Next Project Plan: Building A Deck

When we first moved into our beloved Jarrah Jungle we had a vision of building a deck and patio area off the back of the house that you could access via the kitchen and dining area so it will be like an extension of the house and give us more room when entertaining.

In preparation for the deck and as part of our kitchen renovation we knocked out a window and turned it into a doorway and installed french doors leading off the dining area.

These lovely doors have stayed locked and out of use for over 2 years as we await the next project of building the deck. Sadly up until now the doors lead to nowhere but a steep drop meters below so they are not used at all. But that is soon about to change!

The reason the deck is the last project we are tackling is because we had to wait for the subdivision of the backyard and the new boundary lines to be pegged out and retaining walls and fences to be installed because the deck will be built within the new fence boundary.

Our Local Council requires plans be submitted for the retaining wall, fence, deck and patio for building approval. We are no strangers to getting building permits through Council as we had to go through the same process when we built our garage extension and then again when we built our front limestone courtyard.

We are using a local company Germano Designs who were recommended to us and we have arranged an onsite meeting with them to go over our design ideas so they can draw up the plans and have them certified ready to submit to Council.

Isn't this the most perfect space for a deck to be built!

If there's one thing I've realised when it comes to renovating it's the planning stage that takes the longest time but as soon you know what you want and have all the boxes ticked to do it - the work itself doesn't take that long at all.

I have a feeling in just a few months, perfectly timed for the cold winter season to be over and when the warmer outside weather is here, that I may be sitting back on my shiny new deck enjoy a glass of wine and admiring our long term dreams becoming a reality!

It's funny the deck was one of the first projects we wanted to tackle with our renovations and 7 years on it is the very last project we are doing!

What are your long term home renovating dreams and goals?

 

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Dining Room Before + After With Dulux Paintable Wallpaper

Did you know Dulux has a range of paintable wallpapers?

Wallpaper that you hang and then paint ... how great is that!

Well of course I wanted to try out this paintable wallpaper but the only problem is we have run out of walls to wallpaper in the Jarrah Jungle home!

So I'm helping my lovely friend Mrs Jones who's a fellow first home owner and renovator. Mrs Jones helped me do my wedding flowers and so I was only to happy to lend my DIY skills in return!

That's me Jarrah Jungle preparing to paint + Mrs Jones helping with my wedding flowers!

There are 3 different patterns of Dulux wallpaper available - pinstripe, linen and concrete.

The wallpaper is textured and can be left as it is in a cream colour or painted in any colour you like.

We picked the concrete wallpaper as we really liked the pattern and texture.

Now for the paint colour, we tried a few tester pots of different shades of green paint and went with the braver choice of the darker shade of green - Dulux Green Turquoise.

The paint we used to paint the wallpaper is Dulux Wash and Wear in Low Sheen - the low sheen works best with the pattern and texture of the wallpaper. The texture really comes through when it's painted and is going to look even better when it's hung up on the wall!

Wallpaper is great for covering imperfections on the walls or any surface - just like when we used wallpaper in the laundry to cover an old banged up door and wall and on the hallway cupboard doors.

The texture of the wallpaper not only hides any lumps and bumps on the walls but you don't need to fill, sand or prepare the walls as you do when you're painting - this saved so much time as it's the preparation that takes the longest time when painting.

This is the wall we'll be wallpapering - a feature wall in the dining room.

The concrete wallpaper and green paint are going to be such a great feature in here and will tie in with the wooden dining room table and chairs and cream carpet.

This wallpaper is hung in just 4 steps:

Step 1 - Paste wall 

I mentioned on our last wallpapering project that paste the wall is the best type of wallpaper as it is so much easier to paste the wall than paste the paper.

We mixed up the paste with water and poured it into a roller paint tray and then got to work using the roller to paste onto the walls. The roller makes this part quick and easy, but you can only paste the area you are doing or the paste will dry out.

Step 2 - Hang paper

Never rely on the ceiling or your walls being straight - for the top and bottom we hung with an overlap of wallpaper so it could be trimmed.

We didn't need to line up the pattern on this wallpaper which made it much easier as well and it meant there was no wastage lining up the pattern.

The paper is thicker than normal wallpaper and this made it so much easier to work with - the paper is thicker to allow for it to be painted.

Step 3 - Trim

As mentioned, leave an overlap top and bottom so you can cut a nice sharp line and trim the wallpaper. 

This wall was so easy with just one power point to cut around. To do that you make a cross on the power point and then tuck the paper around the power point tightly and neatly trim around it.

Step 4 - Paint

Once the wallpaper was hung and the paste had dried we were ready to paint it.

You can paint straight away as the paste dries really quickly. We didn't need to undercoat or prime the wallpaper, just paint the colour straight on - as mentioned above we used Dulux Wash and Wear in Low Sheen, Green Turquoise.

The texture of the wallpaper adds warmth and layering to the room. 

It's such a great concept to have textured wallpaper and then to be able to paint it any colour you like.

This paint colour looks a lot darker in the evening and lightens up in the daytime, it's a great colour choice for the wallpaper as it allows the texture to come through.

This is a very forgiving type of wallpaper to hang, it's thick so won't tear easily, plus there's no pattern to match up, so if you're a beginner at wallpapering this is a perfect product to start with.

The wallpaper is reasonably priced and RRPs for $34.95 for a 10.5m x 0.52m roll which makes it more affordable than most printed wallpapers and a great way to update your walls at home.

What room in your home would you love to wallpaper?


Sharing with link parties:
Curly Crafty Mom - The Creative Corner
The Dedicated House - Make It Pretty Monday
Savvy Southern Style - Wow Us Wednesdays
The Plumbette - Home Improvement Thursday

Disclosure: Thanks to Dulux for providing me with this wallpaper and paint products for review. I have not received any payment or compensation. As always, all opinions are my own.

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A Newlyweds Christmas ... Merry Kissmas!

I change my Christmas decorating theme every year depending on what's happening in the Jarrah Jungle home and so far over the years I've had .....

2009 - Our first Christmas

2010 - Christmas when renovation 

2011 - Christmas tree blue and silver

2012 - Christmas tree with pink, purple, blue and silver

Plus a Christmas vignette and Merry Mantle

2013 - Christmas tree with pink, purple, blue and silver

2014 - Decorating with a bright and happy vibe

In 2015 I'm going with a newlyweds theme because it's Mr P and I's first Christmas 

as husband and wife. Plus my word for 2015 is "LOVE" so it's the perfect theme!

Every year Mr P mentions that our Christmas tree is far too big for the house and every year I gush about how much I love it and it's not going anywhere!

This year the Christmas Tree is decorated with blues, purples, pinks and silver.

I've decorated with special decor from the engagement and wedding including my DIYed wedding bouquet

I'm not afraid to use lots of bright colours around the house as you can see even my wall art has had the festive treatment this year!

My gallery wall of art has had a bit of a change up with the addition of my custom Jarrah Jungle art from Minted.

Special ornaments from our honeymoon travels across the USA take pride of place here too.

My DIY painted birdcage has made an appearance again with baubles and birds.

I've created a couple of vignettes in the dining room and living room too.

My kitchen is looking bright and festive with it's Christmas shelfie and the dining room table is laid with Christmas cheer!

And I couldn't forget to decorate outside, now that I've added some pots and plants to the front path it's looking much more inviting by the front door.

I love seeing the Christmas tree and all the decorations up in the house it makes me excited for the Summer holidays and festivities ahead.

Now I need to finish shopping and wrap some presents to put under the tree!

How are you decorating for Christmas this year?

Sharing with link parties:

Curly Crafty Mom - The Creative Corner
The Dedicated House - Make It Pretty Monday
Savvy Southern Style - Wow Us Wednesdays

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Decorating With A Bright And Happy Vibe This Christmas

I put up the Christmas tree and decorated the house the other weekend and love how it instantly transforms the mood at home.

Summer is on it's way. Work shuts down and there's time to relax at home. Catch up with friends and family. There's lots of fun times to be had. It already feels extra special this year because Mr P and I are engaged there's a loved up, warm and fuzzy feeling happening!

Last year was absolute madness because we hosted our very first Christmas lunch for 30 of Mr P and I's family and in a word it was EPIC! 

This year it will be much more relaxed, so relaxed I haven't finished my present shopping yet, but not too many more gifts to buy.

I'm loving lots of colour this year and for the Christmas Tree I have used pink, purple, blue and silver. Every year Mr P tells me our tree is too big and every year as I knock ornaments off as I walk past I say you can never have a big enough Christmas Tree!

Typo have come to the party again with some gorgeous Xmas ornaments this year and I was very chuffed to see my cheeky Typo lightbox quote was featured in the Typo newsletter and social media pages last week!

I did a little DIY project and painted a rusty birdcage with Dulux Duramax Spray Paint in GoGo Blue and filled it with baubles and of course you can't have a birdcage without a a bird! I'll be doing a write up and hosting a giveaway for these gorgeous spray paints from Dulux in the new year, so stay tuned for that!

A collection of my glass domes sitting pretty on my Marguerite Dore plate which took pride of place on my Christmas table last year. 

My house plants have my special ornaments on them, I even have a reindeer that used to poop lollies (yes it's as charming as it sounds!) and I just can't bare to part with it, so each year it finds a new hang out!

How is your home decorated for Christmas this year?

Check out my previous Christmas decorating over here:

2009 - Our first Christmas in Jarrah Jungle

2010 - Christmas when renovation 

2011 - Christmas tree blue and silver

2012 - Christmas tree with pink, purple, blue and silver, Christmas vignette, Merry Mantle

2013 - Christmas tree with pink, purple, blue and silver

Sharing with link party:

Savvy Southern Style - Wow Us Wednesdays

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