Renovating begins.. now!

I have always been a fan of property investment and in particular buying the worst house in the best street and turning it into something magical.  Paying a premium for somebody else's renovation never appealed to me and you're not guaranteed to actually get what you want.  And I was always willing to forego all the bells and whistles in favour of a superior suburb. 

Work starts in two weeks exactly! gulp!

Above is the picture of what I'm working with and below is a list of tasks being undertaken.

Apart from the linen closet and wardrobe in the master bedroom that I am remodelling, the only other room that needs major work is the lounge room and dining room.  (Fortunately the kitchen and bathroom are perfect so it's  mostly cosmetic work that's required). Below is the picture of what I'm working with and below is a list of tasks being undertaken:

• remove the old rusty security door at the front
• paint front door and put in an antique hook/handle
• replace the plaster on the walls in the hall - currently looking worse for wear due to an abudance of nails and cloak hooks
• remove the glass sliding door (it's oh so 1970's)
• remove ceiling fan and put in a chandelier
• polish the floors
• paint the walls and skirting boards and windows
• knock down the wall leading to the kitchen to create an open planned space (wall cannot be seen in this picture - but the wall is in the spot from where the photo was taken)

The dark walls are going in favour of a warm grey colour like below to create an illusion of more space (photo taken from Semi Expat's blog of a cottage in Daylesford)

While the above is my inspiration for furnishing the lounge room - I want something simple and uncluttered and this photo is totally "me" interior decorating wise (the couch has been chosen, as has an arm chair in a navy blue with a gold stripe)... except this photo is also swaying me to do the walls in the living areas white.

Who knew that choosing paint colours would be so difficult! HEEEEELP!

Summer is the time when one sheds one's tensions with one's clothes, and the right kind of day is jeweled balm for the battered spirit. A few of those days and you can become drunk with the belief that all's right with the world. ~Ada Louise Huxtable

There aren't many things that are better in life than a day that includes a drive along the coast, temperatures that hover at 30C, a swim in the ocean, a cold fruit salad.. and perhaps also a vanilla slice.

”There comes a time in every woman’s life when the only thing that helps is a glass of champagne.” Bette Davis

via tumblr

I returned to work this week (thankfully on Wednesday so it's a short week, not sure I would have been able to handle a full week) and let me tell you doing "nothing" is underrated.  No alarm clock waking me up at crazy hours and startling me to death.  No pencil skirts to outline the expanding post Christmas waist line.  No high heels for a whole month.  And did I mention how amazing my skin looked after I came back from Bali?  I haven't even needed to wear tinted moisturiser.

I've been putting off the furniture shopping and and renovating (who knew that picking a shade of paint could be so frustrating).  I think I know what I want, I'm just having trouble convincing people that a white linen couch is a good idea.  Sometimes I wish I wasn't so stubborn and unsure about what I like, but then again indecisive people drive me crazy, so I'll take what I can get.

Summer forgot us early this week and disappeared for a few days but it looks like it's coming back for the weekend... Calls for a breezy outfit and a trip to Portsea and a very late lunch at a winery on the way home...

Bon weekend to all xxx

Wednesday night tales from Hiroshima kitchen

Whenever I decide to cook anything other than a one pot meal in our miniature Barbie sized kitchen B looks at me with horror in his eyes and says "oh no, Hiroshima".  Yes with a couple of things on the bench, the place looks like a disaster and does nothing for my patience and nerves when cooking.

I've not really cooked at all in the past month due to being on holidays, so tonight I decided to make spinach and ricotta cannelloni - from scratch using Oliver's pretty simple recipe.  Recipe is simple only if you chop the spinach up really fine.  Stuffing the pasta with chunky bits of spinach is not easy!

I also put my ebelskiever to use!  Love a treat that takes about 3 minutes to make using pancake mix.

Gen parfait

Melbourne is perfect in the summertime, no doubt.  There are so many things to do as the city really comes alive.  I feel a million times better when the sun is shining! I'm moving house in 3 weeks (oh the horror that comes with packing) and I still haven't properly unpacked from my trips but following a rare Sunday sleep in I ventured out into the city.  Goodness only knows how rare nice days here are and if the next one will happen any time soon!

My new bag!

Call this a beach outfit if you will, but when you spend 10 months of the year sorting through layers and building them in the morning, stuffing your swollen feet into boots you just want to throw something on and run outdoors

And a big thank you to the stars of world tennis for putting together Rally for Relief for Queensland flood victims.  $1.8 million raised in a matter of hours!

I'm off to the tennis again today - not many days of annual leave remain :(

xxx

New Year's Eve in Kuala Lumpur