Im on Instagram

Ive started an Instagram page, from the lack of posts on here you you can prob tell i don't have time to keep updating this blog, so Ive turned to Insta! Afterall a picture tells 1000 words!

Insta is to share my pics as i start to furnish my home hopefully one day i can say "im finally finished" - i thought buying a new house would mean less work once we moved in. 2.5 years later were still going. We will get there one day :) For now were happy and settled and love our home.

RenskiStylesOnInsta

Light me up!

Two years after moving in we finally got our lights sorted and got rid of the batons. I claim a "minimalist low fuss look" with the baton install - but hubby didn't buy it, it was time to get the downlights and pendants. Trying to research what was the best downlight was hard - too hard so i didn't bother trying to confuse myself with Lumens and colour of the light or what was best and what to steer clear of. There is far too much information out there that its just a little too overwhelming for me.

Speaking to some electricians some will tell you the trend is daylight and some will tell you the trend is cool white - it's "just what you prefer" they would say..............

So that's what i did - work out what type of colour i liked. Speaking to Harvey Norman lighting in Penrith they were so helpful. They let me borrow a daylight and a cool light option to take home and hold up in our house.  I knew i hated the yellow warm yellow lights so that option was out. And we settled for in between cool and warm "daylight 4000k" The brand we brought has a samsung chip and Harvey Norman said its their best seller. A great quality bulb. We are very happy with them.

Adam from Adspark (0414 858 213) a local Electrician installed them for us. He is a great guy and we were happy with the job that he did. 

The pendants were purchased from Beacon lighting. A bit of a loss for me (cant win all the battles) i didn't get the pendants i wanted. I wanted the white scandi looking ones, but hubby wanted the plain classic glass ones - atleast they wont' date. And its good to just get something hung in the kitchen and foyer. and they definitely wont clash with anything in the house being so neutral.

Another job to cross off the list!

Foyer Pendants

Concrete Pathway in the Backyard

This post is rather late considering we had this done in November.  Better late than never. 

Once we had completed all the landscaping we were left with the path down the side of the house which needed to be covered. The dead side of the house is the only access we have to get hte lawn mower thorugh, and it also stores the bins, and access from laundry to the washing line. So it is used a fair bit.

At first we were going to do rocks and pavers to create a stepping stone effect

Similar to this

But this wasn't practical to drag the bins and mower over so that idea quickly turned into the possibility of paving it. We looked into the type of pavers that were available and had quotes on costs to have it laid. It was far to costly to spend so much on something that no one really sees. And paving concerned me with the ground movement, i didn't want my paving lift in a couple years time and look messy.

We then started to explore concrete options. A stamping pattern to create the look of pavers both appealed to us, and concrete is so easy to maintain. and will stay in place to create a nice even surface.

Here is an example

We then started to get quotes.  Hubby decided to go with a local concretor that seemed confident and was going to offer us a good service, he was keen and had plenty of photos to show us. I wasn't to sure as i couldn't find anything on the web about him. But left this one upto hubby to organise so went with the flow.

The concrete is a fantastic choice, and its super cheap compared to the paving. The stamp we went with was called FLEMISH, and the colour was a one colour choice called Bluestone.  Many people opt for a 2 tone effect to create shadowing, but we wanted to be able to colour seal it in the future so went with 1 colour.

As you can see from below there is so much choice. PARCHEM in penrith has osme stamps on display outisde that you can view to get ideas.

Here are the before shots of the area we had to concrete.

The concrete has just been poured and stamped. Awaiting the colour seal.

The stamping process

Colour Sealed again with the Bluestone, massive difference between Bluestone colour through concrete and the actual colour sealer.
He also added some grit product to it as it was so slippery. The concretor promised to do it but he didn't so keep in mind if considering the concrete stamping.

Hubby has now painted the retaining wall in the Woodland Grey (Same as the fence) Looks really good!

Before retaining wall is painted

And just because i love before and after shots, and looking back at old photos when we first moved in and admiring what we have today i found some to share with you.

All but a distance memory now!  i know im writing this 1 year after we moved in so 12 months ago we were experiencing the photos below, and today we can go and enjoy valuable family time with the kids as our yard is so easy to maintain and its all finished!

In summary all im going to say is pick you concretor wisely! Make sure you can 100% trust them once that concrete is poured it can not be removed.

Alfresco & Portico Tiling

Something I didn't think we would be able to get done for a while was the Alfresco tiling. It was last on my list of things I wanted to get done as it wasn't urgent. One day I decided to get quotes to see what it would be worth, thinking we couldn't afford it. The quotes came through reasonable so we were able to go ahead quite quickly.

Given that i rarely have any spare time on my hands, and dragging the kids through countless tile shops is not something i wanted to do, i set off on my own to check out the local tile places and picked out my favourite options. Once i had narrowed it down to about 4 possibilities we had the kids looked after for a couple of hours on Saturday morning - this was our chance, we had to select something that day - and hardest part of all hubby and i had to agree - that's the biggest challenge right there :)

First tile shop was CTM in Toongabbie - he hated everything i liked,off to a great start! Next place he selected something i hadn't considered and i didn't mind the texture of it, so we had a possibility. again he didn't like my choices at the second place (Lexatonia Tiles). The 3rd place was Beaumont tiles and the ones we liked were way out of our price range.

In the end we selected the one that he had picked out, I was able to borrow a sample for the night to see if it suited the tones of our house, and it did.

The tiles were purchased from Lexatonia Tiles in Seven Hills on Abott Road. Great service and a great price too. The tiles ended up being $26sqm. Pretty good considering Beaumont tiles were up around the $60sqm price range.

The tiler even said the tiles we picked were so hard to cut, he believes they will be near impossible to crack. We have spares just in case.

The area we had to tile was just under 40sqm to cover the Alfresco and portico. The tile is a 600x300mm porcelain tile called PROVENZA ASH and it is rated for outdoor use.

The tiles so far are easy to maintain ( I mop with a ENJO outdoor mop) the grip on them isn't that extreme rough sand paper feel so grit doesn't stick to them to badly. They are beautiful to walk on too. The colour is a prefect choice for an outdoor space. It doesn't show the dirt and doesn't show the doggy paw prints too badly either, which is a bonus for someone that is a little bit OCD when it comes to cleanliness. 

Would highly recommend this tile.

Our tiler suggested to lay them length ways in a brick pattern, which was the total opposite to what i was thinking, as i thought of lying them horizontal in a straight pattern so the space would appear wider.


Here is the finished alfresco area. Still some grout dust on them when i took these pics, its gone now though after a few washes.

I know i haven't posted about the laundry fit out yet, and that will come shortly, we also did the tiling for the splashback in the laundry. 600x300mm tiles

Here is a sneak peak....more to come in laundry post.

Happy 1st Birthday to our home

We have official had our home for 1 year now! 

Its gone so fast. I'm totally in love with our home. There is nothing i would want to change. And there have been no major issues.

I still have so much to post on and add to this blog. Just finding it hard to update on a regular basis.

Since my last post we have completed the Concrete out the back | Laundry Fit Out | Tiled the Alfresco | Couch for home theatre.

Next on the list when we can get around to doing it will be the study fit out, home theatre wall hung cabinet and our lighting. We still have just batons through out the home because i cant find anything that i like.

I will get around to updating the blog with everything that we have done. Just have to find some more hours in the day.

The Main Bathroom

The main bathroom is my fav room, its only small so didn't take much to decorate. 

Id like to find a new plant and pot for in there, perhaps a succulent as the one i have now doesn't like it too much, and id like a vase to sit on the bath hob. Just waiting until i come across the perfect one for the space.

The venetians were installed by Nepean Blinds  Theyre the poly  Venetians, so hopefully no problems with the steam and moisture in the room.

The towels, Laundry Hamper and wall art are all from Adairs.

The soap Dispenser is a plastic one, perfect for the little kids so they wont break it, but i love the colour. That was from howards Storage

You can see further pics on the bathroom IN THIS POST and  also IN THIS POST TOO 

Plantation Shutters - YAY!

From the very first day i knew i was building i had decided that i wanted plantation shutters in the front windows. I was so excited about it, they look so clean, modern and keep a room looking spacious and neat. Yes - they will probably go out of fashion! but you cant always steer to the safe side of trends and neutral tones, if and when they become a daggy accessory for a window i will think about options then - that could be a decade away! so for now, im sticking to what i have always wanted and what i have saved up for.

I wasn't always certain what i wanted in the rest of the house, it was a toss up between the Block out rollers or the shutters.

I spent countless amounts of hours asking people what they preferred, those that had both and what they liked and didn't like about each option. I visited display centre's, people's homes, show rooms, i met with 4 different shutter companies to see what information i could get out of them that might sway my decision to one way or another.

The general consensus was 50% rollers and 50% shutters, so after all my research there was no clear winner. Those that had shutters LOVED them, and those that had Rollers LOVED them too.

I then had to weigh up my own options, take all on board that i had heard and draw my own conclusions.

Shutters

Pro's
1. Clean, Sleek and modern - They are defiantly on-trend
2. Greater flexibility for light filtering
3. Can leave the windows open, shutters wont bang in the breeze
4. No cords for kids to play with
5. If little hands grab hold of them they cant crease like a roller would
6. Can angle the louvers to allow more or less light in
7. They look nice from the outside too

Con's
1. May not let as much light in on a highlight window - room stays darker, especcially on the south side.
2. Might be difficult to clean each panel
3. More expensive and harder to replace as trends change
4. Cover more of the window, so they make a smaller 600 deep highlight window even smaller
5. The gaps between each louver may let more light in, and you have to fiddle with them to close them properly

Rollers

Pro's
1. Can roll the full way up to let in max light and air flow
2. No cleaning
3. Cheaper - although if you liked the nice fabric like i did the price difference was minimal per window

Con's
1. Gap in the sides of 20mm each end do let the light in
2. Less options for light filtering - its either up or down
3. They bang around in the wind if he window is open
4. Dont dress a window as nicely as a shutter will
5. Risk of damage if the kids touch them and crease them, or dirty hands

If i had of wrote this post at the time i was doing my research im sure thre would be a lot more.

I decided that due to the fact that it gets quite breezey here, i wanted the option that would allow me to leave a window open at night without it banging, my previous home had rollers in the bedrooms and on a hot summer night we could never have the window open as the roller would bang around.

During the day i swing open the doors on the shutters to open them out completely and let as much light in as possible. Because theyre highlight windows i dont have to worry about them hitting furniture or our heads!

I still dont know if i would of been just as happy with rollers in the other bedrooms, but i can say im really happy with the shutter sin the bedrooms, so far they have lived upto my expectations.

In the end i have ended up with shutters to the home theatre, and all the bedrooms. I chose a block out blind for the stacker doors and living room windows so that they could be up all day to let as much light in as possible. Even though we dont have much of a view the living room windows face north and its important  that we allow maximum sunshine in during the day to warm the house through winter.

I also wanted to have a consistent look and if i had of had shutters on the windows and rollers on the stacker door i don't think i could have coped with the different window coverings in the one space.

I have gone with a BASSWOOD Shutter. It has better thermal properties, and is less likely to warp over time like a PVC would.  The wood is also lighter than the PVC which puts less strain on the hinges.

The colour i chose was called SNOW. This is where the love for my shutters ends! Unfortunately the colour i chose was not what i had intended. I chose a colour from a swatch about the size of a credit card. And for those that have had experience choosing colours you know how much they change in certain light. During the building process i would take weeks to choose a colour, id carry swatches with me every where in different lights until i had decided which one i liked best.

For the shutters i had about 12 different shades of white, first i removed all the yellow/cream ones and i was left with about 6 to choose from. I didn't want stark white so removed those and i was left with 3. I then went around to a few of my windows in different rooms and held the swatch up. I didn't think of the fact that the light was behind me so it did change the tone of it - just wasn't realising this at the time.

I settled on what was named "SNOW" and the consultant was on their way. I then had second thoughts and was questioning the tone of it, there is no way i anted something that appeared yellow in any circumstances. This was one thing i am dead against as my house is grey and white tones. I could view the colour in  large format, and there were no photos to go by, so i just had to trust my little swatch that i saw.

8 weeks past and the shutters went in. They looked fantastic when they were going up. The installers took about 1.5 hours to do the rooms, and i was given a quick run through on how to care for them.

Once they left i walked outside and was shocked that i was starring at this weird yellowy/greeny - maybe slightly white shutter in the window. I was so disappointed  It wasn't the look i was going for, and for those that know me well, colours MUST blend nicely with each other. The tone of the curtains didn't match the off-white mortar and it looks like i have purposely introduced another colour to the front facade.

Almost a month down the track and im still not used to it. Dont think ill ever be. I just have to live with it now. I guess ive made it this far - 18 months in from paying deposit on the house and htis is my first regret! Pretty good effort to get this far with no errors when so many colours are from so many different trades and retailers.

Moral of the story is - White isn't always white, and white isnt always what it seems. Its such a tricky colour. Ive learnt the hard way, and ill never try and mess with the tones of white again. Next time ill be so careful.

When choosing your shutters put swatches on a white piece of paper, carry them to different rooms under different light. And if you can keep a swatch then ask for it so you can take it around with you. Its worth the extra effort because then when your shutters go in you can love them for life.

Sorry for such a long post! there is so much to say about window coverings. It took me 6 months to decide what i wanted. And many nights of reading. I hope i have given some worthy feedback for those of you reading and trying to decide what to get. It really is a difficult decision, and an expensive one. We all have so many windows, and the costs add up quickly. You have to be happy with your choices.

I ended up choosing Nepean Blinds for the Shutters. The rollers were done privately.

Here are the pics! thank you for reading :)

SNOW shutters on white Window Frames

From the Outside
I probably need to show some with them open too.