I hope you all had a great Halloween. We had a blast trick-or-treating with Jett. 

Good looking trivets :)

What are your favourite trivets made out of? Sillicone, wood, cork,...?

I've got some horrible looking cork ones at the moment which need replacing. They need to look decent as I like to use them during dinner parties. What are your favourite trivets? Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated :)

B

Etsy Black Roundup

Happy Halloween!! Today this roundup is about all things black! Spooky....

1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. 11. 12. 13. 14. 15. 16.

I hope you all have fun tonight! 

White faux fur throw on white bed linen?

I am considering buying a milk coloured synthetic fur blanket for our bed. Do you think it would be too much white with our white bed linen? Our bed is dark chocolate (almost black) leather. Would it look ok with a fine weave pattern quilt cover, or would it look too busy/too much texture?

It is 110 x 140cm, do you think that is an ok size for a queen size bed?

Milk coloured faux fur blanket

Fine weave quilt cover that I am considering buying.

B

Official bathroom befores (+ current progress)

Master Bathroom demolition has begun!

First order of business was to take as many "Before" pictures as possible (there never seems to be enough of those after the fact). There had to be several shots taken since the room is so small and chopped up, and my lens is not wide angle {insert sad face here}.

So in an effort to make everyone understand the layout... here they are.

The room is comprised of 3 separate spaces: vanity, closet, and shower/toilet room.

Here's the view from the master bedroom, looking in:

Here's the view after scooting to the left, looking at the vanity:

Another of the vanity, for good measure.

Here's the view of the vanity from the closet:

And this would be the view of the closet entrance...

Now for some messy closet shots. Starting from the door, going clockwise:

This closet SO desperately needs a makeover... must start saving.

Anyway, here is the shower/toilet room:

And one more of the vanity from the shower area:

I think that covers every square inch of the bathroom! As you can see it's a fairly small area (although it feels ginormous compared to our one and only teeny tiny bathroom in our LA house). So I can't complain.

This morning, Brad and neighbor Joe did a bit of demo to kick things off. It didn't go exactly as planned at first... one of the water lines under the sink snapped and was gushing water for a good 5 minutes while Brad was running around trying to find the piece to shut the water off. The bathroom flooded but luckily it didn't reach the wood in our bedroom (the carpet helped soak it up—I guess it's good for one thing).

All is well now and ready for tile...

The tile guy starts tomorrow, can't wait! We also finally purchased the vanity:

Grand total came to.... drumroll please.... $910 shipped! A big chunk of change, yes, but a seriously good deal for a large vanity with storage, a top, sinks, mirrors and shelves. It was originally listed for $1010 shipped, but I offered $100 less in exchange for leaving the faucets out since we plan to buy oil rubbed bronze ones. I purchased it here if anyone's interested. I'll be sure to give my review once it's here!

There's a lot left to do in the coming weeks, but now that I'll be working from home after next week it should be much more manageable. Thanksgiving sounds like a reasonable goal to be 100% completed (that also marks one year of living in this house, woo!).

Stay tuned, this is going to be one good before & after.

A very productive day!!!

In addition to my post from this morning, here is a list of what else has been accomplished today:
Mr B installed the 3-in-1 unit in the ensuite, 4 Krix speakers (2 to master bedroom and 2 to sitting room), a ceiling fan to master bedroom, an amplifier to sitting room.

He also helped the kitchen maker install the dishwasher and rangehood and ducting :)

Oh and while I was upstairs, cleaning, the kitchen guy was installing the kick boards.... He was almost finishes when I got there and guess what... They were stainless steel instead of white!!! I wanted to die!!! Anyway, it's all good because he took them off and is going to make up some new ones and get them painted in two pack to match the rest of the cabinets. Phew!!!
B

Mr B is my hero :)

It's only 2pm and look how much Mr B has already got done today?

He's put in the cooktop and set up all the powerpoints on the island (two side ones, microwave and dishwasher). That's 4 in total. Do you know how much they charge per PowerPoint? Mr B is saving us insane amounts of money. Gotta love that! Our cabinetmaker is here, finalising the kitchen, aligning everything and will be installing the dishwasher soon :)
For the first time in my life I (and Mr B too) will have a dishwasher. Yayyyy!

B

Feature Friday: Kreyv

Today I am featuring the bright and fun home of Jamie from Kreyv. Here is how she describes her style. 

My overall style is simple, with clean lines and comfort. I love mixing industrial pieces with organic pieces. I love contemporary pieces with old, worn pieces. I love finding inspiration in unexpected places, and I love a good diy.

Enjoy! 

Make sure you check out her blog here. 

Need to buy a new Quilt Cover :)

Thanks to KL I just found out about Moss River bed linen. I would like to purchase a nice quilt cover and some pillow cases. I am a white bedlinen lover, but don't mind a bit of texture :)

Which one of the following three quilt covers would you suggest?


100% Combed Cotton Sateen self-stripe. 400 Thread Count. Features Oxford borders



100% Cotton Honeycomb Weave



100% Combed Cotton Percale. 300 Thread Count. Features Oxford borders with 2 rows of pintuck stitching



I am liking the Honeycomb one the best, but I would also like to get a nice but functional throw for the bed as well. And I want to make sure that the quit cover goes with it ... I would like a throw that we can use in winter over the quilt for extra warmth... but during the day have over the bed like this:

 
Any suggestion on the material/colour would be greatly appreciated :)


B

Pottery Barn Chandelier Look-for-Less

I'm helping Jessica Kettle with her new home and yesterday she emailed me this amazing knock-off. This Overstock chandelier is almost exactly like this Pottery Barn chandelier and for half the price!

What colour glass splashback?

Update: we went with a white starfire splashback.

Now that the cabinetry is almost finished I think it's time to get the splashback sorted out :)

What colour glass would you recommend? We don't want anything too out there. No mirror, no red, nothing over the top.

Would love to hear your suggestions :)

B