Style

Monika at eco-stylista has been talking about knowing one's style which I found rather interesting. So how do you know what style you have?

I just look around me. After many years, I have collected various bits and bobs and it is quite evident what my style has become.

Lounge room with our furniture

Another perspective of the lounge room

I have an extreme leaning to Australian-made mid century furniture mixed with some older antique pieces with a sprinkling of 1970s.

We actually don't have a lot of furniture and have kept it deliberately sparse so as not to clutter our lives (I do that anyway with my ineptitude at filing paper work - you should see the piles I never seem to get to).

It is also impractical with small children, who run as their main mode of transport. When # 3 son is older, we will have more flexibility with our furniture and objects..

My lounge room is definitely a blast from the past. Those brown tones are something else? The mustard vinyl lounge will be reupholstered at a later stage. But for now I love how the boys can use it, without me being pedantic about them being squeaky clean - vinyl and a sponge are a mum's best friend.

The Persian rug is nearly 100 years old and was orginally housed in a doctor's surgery in London. It was  passed on to us from a friend of a friend nearly five years ago. It's like a loan. She couldn't fit it in her own house but wanted it to be put to good use as it was a family heirloom. The proviso is that we can never sell it and if we don't want it any longer, we have to give it back or find a good home for it. Not a bad deal.

The walls will be painted in the next little while, which will give it a much needed lift.  As it is, the room is very much a work in progress.

Not so enlightening

Pendant light in the lounge room - I actually don't mind it but the orange light it emits is hard to get used to. It looks original and seems to be made of painted shell.

As I am chronicling the "before" shots of all the rooms in anticipation for the "happily ever after" shots, I couldn't resist taking photos of the lighting situation in the Sow's Ear. It is definitely a situation!

It seems light and mood was ignored in this sad little home.

Bathroom light shade - this is an old glass shade with bakelite fitting

And I don't think I have improved matters either, since we had the Climate Smart Home Service electrician come to the house.

Sadly, this sits above our dining room table.

(For those who do not reside in Queensland, this service is a State Government initiative to help reduce energy consumption. For $50 an electrician replaces up to 15 incandescent lightbulbs with compact flourescent bulbs, fits a water-wise showerhead and supplies a wireless energy monitor which tells you how much energy you are using - the $50 is then refundable via a grant through your local council.)

Well, we had all the bulbs replaced - and they are butt ugly! Especially with the style of lighting here. As evil as incandescent bulbs have become, they were kind of discrete.

Study light. What can one say?

Fortunately, I can console myself that I am saving the planet from needless carbon emmissions. A shame it just accentuated the ugliness of the light fittings.

Light in the entry

Master bedroom light fitting.  This light is really appalling when I view this picture! The ceiling rose is divine though.

Bedroom - #1 Son

French doors with a glimpse of a spider droid in the foreground

Number 1 Son (his birth order and not blatant favouritism) has a room to himself. He probably has the nicest bedroom in the Sow's Ear because it is near the back with a set of French doors opening onto the deck. And I mean nice in terms of aspect and situation. It is, in fact, the bedroom in the poorest condition.

The water damage on the vjs

The VJ walls have suffered some water damage; the paint work is particularly flakey - filo pastry in texture (if you are like me and imagine only in food analogy). The original wide pine floor boards are mostly in excellent condition.The thinner pine replacement boards which are found randomly in the room (we think termites made a meal of the missing wide boards) seem to have a little more spring in them than required.

It is the smallest of all the bedrooms, however the high ceiling certainly gives the space a capacious feel. Number 1, who is seven years old, can fit a king single bed and good size desk in his room. There is also a narrow built-in cupboard with again just hanging space for his clothes.

Another ugly cupboard

Due to its poor condition, this bedroom will be the first to be re-painted and repaired.

Number 1 is asking for colour on the walls. Blue. Mmmmm....now that has put a spanner in the works of the simple white house plan.

Bedrooms - son #2 and son #3

Ceiling rose with plastic light fitting

I have been putting off taking photos of the bedrooms because they are never tidy - ever. If  I was paid to do house-keeping, I would have got the sack. Lucky for me, it is an unpaid role and Jason has tolerated my indifference to house work (he is very tidy!).

But back to the topic of this post...the bedrooms. Son #2 and Son #3 share a room. They are ages 4 years and 16 months respectively. We think their room may have been the original master bedroom as it is at the front end of the house; its door opening out into the lounge room.

It is also very large allowing us to put in a cot, change table and king size single bed. It has built-in cupboards but it only allows for hanging space - no shelving.

I kind of made the bed in this shot - half-baked, isn't it?

Mmmm...as bad as they look, the built-in cupboards are very handy

My favourite things about this room, apart from its occupants, are the lovely ceiling rose (but not that hideous shade) and how it gets the morning sun (but not how the kids wake up at the crack of dawn).

As you can see, there is much to do. Mostly cosmetic. We will probably wait until Son #3 progresses to a bed.  Luckily they are not too discerning.

The occupants

How could you?

Sidedoor knob in sunroom
Window handles in the sunroom

Although Jason and I differ on a range of topics (brass vs. chrome, Queenslander vs. modernist, reproduction vs. old), there is one thing we always agree on in terms of renovating – painting over light switches, door knobs, hinges, window hardware and glass is unacceptable.

The Sow’s Ear is the third house we have owned – and this poor house has been over-painted to within an inch of its life. Nothing was spared in the Sow’s Ear and I mean nothing - brass, chrome, nickel, plastic and glass.

What is it with people who paint over stuff like light switches? We just don’t understand it.

Each night at the dinner table, I gaze forlornly at the seven sets of windows with their handles and cock spurs painted in an unfortunate shade of vanilla custard gloss paint. Luckily these windows will eventually be replaced to match the original window profile in the Sow's Ear. Sadly, that will be later rather than sooner...

Jason is very keen to replace all the original door knobs. I said "over my dead body". This may not be the house of my dreams, but it does have a lot of character which are in its original features.

So the ironic twist to this tale is that as a temporary fix we have painted over the door knobs in a gloss black to contrast the sharp white we have painted the vjs. I know, I know - it's not ideal.

Do you think when we move on from this house someone will rant about the black painted door knobs?

Study door knob