I have picked out a cot that I love and we are going to buy it tomorrow when the bank will be open (waiting for my transfer to go through onto my husband's debit card because I don't have a debit or credit card). It's so gorgeous. It's metal which I know I said I loved but had ruled out for being too hard on little heads. However I do love metal cribs and it meets Australian standards so it can't be too bad right?!
Usually I don't buy any baby stuff until after the 20 week scan. I had a miscarriage before my eldest so I am paranoid. I am 12 weeks tomorrow though which is considered pretty safe and I have had a scan to see my baby developing right so I am just going to have to hope nothing goes wrong. I could buy the cot later but it is currently 50% off which means I save $400. Pretty big saving otherwise I'd hold off.
Anyway the cot is the Harry by Incy Interiors:
I love it!
You know how I was saying the exterior colours are the one thing I hadn't changed my mind on? Well I have changed my mind haha! I am now thinking I would prefer to go with a medium grey with white trim and a darker grey roof and accents. Plus I really want a bright red door!
Here is my inspiration:
I was thinking of maybe going with Dulux Endless Dusk:
Here's a house painted in it:
And for the red door I am thinking Dulux Redbox which is a lovely bright red that I have used before.
I have also thought that instead of covering over the porch area, we might actually move the wall out to cover the area and increase the size of our Lounge Room (though we'd still have a little undercover porch bit leading from the stairs to the front door). Our Lounge is currently long and narrow so this will widen it up and give us some much needed room. Plus it will give me an excuse to change the ugly front windows that the old owners put in. It's hard to explain exactly what I mean but I want the front to sort of look like this house (the photo is from an awesome renovation blog I have recently discovered called This Little Yellow House):
Except it will be the reverse as our bigger half will protrude past the smaller part and we will also have a small porch in the middle. I know I haven't explained that very well at all so you may need to see what I mean when we are done (if we get done lol).
I have been thinking not just about the house itself but also how I would like the gardens. I think for the front garden I really like the idea of the overgrown English garden. I come out in hives mowing grass and my husband doesn't really like mowing so this seems a great way to get out of mowing and also giving that lovely, home-y cottage feeling.
We currently have a few trees and bushes around the edges. Plus a dwarf apple tree in the middle and a gorgeous apricot rose bush by the stairs. I'd really like to add some herbs along the side of the front path and then a mix of medium to small plants and flowers all planted densely to creeate that wild abandoned beauty of the cottage garden.
Here are a few of my inspiration pics:
Would like to add a handrail to our porch steps like this one ^
I have also thought of maybe painting the ugly concrete path, stairs and porch. I'm thinking grey with some white stenciling. Here are a couple of ideas:
I'm looking forward to getting started on the garden. Will probably add to it gradually until it's perfect :)
I thought I would post a few inspiration ideas for the nursery! I am really looking forward to doing up another nursery! Kids rooms are my favourite rooms to decorate! I have already chosen the pram and cot I would like too so I'll post those as well! Because we thought we were done having children we are having to start all over again with the baby stuff :D
This is the pram I want to buy. It's the Silvercross Elegance and it's a bit more exxy than I would usually go for. I use the pram (and sling) a lot for my babies though as I don't drive so I figure the pram is my car ;)
I love that old fashioned English buggy look! You can also get a matching Nappy bag- why not! :P
The cot I like is much cheaper. The HENSVIK cot by Ikea:
I really like the bars all the way around look and at $149 it's a bargain! I adore metal cribs but I think they would be too hard on little heads. This seems like a nice compromise!
And here are some pictures of inspiration that I have for the actual nursery itself. If you'd like to see more then check out my pinterest board Ideas for Nursery
Just thought I'd let you know that the dating scan went well. Bub is measuring 9 weeks which puts crazy kid number 4 at an estimated due date of 13th of July. I will need a c-section though so will likely have the baby a week or two before that date :)
Here is a pic of the 4 crazy kids:
Very excited to meet our new addition. Though glad we have a bit of time up our sleeves to get this renovation going ;)
I thought I would post some pictures for the inspiration for our new roof. We need our house reroofed anyway so I have asked my husband to agree to put a different style roof on. As I mentioned previously our house currently has a skillion roof and I hate it. I much prefer gable/hip and valley etc.
Here's our current house:
Now I am thinking of trying to make it look more a Federation style. It's hard to tell from the photo but at the top of the steps there is quite a decent sized porch which I'd like covered over to make a verandah. Here are the inspiration photos I have found:
There are quite a few of these Federation houses in my home town, so it wouldn't be out of place. I think I like the curved verandah roof best and I should be able to erect some window awnings myself without too much issue.
For something a bit different though I also love gothic style houses:
Just gorgeous aren't they :) I do think though that if I went gothic I would want to have all my windows changed to colonial ones and shutters and then when you add all the wonderful fret work and mouldings my house would cost me a mint haha.
So I think Federation will be the way to go. I am planning to still paint my house the green/black palette that I mentioned before (so there's one thing that actually hasn't changed .... yet!).
Just a quick post today. Thought I would add a link to my Pinterest account if anyone wants a gander. It's all house ideas- different boards for different areas.
Utau's Pinterest
I was looking through old blog posts and thinking how much my ideas have changed in such a short time, though my taste is still relatively similar. Will I ever have a completed house that I am happy with?
It's been a little while (okay a long while) since my last post. So much has happened in that time though. The biggest news would be the discovery that we are adding another child to the family. Baby number 4 is on his or her way! It's still early days at the moment so fingers crossed all is well. I have my dating scan on Monday. Sadly my husband couldn't take time off work and as it's near school pick up time i am going to have to take all 3 of the kids with me. Wish me luck with that!!!
In light of this news we have decided not to build from scratch. We had actually decided to sell our house and buy a block and had gone so far as to put in an offer on a block but we pulled out at the last second when we discovered our baby news. Neither of us can bear the thought of building, having a newborn and living with my parents all at once. Instead we are going to extend our current house and change the roof (it has a skillion roof which I do not like!). The extension will just be out back and will extend our kitchen/dining area and add 3 bedrooms and an ensuite.
I am pretty happy with this decision now although it was hard letting go of my dream house at first. I am pretty sure we can make this house my dream home though and retain a small mortgage which will be good given I will be taking leave after the birth.
