A Local Beauty

This gorgeous old place is up for sale in my neighbourhood. 

Let's have a stickybeak......

Love a good hall.

I spy a pressed metal ceiling in the living room.

Great use of the sleep-out. 

I like the full wall of glass.

Beautiful grounds.

Love the exterior colour too.

Oh, the verandahs!

It's on the river too.

Sigh.

You can see more HERE.

I'm off to Sydney for a few days. Posting early today as I am on the 6am flight... sitting here at 4.54am at the airport. I was a Girl Guide... I am always early for everything.

Catch ya tomorrow!

Happy Sunday!

Monday Nook And The 'Sleep Out'

Image Courtesy Skona Hem

I love this nook. I love the helmet/hat rack up near the rafters and the built in window seat. I have this image filed away in my 'Queenslander File' as a design solution to many 'sleep-out' renovations in our traditional Queenslander/colonial style homes here in Brisbane.

A 'sleep out', here in Queensland, refers to a room that is formed from an enclosed verandah. 'Sleep outs' come off the main house and usually have 2 or more entrances to them. You usually have to walk through another room to get into them! 'Sleep outs' were originally created for extra sleeping space (that theoretically was meant to be cooler than the main house) either in the initial construction of the home or after as an 'enclosed verandah afterthought'. Some argue that the 'sleep out' is definitely not separate to the house and is not an add-on. In some original Queensland homes they are a room which is part of the home's original design and hence forms part of the house under roof. 

Real Estate Agents sometimes refer to them as bedrooms but our Tenancies Act states that a bedroom must be at least 7.5 sqm. I am visiting open homes at the moment where in some there is evidence of the 'sleep out' being part of the original design of the home... hence it is referred to as a bedroom.... yet in others, where the 'sleep out' has obviously been an 'afterthought of an enclosed verandah', they are referred to as a 'sleep out'... "2 bedrooms and a sleep out"... as the literature says.

Makes for interesting discussions at open homes!

Image Courtesy 'Brisbane, Between The Wars'

As you can see in the brochure above, this 'ideal home' built in the Brisbane Exhibition Grounds as part of the 1918 Brisbane Town Planning Conference, has a 'sleep out' (sleep space) included in the original plan. It doesn't come off the hall as a separate bedroom.....you have to wander through bedrooms to get to it... and it has 2 entrances as mentioned earlier.

Image Via Google Images

In this home, you can see that a 'sleep out' has been enclosed on the left elevation after construction. You can see on the right a hint of the main bedroom under gable, possibly in a bay, with the verandah originally having been an L shaped open space at the top of the stairs.

Image Via Google Images

Had to throw this one in. Who of you (if you live here in Australia) haven't slept in a 'sleep out' room like this on your holidays as a child? 

Image Via Google Images

Ah yes, the old 'kids in the sleep out' holiday of yesteryear. 

Let's use these two images as the 'before shots' for our original 'nook' image. Can you see how the new 'nook' design (at the top) could define a space on entry to the sleep out and would allow for another living space to be delineated further along the verandah so it is not just one big obvious 'I once was a 'sleep out' space. The nook layout could be used at one end of the sleep out at the first entrance and could even be repeated in a mirror image fashion at the other end/entrance of the sleep out... now there's a thought! 

Those of you living with a 'sleep out' in your original home design ... what have you done with yours? Is it a bedroom? an office? an ensuite? a playroom? ..... a walk in robe? (I see plenty of 'sleep out walk in robes' in my 'realestalking'). Would love to know!

Happy Monday! Off to the shed today. Boys will be armed with their ripsticks to while away the boredom of 'shed time'.

Gotta Love An Empty House

Cam, from Urban Images, photographs beautiful homes.  From time to time he emails me the ones he thinks I would like. He's always spot on. 

Rumour has it that 'K', the clever lady who was in charge of this beautiful renovation in the western suburbs of Brisbane, drew inspiration from my house posts! Chuffed.

Oh how I would fill this room! A beautiful blank canvas. See the original transoms and original French door? And look down the hall, there is a beauty of a built-in bookcase down there. There is something about VJ's (or beading as they call it in the other hemisphere).... look they're on the ceiling too. Deep sighs.

French doors at the end of a kitchen. Perfection. I am a sucker for French doors running off anything. All the cabinets were hand made and hand brush painted. Look at all those lovely drawers. See the slope of the ceiling? This originally would have been a verandah or a 'sleep-out'. I love how you can see some of the original history peeping out of the renovation. 

Oh my, look at all that space... opening out onto a deck in the treetops. Nice lights! That's a handsome transom too.

There's the laundry off to the side? .. all within easy reach. Originally thought it was the Butler's? With another beautiful door/window letting in heaps of light. Definitely looks like it all was originally a beautiful big verandah. Love the interest that the sloping ceiling adds.

This study sits off the kitchen. I can see a beautiful lamp in that corner. Imagine the bookcase filled with books and pretty vignettes. A good spot to blog while keeping an eye on the stove. Hmmm, well thought out!

I swear they are my floor tiles. Almost positive. I could pick 'em a mile away. 'Grey with rivers of white' was how I used to describe them. That's them. Beautiful mirror!

Oh another door at the end of a room! I am also a sucker for glass doors at the end of laundries!... letting in heaps of light. Look at those beautiful chunky moldings. I can see rattan baskets in that space under the drawers. Aren't the walls a beautiful colour. Spill it Cam and 'K'. Someone's going to ask me!

Original feature. Preserved forever. Lovely.

Thank you Cam and 'K' for sharing this beautiful home. I have mentally furnished it, 'rugged' it, accessorised it, curtained it and embellished it with fresh flowers... bathed in all that beautiful natural light.

A lovely start to Thursday. Coffee time. Slept in 'til 4.30am this morning. What is wrong with me!

Have a happy day.... oh hey, and thanks for all your scrambled egg tips. Confession. After I wrote that post yesterday, and got the boys off to school, I sat and ate another round of Justine's eggs while answering my morning emails. She had a giggle that her eggs made 'the blog'. 

Now This Is What You Call 'A Before'

Remember this beauty? 

Well my friend 'K' found some photos of it in it's 'before' state. 

They were taken in 2008.

Built in the 1900's.

On 1000sqm, up on a hill, with sweeping views.

Sigh.

If you look really closely at the first photo of the 'after', the first photo in this post, you can see they kept the arched window theme.

Look at the windows on the porch to the left, in the first photo.

Nice.

Wow. Original.

Who lived here? What was their story? 

A generation passed.

I see 'work' in them VJ's. 'Lotsa work'.

Check out the fruit! Last minute prop! Hello banana.

Wow, now that's what I call 'original'.

... and the bathroom tacked on the back in later years. 

I bet the outhouse was still somewhere in the back yard too. 

Spruced up in the 1950's perhaps? That's a real 50's colour.

Now I've really got to get inside and see the after. I bet it's gobsmacking. Just going on how beautiful the exterior is, I reckon, inside, the new owners would have done her proud. My friend did mutter something about it having a Great Room with pressed metal ceilings. Maybe I should put a little note in the letterbox, saying "will bring cupcakes.... passionfruit ones.... from the Bulimba bakery.... the best in Brisbane". 

Happy Friday!

PS Oh, I am reconstructing my new blog roll, after losing it when my blog template was changed. If I have left you out, sing out and I will add you back on. I had been collecting blogs for years so off the top of my head, I can't remember all who were there!

Renovation Fantasy

,

I love this place I run past each morning. It's old and lopsided and sort of 'spooky', as my little one would say....but it's got the whole 'bungalow thing' happening. 

I love it's roof line and the fact that it's low to the ground. It's got a beautiful big, L-shaped, closed-in verandah around to the left.... that runs down the whole left hand side.... that is screaming to be opened up for our summery climate. 

I like the entrance. I'd turn those steps into some solid random stone steps to anchor the whole house and get the whole 'bungalow thing' happening. I'd rip out the iron bars (I know why they are there though... 'interesting' street), change the skillion roofline a bit and open out the verandah, whack on a new colourbond roof, do the picket fence thing complete with the prettiest gate, stone the path to the steps and do lavender hedging along the path. I'd add some pretty, double-hung 4 x 4's in the bay window too, trim the tree, grow some lawn in the shade and put in a pretty garden seat......

...stop me now! Stop me. 

It's lovely isn't it? Would love to see inside. I bet it's all very original.... archways, sleepouts... maybe even the original kitchen with an old stove recess ....or some groovy 1950's kitchen. The heritage colours on the bay window suggest even maybe a 1980's touch up? Those colours were all the rage in the 80's.... heritage green, mustard yellow and maroon. There could even be a funky 1980's, canary yellow kitchen inside??!!

What would you do? What colours would you use? Would you keep the entrance as it is or take it back to the verandah and start from there?

I want to do a low house next time. No steps. Bungalow-ish. Next time.

Happy Wednesday! 

My boys are off for a play date so I have the whole day to work.... uninterrupted. Delicious.

A Local Beauty

After visiting my client yesterday, I drove past this beauty. It looks like the renovation has just been finished as there is still tape on those beautiful arched windows on the verandah.

I would have stuck my head through the gates to get better photos but there were staff with mops and buckets on the verandahs and I got scared.

Look, there's even a little pool out front.

Yep, it's gobsmackingly beautiful in real life. It has a real street presence. Would love to see inside. Maybe I should put my business card with a little note in the letterbox. I might just get an invite for a tour inside!

Happy Friday!

So Then Kirsten Wrote In....

.....to share her house! Isn't it divine! 

Kirsten writes, " I read your blog this morning and couldn't help but feel Kathryn's front steps are so similar to mine. When we bought our house, it was basically a tea tree out the front and dirt/grass. Our house was also peach/green/maroon. Ick! The hedge is lily pily, planted just over a year ago, and the small garden in front of the steps is rosemary and lavender. It works really well in a Brisbane climate. We did roses along the path and some ornamental cherry blossoms on either side, which should flower soon. Anyway, maybe you could pass this on to Kathryn, it might help!"

Look! Everything that we have been suggesting! A garden path, plantings, colours, lattice doors, wire gate at front! It's almost as if Kathryn is looking at the 'after 'of her house after applying all the advice she received yesterday..... ta...da!!!

.. and look at this glorious verandah. What a great spot! Ooh love the lanterns too!

This is Kirsten's 'Before'..... what a transformation!

Thank you Kirsten, for sharing your beautiful home. It's wonderful to be able to inspire others by generously sharing what has worked for you. I think Kathryn now has some great advice to sift through. 

Well I'm off to my little one's sports carnival this morning. That's if it isn't raining. I haven't even looked out the window yet. 

Speaking of carnivals, those of you in Sydney and Hobart.... the wonderful 'Boutique Markets' are coming your way this weekend... for the first time! 

Here are the details so you can pencil them in your diary:

The lovely Ness, from Marley and Lockyer, is trading at the Hobart Markets. That's reason enough to go for a start! I mentioned this to a group of girls at the Melbourne Market last weekend.. and we all had a giggle as every one of us has something from Marley and Lockyer in our homes! Ness, you're viral!

If I could be there I would..... but I have been galavanting around the country way too much and need to stay put for a while!