Lights 'n' Chairs

Ok, so I have a whole lotta lights I love, and a whole lotta chairs I love, and I have to say it like that, because I love the song 'Whole Lotta Rosie' by AC/DC.

I think they all work together, but the styles vary quite a lot, and I was trying to figure out how to make them all work in our dining room, study nook and kitchen, without any one area seeming too industrial, too rustic, too cottage-y, too modern or too retro. And incorporating white, metal/stainless steel and dark wood tones!

BUT, it would seem, I have finally come up with a plan...and both Mr Limecello and I LOVE IT!

1. The white drum light (which we already have), and white slip-covered sofa (we have nearly finished paying our slip covers off, and will hopefully have them by the end of January) are the living room. I thought it was important to include them as a reference.

2. The Barbados light from Beacon Lighting is perfect for our study nook, as its a bit of a feature, but will soften all the hard edges and corners in the little area. The Bertoia chair (yes, it will be a replica) will add a little glam in stainless steel, and not dominate too much either...its a pretty small area!

3. The Lucient pendant from Click-On was the final piece of the puzzle, and I only spotted it this morning in the latest Home Beautiful. It will be just right over our dining table (the Liatorp), with the cross chairs (again, we already have these) and our dark wooden bench on the other side. The Tolix A Chair is one we have both loved for a long time, and will sit at the heads of our table (we keep it in its oval format). If we paint the dining area grey (which is pretty likely!) both the light and the end chairs will sit beautifully against the colour.

4. And finally the kitchen. We will hang 2 of these Foto shades over the wood topped island in the kitchen, and the Ghost stools (replicas again!) will bring a bit of 'fab' to the kitchen (stay tuned for an update on that plan too!)

We both love chandeliers too, so fortunately there is room for 2 of them in our hallway!

I am so happy just looking at the plan...I can't wait to make it happen...even if it takes a couple of years!

Guess Where I am Going Tonight?

Hmm, probably not really worth a post, but I am going to Ikea tonight! I haven't been there since just after we moved into our house...9 months ago! That's a long time in my world! No interesting purchases intended (just one kitchen cabinet frame!), but that's not to say we won't come away with a haul of items.

We are going to do some investigations into benches for the (new!) entryway, beds (not sure about buying a bed from Ikea, but will have a look anyway!), sofa-beds, kitchen appliances (namely, their fully intergrated dishwasher!), kitchen door styles, sinks for the laundry...and kitchen and maybe some shelving too!

And have a good look at all the other fun things!

UPDATED POST VISIT: I have to say, I was a little disapointed. I don't know if it's because I see so much of it online, or because my taste is developing (just a little!) but it just wasn't the same. For the first time ever, I noticed some of the poor quality, and the fact that a lot of the whites weren't 'white' enough. Still plenty of good things though (lighting, storage, fabric etc), and we are pretty certain we will be getting an Ikea kitchen (but will go elsewhere for the dishwasher).

Lovely New Blogs

Via Ada and Darcy , I have just found 2 (new to me) gorgeous blogs! Chek and Life at Number 10 are both great reads, full of pretty pictures and inspiration!

And while I am talking about other blogs, please head over to Pottering About, for pics of Rose's latest quilt...which I ADORE! It is gorgeous!!!

Hopefully some pics of our reno's to come soon - walls and ceiling are painted, first coat is down on the floors, and maybe some trims will get done this weekend!

Benefits of running...

...early in the morning!

1. Seeing really beautiful wood doors (3 of them!!!!) by the side of the road.

2. Umm...sorry, thats the only benefit I can think of right now.

I am really hoping they are there when I go back tonight...I felt it was a little unfair to knock on someone's door (the one attached to the house, not the ones on the side of the road!) at 6.30am.

Might do a drive-by before work actually and see if I can squeeze them into my car!

UPDATED: They were gone by the time I drove past an hour later. It wasn't meant to be.

Light and Dark...Dark Grey in fact!

After seeing these stunning pics over at A Life's Design, its confirmed. I am going to paint our dining room dark grey. All the white features pop so beautifully against it, and it will highlight our gorgeous shutters - plus seperate the room from the living room, and give it a little 'intimacy'. You can see the room here. Ooh I can just imagine!

I don't think we have anything on on Sunday...should i do it then?

Speaking of light and dark - dark grey, I have decided this is going to be my other 'colour' to break up the white. Each room will have a charcoal/grey feature of some sort in it.

In the bedrooms it will be the carpet and in the bathroom, the floor tiles. The dining room will be as above, and in the kitchen? Well, I have decided our wall unit/pantry/ display cabinet would look incredible in grey, filled with white china and colourful accents, with the rest of the kitchen in white.

The only room I can't decide on, is the living room. I was thinking maybe charcoal roman blinds in front of our bi-fold doors, but I am concerned they will be a little heavy and distracting. Maybe a rug...maybe a light...maybe a button tufted ottoman? Now there's a thought!

Bonus

After all that wonderful-ness, my husband disapeared for half an hour or so this evening and came back inside with a huge bunch of lilies from the garden, for me. They are now on the dining table in 3 vases, and 2 will be distributed to the bedroom and kitchen shortly. He is THE BEST!

A real gem

Today has been a real gem of a day. A dead-set sparkler - just like the pretty above (from cutdiamonds.com).

I knew it would be when I first saw the weather for today - forecast for 21 and sunny - our first hit of Spring (and perfect for a wedding - Congratulations Benny and Rita!)

Mr Limecello and I slept in and woke when our dog-child's tail started to wag. We are in dire need of a grocery shop, so breaky was a little simple, but delicious (cereal with passionfruit yogurt and tinned peaches), but chased down by my latest obsession - Twinnings Peppermint Tea. I am completely addicted!

We had always planned on a nice long walk, and we headed off to Westerfolds Park with the pooch. I had never been there, but my Husband spent a fair bit of time there back in his teens. And after today, I think we will be spending a fair bit more time there! Its so beautiful, right here in the suburbs, and there is a great track that does a complete loop of the park .We did 2 laps (about 9.6km) and it was so nice just to chat to each other, with no interruptions!

On the way home we took a random detour and managed to catch the tail-end of the Nunawading Farmers Market - where everyone was selling off their produce for a song. We picked up some beautiful asparagus, leek, felafel (which had us racing off to get a bunch of parsley, so we can have tabbouleh and felafel sandwiches!), free range eggs, 2 loaves of bread (for the price of 1!), a couple of home-made vegie pasties and a muffin- or 2! Its a plastic bag free market, so fortunately we had our own hessian bag in the car (Mr LC had his suspicions the market was on I think!

So we picked up a few bargains, and headed home with a fresh pastie for lunch, which we followed with an alcoholic beverage each - a Corona for him, and a glass of my favorite budget white for me.

All this and its only 3 o'clock. We might head out to see Mao's Last Dancer later on (free tickets, coutesy of a late start last time!), or just stay on home on the couch with the sun streaming in the bi-fold doors - no, a blanket! Its just started raining, which will give the garden a good water!

It been a pretty fabulous and budget friendly weekend this week - friends over for home-made pizza, sundaes and (store-bought) wine on Friday night and sunshine and gardening yesterday, plus my Mum dropped in for a cup of tea in the afternoon. Life is so precious, and this weekend has reminded me just how good it is!