Another Spot of DIY

One of my friends recently commented on Instagram "Who are you and what have you done with Jody?".

DIY and crafts have never been my 'thing' but this house has certainly given me the confidence to experiment with my creative side. I recently did a little marking project using a cut potato and some of the leftover paint from the shelves and our porch. Inspired by American textile designer, Rebecca Atwood, I am so pleased with how it turned out!

First, the inspiration...

 

And now my little gem...

And here it is hanging on our new gallery wall in the hallway! It's the small one on the left:

If you're thinking about a gallery wall, I highly recommend Country Road's video which explains how to do it.

A Spot of DIY

I have a 'd' and a 'y' in my name, but DIY is not something friends and family have associated with me in the past.But this Summer I started dabbling a little, starting with painting the shelves of our $80 Mitre10 shelving unit.

I slapped two coats of Karen Walker for Resene in Celestial Blue over a coat of primer for particle board. I'm really pleased with the result!

Here's what it looked like before:

And here's a few shots of the process...

 

Paul being a good boy and putting everything back together...

The finished product!

New Living Room Rug

We love our beautiful floors but for some time, we've been looking at large rugs to break up our living room space. After much research, we went to Source Mondial in Parnell. They have a huge selection of rugs, all beautifully presented. And the staff really know their stock. We took three rugs home on appro for a whole week which was so generous, allowing us to make a decision.

We went with a 2 x 3m grey wool rug with a chevron pattern. It pops against our dark floors. We love it!

And here's a cute one of Miss Lily and the samples, from a few weeks ago...

Unfortunately, she dumped a dead rat on our lovely new rug on Sunday morning, so clearly she likes it!

Vintage European, Greytown

My sister and I took our Mum for a girls' weekend to Wellington and Greytown last weekend. It's a place we all know well (long-time readers will know that my sister and I go there every June!).

Greytown is about a one-hour drive north of Wellington, in the beautiful Wairarapa. Worth a visit for its cafes, galleries, boutique stores and nearby vineyards.

This time we discovered a gem called Vintage European. Sarah imports English, Scandinavian and other European housewares, fabrics and furniture that you won't find easily in this part of the world. A beautifully-laid-out store, I spent ages in there chatting (and purchasing!).

 

New House Stuff

So we're two days from our house auction and things are going well. Successful open homes and lots of interest.

Meantime, Paul and I have been doing a little window shopping to see what's out there in terms of furniture and decor. Now, it's been years since we bought anything for the house. And I want to modernise our decor in the new place. So, that means lots of internet research, pinning on Pinterest and also actual shop visits. As the new house is all high studs, pale wooden floors and white walls, we're going Scandinavian. Pale, minimalist and modern.

Some inspiration so far...

Returned...

Unfortunately, I had to send the coveted bag back! It was too short and it actually looked cheap for a leather bag. Thems the breaks in the cruel world of online shopping...

All quiet on the clothes-shopping front. Our house has been on the market for two weeks (one week to go until the auction!). So we've been spending our time researching housey things like bathrooms (our new ones are newly-renovated by very ugly), furniture for the new living space and bits and pieces for my new dressing room. It's very likely that this blog might get a little interiors focussed in the next little while...

We Bought a House

On Wednesday morning, Paul and I bought a new house at auction here in Auckland.

Anyone who tells you that the Auckland property market is overpriced and impossible is right. It's taken us almost three years to find a home we love as much as our current house. Now we are very focussed on selling ours!

The new house is in our current suburb, about five minutes drive from where we live now. It's an Edwardian villa, about twice the size of our wee 1880s cottage and fully renovated. It's painted in a crisp white colour throughout; a real change from our current soft beiges. Here are a few pictures:

It's too soon to think seriously about decor but we already have some ideas. Luckily, we like 80% of the house but plan to make some small changes. The bathrooms are not to our taste and there are a few other minor things we will change but on the whole, it's stunning. And, Paul finally gets his double garage!

And I get a walk-in wardrobe/dressing room! It's actually the smallest bedroom in the house but it's perfect for what I have planned. I'm already pinning ideas to my Pinterest board! This is a project I'll definitely keep you posted on. Clothes shopping may take a back seat for a while!

The Linen Project

So we ended up going with the Seneca linen duvet cover in charcoal, with matching pillowcases for the master bedroom. And we have a brand new high-loft down duvet inner on order so we do the duvet cover justice:

For the guest room, we've gone with Logan and Mason's Ascot range in the pale grey with contrasting white pilowcases:

Can't wait until it all arrives so we can create our new-look bedrooms!

The Linen Project

And we've also decided to invest in some gorgeous new linens for the master bedroom and guest bedroom, and upgrade our towels!

We have never really spent a lot on duvet covers and sheets in the past. This time, we've decided to go all out and get something amazing for our room and something a little cheaper (though still lovely) for the guest room. For the master bedroom, we have just discovered Seneca Portugese linen which we adore:

Trouble is, we can't decide between the charcoal shade for the duvet (first picture) with 2 charcoal pillows and 2 stone (also in the top picture), or a stone duvet with 2 matching pillows and 2 charcoal pillows (or dove grey - bottom pic) to contrast. Our bed is a similar shade to the one in the second picture and we have many Rose & Heather pieces of furniture in our home, so I think anything would look wonderful. I will let you know what we decide to do. We have seen all three shades in the flesh so we will think about it over the next week.

As for towels, today we popped down to Wallace Cotton in Newmarket and bought a new set of bath towels, bath mats and flannels in a rich charcoal shade. Our hand towel is a cool ice blue to contrast. Yep, we are big fans of grey!