks, it probably helps that I also love the pendant lights in each image as well.
I love these tolix style chairs for adding an idustrial edge.
 
OH THE STYLE CHOICES.......
 
 
 
This is my every day dining table & chairs, all matching, purchased as a set.
Now I realise there is nothing wrong with that, but you seem to get a more homely feel when you mix things up a bit.
All of this matching furniture throughout my house makes it a little boring & doesn't evoke the feeling I am looking for.
 
I would be more than happy to keep my table, but I would love to get some new chairs when we get in the dream house.
The issue will be, making a decision on the perfect style at the time!!!
 
 
This is what I refer to as my FORMAL dining table & chairs, which has been in storage for the past 4 years.I have always loved it, but am thinking it may need a little jazz up as well.
 Whether we recover the chairs in a more sophisticated fabric or perhaps add a nailhead trim.
Any suggestions????
 
 
I would love some beautiful tufted dining chairs, I wonder if mine can be reupholstered to look like this?????
 
 
Unfortunately it wont be in the budget to replace all of our furniture, we will be able to add a few new bits & pieces & certainly dress things up with some accessories.
 
Pinned Image
 
We are planning timber floors & some wainscotting.
This image above is our inspiration for style & colour.
 
I think my furniture will look fine in this setting, I just need a few key pieces to complete the look & maybe some mini make overs, like nailhead trims or painting over some timber pieces, just to take away that matchy matchy furniture store look!!!
 
Perhaps I need to start learning to upholster, I have plans for tufted ottomans & benches, but thats a whole other post.
 
What do you think, should everything match or should we be mixing it up more to achieve a warm, homely feel?
 
CHEERS
Trish xxx
 
 
 
 


Saturday, February 16, 2013

Exterior Style

 
 
The Dream house plans are in full swing right now, lots of finalising of ideas & getting enough quotes to satisfy the bank.
When you decide to be an owner builder the banks want to know every last detail, they take your plans & quotes & hand them to an estimator who then determines whether or not you really can build that home for that amount of money.
 
I know this is a very poor quality pic of the elevations of our home, but it gives the general idea.
We have a long straight homestead style front verandah with a portico at the entrance as a feature & out the back we have a nice big back verandah/ alfresco area that extends out from the house, similar to the one in the image below.
 


Pinned Image
 
 
These are just some of the images we are using as ideas to achieve our end result.
We love white post & rails, upstairs we will have a painted white bead board style ceiling & downstairs we plan to do the same only stain the timber.
This stair case is exactly what we need!
 
Pinned Image
 
Love these posts & we will have timber on the front verandah
 
Pinned Image
 
We would like some stone features like this & will have to tile the upstairs back verandah for water proofing otherwise it would leak into the downstairs area....
now that wouldn't be much fun, he he he!!!
 
Pinned Image
 
A very welcome entrance, wouldn't you agree...
 
 
Pinned Image
 
We have so many ideas & I have to say pinterest has been a fabulous tool for the dream guy & I to gather images & tutorials & ensure we are on the same wave length.
He has become addicted to my pinterest boards.
 
If you start seeing tools, boats & fishing gear popping up on my pinterest then you know the dream guy as hijacked my boards, ha ha ha :)
 
If you would like to see more of what has us inspired then stop by my
 
What do you think of our ideas so far?
Now don't forget I am keen for your thoughts, ideas & suggestions!
 
Have a fantastic weekend everyone.
 
CHEERS
Trish xxx

Saturday, February 2, 2013

Stylish Master Bedroom

Image via Houzz
 
We really are into some serious planning for the construction of the dream house at the moment. Actual construction may not begin until later in the year because, as you can imagine ALOT of planning needs to occur before anything on this large scale can begin.
We will be tackling this as owner/builders.
There are quotes to obtain & products to source.
Most importantly, the bank has said "go for it" & given us a list of what they require to finance us as owner builders.
 

Image via House of turquoise
 
 
The dream guy is good at this sort of thing having project managed many large scale electrical jobs as a part of his business, so really all I need to do is plan the pretty stuff. We are both very visual people so I do need to provide images of my expectations of the finished product.
I am wanting some sort of pendant light or small chandelier as bedside lighting instead of lamps & I thought these images are a great representation of that idea, especially the first pic as we will have windows either side of our bed as well!
 
 

Image via Swish & Swanky
 
I have a little silver table just like this one which I would like sitting next to a feature chair in my bedroom
 
 

Image via Centsational Girl
 
 
Once again the bedside windows, I have a similar shaped bedhead to this only in timber.
The round mirror in this image is pretty fabulous don't you think?
 
Hopefully once the house is complete there will be a few dollars left to buy some new accessories & update some of our furniture...depends on how much self control we have when selecting those fixtures & fittings I suppose !!!
 
If there is one thing I have learn't over time from blogging " details are important "
 Get the details right & you get a really beautiful end product.
I will be asking your advise as I go along just to be sure I get it right!!
 
Are you all about the details?
 
CHEERS
Trish xx

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