Reno Update & Goodbyes

Okay firstly to my 'goodbyes' - no I am not going anywhere but today I said goodbye to some faithful old friends. You see, I am having laser eye surgery in two weeks to restore my vision and I had to say goodbye to my contacts today - ahhhh! I have to wear glasses for two whole weeks prior to surgery, and as I have come to rely on my contacts, having worn them for more than 15 years now, they were very hard to give up. I must say, I have a headache that could kill people today due to the fact that my glasses to not have transition lenses (never thought I would need to wear them for any length of time). So I'm not too sure how I will last 13 more days without finding some ridiculous looking sunglasses to put over the top!!

Love to know if anyone else has had this surgery and what your experiences were.

Okay enough of my whining - on to our renovation update. Unfortunately there is not a lot to report as we are in the boring stage - you know in the middle - so I will show you where we are at anyway. The image below shows the main bath with some floor tiles that were laid today. I love them already! The tiles are porcelain and even though I only budgeted for ceramic I am glad I went this way.

The image below shows the ensuite - you can kind of get the idea of the shelf we are having down one side.

The following image shows lots of tiles etc. in our bedroom! Oh the fun of renovation!

Hopefully next week I will be able to show more finished images along with a bit of a budget breakdown - oh and I think I might actually have a breakdown when I finally add it all up!!
Happy weekend to everyone. Michelle

BiECO Christmas

Have you started your Christmas shopping yet?
Well, I know just the place for you to start - the HOTest place to buy all your handmade goodies this Christmas - the BrisStyle Indie Eco Market!

The green carpet will be rolled out ........

Saturday, 6th November
St Augustine's Church Hall and Grounds
Racecourse Road
Hamilton
9am - 2pm

I'll definitely be there along with many other BrisStylers selling their eco wares.

Along with my usual goodies I will be selling some handmade eco Christmas tags
and decorations .....

and some Christmas cards .....

Along with all the handmade goodness the BrisStylers will be selling vintage, and vintage inspired wares. I'm sure there will be something there for everyone!

Don't forget to mark it in your diary .....

I'd love to see you all there. Once again, I'm inside the hall so if you have time please
pop in and say hi!

Other than sending out lots of orders and preparing for BiECO this week I have been watching my bathrooms slowly taking shape - I'll have some more pictures for you all on Friday. My tiles have arrived so I'm looking forward to seeing them go down soon - yay!!! Hope you're all having a fantastic week. Michelle

Doug Up In Sydney

As I mentioned in my last post, my favourite store on my Sydney trip was Doug Up On Bourke. For those of you who are not familiar with the store it is a treasure trove of antiques and collectables, and is one of the largest single stores of its kind in Sydney. One of the best parts is that all of their stock is sourced in Australia and they specialise in mid 1800's to late 1950's! I could have stayed in this store for hours looking at all the interesting objects .... well we were in there an hour and a half!

Thought I would share with you what I managed to dig up on Bourke along with some of the fantastic things they stock.

Love it all ....

Wish I had room for this one ...

How cool are globes at the moment?!

They stock lots of shoe lasts - along with cute little child size ones ....

One of my girlfriends bought an old green iron just like this one ....

They have a great selection of stools of all kinds ...

Speaking of stools, I am on the lookout for an old stool for my main bathroom. Maybe an old milking stool or something. If anyone has seen an old low stool for sale in Brisbane I'd love to check it out.

...... and now to what I managed to dig up ....

All images except for this one from Doug Up On Bourke

A really cute old recipe box for $10 which is perfect for holding all of my unframed artwork. A bobbin which I just had to have as I adore them $35, and an old ceramic electricity cover for $10 - not sure what I will do with this one yet! I was certainly happy with my little haul, but next time I need to allow a lot more room in my suitcase!!!

Doug Up On Bourke will not disappoint those looking for something different. They are located at 901 Bourke Street, Waterloo in Sydney.

Renovation Update: I am still in the thick of a renovation zone and have no decent pictures to show you all yet. I can report that I have gone over budget though (boo hoo). My initial budget was $15,000 as advised by my real estate mate, however, after setting myself a more realistic budget of $20,000 (we are talking two bathrooms here people) I am still struggling to stay under! More on that next week.

By the way, if you get a chance over the weekend, pop over to Natural Modern Interiors and take Lisa's Interior Design Workshop Poll - I know she would appreciate the feedback.

Have a great weekend everyone. Michelle

Sydney and Reno. Update

Hope everyone had a great weekend. My girlfriends and I had a fantastic long weekend in Sydney, we only wish it could have been longer! We managed to shop until our feet hurt a lot eat, drink and of coarse talk until the wee hours of the morning. We haven't had a weekend like that in a really long time - it was actually the first time I had spent 3 nights away from my children - lets just say I needed it!!

Thought I would share some of the highlights with you. We ate spectacularly each day, which was one of our goals - one of the best restaurants we ate at was a place called Wine Odyssey Australia at The Rocks. The menu consisted of some awesome Australian fare and along with a-la-carte you could order off the 'Flight Menu'. This menu consisted of a three course meal with the wines already selected for you - and let me say is was delicious to the extreme! Now I have had this type of meal before, usually costing in the region of $100, but this was a little different with each meal being a tasting portion at a total cost of around $35! I had the Sparkling Wine Flight pictured below - with poached quail egg on brioche toast, king prawn & sweet potato gnocchi, and duck terrine to finish - yum!!! All the wines were exceptional too - if you live in Sydney and haven't tried it I would definitely recommend you put it on your list!


After the main, the dessert menu which was also a tasting dish for only $26, was washed down with a port! We all agreed this was our favourite restaurant of the trip.


We started out with a wish list of shopping destinations and got around most of them - Doug Up on Bourke (my fav), David Met Nicole, Koskela, Have You Met Miss Jones (closed while she is on leave unfortunately), I Ran The Wrong Way, Oxford Street strip shopping, and Oxford Street Markets, Pitt Street and the QVB Building (of coarse) - phew we were certainly exhausted at the end of each day, but it was well worth it!!!

Coming home I was a little anxious as to what I would find knowing that the demolition of the bathrooms was taking place while I was away. Well, they didn't disappoint - my house is full of rubble as you would expect, but I am really really excited about the new spaces! The main bathroom is going to be a great size 3.5m x 2.5m and the ensuite will definitely be adequate at 2.5m x 1.4m. At the moment they look like this ....

main bathroom

looking from main bathroom into what will be new ensuite

ensuite

The new walk-in-robe has been sheeted, along with the new linen cupboard.

walk-in-robe

The builder and plumber are back tomorrow and all of my bathroom goodies arrive - yay! Hopefully I will have some better images for you all by the end of the week. I'm off to look at more tiles - I can't seem to find any I love but I will keep you posted.
Michelle

Renovation Update & Sydney

Hope everyone is having a great week. No need for guessing - my week has been really crazy and stressful due to trying to find EVERYTHING for my main bathroom and ensuite along with organising trades (aagghh!!) by today! This in turn has led to me dreaming of bathroom ideas ..... or should I say panicking about my bathroom ideas.

With the budget a lot tighter than it was with the rest of the house - I can hear my friend (and real estate agent's) voice in my head "you can do both of these for under $15,000" - It has meant putting my dream bathroom on hold for a slightly lesser version - or has it? Armed with many images in my head the challenge was on!

Dream item number one on the list is the
freestanding bath ....

waterforce

This bath is obviously beautiful, and comes with enough room to place your glass of champagne! The price tag - you guessed it - well beyond my budget. In fact the one I really wanted was over $2,000 just for the bath (yikes). The challenge - to find a budget version .....

Fairly similar no?

And the price .....

Yes, you read it correctly $999.00 - and, as I purchased everything from the one outlet this was open for negotiation too!! The place (thanks to Sonia from Raine and Sage) - The Builders Discount Warehouse. I went to the one in Springwood but there are other outlets. If you are thinking of renovating your bathroom I thoroughly recommend them - nothing is too much trouble, and if you have an image in your head - they will do their best to find it for you. So thanks guys!

With Tilers, Plumber, Electrician, Glazier and all fittings organised I can now quite happily fly out to Sydney tonight for my long awaited girls weekend - yay! I think I deserve a glass of bubbles ... or two.

I'll let you in on more of my renovation rants next week - the upstairs of my house looks a little like a war zone at the moment. Hopefully I will be able to show you the before and after shots of my walk-in-robe next week, along with some more bathroom news. I am also hoping to visit you all again shortly - I have really missed having time to read all your news. Michelle

p.s. added 3:45pm - OMG I can hardly type .... I have just seen that paper tree design is on the front page of bluecaravan - wow!!! No wonder the orders are coming in faster than normal!! I'm sooo excited. Check it out at bluecaravan if you get a chance.

A Rainy Market Wrapup

Okay, it wasn't the best weather in Brisbane on Saturday for the Brisbane Indie Mother and Child market, but I had a great day anyway! Luckily there were some who braved the unusually cold and miserable day in order to peruse and purchase some fantastic handmade goodies!

I will admit my first market was a little daunting, and I am very lucky that I had my sister along to help with the setup ..... and stay to support me for most of the day. Thanks Sis! Thanks also to all those friends and acquaintances that came along to make my stand look crowded (te he)!

It was really fantastic to meet lots of people who feel the same way I do about purchasing handmade. Talking to my customers one-on-one allowed me to get some awesome feedback. I really enjoyed meeting all the other BrisStylers and seeing all their products.

I found out that I really really enjoy talking to people about what I do. It's amazing to see the reaction on peoples faces when they see a favourite fairytale of their youth used in a different way. I have already received some wonderful feedback from customers via email - thank you all for taking the time to let me know how you are using your purchases.

I now am really looking forward to the BrisStyle Indie Eco Market on the 6th November. I will be crossing my fingers for a sunny day too! So, if you can, please save the date:-

Hope you all have a great week planned. I am now in the full swing of looking for fixtures for my new main bathroom and ensuite. My Brother-In-Law from M2 Build (who is our builder) told me on Sunday that he would like to demolish the existing main bathroom on the weekend as well as build our new walk-in-robe (aaaahhhh!!!). I thought I had a few more weeks up my sleeve. Anyway, it now means I have to quickly arrange all my trades and make buying decisions. Luckily I gained some fantastic advice from Sonia over at Raine and Sage - she has given me a secret weapon when it comes to purchasing bathroom fittings at bargain prices. So stay tuned as over the next couple of weeks I will be posting my before and afters and letting you know costs etc. along the way! Michelle

One More Sleep to BiMC

Only one more sleep until the BrisStyle Indie Mother and Child market!! My owls and I are ready to go!

So are all my pink goodies ...

Today I am really excited - can't wait to meet all the other BriStylers, and of coarse catch up with some bloggie friends too!

Just finished doing all my last minute stock bits-n-pieces. Packed all the essentials - I've even pre-ordered my lunch. Now all we need is a fine day:)!
If you are in town, and have the time, please drop in and say hi. You can find me inside the hall on stand 5.

Must finish by apologising for not having the time this week to come around and visit you all. I can assure you everything will be back to normal next week though! I must say I have missed you.

Hope you have a fantastic weekend whatever you are doing. Michelle

Only 4 Sleeps To Go

Only four more sleeps until my first market!!! The BrisStyle Indie Mother & Child market is on this Saturday!

At the moment I feel a mixture of excitement and nerves all bundled together. Along with the many many tasks I have yet to complete in order to be ready - many questions are running aroung in my head ..... will I have enough stock?; will anyone like my goodies enough to buy them?; will my stand be 'good enough'?; will my prices be okay?; will ...

The BrisStyle girls are a wonderful group of volunteers who make the whole market process a lot easier by providing lists, contacts, information etc. There is no way you can forget anything required for the day with the wonderful BrisStyle Checklist they put together for you. Every detail is taken care of - right down to the lunch you may want delivered on the day .... the rest is up to me (aaahhh!).

I thought I would give you a little peek at some of the goodies I will have up for offer on the day.

Garlands ....

Party pegs ...

Some tags and magnets ....

More tags (of coarse) ....

My cards .....

There will be a lot more items for sale on the day:-
This Saturday, 9th October
9am - 2pm
St Augustine's Church
Hamilton

If you are in Brisbane on that day, please come along and say hi - I'd love to meet you all. Plus, it will make my stand look busy (te he)!!
Michelle

p.s. Is anyone else having trouble with blogger this morning? I am unable to move my images around so I had to load them all first and then put the text 'around' them.

Giveaway Thanks

from here

Recently I was very lucky to have won a couple of giveaways!

Today I thought I would give an overdue thank you to the two wonderful ladies who hosted the giveaways.

The first thank you goes out to Sandy from Paint Me White - I was really excited when I found I had won a leather bound 2011 diary!

Of course, the diary was not only beautifully wrapped with a hand written card but tucked inside was the adorable little table sham you can see pictured. Thanks Sandy, this will go beautifully in daughter no. 2's 'big girl room' makeover!!

The second thank you goes out to Nellie from McCarthy Designs. You may remember Nellie was giving away Better Homes and Gardens tickets each day for 5 days. Now, I really wanted these tickets, as I am going to Sydney for a girlie long weekend the very same week, so lets just say I entered more than one time!!! Anyway, thank you Nellie, I am thrilled to be able to go to this event.

Nellie sent the tickets inside one of her beautiful cards. She not only has a wonderful blog, but she sells greeting cards with her original photographs from her etsy store. Thanks Nellie, this card now takes pride of place on my pin-board in my office!

It's the little things like the hand written notes that really make these items even more special!! So thank you girls - please know that you are really appreciated.

If you haven't had the opportunity to visit Nellie and Sandy's sites ..... then you absolutely have too! Both of these ladies are really friendly and have wonderful informative sites.
Sandy, as her title suggests, loves to paint furniture so much that she now has a booming business doing it for others. Along the way, we all get to have a little glimpse at her projects and learn from the techniques and advice she freely gives.
Nellie blogs from Orange in NSW, and is a fellow renovator and interior design student. Nellie's blog is always filled with wonderful images and inspiration. She is taking a little break at the moment, but I'm sure she would still love it if you knocked on her door and said hi.

Hope you all have great weekends planned. As I am in the final countdown to my first BrisStyle market next week, I will be working on various handmade projects, not to mention getting price lists etc together. Who would have thought that there would be sooo many little jobs to complete!

Hope your weekend is filled with things you love to do. Michelle