Our new home needs new glasses!

Mr B and I both moved our of our parents' homes for the first time 3 and a bit years ago. Two weeks after we moved out we hosted a sit down dinner for his birthday. We didn't want plastic papers or cups so went out and bought 25 of everything! Including the 95c IKEA pokal glasses ! Out of 25 of these glasses, not one has yet been broken. They are great! However, it's time to go! A new home deserves new glasses :)

Any recommendations on good quality, robust, dishwasher safe but not too expensive glasses?

Our 95 cent IKEA glasses :)

B

Diningware

All our diningware is from the Country Road Sienna range and 3 years old. Although, there is no way I am going to throw out all the plates and bowls but I am a little bit sick of the plain mugs and would like to upgrade. I also wouldn't mind some new small bowls.

I quite like the Bistro Ribbon mugs and small bowls but unsure of what colour to go for. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated :)

Below is what our diningware currently consists of:

Mugs

Small bowl

Large bowl

Charger

Dinner plate

Bread plate

Rimmed plate

B

Soap dispensers

What colour and shape dispensers would you recommend for our bathrooms? For now I am only concentrating on the ensuite and downstairs powder room. They've both got the same grey tiles, will have white gloss handleless vanities, with mirrors going all the way to the ceiling.



Close-up of our tiles

Our vanities/mirrors will be very similar to this

A distant shot of our tiles


B

Dyson Digital Slim - I need. I want!

Does anyone have a Digital Slim vacuum cleaner? Do you love it? I want one so I can easily vacuum the staircase without having to carry our full size Dyson...



The Dyson DC35 Multi floor is a Dyson Digital Slim™ cordless vacuum cleaner for every floor type. With a detachable long-reach wand and a motorised cleaner head. Powered by Dyson digital motor, it's the most powerful lightweight cordless vacuum cleaner.



This is the one we've already got and love.

Quick Computer Organization Tip

Does your desktop look like this?

I just discovered a new way to organize—wallpaper. No, not the kind you apply to your walls, but the kind that sits on your desktop.

Filing everything away into folders is one way to clear your desktop and keep your computer organized, but that won't always work for everyone. If you like to keep multiple icons on your desktop that you need to access a lot (and don't feel like clicking through 5 subdirectories to reach every time), this may help.

As many of you know by now, I run a business, so that means customer folders constantly being created and shifted around on my desktop. I normally just grouped them into different areas on my screen as they went through the process from purchase to print, so I could always "know" their status, but I wasn't completely satisfied with this method. Then—lightbulb moment—I decided to make my wallpaper useful and split the screen up into color coded areas, each representing a stage in the process.

Step 1 was to find the file size I needed to make, which will be your screen's resolution. In my case, its 1920x1080 pixels.

Then I took to illustrator to create the file. This was a process in trial and error... shifting things around and testing them out on the screen until everything was in a good spot.

That's all it took, and it works like a charm!

Now that the steps are clearly defined, I should feel more confident in my work process and know that everything is in its' place. This idea can be translated in so many different ways to fit everyone's individual needs. The possibilities are endless... really. Hopefully this can inspire someone else out there who is struggling with their desktop organization!

Pssst... I redesigned my "Projects" page to be more user-friendly and easily navigatable. Go check it out and tell me what you think!

Bath spout

Which one of these two (if any) would you recommend for our bath?

B

What I'm loving so far

• Futura satinjet shower by methven (Dual spray handset featuring a Satinjet® spray and massage spray)
• Staring at our timber floor
• Staring at our floor to ceiling tiles. So extremely happy about the colour and pattern
• Not having to waste $hundreds$ and hundreds of dollars on rent each week

About to finally order our vanity

What is the best angle to have the shadow line of the handleless drawers? I would also love to know what is the best width that should be left on top. My cabinetmaker is suggesting just a gradual angle but in the photo below it looks a lot sharper (as in the surface on top is a lot thinner). If anyone happens to have a close up or a side view of the handleless drawer I would love to hear from you :)

B

We are in!!!!

We've officially moved in! The fridge is in the kitchen. Skirting boards are almost finished. The site was levelled yesterday and the garden bed outside of the laundry was marked. Gas meter was installed yesterday so we've now got hot water :)

Our lounge doesn't fit in the family room :( so Mr B has put it in the sitting room. I am quite upset by this as it's not what I had planned. I wanted new sofas etc in the sitting room. I really don't want to buy new ones for the family room. Ughhhh

Also, we decided to do 49m of good neighbour fencing ourselves :(
Or should I day my dad is doing it and we are helping him.

We've been so busy with the move and fencing that Mr B hasn't managed to so any electrical work. But we do have most of the open living area powerpoints working. We've also got 2 downlights working in the kitchen and another 2 above the staircase. These are really good as they manage to light up most of the house due to such a large void and openness downstairs.

I am going to clean up the rental now. My legs are throbbing and I am going back to work tomorrow. Can't wait to relax a bit.

Hope you are all having a great week.

B

Dining Room Table Makeover

You know how in grade school, you'd have arts and crafts time... and the teacher would play music in the background and just let you go crazy with your paint and glue and scissors and paper? And it was the best thing ever and you never wanted it to end? That's what this weekend was like for me. A good arts & crafts session. I pretty much loved every minute of it. Maybe because it's something I've been waiting so long for.

I've been searching for the perfect pedestal dining table to fill our dining nook for as long as I can remember. And I am thrilled to announce that the day has finally come. Our nook now has a purpose.

Last weekend, I was fortunate enough for someone to not only discover my dream table on Craigslist, but she offered to deliver it too (thanks Sara!). And everything about it was perfect. It was $100, which isn't a steal for Craigslist, but it had everything I was looking for (plus 2 extension leaves) so I couldn't pass it up.

The first step was to decide what color to paint it. The obvious solution for me is usually white, but the table is going against a background of white wainscoting and that is just too much white on white. So my next thought was to bring a little color into the space with turquoise.

I still had some paint leftover from this chest:

Since the dining table would only be a few yards away from it, I thought it would be a good way to tie everything together. I didn't want it to match exactly, so I mixed in some white to give it a barely-there-blue shade.

Now for the transformation.

First, I lightly sanded to remove any surface dirt.

Then I applied a coat of oil based Zinsser primer.

After drying, I applied another coat.

At this point, you could still see some of the wood showing through, but the primer layers were becoming quite thick and I wasn't convinced it was necessary to completely coat the surface before painting (I could have been wrong... but I think I was right). So I moved onto to the next step.

Here's my custom mixed pale blue shade, ready to go.

And here is after one coat...

And after two...

Two coats was all it took, and then it just had to dry.

I had debated on whether or not to distress this piece, but after seeing the quality and texture of it in person, I decided it would be a good fit. There were natural grooves and holes and crevices in the wood, so even if I tried to make it as smooth and polished as possible, it just wouldn't ever have that perfect store-bought modern look. So I went with it.

Finally, I applied a few coats of Minwax's Polycrylic to seal and protect the surface.

And here's the table in its new home:

I just can't get over this shade... I'm in love!

I would have completed the room this weekend with chairs and a table setting, but that's a project all on its own. I've got plans for the accessories that will take a whole weekend to complete, if everything goes right *fingers crossed*

Here's a little preview of what I have to work with....

Yep... good old Ikea chairs. As you can see, they do not match the space at all. But that will change next weekend. See you then :)

Which bath spout would you recommend?

I completely forgot about having to get a bath spout and we are now spout-less :(

What spout would you recommend? Our mixer is Hansa but I am not so fussed about a spout brand as long as it's good quality.

Would love to hear your suggestions :)