Showing posts with label My Home. Show all posts
Showing posts with label My Home. Show all posts

18 October 2013

My Home: Our Front Deck Progress


The progress of our front deck 

We have been making some serious progress at the front of our house as we have been busy working on our front deck. The existing deck was treated pine, painted in green and soft cream. It really was an eyesore being at the front of the house. The timber had started to rot through in some sections and being two story's high, had to be replaced. We started the works by removing the existing decking boards and replacing them with Kwilla hardwood, to match the timber on our back deck (you can view the back deck here).

 

10 October 2013

Painting the exterior brick walls of our home

Goodbye brick house - hello modern home!

This is what our the bricks of our house looked like when we purchased it.


All I focused on was the exterior bricks and how bad I wanted to render them! We lived in our home for about nine months before a decision about the exterior bricks was made. For those nine months, we spoke about rendering them and what colour we would then paint the render.

7 October 2013

One Year 'Our First Home' Anniversary


October 2012 and the 'before' shot of our house
So this week is our 'one year in our first home' anniversary. It's such an exciting milestone for my husband and I for us not to share!! Taking on your first mortgage is daunting, but is so worth it! In the last twelve months we have achieved so much, grown, learnt and blossomed. I think we have found what we are good at - home renovating and DIY. You can see some of our progress so far here. We love it, we even woke yesterday at 6am Sunday morning to go and load a ute tray full or mulch to put in our prized new pool garden. I guess you could say we are dedicated, or perhaps a little too enthusiastic!!

24 September 2013

My Home: Installing new Windows + Doors

Your choice of windows and doors have a significant impact on your home. Why?
  • first impressions count
  • it can maximise your favourite views
  • you want it to compliment your design scheme
  • you can incorporate and benefit from your house's aspect and the surrounding climate
  • it brings the outdoors in, by opening up your home
Then you need to consider the practicalities... how does the window open, how much ventilation will it provide etc.

When we bought our home we had no intention of changing the windows and doors (besides the front colonial styled door). I remember our words were 'for an older home, the windows and doors slide really easy, its great!'. Then we lived there for 6 months and felt imprisoned by our doors and windows. Why? Because they had terrible security screens on them. They were brown aluminium, fitted with security screens. When inside our home your eye naturally got stuck on the timber brown frame and screen and the outside living didn't flow from the inside living. The solution? The windows and doors had to go! We fitted doors and windows with a brushed white aluminium frame to match the white internal walls, now our eye flows straight from the inside to out. But do you know the best bit?
There is now no way to tell the age of our home! We have shaved at least 10 years off its life, simply by replacing the doors and windows and modernising it.

A progress photo, removing the rear sliding door

25 August 2013

My Home: Planting our Poolside Garden

So last week I wrote about my inspiration for my poolside garden, you can read about it here.

Our existing garden surrounding the pool was full of pebbles, sand, some farmers friends weeds, palm trees and a bit of this & that! It was the last garden we had left to makeover and I had been putting it off, as I wasn't sure if we were going to spend the money to do a massive reno on the pool area, or do it DIY on a budget and give it a facelift. We opted for the facelift option. If we were going to spend the big bucks the idea was to remove the rock retaining walls above the pool, as well as the garden and put a Balinese styled pool cabana in...to look a little like this...

17 August 2013

My Home: Inspiration for planting a poolside garden

Last weekend we removed all of the existing plants and rocks out of our poolside garden, ready for a new selection of plants and design. We also built a wooden raised garden bed that goes alongside the house wall beside the pool, so provide more greenery and contrast in the pool area and break up the monotony of pavers and concrete. We are about to head off to the nursery, so I thought I would have  a quick look at some poolside and tropical garden ideas....ahhhh heaven! Now I am feeling inspired :)

So here are the awful before photos...




And this is the look we are trying to achieve...

5 August 2013

My Home: Adding Curb Appeal with a New Front Garden

Ever been on holiday and wanted to create that resort style at your home? Well that's me and what I tried to achieve with my garden!! After holidaying in warm tropical places like Port Douglas and Bali, I wanted to create a tropical garden and my own piece of paradise right in my front yard. If I can't be on holiday all the time, well why not bring a little bit of 'holiday' to my front yard, so it feels like a holiday every day of the year?!

My Port Douglas inspiration

18 July 2013

My Home: The backyard transformation


 Our backyard. Our sanctuary. Our place to relax. Our haven. Our home!

In this post you will find our progress so far of our backyard transformation ...
When we purchased the home I said that I wanted to make the backyard more private and a place to unwind. These photos are what we have achieved on weekends over the last 9 months. Of course with any renovation there is still more to do, however I was just so excited with what we have accomplished so far and wanted to share it with you all!

Here are some before pictures so you know what we were working with...


BEFORE - this is a photo we took during a real estate inspection, A chicken resided in the backyard, along with kids toys and lots of other things
 

CONTACT/WORK WITH ME

ASHLEA KERR

Blogger, Creative + Business Owner

Gold Coast, Australia

Interested in working with me? Sounds fantastic, I love working with brands and creating fabulous content for my readers.

glamourcoastalliving@gmail.com

On Glamour Coastal Living