California Design

I went and saw the California Design Exhibition at The Queensland Art Gallery recently with Josh and my Mum. I so love mid century design, it's so classic and timeless and one of the main influences of the interior of my home.

It's so Mad Men-esque with all the wood veneer panelling and minimalist sleek designs. I could just imagine Betty Draper here, with her picture perfect wardrobe and perfect hair.

They must have thought it all looked so modern back then. I wonder what people will think of furniture today in 50 years' time. What will my grandchildren think of my furniture in 50 years' time?

Mum would have grown up with this style of furniture. How bizarre. It must have been a bit weird seeing everyday things from your childhood in an exhibition. I saw some things there too that I grew up with, at my Grandmother's place. I used to think they were nana-old. Now I just think they're cool. 

SOLD!!

I don't like throwing things out. It comes from my Mum and Dad. That's where it ends though because they NEVER actually throw it out! (Hi Mum if you're reading this :-) Not Dad, he doesn't even have a computer.)

Anyhoo, I hate throwing things out, but I'm happy to sell it, give it away, repurpose. You know I've long been a fan of Gumtree so this weekend I posted some stuff to try and clear out the granny flat a bit.

This was the Crimsafe security door at the back of the now demolished house. It was made to order and post war homes had different size doors to today's standard so I wasn't all that confident of selling it. Someone would either have to have a house from that era or build a new frame to match, in which case they would then have trouble finding a door to fit. Regardless I posted it anyway and would you believe, a lady bought it for her kitten enclosure.

What??

That's what I said. I texted her back and said she would have the safest kitties around. Turns out she runs an kitten adoption agency (awwwww) and the kittens kept scratching the old mesh and tearing it. OK. That makes sense. $250...nice one.


These were the offcuts from the building of the bathrooms and kitchen in the new house. There were a couple of the cutouts from the sinks but there was a full length bathroom benchtop that had been cut too short. Retail these pieces were probably worth over $1,000 as it's Essastone, but unless you have the right equipment to cut it, it's a bit useless. I listed it anyway for pretty much a giveaway price as it would have cost me more to throw it out, given how heavy it was.

A really lovely and polite young man came to buy it. He was renovating his first home by himself and was going to use them for his kitchen and bathroom. I only put $80 on the lot, but clearly I should have put more because I was fielding calls and creating waiting lists straight away. But I love young first home buyers trying to make a start like this so if he'd twisted my arm I'd probably had given it to him for free.

Sorry, crappy photo, but these were the gates from the old house. We'd actually made these so it was a bit sad to see them go, but they wouldn't suit the new house and I didn't want to have a fence that high in the new place. So I listed five of them for $25 each.

A sweet old lady who had dogs bought all of them. She was being moved by Housing Commission to a new home without a fence so she need an "instant" and cheap fence, which is exactly how I marketed them on Gumtree! She was so sweet I gave her all the leftover matching timber.

I'm always a little astounded by what people will buy. I guess the saying One man's trash is another man's treasure is true. Anyway, I made LOADS of room in the granny flat, made some money for the new fence and (hopefully) made some people a bit happier. Win all around!

The Guest Bathroom

This month I declared no shopping month! No new things for house, no new clothes, no ONLINE SHOPPING!

So...here's the divine new towel set for the guest bathroom downstairs. It's from Adairs. I'm loving this Moroccan style pattern lately and seem to have a thing for all these charcoal. I had originally always wanted white everything for the bathroom but as time goes on I've been thinking it's a little bland and clinical and a pop of colour isn't so bad.

Yes yes, don't give me grief! I didn't get them online, they were ON SALE and I had a little voucher so it so doesn't count!!!

Remembering...

It was three years ago today. Three years ago that our sweet little cottage was swallowed up by a filthy sludge, filled with bacteria and disease.

The journey since then has been long and sometimes arduous but for the first time I can honestly say, I wouldn't change it. I wouldn't take it back because we've been through some amazing times to get here.

This is the first anniversary where we've been back in the house.  That first anniversary after the flood was difficult. We had only just settled with the insurers after a year and there was still the battle ahead with the Council. The second anniversary was a little better as we had reached the halfway mark in building. But today feels good. Today feels like we've reached the end of that journey. The house is finished and the house is high, but mainly, the house is home.

Today there is almost no trace of that darling little house or the devastation that came that day. But the day will be forever etched in my mind. I'll remember it every year for the rest of my life.

Spot the Difference

When he makes the bed. 

What even is this???? Is this bed made or is there someone (or something) still sleeping in it? I don't understand how hard it is to at least make sure it's flat and that the pillow are at the right end. You're a builder right? Surely when you build things and they aren't straight they like, fall down?

When I do it.

Ahhhh....serenity restored. (Although I just noticed one of the bedside table doors is ajar, that will give me a twitch now).

PS: Don't worry, it's hardly a deal breaker, just an amusing observation. Even if he did it half right I would probably redo it anyway so he needn't bother really  ;-).

Armchair Dilemma

Over the holiday season we've had a steady stream of out of town, overseas and interstate visitors and after we've finished lunch or dinner or whatever, there's just not enough chairs in our little living space.

We've had our Tatler three seater sofa since we moved in and I still love it! It looks stylish and a bit Mad Men like, but when you're all sitting on it facing one way, it's a bit awkward for conversation. I think I just need one more occasional chair against the wall. Actually, that's probably all that would fit in the small space.

So I give you - ta dah - my choices for an occasional chair.

The Topanga chair from Oz Design. I love this one and it's much larger than it looks in the picture. Reminds me a bit of a Grandpa chair at this size. Pretty comfy and on sale at the moment (clappy hands). The legs also match the sofa but this one is fabric and not leather like the Tatler, which I think would be a nice contrast.

Pros: Very purdy and stylish, compliments the sofa perfectly.
Costs: Kinda exy, even on sale.




Ahh the Retro chair from Freedom. I've been in love with this chair for like, forever. It's timeless, comfy, compliments the sofa. In a word, it's just beautiful. Having said this, I feel that it might actually be better suited to the reading room because of its size. I LOVE this colour fabric too!

Pro: Beautiful!
Con: Still a bit exy.

The Gregory chair from Voyager Interiors. Pretty much exactly the same as the Retro chair from Freedom but annoyingly they don't have prices on the website, so I'm waiting to hear back. The Freedom chair is super comfy so I wonder if this is the same?

Pros: See Retro chair
Cons: Shipping costs

OK this one is a bit of a ring in. Probably bottom of my list (well, literally bottom of the list) but I still like it. This is the Bergman chair from Dare Gallery. Same style with the tapered round legs and button detail so would definitely compliment the sofa, it just doesn't have that lurv factor that the others do. Well for me anyway.

Pros: On sale, same style.
Cons: I love it, but not IN love with it. (It's not you...it's me).


OK, so there's my choices.  What say you?

Wax On Wax Off

(No one will understand that title unless you're a child of the 80s. Google it peeps.)

I finally got around to putting furniture wax on the dining room table and now I feel really guilty I hadn't done it earlier...and more regularly. Look at the difference in colour.

Bad Karina. Bad girl.

Grrrrr....ants!!

I like almost all animals and wildlife but I f*#king hate ants and ibises!! (Don't get me started about the ibises...).

Anyway, over the summer the house has had a mass invasion of ants. I'm talking millions of them and they don't seem to even be heading for a food source, they're just using the place as a thoroughfare to get from nest to nest. Tromping across the bedrooms, through the bathrooms, across the computers -ARGH - they were driving me f*#king crazy!! When they started a trail across the kitchen benchtop though that was the final straw. I  called in pest control and now the house has turned into a mass ant cemetery. It's been weeks now but every second day I have to vacuum up the next lot. Which means there must have been literally MILLIONS of them.

Gross.

New Entertainment Unit

We FINALLY have the whole entertainment unit for the living room! It's just a basic one from IKEA, but we bought it in stages over a couple of months.

Haha, this is how we were for months! We had other priorities and then finally Josh and I made a trip to Ikea and collectively decided on the Besta unit. we started off with just the carcass and glass top and then just before New Year we added the drawers.

Oh and we bought a new fish...he's sitting on the unit too. He's a siamese fighting fish. Josh has named hum Bubbles. Original.

Happy New Year all!!