Style and Schist: A Dream Home

Ever since I was a little girl I have had a great appreciation for all things beautiful and especially a beautiful home. Every week I would eagerly flick through the pages of the local property newsletter hoping to get a peek into some of the loveliest homes in our area and the lives of the people that lived in them. I would dream about one day living in a home just like the ones on the pages and I would imagine how I would decorate each room.

While I can safely say my idea of what constitutes attractive decor has changed - more than a little - since then (a horse themed bedroom is now out of the question!) I can tell you that enjoying lovely homes is one pleasure I will never grow out of.

This beauty is currently for sale just north of Auckland for a mere $8m(!)...with eight bedrooms and eight bathrooms, 11m ceilings in the main living area and a solid schist feature wall, three separate wings (a master suite, a gym/office/study and a children's wing ), a library, home theatre, enormous wine cellar , six car garaging and 25m pool with an amazing pool house, this is one home I'd never want to leave...

Dream House 

What can I say, I'm a sucker for accent lighting! Simply stunning!

 The amazing pool...

 All the outdoor entertaining space a girl could dream of!

 Every home needs a fabulous water feature!

 Entry Hall 

It had me a 'Hello'! 

'Great Room'/Living Room

Check out that amazing high stud ceiling...and the decor *swoon*

Omg, I have that coffee table - but in white!! 

I love that while this home is undoubtedly huge, it doesn't feel too 'grand'...

I'm loving the relaxed nature of the decor...mmm rattan chairs...

Kitchen

Can't you just imagine cooking up a storm in here, glass of Vino in hand??

Upstairs landing

Study a.k.a man cave

Theatre Room

My husband would love one of these! While I'm actually not 

usually a huge fan of theatre rooms I do like the look of this one!

Master Bath a.k.a pure bliss

Beautiful, beautiful,beautiful! 

Master Bedroom

All photo's courtesy of trademe.co.nz

Now that's one fabulous dream home! Do you agree? What homes are currently floating through your dreams? I'd love to see them!

xo K

Dreaming of a Lovely Living Room

Another weekend has come and gone here at C&C and I have been thinking a lot about our upcoming living room makeover! We have largely left this room alone since moving in so I just can't wait to get into it! 

The living room is one of the most important spaces in our house as it's the room where we spend most of our time as a couple (we love watching TiVo and movies together!) and it's where we invite our visitors to sit and chat whenever they come over. 

My vision for this room is a clean, simple, welcoming space with a definite beachy vibe. After our fun coastal dining room makeover earlier in the month I'm itching to get started!  Unfortunately there is some work that needs to take place before painting can begin (darn it), the walls in the living room definitely need to be re-plastered by a professional as we have both wallpaper and imperfections to cover up so we're in the process of arranging this to happen soon and hope to have the plastering completed and the paint on the walls in the next 2-3 weeks so the fun can really begin! Woop!

To give you an idea of what we're working with here are two recent pictures of our living room:

We have quite a long and narrow space to work with. The living room joins up with the dining room and kitchen to the right and I want to create some cohesion with the dining room by choosing similar tones of blues in the decor and painting the walls the same (Dulux) Off White as the dining room. The only item in the room that will remain is the beige coloured sectional, mostly due to budget and the fact the couch is only two years old ! The matching beige Ottoman however is a different story! It was taking up way too much space for my liking and that has already gone! We have a fabulous new white oak coffee table with a glass top in it's place and I'm also planning on getting some white Venetian blinds for the windows and a new large white bookcase to create a light and airy coastal feel. 

If I'm honest new lighting would be great too and I also have the little entry enclave at the end of the living room in my sights for a little Ottoman and coat rack to add functionality! Ah, the list is always endless! 

In order to keep myself 'busy' before the renovation begins I have been surfing (and shopping) the web for inspiration and decor that will help to pull this room together and just wanted to share a few of the lovely coastal inspired things that I've found and okay, in some cases bought for the living room! Enjoy!

I found these great botanical prints at Driftwood Interiors on Etsy and had to order some: 

I am in love with the colour and simplicity of these affordable prints and I think they'll look great in oversized black and white frames behind the sofa, I can't wait to get them up!

I also found this cute marble coasters on Etsy that I think would look great in any coastal home:

I recently bought this cute and very 'Kiwi' bus-blind style canvas from Trade Me here in New Zealand, I love how graphic and fun it is, now I just need to find the right place to hang it:

During my search for something to jazz up our new white oak coffee table I came across a couple of contenders:

I could go with the Aqua or something more subtle:

With maybe some of these...

 Oh and look at these lovely blue tealight holders from Freedom, just $6.95 each, I think I need them!!

More things to love from Freedom <3

Natural wood photo frames...

Recycled glass...doesn't it look just like a raindrop about to fall!

Natural sculpture...I love the earthiness of this and the coastal white and sand colouring!

There's SO much inspiration out there right now, I can't wait to get going with our new living room makeover, but for now the shops are calling me ;)

xo K

A Quick Coastal Makeover

We're having one of those wonderfully warm and lazy end of summer days here in NZ, so although I'm still very much in the process of getting this blog up and running I'm feeling inspired to share the bright and breezy renovation project that we recently completed in our home! 

Without further ado here's a sneak peek at our recent dining room makeover. I will post more pics and all the details later :)

Here's the dull and dated Before:

 and the bright and breezy After:

This was such a quick and easy project that I tackled during just one weekend and I'm so pleased with the result, I'm really loving the clean and simple coastal vibe our new-look dining room brings to our home. Even as we head into the Southern hemisphere's autumn this part of our home still feels just like summer!

To have even more fun with this space I'm planning on playing around with some interesting tablescapes. I'm keeping an eye out for nautical accessories and tableware and will share any great items I discover. Freedom Furniture had a great range this summer so I might pay them a visit soon before all the new winter stock arrives! Ahh, shopping, how I love you!! :)

I'll leave you with a couple of coastal tablescapes I'm loving right now...

Soft and Romantic

 Courtesy of Coastal Living.com

Fresh and Nautical 

Courtesy of http://nyclq-focalpoint.blogspot.com/

Happy Sunday!

xo K