Google is a wonderful thing...

I often wonder what my life would be like if there was no such thing as google. I would never have discovered why the sky is blue, how cameras work (but seriously I still think it's magic), the ever-addictive Facebook, my ultimate time waster Pinterest and the dozens of blogs that I read from authors around the world.

It was during my daily morning blog read that I discovered an interesting article about a design workshop that's coming to Brisbane. The School with Megan Morton  offers tuition from the best-of-the-best craftspeople inside the industry and gives an insight into the coveted worlds of craft, styling and design. Crafternoons and make-it-yourself lessons from specially selected teachers are structered with all levels of experience in mind.

One of the clases I was particularly interested in was a screen printing class by Rachel Castle. A little googling helped me to discover a little more about her and quickly I entered the wonderful world of Castle and Things.

Sadly for me, the class is only being offered in their Hobart Roadshow, but I'm going to keep my eyes peeled in the blogger world for more upcoming dates in the hopes I may learn how to create some of these pieces myself.

 

**I've created a link to my favourite blogs on the right hand side of the page. Check them out and you might find something you like! **

Pintastic!

With barely 10 days until Steve and I reach our first $10K saving milestone, I've been finding myself getting more and more excited about owning our first renovator home. And thanks to the wonderful invention of Pinterest I can spend almost all day dreaming and designing. I've been slowly adding to my Future House pin board with bits and pieces from bathroom inspiration, to home decor accessories even my dream of having a hidden bookshelf entrance into a study. I'm hoping that by the time we have the keys to our new home I'll have honed in on our style and the types of rooms we want to create. And maybe, just maybe, my dreams will become reality.


I love the timber underneath the kithen island



I really like the grey and yellow colour scheme



I love the colour of the walls

Loving the grey, large sqaure tiles in bathrooms

I would love to create this outdoor space. Incredible before and after pic!



I love the use of brick and I think it's a workable design for a small kitchen

A burst of sunshine

When Brisbane hits single digit temperatures, it's safe to say it's officially winter! People in the streets are rugged up,  donning scarves and beanies, ugg boots and asking strangers on the street "gees, how cold is it!?"

I've always loved winter time, the clothes, the crisp air and the beautiful cloudless days. Unlike other countries- especially the US and Canada which we've just come back from holiday- winter is a stunning time of year. To embrace the change in season I thought I would do a few DIY changes in our little living area.

I'd recently bought a cute little owl figurine from a dollar store, along with a metallic silver flower ornament that I thought could do with a little burst of colour.



Not an exact replica, but close enough to my original



A trip to Bunnings to pick up a bright yellow can of spray paint and I was half-way to finishing! As I'm still a novice at the ole DIY projects I'm not ashamed to admit that I made a bit of a mess spray painting in the backyard. Despite laying out newspaper, I underestimated the spray zone and needless to say the grass and a substantial part of the green hedge is now a brilliant shade of yellow!

I had read about the need to keep the can at least 15cms away from the object while spray painting but I got a little close which causes a dripping effect. But nothing a paint brush can't quickly solve.

About three coats of paint and my little objects were shining as bright as the sun!

Cheat's Way Out

It's been well over two months since Steve and I came back from our whirlwind holiday in the New York and Canada. So it's a little embarassing to say we haven't even printed our holiday snaps, let alone hang them.
So I popped off to Harvey Norman to have the pics printed for a bargain price of $8 for about 20 of the best ones! And the best part was it only took 10mins. Gone are the days of dropping off a roll of film and coming back 24 hours later, only to discover all your pictures have your thumb smudged across them.

Doing some research I thought Ikea would be the way to go for pictures frames, as I was looking for a range of sizes and with white frames. I struck gold however at Freedom Furniture who were selling ten frames for $80, but I timed my shopping trip perfectly with a 3 day sale and got them for $60!

So pretty, right?

I've always been really bad at hanging pictures and getting them straight. But I found a really good idea on Pinterest to get a cluster of pictures looking just right.

I popped the photos in their frames and  lay them out on some newspaper, finding the arrangement I wanted and traced around them.

It was just a matter of cutting out each little square and then taping the newspaper to the wall where I wanted them to hang. I used my handy spirit level app on my iPhone to get the paper straight, so as long as it was right, the rest would be.

Putting a little pencil mark where the hook would go on the wall, it was then simply a matter of placing the adhesive command strip hook on the wall and attaching the photos into the cut out hole.

...excuse the messy bed. There was a lot of jumping around on it after I succeeded!

Voila!

Meeting Milestones

Payday is a great day in anyone's book, but I get particularly excited every fortnight these days because it means I'm putting another chunk into our joint savings account and slowing chipping away at the end goal- a home deposit.
Recently Steve and I discussed what we should do to celebrate as we reached the big savings milestones. And while the idea of going away for the weekend or buying ourselves something nice all sounded like great ideas, we must admit it sounded a bit counter-intuitive celebrating saving by spending. But Steve being the genius that he is decided perhaps we make a small investment in a case of wine from a winery we visited during our Christmas road trip through the Barossa Valley to Melbourne.
This week the case of Langmeil Orphan Bank Shiraz arrived!

And mark the milestones with a couple of simple labels!

Every ten thousand dollars we get to drink! It's like a really fun drinking game!

We are approximately 3 weeks off from popping the cork on the first bottle!

DIY home research

So over the weekend Steve and I embarked on our first bit of DIY home research by visiting the HIA Renovation and Build Expo at the Convention Centre. A giant room filled with just about everything you need to consider when renovating.

There were kitchens and bathrooms, bedrooms, living rooms, outdoor areas and just about everything in between. Choices of timber, marble, tiles, concrete, polished concrete and endless possibilities for tools.

As much as it was about getting ideas about our future home, it was about getting a clearer idea of what each other wanted to see in our future house.

We grabbed more than our fair share of brochures and business cards and will now house them in a shoe box until well- will have a house to house them in!