Tomorrow morning we open our driveway and backyard to the hords of bargain hunters, and hopefully we clean out a heap of junk that we no longer want and make some spare cash.

Maybe we can buy more crap......just better crap.

Like any of these chairs! 

R

We love this chair that our good friends Juz & Sim have. We might just have to get one (sorry guys). 










Or maybe I could get more clocks. You can never have enough old broken clocks. Logic?


Today I had to go out to get some photos for work, one of the places just happened to be the local Botanical Gardens. Which even after a harsh dry summer it looks pretty good. It's always an inspiring place, especially the fern garden/fairy garden and koi pond.

Next time you visit Ballarat make sure you set aside some time to visit it. In the meantime enjoy these fresh snaps I took today.

Ro

Botanic Garden Inspiration

Botanic Garden Inspiration

Botanic Garden Inspiration

Botanic Garden Inspiration

Botanic Garden Inspiration

Botanic Garden Inspiration
Botanic Garden Inspiration

This morning I got up early coughing and spluttering, but determined to at least to go for walk with Peggy, however it was a pretty glum outlook, dark and drizzling. So I gave it a miss. The weather is trying to change seasons, really it is. That's one thing we do love about Ballarat. We do get four distinct seasons, and the change of is usually quite obvious. Last year inspired by a few wet days I started planting herbs like crazy in my front garden. Even though it was a rental I figured if I was improving the tired look of the garden I wouldn't get into too much strife. All winter the plants slowly grew, and when Spring finally came the little patch of dirt was buzzing with life....and Bee's!

A lovely friend of mine (The lovely Cupcake Cath) just gave me a Passion fruit plant for my birthday, which I'm stoked about. She even referred to my list of plants that I had in mind for the backyard! What a darling!
Anyhow, it's joined the row of pot's sitting out the back waiting to be slotted into the soil to settle in and grow. That's the best part about gardens. Watching your little ones grow up. I'll admit that I even get excited! If that makes me a dork then so be it. I'm comfortable with that.

So with a little bit of moisture and a ray of morning sunshine I decided to find some garden pictures that make me swoon. Backyard views that in a short while I'll be able to create!

Ro

Outdoor furniture if done right looks great with a green natural back drop.



How cute is this...?
We have a 'besser' brick back wall in the garden which is actually the back neighbours shed! But I'm pretty happy about having it because I can render it (not bagging it, I'm going the whole hog). And I'm going to use a tint to get a terracotta feel. Then grow grapes and Passion Fruit up it to create that stunning contrast of human made Vs. nature.


The contrast of the purple/pink against the terracotta wall is sublime.

How beautiful is this? I'm thinking of growing something like this to cover the back 'Besser' Brick wall.

A little bit of a boring post, but exciting for us.

Last week our $80 Big W temporary microwave died. Well not completely, I'm sure it still works perfectly well, it's just that we can't get the door open when the button is broken. So off to the local white goods retailer I go dreading the inevitable....dealing with commission hungry cheesy sales people. Cringe worthy.

So here I am by myself during a mid-week lunch break let loose among the appliances. A dangerous scenario indeed. Why? Because I just happened across this Whirlpool 90cm free sanding oven/cooktop that is on special. It's a display model and has been super seeded. We had allocated $2,000 for the oven but got this gem for only $1575, it's original price was $2,200!!! The fiscal saving is so impressive that it leaves us money to pay the plumber to install it and one almighty big Lamb Roast. Happy Days.

I did eventually get a microwave.....on special of course. But we only saved $65 on that purchase, which after the $625 saving on the oven seems a mere trifle.

That's not all, there's more savings. We picked up a new toaster took it to the register, payed for the three items and left the store. It wasn't until we got home that we noticed that they hadn't even charged us a thing for the toaster! Weird. So I think today might be one of those days when your good karma in the past comes back to reward you.

hugs

Ro

PS. The new microwave doesn't have a button to open the door. It has a handle. Clever. Well done Omega.




Our home is a ball of sickness at the moment. Poor Kim is in the wars, I've started to get it and Helena still has a nasty cough. But it's my birthday today and I'm not going to let it get me down.

I got exactly what I wanted for my birthday, it happens every year. Weird. One present was this desk chair from Ikea (in black leather) SAAAAweet. And the second gift was a signed contract from the current tenants locking them into vacating the property by the 3rd May.  This leaves us three weeks to reno as much as possible before we move furniture in. A little tight but do-able, especially under my 'don't stop for anything regime'.

A few Friday LOUNGE ROOM lovelies for you to look at.

Hugs

Ro


















Last night I cooked a special mid week meal. Roast Kangaroo with Couscous, chick peas, dried currents, orange rind, Kaffer Lime leaves, lime juice and dried chillies. I love Kangaroo meat, cooked properly, and it's the most sustainably produced meat in Australia with less impact on the environment than cattle or sheep. But that's another story, of which I'm happy to discuss with any anti - Australian emblem eating turkies.

The kitchen is such an important area of the house. It's where all the action happens (no puns please). It's where I discovered how much joy a well cooked meal can bring to family and friends. The range of tastes and flavor's concocted into a dish that makes us feel great. There is nothing better than having people over, music playing, wine flowing and plenty of laughs and conversation.
So with this in mind you can imagine the effort we'll be putting into the new 'old' kitchen.

Unfortunately with time and budget constraints we won't be doing too much to the kitchen immediately, but this is no indication that it will be a neglected room. So far our vision is to paint it white......surprise! To begin with we will leave the existing cupboards but just give them a freshen up with a lick of paint. We will then install a heap of shelves on the wall with the window for storage of our plates/bowls/mugs etc. The shelves will also be home to the glass jars from ikea that we have been accumulating, full of pasta, flours, sugars, tea etc. This will make a great array of colour and texture, accentuated by the contrast of the white walls.

Eventually we'll get a new ceramic sink and fittings, followed closely by a new dishwasher and a deluxe 900mm gas/electric stand alone stove/oven. Man those things make me go all Tim the Toolman...AAARHH ARRHH!!

The floors will get polished with the original renos and the plans that we have well into the future include, replacing the hideous aluminum window frame and installing French doors to the patio.

Until then all we can do is drool over these inspirational images collected from various blogs and photo sources online.

Ro








Simple but effective herb storage



This is the sink I want.....nice


It looks like the 3rd of May is when we can actually start the renovations!!!! (over use of exclamation marks but we are excited) We're just waiting on the current renters to sign some paperwork and then it's all official. We'll keep you posted. In the mean time here is what the basin and tap that we bought on eBay looks like on the cabinet we painted. You like?


Also I bought Kimmi a new lens for her camera......look at her work, well actually I think the talent does the work. What s QT!

sink
sink2
teetee


The entrance to our new house isn't exactly massive but if we keep it uncluttered it should make a pretty swell entrance. We want it to have a little of our character and a liitle style, but simple. Here are a few beauties found on the web oasis.

PS. I boughts a few more treats online. The black Chandy is for our bedroom and the hand carved Tiki Statue is for the wall of books.

R