We Built A Porch

Hello! I've been a bit MIA lately, my computer has kicked the bucket and I have so many pics I want to upload so that I can blog about them!! Grr hopefully I can sort it out in the next few days so I can share what my little family has been up to lately! 

One thing I can report (with a pic to go with it!) is that we made a start on our outside area of our house! The painting of the house is pretty much complete, we just have the roof to go! We painted the weatherboards in Black Fox and the trims in white (can't remember the colour exactly) Because our block is sloped there isn't much flat area for Olive to go wild on when she starts walking so I really wanted to make double use of our carport by transforming it into another outdoor entertaining area/play area. We can use it all through summer and even winter as it gets quite a bit of the winter sun. Our driveway is longish so there is enough space to move the cars up the driveway when we are using the carport. 

Anyway first step was to build a front porch. This now runs along the front of the house, the length of the carport roof and about a metre out to still allow for me to park my car underneath (particularly when there is hail about - we live in Queensland) The porch adds extra seating to the area (we will also put a bench seat on it) and it also adds curb appeal to our house (doesn't look like you are entering through the back of the house any more) We had never built a deck before so thank goodness for YouTube. Mr is pretty handy on the tools, but this time around I was able to help him so I am proud to say it was a 50/50 team effort. (Getting excited to get into some smaller projects on my own now!) 

Next step, which is still to come, is a feature wall. Our driveway runs under the carport and finishes about 2m out from the carport roof. It's here where we wish to put up a wall which will stop Olive from walking over the side of the embankment. We don't want to stop any of the sun light coming through so we will be making a slat wall and painting it the same colour as the house, black. We have all the wood ready to go so hopefully it will be finished in the next couple of weeks.

Photos of our porch are below... looking forward to getting some before and after pics of our reno's up very soon!

Helena x

Chalkboard Feature Wall

At the moment I am loving black chalkboard paint! I love really dark feature walls, we have a wall painted in Dulux Mercury in our home. Lots of people probably think it might make an interior appear cold, but I think it creates warmth, in a chic and glamorous kind of way!

We are putting up a feature wall outside and I've been tossing up on which colour to paint it. I love the idea of a massive chalkboard as a feature wall! My daughter Olive will love it when she is old enough to have fun  drawing on it and it certainly will never look boring. I can graffiti it with quotes, lyrics...whatever I want and when I want a change all I need to do is get the hose out. I even thought I could paint an old letterbox and stick it in the garden bed next to the wall and this is where I could keep the chalk! The wall will also be a bit of fun when we have friends over for drinks...looking forward to seeing it the morning after haha...

I think I am really becoming obsessed with chalkboard paint! Here are some of the chalkboard pics I love..

Helena x

Images: 1. Shanna Murray; 2. Dana Tanamachi; 3. Dana Tanamachi; 4. Dana Tanamachi

Helena's House Reno's

My husband and I bought our house back in 2009. We loved it's location, situated in the Gold Coast hinterland, but it was extremely dated and needed a LOT of work done. I have always had an interest for reno shows and Mr is a bit of a handy man so we were up for the challenge. There are still a few little bits to do inside and we are still in the process of finishing our rumpus room downstairs, however we are really ready to get stuck into the outside of the house, one to give it street appeal and two to provide a flat play area for our little one as our house is on a slope and is split level.

This Easter weekend we are getting stuck in and will hopefully make a big start on our exterior makeover! Below are some of the pics I found that are the inspiration behind the look we are going for! I love the contrast of the black and white and mostly how the black makes the any greenery around the house stand out. We have lots of trees around our house so hopefully the new house colour will compliment its surroundings.

Helena x

                                                           Source: decordeprovence.blogspot.com via Helena on Pinterest

                                                              Source: graphics8.nytimes.com via Helena on Pinterest

                                                                         Source: style-files.com via Leslie on Pinterest

                                                                     Source: sunset.com via Samara on Pinterest