2016 ... A Very Plain Christmas

It's with a heavy heart I tell you all that I won't be decorating the Jarrah Jungle home for Christmas this year! Shock horror I know right I can't quite believe it myself!!

I  know some of you may have been waiting to see what theme I'd come up with this year and sadly the theme is going to be .... A very plain Christmas!

The reason I can't decorate is we're having work done to our living room ceiling and so I can't put the Christmas tree in it's normal spot in here because we have to move all the furniture out and cover everything up ready for the dusty work to begin.

The carpenter who is building our deck and patio also does ceilings and Mr P and I recently started a DIY ceiling lift in the living room and master bedroom using ceiling washers (much like we lifted the laundry ceiling). The carpenter is going to finish this off and plaster, skim and sand the ceiling for us which will save us a heap of time and work - then we'll just need to paint.

The downside is all my lovely Christmas decorations will need to stay packed away this year.

Every day that Christmas gets closer and my Instagram feed fills up with people's beautiful homes and sparkling Christmas trees and decorations and I'm just so sad that I can't be a part of the festivities as I just love to decorate for Christmas.

Each year I pick a different theme - you can see my previous year's themes here 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015 ... 2016 is going to be a very plain Christmas!

All I can say is watch out for next year because I'm going to have to go bigger and better than ever to make up for this years non-decorating.

This isn't the first time renovating has stopped my Christmas cheer but hopefully it will be the last!

On a positive note at least I won't have tiny bits of tinsel and glitter scattered all over my house like I usually do!!

How are you decorating for Christmas this year? Do you have a theme?

For exclusive extras and daily updates ... follow Jarrah Jungle on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter

[Images via my Pinterest 1, 2, 3]

Pin It Now!

Picking Out Our Internal Doors and New Front Door

Something that has been on our To Do List since we moved in is to replace or fix up all the doors throughout the house.

This is because the original doors are 40+ years old and have knocks and bumps in them that no amount of paint can hide.  



Our old doors showing their age

The handles will also be replaced because they're rickety and feel like they are going to come off in your hand when you pull them! I also want the bathroom, powder room and master bedroom to have locks on the doors for privacy.

The quaint old door handles

We had the same problem with our hallway cupboard doors looking really old and worn but as they are a custom size and it would've been way to expensive to replace the doors so a cheap fix was to wallpaper the doors and replace the handles.

I love how they came up, they look really unique and you would never know the state of the doors underneath!

Our hallway cupboard doors we wallpapered and added new handles

We might end up wallpapering the door from the laundry to the garage as well because it's a custom size and will be quite expensive to replace. As you can see the wall and door frame took a beating when we ripped out the carport and built a garage extension.

I have the idea of wallpapering the door and entire wall so the door blends into the wall .... I already have some wallpaper samples up!

The shoppers entry - door from the garage into the laundry

All the rest of our internal doors are a standard size and can be replaced with new doors.

Our first attempt at hanging a door was in the bathroom after the bathroom renovation but we accidentally hung it upside down, not realising the wider panel should be on the bottom as it's a kick panel. Ooops! Rome wasn't built in a day and neither is our Jarrah Jungle!!

Since hanging that door we have changed our mind on this style of door with the 4 square pattern which was a Corinthian - Stanford. We only picked it because it matched our front door, but we are changing our front door because it got damaged and weathered with all the home improvement work out the front - the render and new driveway and path to the front door being laid.

See everything happens for a reason doesn't it!

Our old front door .... weathered and worn from the front of the house improvements

The new front door we picked up second hand for a bargain price when we were looking for our french doors. It retails for $1400 and we paid $200.

It needs to be sealed to bring out the wood grain and we have the handle and lock for it, then it's ready to hang. We might try to hang this ourselves although external doors are a bit tricky to get perfect so otherwise we'll get the door installer who hung the french doors for us to help.

Our sexy new front door

All the internal doors we are going to hang ourselves. When I say us of course I mean Mr P .... while I give encouraging words and make sandwiches and pour refreshing drinks!
 

These are the internal doors we have chosen. They are a Corinthian - Rockport brand and sell for $53 from Bunnings and Masters but we managed to get a discount of $6 per door and got them for $47 each.

Our new internal doors

The doors have a smooth skin with no wood grain and the rectangle pattern kind of mimics the floorboards throughout the house. They have character but aren't too modern and out of place for our 1960s home.

Up close pattern details

We will also put on new door handles but we haven't picked them out yet. The more types and choices there are the harder it is to pick one!

All the doors will need a few coats of paint as well, which is a job I can help with in between my sandwich queen duties of course!

The house is going to look a million bucks once the new doors are hung, they will really improve the look of the place not to mention be so much nicer to open and close without the fear of the handle ending up in my hand!

I will write a separate DIY post on hanging the doors .... up the right way this time!

Do you have any hints and tips for hanging a door?

For exclusive extras and daily updates ... follow Jarrah Jungle on Facebook and Instagram

[All images my own]

Pin It Now!

Aztec Bedroom Inspiration

I've been helping a friend re-design her bedroom with an aztec theme - aztec designs are bright and bold colours, symmetric and geometric shapes and repeated patterns. Because these designs are bold, a little goes a long way!

I have lots of ideas of how to pull the aztec themed bedroom together from bedspreads, to artwork, to decorative items.

My favourite part is helping with the shopping list and finding the pieces to finish off the room on a budget and I'm sure I'll find some great bargains along the way too ... because that's me a bargain queen!

Here are some inspirational images helping with the design and shopping list ....

What do you think of the aztec style? Do you like patterns in the bedroom?

[Images via my Pinterest here - 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7]

Pin It Now!

Photo A Day: January Days 1 - 16

Back in October last year I joined in with Fat Mum Slim for the first time and took a photo every day of the month following the daily word prompts. Well I've decided to play along again, this time with FMS January Photo A Day challenge and have been sharing my photos each day on my Facebook and Instagram ... and I'm doing a round up of them here.

 

Speaking of Instagram I don't know why I didn't join sooner it's so much fun to edit and use the filters on photos. Not to mention the inspiration I get from looking at everyone's photos, there's so many talented people out there and Instagram is a great way to find them!

 

 

Here are my first 16 photos from the January word prompts above ...

 

1. My favourite lazy weekend lunch at home eggs benedict

2. A trip to the Ikea sales

3. Driving through my home town

4. My word to live by is LIVE

 

5. Found the hooks to hang my bird cage

6. Happens everyday my man brings me coffee in bed

 

7. Upside Down baby you turn me Inside Out (magazine!)

8. My lucky number is 16 the day after my Birthday

 

9. The natural beauty of the botanic gardens in Wellington, New Zealand

10. The man made limestone and brick walls of our newly built courtyard

11. Looking down at my freshly painted toe nails and new sandals

12. My Sunday afternoon chocolate fix looks rather colourful

 

13. My lovable fur baby Lexi can always make me smile

14. 3 Things that are motivating me to walk to/from work each day

15. Black + White my new Ikea star lamp

16. This DIY canvass I made for the bedroom with it's sweet quote
"the sun couldn't rise without you, darling"

 

You can read all about how to play Photo A Day on FMS blog here.

 

Is anyone else playing along with FMS January Photo A Day?
 

Let me know so I can follow along with you!

 

 

[1st image FMS, All other images my own]

 

Pin It Now!

First Look At Courtyard Plans

Following on with my reversing issues and trying to find a Draftsman I got 2 quotes from Draftsmen I found via Gumtree and decided to pick the Draftsman who was $400 cheaper (because I asked for a better price!) and eager to start straight away.

 

The Draftsman came out took some photos and measurements and we gave him a copy of our site survey plans and he's drawn up preliminary plans for the front courtyard fence and retaining walls.

The Draftsman has also contacted a Structural Engineer to draw the retaining walls to specifications. The Engineer needs to know the soil classification so the walls are built with the correct dimensions etc. We have had a bit of toing and froing trying to get the correct information to the Engineer after which he doubled his bill so we are currently negotiating on that!

 

Here are the preliminary draft plans .... once I see the plans it's like the dream becomes a reality I can actually picture the courtyard now and which of my design ideas will work.

 

 

This plan shows our house with the new double garage (now built)
and proposed front courtyard

 

 

The courtyard will go from the edge of the house
across the Master Bedroom and Living Room
to where the driveway will start

 

 

The fence design will be brick pillars with metal timber look slats
we are still to decide on height of fence and spacing of slats

 

 

The retaining walls are some serious structures to be built
to retain the land and hold the fence up

 

Once we get these details sorted we can finalise the plans and submit them to our local council with a friendly covering letter asking them to fast track the approval pretty please so we can start the project over the Christmas break.

With any luck I'll be digging trenches for retaining walls over my Christmas holidays!

 

[All images my own]
 

Pin It Now!

Interior Design Course: Week 6

Here's a recap of what a learnt in week 6 (the final class) of the Interior Design Course

 

WEEK 6

Window Treatments and Decor

Types of Window Treatments

Decorating Your Home

Changing or Creating a Room Workshop

We were shown at length all the information there is to know about window treatments - the shapes and styles of coverings that suit your home depending on if you want light to come through, have kids and pets and need to clean them, etc.

Window treatments should not be an afterthought at the end of your home build when there is no money left. You should get a quote and work out a budget as some tracks and electrics can be installed during the build which will be cheaper than doing it afterwards.

We discussed the types of fabric you can use and the back lining and the pros and cons for each. The different pleats and eyelets ... I now know more about curtains that I ever thought possible!

Another important thing to think about is how the coverings will look from the outside of the house - you don't want the front of your house to have a mix of colours peeking through the windows it is best to keep them the same colour. If you do want different colours in each room you could have the same coloured blind on all windows and then a second blind with the colour. This is what we have done in our home - timber blinds throughout but in the rooms that needed more insulation and privacy block out blinds in different colours.

 

I'm pretty happy with the window treatments I've picked for our home -

• Timber blinds throughout the house from Textile Traders when they have their buy 1 get 1 free sales. The curtain rods are also from Textile Traders.
• The 2 side rooms my craft room/study and guest bedroom have cheaper aluminium blinds from Spotlight as the sunlight does not hit this side of the house.
• The master bedroom and guest bedroom also have block out blinds in front of the blinds for extra privacy and to keep the sunlight out.
• We have recently hung block out blinds in our living room in front of the timber blinds to make this room feel more cosy and secure.
• All curtains are from Curtain Wonderland, again when they have their sales on (which they do now if you need curtains!)

My master bedroom - timber blinds and block out curtains

 

Study - Aluminium blinds

Guest Bedroom - Aluminium blinds and block out curtains

 

 

Living Room - Timber blinds and block out curtains

 

The latter half of the class was about decor with really interesting topics such as how to hang art and what colours to paint the walls behind art. I'm going through this at the moment with my stripe wall and it's true the colours you put behind the artworks can either contrast or compliment.

Displaying your collections together not spreading them out which makes them more special in a group rather than cluttering up each room with bits and pieces. Remember - strength in numbers!

There was homework but I am still in holiday mode so I haven't done it yet!

That was the last session of the 6 week Interior Design Course, you can read all about the other weeks here:
Week 1 you can read about here

Week 2 you can read here
Week 3 you can read here
Week 4 you can read here
Week 5 you can read here

[1st image and 6 images of master, study, guest, living room my own

All other images via Pinterest - Blinds Red here, Roller Blinds here, Eyelet Blind here, Curtain Blind here, Green Art here, Blue Art here, Clocks here, Globes here, ]
 

Pin It Now!

Fridays Letters - Dear Flannelette Sheets

I'm hooked already and joining in again with the Adventures Of A Newlywed and this weeks Dear Friday's Link Up Party. I have met some lovely bloggers and look forward to reading everyones letters, it must be the snoop in  me liking to hear about what everyone is up to in their lives!

Today I'll imagine I'm writing letters from this vibrant funky yellow home office space

Dear Flannelette Sheets - With the nights getting colder you have no idea how good you feel to climb into bed with. Thanks for keeping me warm at night.

Dear Soup - I've discovered when there's nothing in the fridge to eat I can throw some things together in a pot, blitz you up and call you soup. You will  no longer be an overlooked dish.

Dear Library Books - Every book on my must read list has been reserved by someone else and as a result I have been insanely bored with nothing to read and spending my travelling to and from work staring out the buss window drives me insane. I'm on a mission to find some more must read books this week.

Dear Buns Of Steel - I know I said I would start to exercise months ago and work on those buns of steel. But I lied. I just can't keep up the motivation as much as I want to.

Dear Holiday - 3 months from now I'll be cruising around the tropical islands with a cocktail in one hand and Mr P's hand in the other. Can't wait.

[Image via my Pinterest] Pin It Now!