Inspiration For Boy's Bedrooms

Decorating boys bedrooms can be a little hard I reckon.  Harder than girls rooms anyway.  Everywhere I turn I see beautiful, pretty things for girls.

So this post is dedicated to inspiring boys bedrooms and ideas - little boys in particular - just like my 2 little monkeys!  No girls allowed :P

I'll let the pictures do the talking but I will say I don't dig skulls & crossbones, licensed items and going overboard with any one particular theme (which I must admit I find hard not to do).

I love how simple yet sophisticated this room is with gorgeous pops of red!

http://www.nameyourdesign.com/

Now this is a bedroom I love! So great for a boy of all ages

http://jackandizzy.blogspot.com/2010/03/jacks-big-boy-room.html

I know this is a Nursery but I LOVE the colours, the strips / circles, light - everything!  And how easy to make this a big boy's bedroom once the cot and change table are no longer needed!

http://www.freshchickdesigns.com/

How's this fabulous lego headboard!

http://www.anitaroll.blogspot.com/

Love the stripy ceiling and tying it in by painting the same green on the back of book case

http://www.decordemon.com/

I don't actually know which bedroom I love best but they've all given me loads of ideas!

We have a slab!

I was hanging out for my drive-by this morning and was very happy to see a gorgeous, yes gorgeous, slab has been poured.  Yesterday, if the date painted on side of slab is anything to go by.

We noticed last Friday that the plumber's had left one drainage point out (for future kitchenette in self-contained unit).  At that stage the waffle pods and steel had been laid but concrete not poured. 

'B's' first contact with our Site Supervisor (SS) was a little awkward because here we were calling him with an issue before he'd even got our file and knew he was our SS!  Didn't want to be known as too anal annoying pedantic this early on anyway ;)  And there was a bit of - you call him, no you call him going on but either way our SS sounded like a good bloke and agreed we were right to be raising the issue.

Anyway, what do I find today? Gorgeous slab - check, missing drainage point - ummm, still missing!

Not a great start but not the end of the world.  Eden Brae's problemo!

Waffle pods and steel all ready for concrete

Gorgeous right?

Step-down garage

Awww our first (and hopefully last) bit of graffiti

Guess we'll have to wait a couple of weeks now for it to cure.

Bugs & Alfresco Dining

When designing our new home our must have item were 2 walls of timber bi-fold doors meeting at the middle, opening onto our alfresco area.

And this was the display home where we first fell in love with them. Swoon.

Only problem with this kind of opening is that it's difficult to keep the insects out and I don't know about you but I'm really not a fan of bugs inside!

We're having a ceiling fan in the alfresco which I've heard helps to keep the bugs at bay.  We've also looked into screening options that can be retro-fitted.  There are a couple of options such as fly-screen roller blinds that have magnets and attach in the middle but I'm not convinced they'd stand the test of children time - especially with such a wide distance to cover and nothing more supportive in the middle to attach to.  Anyway, kinda defeats the purpose of having the beautiful opening only to put a screen in the way!

Then when I was at a friend's party a few months ago, we got chatting about her bug "killer" which had managed to keep all the bugs out of the house even though her sliding doors had been open all night.  I was quite excited about this little find as it's not a traditional zap it & smoke it kinda bug zapper (nothing like a smoking fried bug to kill the mood), it kills them quietly & smell free instead! Hey, they're only bugs! 

My friend had a bugvac which I can only seem to find at a Perth Mitre 10 store but I've also found the Bug Eater which is Australian made and appears to work in exactly the same way.

How it works (as quoted from their site)...

Insects are lured to the bugeater by an 8 watt ultra-violet light, specially formulated to attract biting insects.  As the insects approach the light, they are blown into the water tray below the fan.  A couple of drops of liquid detergent is added to the tray of the mosquito trap, to break the surface tension of the water, the insect is unable to float on the water so it drowns.

So it's safe (no chemicals), quiet, Australian made and effective.  I'll take 2 thanks!

How have you overcome a similar problem?

Address Stamps

Came across these gorgeous self-inking personalised address stamps a while ago on Young House Love and thought what a perfect early (verrrrry early) house warming present it would be to ourselves so ordered one.

We received our gorgeous stamp from Three Designing Women only recently and I love, love, love it!  'B' on the other hand just isn't quite so excited, can't imagine why.

Here's a sample of the one I chose...

Unfortunately they don't deliver to Australia but I didn't let that stop me and I opened a US parcel forwarding account with Ship it to and voila.

Since ordering this gorgeous stamp, I've noticed they're also on Etsy and found some of the following cute ones that all deliver to Australia!  Gotta love the strong Aussie dollar when buying American.

My Clear Stamps

Stamp Out Online

Save The Date

My Clear Stamps

Stamp Out Online

J L Mould

We have action! The formwork has been laid!

We were told the 15th February should be our official start date and I was still waiting on confirmation from our CSO about this when 'B' drove by the land last night and noticed we had formwork!!!

When I did my usual drive-by this morning I also noticed all our waffle pods and steel has been delivered this morning too!  Talk about exciting! 'B' reckons our slab may be down by end of this week, beginning of next.  Better get on to our Mortgage Broker (who are absolutely awesome by the way) to organise the next drawdown of our loan.

And before I post all the exciting pics (exciting to us anyway!) I'll just add I was really shocked by the size of the footprint of the house!  Usually when I've seen slabs they looks so tiny & I can't imagine a decent size house fitting on it but not this time! 

Looking from back of house down towards the front

Front of house looking up to back

Couldn't resist one last drive-by this afternoon and happy to see some plumbing's been done.  Wonder what I'll find on Friday...

Letter Box Inspiration

Riveting subject isn't it?!  Nevertheless we're going to need one at the new joint so I've been doing my usual internet searching for good ones.

As we are in a battleaxe there will be limited room on either side of the drive way so I'm looking for:

a) something tall (so we can see it when reversing)
b) narrow (again to avoid scraping the car on it)
c) with a big enough opening to take A4 (hate mail being all scrunched up & shoved in)
d) and dare I also hope for reasonably nice looking?

My search has led me to the following and I don't know about you but I'm noticing a common theme here...

http://www.letterboxking.com.au/

One on the left



http://www.aussiemadeletterboxes.com/



http://www.homeimprovementpages.com.au/

http://www.ozmailboxes.com.au/

http://www.theletterboxshop.com.au/

http://www.allbend.com.au/

I wonder if hubby would like this one being the cyclist enthusiast that he is?  No?

If it were up to my 2 year old, we'd have a 'raffe'! He has a cute little fascination with them.

And I'm sure my 4 year old would just love this one!

What's your letter box like?



Study Nook Inspiration

I've been perusing the internet for study nook inspiration and have some of the following to share.  I've had some saved in my photo folder for ages so hopefully I'll put all the appropriate links where I can...

How stunning is this little nook? LOVE the chair!!! Thanks Shayne for the link - see here!

This is modern, fresh & simple. Cute chair too.

Loving the red accents and window seat from here

Really love this type of desk arrangement & postcard feature wall from Young House Love

And here it is before being decorated

Love how an unused wardrobe has been turned into a study nook here

The next 2 gorgeous study nooks are from VT Interiors

Not entirely my style but I love the concept and layout from here

I've had this pic saved for a while from Centsational Girl.  Perfect for a little tuck away spot in a study nook.

Our study nook opening is going to be about 2m long and then on either side there'll be another 700mm to stash printers, files and all the things that make a desk / study look messy.

The below desk is the Besta Burs from Ikea and very similar to what we'll be using (check out the stunning red colour it comes in too!!)  I like the slim line drawer underneath and that there's plenty of room for 2 people to use at once.

And if you've wondered how to keep all your cords tidy, check out the Signum, also from Ikea for only $15!  You just attach it to the bottom of the desk.

Lastly, we've had an alcove built right next to our study nook to house a wine rack just like this shown in an  Eden Brae display home!