Good morning, I hope you are enjoying your Easter break. We went up to the markets this morning for our weekly grocery shopping and a coffee. My sister in law came with us so it was nice to sit and chat in the sun with our coffees. A four day long weekend makes everything seem luxurious - all the time in the world stretched out before us.
Someone recently on facebook asked about our renovations and that I haven't shared much of the house - or done a full tour. I'm not sure i will do a room by room tour but I thought I'd share the lounge room. Previously our lounge room, that is at the back of the house, was a fibro add on with a sloping roof. it was very long and narrow. When we bought the house the carpet was disgustingly dirty in this room. The rest of the house had brand new carpet but the previously owners hadn't done anything to this room. The previous owners both died of lung disease and were heavy smokers. you could literally see where they sat in the lounge room and sat smoking in bed as there were dark plumes of smoke stain on the walls and ceilings. Phil didn't even want to buy the house because of this but I know we could resolve it. It's 12 years ago now since we bought the house so that smoke it long gone.
After lots of DIY work here is the lounge room before we renovated. There's a lot of different furniture in the photos as I have usually taken the photo to stage and sell the pieces.
You can get an idea of the room. We had made it look good without spending too much money. Here are some photos from when we first moved in - pink walls, smoked stained roller blinds and carpet I didn't even want to walk on. Also a concrete step and an air conditioner that warmed up the lounge room as it cooled the house. These photos were taken a few days after we moved in and after we had done some work - like removed the huge aircon and squared off that archway, so there's crap everywhere but you can understand how far we have come.
When we renovated we pulled the whole room off as the slab wasn't very stable and there was no access to the garden from the front of the house as the room went boundary to boundary. Because I love our garden so much, I didn't want to take too much of the garden away with extending the house so we only went back 1.5m (but because we pulled down our massive old sheds we ended up with much more garden anyway)
My favourite part of the room are the french doors and transom windows across the back looking into the garden. So much beautiful light and greenery.
In the photo above you can see the outline of a hidden door to the left of the glass side door. That's a long narrow but tall cellar that we squeezed in. I just love it. I will share photos soon and instructions on how we built the wine rack.
The chandeliers are from Europe. I know a guy who imports them and he sold them to me very affordably. They are a bit wonky and I actually need to get one of them re-wired which I should have done before I got it hung but we usually use the lamps anyway when we are in this room at night so it's not a priority. I just love how they look even if I never turn them on.
The rugs are Australian made and from Coppola Home in More Park. I don't know if they are still available. They are so beautiful and make me very happy every time I see them:) Call me shallow.
The furniture is all sourced through my business - I made the coffee table from a $20 vintage table and our broken BBQ table - you can read about that here.
The console table had been terribly painted by someone and all the blue paint was peeling off when I bought it. Obviously not prepped properly for painting. I painted it in a soft limed white and waxed it. The French toile lounge was a piece that I bought years ago and I just love. It was in great condition especially after Phil and I steam cleaned it. The armchairs are a hand down from my aunt.
A new painting on the wall from Laura Matthews - I think I am her biggest fan. I would really like to hang the painting a fraction lower but Phil is tall and I didn't want his head banging on it when he sits down - or my son who is very fiddly and would no doubt pick bits off the painting absent-mindlessly. Someday when I get around to it I will paint the coffee table below to match the one on the other side of the room.
The painting below was a gift from Laura. I really love her work. I painted the little console table in an Annie Sloan mix - mainly based on Aubusson blue. You can read about it here. I love how it picks up the blues in Laura's painting. Th vintage mannequin was one I came across while furniture hunting. If you are looking for a mannequin let me know as I regularly see them in my travels.
I still would like to paint this mirror below but finding time to do my own painting is always hard. The lamp is a vintage find and the planter is also one I painted. Pretty much everything we use to furnish our house is vintage.
The blue linen cushions are part of my homewares range - $45 each including insert.
The cabinet below is one I painted and decided I couldn't part with - doesn't happen often but I spent a long time searching for a particular greenish grey and this colour I achieved in this piece is very close to what I have envisaged. I love it. You can see the full piece here.
So I think our lounge room is very close to being finished and fully decorated. Although knowing me I will always change things around. It is a beautiful room to relax in.
Just the perfect place to spend Easter :)
have a good one
Fiona xx
