Waikuku Welcome

 

 

 

 

What a welcome home I received on Tuesday. The sun was BLAZING and the beach was perfect.

The weeds hadn't stopped growing or pulled themselves out though. A bit rude, I thought.

 

 

 

 

It was a great day to come home to because as much as I loved Auckland and was insanely jealous of all the cool restaurants, flower markets and shops. They do not have Waikuku Beach on Ponsonby Road.

Talk about our happy place. I mean, this was Guy's lunch break!!! I got up to my knees while frolicking in the waves and it was actually quite warm. If I had a cossie I would have dived straight in....up to my waist, because I'm not a huge fan of the ocean. I know, gasp! Am I even a kiwi? I promise I am, don't get me wrong, I LOVE sand....I could lie on that all day. But the ocean... As soon as something touches my foot I can't get out fast enough (it makes surfing hard, which is why I don't do it), some may call me paranoid, bit I ask you....why are so many scary movies based on the sea? Jaws 1-100, Open Water, which also had a sequel...because 2 people being eaten by sharks just wasn't enough and then there was Deep Blue Sea.... The one where a shark eats Samuel L. Jackson like he's a French fry.

It's because there are scary things in the ocean that can eat you. I'm a river girl, give me a river to swim in any day! The only scary river movie I can think of is River Wild, which means I only need to fear Kevin Bacon while swimming.... And seeing as Kev lives in Hollywood, I think I'm in the clear.

OK, see how my brain works...wildly off topic in milliseconds. No wonder my report cards always said 'easily distracted'. Back to the wonders of Waikuku, which only has happy vegetarian sharks with full bellies swimming near it.

 

 

 

 

 

 

It wasn't all play mind you, I did pull out a trailer full of weeds from our front mound and help finish off a fence and some irrigation. I also did some drop saw cavity batten cutting the other day, which I forgot to tell you all about. It was very exciting and made me feel like a real builder. That's what's been happening on the house lately, cavity battens and flashings....they don't exactly make for great photos and reading.... But I took a photo anyway.

 

 

 

Whenever I look at this photo all I can think about is the future decking..... how great it will be to sit on and look out at the native bush that we planted (at my feet) and all the happy birds tweeting away their thank you's for their bushy retreat. I will cheers them with a pimms and wish them a good day eating worms and berries and pooping on people's heads for luck. Truly the only living thing that could get away with such a thing, I'm pretty sure a bird started that rumour.

 

 

Happy Friday X

 

Go and type Marcus Foster into your spotify search and listen to him. So good. Apart from that strange woods song....it's a bit strange. So to be fair he did warn us.

 

Ico traders sale

 

 

Oh dear, this is an injustice. I thought this was posted 2 days ago!

If you don't follow Ico Traders on Facebook, you now have ONLY today to take full advantage of the sweet deal that Miranda from Ico traders has offered up to us all on her birthday..... A whopping 50% off furniture and lighting! That's incredible!!

I have so many picks, but in my eyes the hero piece is this incredible hanging chair! Miranda worked on the design of this and got it just right, she has a love for hanging chairs and I share that love. In fact we sometimes had conversations soley about hanging chairs.

Go and spend an hour on her website and get anything that needs getting, but if I were you I wouldn't be missing out on this beautifully formed fella. He will be hanging at my house on Christmas Day. I may not have lined walls or fully functioning bathrooms but I WILL have this chair.

 

The school loves NZ

 

 

And NZ loves the school.

Well, I did it, I got brave, I became my alter ego (the love and ginger ninja) and I went to Megan Morton's science of styling course in Auckland.

Ok, so my friend Caroline will tell you that I almost didn't get out of the car when she dropped me off in the morning, and I may have fantasised about her coming in and standing at the back of the class until she saw me settle in and make a friend. But then I remembered that in a few short days I will be 30 and that I was being ridiculous, I didn't need Mama Caroline to look after me.... I just had to go in there and hope that everyone wasn't so cool that I would be rendered mute and weird.

Result, everyone was very cool but also very nice!! The first girl I met was Hayley of HHD Event Styling, we realised quickly that we attended the same high school, she recognised me and I quickly remembered her as the 5th former with the bananas in pajamas backpack who I thought was super cool (in case you weren't a 90's teenager...they were the business, I had a matching b's in pj's watch with my best friend) and coincidentally that friend had her unbelievably beautiful wedding styled by Hayley earlier this year. Small world. Hayley really has an amazing eye and I can't think of anyone quite like her in the (03) area, so I thought it worth mentioning to all of you Canterbury brides.

 

 

 

Enter Megan Morton, this super tall, gorgeous woman with ridiculous blue eyes (sorry do I sound like I have a crush on her, ok I'm not sorry, I do) she is such a warm and approachable person (not that I was brave enough to approach her all on my own) and actually kind of hilarious. You know how you watch interviews with Cameron Diaz and you think "yea, I wanna be her best friend" she's like that!!!!! She was full of shiny pearls of wisdom when it came to making spaces look like they just fell into a house looking amazing. Actually some tips included just actually letting things fall. But that's all I'm going to say because next time she is in town, you must go.

 

 

 

I also went to Stephanie Stamatis's (aka IG user Stephanie_somebody) class on instagram, that girl just captures things so beautifully and makes every corner of the world look amazing through her iPhone. We were very lucky and were given some photos of hers. Which I love! Again, a very inspiring woman, who is letting her creativity and natural talent cut it's own path for her to follow. Note to self: be more like that. Stephanie and her fiancé have taken off for a quick trip around the south of the South Island, I'm looking forward to seeing the photos she captures of that area and if you are too, follow her on instagram

I so wished I could have gone to Kara Rosenlund's vignette class (damn, regret!) it would have been awesome to do some hands on styling and it looked so great on everyone else's instagram feeds. Check them out on #theschoollovesNZ

 

 

Image by Gemma from www.blackbirdgem.blogspot.co.nz

 

 

Auckland in General was also just incredibly good fun. It helped that I was swamped with freakin gorgeous friends to catch up and hang with. But honestly, the food. THE FOOD. I pretty much ate my way through Auckland and Holy Cronut! It was good. So here is my list of where you should eat.....

 

 

Late night Diner - because mac cheese and chilli con carne at 12am is ALWAYS a good idea

Mexico - the guac and corn chips and the beef tacos....just, YES.

The Food Truck Garage - you probably saw him on tv, going here is so much better than licking the tv screen

Depot - we ate tapa after tapa and had red wine after red wine in tumblers like cool kids. Delish

Federal Deli - the Banoffie Pie, I just... Have no words. But there is a little drool in the corner of my mouth. Ew

Petit Bocal - the best breakfast with the most delicious bacon. And they are all French and beautiful! Legit.

Zomer - best juice in town surely. It was like drinking raw liquid energy. And some damn good Guac.

 

 

 

 

 

Oh yea, I had my first Cronut. Endangering waist lines everywhere. And I'm the rebellious type.

 

 

 

 

I also got to Junk and disorderly which was at the top of my list. My heaven on earth. I found a few treasures to bring home with me. I also found many treasures that I couldn't logistically bring home with me. stupid baggage allowance.

 

 

 

 

 

 

So in Summary, l do love the School I also love Auckland. It was good to me.... Better than good. And for those of you that have a 'Jafa' attitude towards AKL. I will leave you with this short story.

 

On Saturday night after gorging myself on tapa's and banoffie pie, my friend Cecil dropped me off at our friend Caroline's house where I was staying. Caroline was out babysitting and her flatmates were either out or asleep. I tried my key, I heard a lock turn and I tried to open it. Nope. Something was wrong, a deadlock had come into play (*more on that soon) and I was locked out. I checked my phone, flat as a pancake... No surprises there. I knocked for awhile, no one heard. I was outside, phoneless, with no idea where I actually was because I have absolutely no sense of direction. Usually I just follow Guy while I look at everything....yes, kind of like a toddler. There was no other option (in my eye's) I needed to charge my phone and coming from Waikuku where all the neighbours are amazing. It seemed the best thing to do at 11:30pm was to go and ask the neighbours if I could charge my phone. So I wandered next door and a man named Roger answered.

 

 

I know what you're thinking. She was murdered. Well..... I wasn't.

 

 

I put my phone on one of their chargers and popped upstairs to polish off a bottle of his Syrah with him while we chatted away about not much really. He was so lovely....I didn't meet his boyfriend Jason, he was already in bed and probably pretending to be asleep while listening to the crazy girl in his living room thinking "what the?!??". I was having such a good time I actually totally forgot that I was stuck for awhile. Eventually I went down and grabbed my now charged phone to call Caroline who thought I was mental. And who decided to return home to get me immediately (in case of murdering). I bid Roger farewell and went next door to bed, where my room looked directly into the living room I was just in, I gave him a big wave and hit the hay.

A testament to humans, Aucklanders and computer software programmers everywhere. I made sure to leave them a card and a replacement bottle of Syrah before I came home. Thank you Roger, for not murdering me and for giving me wine.

 

*turns out I was just unlocking and locking the deadlock! not the actually handle lock. I know this because I did it again the next night after my class with Stephanie, but this time Caroline was there to wake up (you should never wake Caroline up) stare angrily at me, and tell me. "ITS NOT THE DEADLOCK, ITS YOU!"

 

 

 

X

 

A steal

 

 

How great are these hanging planters from ezibuy. I love the globe shaped one and can see a cluster of 2 or 3 hanging in our new home. Good thing they have a sweet discount when you buy 2!

Find them here Oh! How I love a good bargain.

 

Progress

This is just a quicky... check this out!!!!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Woooahhhhh! I love seeing things like that! And it makes me feel like we've done loads.

 

 

Standing in the kitchen/dining area looking out... Can't wait to get the soffits on those eaves out front. It's going to look pretty exceptional.

 

 

I love the western and eastern sides of the house... Above is looking towards our master bedroom and the end of hallway window. The soffit will carry along the roofline which is going to look pretty cool.

 

 

This weekend is a big one with loads of planting on the western mound. Can't wait to show you all a before and after of that one.

 

 

 

Windows

 

 

It's been very slow going lately.... So slow that I lost all motivation to fill any of you in with what is slowly happening. A few of you have been asking so I guess it's time to do a post that isn't all sunshine and lollipops.....

 

These windows..... We just can not catch a break. They have really held up progress, nothing has gone off without a hitch. So I will give you a quick run down.....it's a bullet point kind of fill in, full sentences will use too much energy on something that had already been the biggest energy sucker yet.

• 4 weeks ago we were ready for the windows. Some of the windows arrive, with unwanted vision rails...as you know. They are sent back.
• 2 weeks after that some more windows arrive which all have to be sent back because they arrive looking like this.

 

• They return the bulk of the repaired windows over the last week. Excluding the sliding part of the kitchen window, which was dropped on it's way out to us. (Beginning to feel like our windows are actually starring in their very own slapstick comedy)
• Realise that the other part of the kitchen window has been made to slide the wrong way anyway... Has to be sent back.
• Site glazers come out to place the glass in all large windows. I take the day off to clean all the birds nests and poop off the newly polished concrete floor that was supposed to be in a weathertight house. We figure we'll just board the kitchen window up to finally make us weather and bird proof.
• Except.... The have completely forgotten to order one of the large raking triangle windows and the large window above the front door.

 

Thought I'd show you just some of the poop. Haha, you're welcome. So, yep this was all through the house. It was no small job.

We're now looking at having it finished by the end of this week....fingers are crossed, breath is definitely not held.

It has been a bit of a Window nightmare.... I'm sure at the end of all of this we will look back and laugh....haha... Nope, too soon.

It's a funny thing this disappointment because I genuinely want things to go right for not only our own experience but because I like that I have been able to confidently recommend people and businesses from experience to those of you who are also about to build. I have to say, it's not been a great experience because nothing has gone smoothly and the initial stress of having a 30-something-thousand dollar purchase arrive looking second hand was not a nice one.

Two things though,

1. I'm proud to say I haven't cried since the vision rails (yep, still embarrassed about that)
2. As unfortunate as the experience has been, at least Vistalite haven't backed out on us once. They have had many screw ups but they are fronting up to all of them. And the windows we finally have in, we love!

Vistalite are actually responsible for doing all the windows for a large and popular building company and perhaps that hasn't worked in our favour? They would surely be run of their feet with hundreds of orders from them and we're definitely the little guys. I wonder whether it is best to go with a company who deals with quite a few custom builds and not copious amounts of spec houses?

In conclusion. We love the windows we have, we haven't loved the constant problems. To clarify, we are not paying for any of these problems to be rectified. Vistalite has taken care of everything.... That's not to say we haven't lost money with the 5 week drag on to get the windows in. This will definitely be one invoice that will hurt as we pay but I'm sure when we are sitting in our home and looking out those windows....all will be forgotten.

 

Roomie Light

Tina Stephens, our light at the end of the tunnel, our glimmer of hope, when we were scratching our heads...she knew just watt to do. Ohhh! I have so many more puns to make you cringe and make my Father in law clap proudly! But I'll leave it for now....

Tina, is the Creative Director of Roomie, an online professional interior decorating service which has a little something for everyone and in my case, I was drowning when it came to lighting!!!

People say good lighting can make or break a home and when it came to flicking the switch (ok that is the last pun, I promise) on a lighting plan, we were failing miserably. I had a good idea of the aesthetic I was after but placement and clever thinking of 'where and why' was lost on me. Perhaps a downside to doing the build yourself is that you only have room for so many things in your brain. They say you have to build your dream house three times before you get it right....and here we are going for a hole in one. So with that being said, I knew I had to relinquish control of some areas and I KNEW lighting would be it. Now, some of you may be reading this and saying "oh no, Katrina! Don't you realise you can get free lighting plans from chain lighting stores" and I would answer.... Yes, yes I do.... And I did, and they were just never right. If lighting is as important as people say it is then I wanted someone to do it that REALLY got what I was trying to achieve with the style of our home, someone on my wavelength. I didn't want to be limited to what a lighting store had imported this year......plus if I had to look at one more "trendy" light fitting I was going to scream.

Enter Roomie Light....

I gave Tina a very small amount of info to get her started....I wanted a mixture of industrial lighting from Icotraders and natural textured shades to soften it slightly, as few down lights as possible and I also let her know that we weren't big on a LOT of light. Guy is forever turning off lights and switching on lamps.... so with that being said, she wove her magic and presented us with the most comprehensive and well thought out plan, budget and spec sheet than I could have ever hoped for. Seriously, blown away.

 

This is a compilation of ideas Tina put together that were based on the very brief brief. Clever isn't she...... Just you wait.

Meet our lighting plan.... (I hope it's clear enough for you) Each little code matches a light fitting that is on the spec sheet. It was so much fun referencing back and forth and getting a good clear vision of what the room will look like. Tina has made the most of our high ceilings by using up lights in certain areas that will wash light up and across the ceilings in the living room. We will have a few pendant lights in the same area which will be on a different switch. I love that idea, a light room without the harshness of downlights highlighting every single downy eyebrow hair that hasn't been touched in 4months. Curse you non-dimmable downlights and your unforgiving shadows. I am so happy with the plan and could finally breathe out a solid exhale when it came to the lighting. Tina definitely got me, offered fantastic advice and is just really easy to talk to.

To give you an idea of what the product and budget sheet looked like you can check out their Room Service page which offers you a break down of what you get... Look for "shop and budget" down the bottom, you'll see what I mean by well thought out and comprehensive. Roomie light is yet to be officially launched, roll on November. But that won't stop Tina from jumping on a lighting project for you now. Just email her through the Roomie website.

Speaking of Room service.... Obviously lighting isn't the only trick up their sleeve. They have great interior design packages for those of you who need a little inspiration and ahem designer discounts....errrrm bonus! Whether it's just a bit of a kick start and some great ideas of what and where to shop or an all out room makeover that would make your friends think you should be on the The Block next year because you have mad skills. Roomie can and will hook you up. Click here for packages and pricing.

So there you go, my little lighting secret...You don't need to thank me, sharing is caring.

You can follow Tina on Pinterest and like Roomie on Facebook for some daily inspiration.

Thank you Tina!