What does your House number mean?

I've been interested in numerology for years and remember reading an article here sometime ago on house numbers and what they mean

I remember finding the article quite interesting and decided to find what our house number meant and whether it fell into the "Lucky" category or not... just out of curiosity of course.

Turns out that we are indeed extremely lucky or more to it, if we sold this house (according to the article), it would do quite well

Here's how I found our lucky house number

Our street number is 61 so you add the 6 + 1= 7...which apparently is pretty good if your thinking of selling (not that we are just yet), as over the past 12 months, the highest property sales in Sydney were from homes with numbers that included 2s, 4s, 3s,7s and 9s

Even better if your living in a home that has the same number as your birth number....mine is 7 woohoo

Do you know how to get your birth number?

Here's how:

Add the date of your birth by day, month and year, then you'll come up with 2 digits, then add those together and you'll have your birth number...simple

Check out these great finds....

If your like me, one cushion just doesn't cut it, so today is your lucky day with these great finds.

These affordable UV & Waterproof (who doesn't like the sound of that?) cushions are a must for the coming season and, they'll even spruce up your decor 

Starting with the very affordable price of $14.95 for the rectangle size of 30cm x 45cm

$19.95 for the medium size of 45cm x 45cm

and only $39.95 for the larger size of 65cm x 65cm

See these and more here

The Mysteriously Missing Sky Panel...

I rang John (the sales consultant) from ScreenScience yesterday and told him that we were missing a panel with our order. He in fact couldn't apologise enough and said that he'll look into it when he gets back into the office.

A couple of hours later, he rang with some good news.

Whilst he couldn't find (probably missed out on getting made) our missing panel which was a mystery to him, he said that when he go back into the office, he went through our plan (sketch) and although it was numbered 1 through to 15, he couldn't work out why the number 2 panel wasn't packed with the rest.

I told him that the number 2 panel that we did have, was obviously marked wrong as this had the hole to be cut out for the air vent which should be panel 3.

After apologising again for the mishap, he said that he will have one made asap and hopes to have it couriered to us either today or tomorrow at the very latest...woohoo!

It's just one of those unfortunate things I guess, an honest mistake and I'm happy that they'll have it rectified so quickly.

So now, we can get on with the installation (on the weekend) and finally have our cinema finished.

So until then...have an awesome week lovely people

D.I why?

Because it's fun, it saves you a heck of a lot of money, it'll be a one off and well...why not!

Since I'm all about saving money (and really, who isn't these days?), I want to spruce up the spare room to make it a little more cosy and give it a different look all together.

One thing I loooooove about up-cycling is that it makes it a one off item instead of something that everyone else has and it's so affordable.

I've spent many a "DIY" time in the shed sanding back old paint or varnish on numerous goodies that I've collected over the years and I looooove it.

I'm starting off with the 2 side tables just to give them a much needed lift from the "drab" state they're in at the moment.

drab 1 |drab|adjective (drabber, drabbest)1 lacking brightness or interest; drearily dull: the landscape was drab and grey | her drabsuburban existence.2 of a dull light brown colour: drab camouflage uniforms.

I remember giving these a makeover (re-paint) about a decade ago so it's time for new makeover

check out 2 of the dictionary description of the word drab...mmmm

Since they're only made of MDF, it's not like I have to spend hours stripping back the paint and sanding until smooth, so that's less time I have to spend in the shed!

There's so many options I could go for here, namely just a new coat of paint and some new handles might just do the trick and keep the costs low....but

that's just not me, I'm going to turn these babies into something that looks like it cost an arm and a leg ...hopefully :)

So keep watching

Btw....I'd love it if you would tell me what you would do to update them (maybe your ideas will be better), so don't be shy make a comment below and if I use your idea...I will give you kudos!

Home office...part 2

In the process of going back and forth with the design of my new office space, I decided that following the Feng Shui rule just wasn't going to work for me and so still keeping Feng Shui in mind, I came up with this design instead.

Gold Class Cinema...part 2

(1)

We (finally) received our star panels on Thursday, and of course I wanted to open the boxes right there and then but I waited until Geoff got home that night so we could open the box together...ohhhhh how exciting!

Home Office Makeover...part 1.

Another project I've been wanting to start is my home office.

At the moment it's just a pig stye and not at all a pleasure to be in. Sadly I have to admit it's desperately unorganised as stuff just gets thrown either in the drawers or the bookcase.

I've been sourcing a few ideas off the web which I think will work for me but the only trouble is, if I'm to take note of my Feng shui, I should have the desk in front of the window and facing the doorway, mmm!



But I'd love to have a large enough desk (see pic no 1.) so that 2 people (Geoff works from home sometimes) can be working at the same time so this will need to go along the garage side wall (see pic below) and unfortunately that means that my back will be toward the opening (doorway)....Feng Shui no no!

Since the desk I'm using at the moment is a corner desk, and at first (when we moved in) I had it... look at the picture below and imagine it to the left of the room.

Maintenance jobs...continued

I had the lovely Fred (maintenance guy) and another MJH guy pop in to install my new microwave today which was a super surprise!

As I explained in this post, I was happy just to see the mw get fixed, (deep down I was hoping for a new one), so after a good 3 or so weeks and the guy from Kitchen Imagine coming last week to cut out some more vents, I certainly was surprised to see a brand newy to turn up!.

Sydney Storms and wee little Creatures

How crazy were those storms last night? 

We had powerful winds, heavy rain and the most ferocious thunder you could imagine.

It all started late Monday night with a little bit of wind but no rain in sight.

Due to our trees in the far back of the property being 'Heritage listed' pine trees (so we cant have them removed), they tend to drop pine nettles causing all sorts of chaos with the pool an trying to keep it clean during heavy winds is pretty damn well impossible.

"If you like Pina colada's...

and getting caught in the rain

if your not into yoga

but you have half a brain"

Ahhhh that song takes me back to the first time I spent lazing by the pool in Bali. I could hear it playing in the bar in the resort, and now that I have my very own piece of 'Bali paradise', that song is often played when I spend time by the pool now that the weather is warming up. 

Having outdoor blue-tooth speakers (when we get around to purchasing some) in the bbq hut, will give us the resort feel but for now, I'll just settle for the outdoor speakers in the alfresco!

All that's needed to top it off, is my very own Katut!

Having more than 1 certainly isn't good for the waist line, so 1 every now and then can't be that bad surely....can it?

Here's my favourite recipe for you to try...if you haven't got your own that is!

 RECIPE:

 375ml chilled pineapple juice

250ml coconut milk

80ml Malibu coconut liqueur

60ml Midori liqueur

60ml fresh lime juice

2 cups crushed ice

Blend pineapple juice, coconut milk, Malibu, Midori, lime and ice until well combined

Pour among glasses decorated with pineapple pieces glac'e cherries

serve with paper umbrella

 ENJOY!

My Kitchen Rulez!

Well I put the finishing touches to the kitchen yesterday and I'm so happy with the outcome. 

I managed to take some pictures before the kids got home from school so they didn't devour all the apples again...especially if I was to have an explosion (as always), of teens and pre teens popping in too!

Going Green!

In this post, I told you that I wanted to add a splash of colour to the kitchen as I felt it needed something to make it POP. I found exactly what I needed at 'The Lifestyle Warehouse' in the Rouse Hill Town Centre, North-West of Sydney.

Having bought a great deal of items from here over several years now, it wasn't until I walked into the shop, when I was faced with the most beautiful display of home decor' (my kind of home decor') of all things Green right in front of me! 

As promised in my previous post, I thought I'd show you what the display looked like 

But if green doesn't take your fancy, how about... 

Just arrived

 New arrivals just in with these lovely Giraffes, Zebras and Cats in all sizes ranging from small, medium and large

Candle holders and Zebra book ends are definitely on my Christmas wish list this year!

A splash of colour!

Making the kitchen POP, was something I've had on my 'to-do' list for ages and I've finally got around to adding a bit of colour.

4 step cornice...

I've been asked by a viewer recently as to why we don't have the 4 step cornice in the entry like we were suppose to have as it says here

So after explaining it to him, I thought I'd share the reason with you.

When we signed up with MJH, we loved the idea that we could have our pick of a tiled roof or the ever more popular colourbond roof.

Sticking to our 'Balinese' theme, we opted to have a tiled roof as we felt a colourbond roof would look too modern and wouldn't give the same effect.

We were told that we could have the tiles on the steel frame (usually tiles would be done with timber frame), though it would have to be strengthened which we had to pay extra for.

Once the house was at frame stage, we were contacted by our CLO, who calmly told us that we could no longer have a coffered ceiling to both the entry and home theatre room due to the trusses being strengthened (as they would be harder to cut), and with the roof tiles being a lot heavier than c'bond, the roof would bow.

I wanted to strangle her, and wasn't very happy at all. Why couldn't they have found this out prior instead of us getting our hopes up?

I guess it's just one of those things that unfortunately goes hand in hand when building and we were probably the first ones to have it done (think Guinea pigs).

So with determination from Geoff insisting that they come up with some other way, she got back to us within a week and said that we could have a bulkhead instead which they wouldn't have to cut any trusses, though the downfall would be that the ceiling would be the same height as all the other ceilings. We could however, still have the 4 step cornice to the entry.

You see with a coffered ceiling, the ceiling panel is raised higher than the rest of the ceilings to give it  the extra height (think cathedral), then usually the rest of the ceiling is the normal height.

(see this diagram) -

Now considering that the ceilings are 2.7m high, we were only going to be able to have a bulkhead of about 150mm drop instead of the standard 350mm (I think) as all of our doors and windows were raised to suit the 2.7m ceilings.



When they got to the plastering stage, our SS discovered that due to the bulkhead only being 150mm deep, we couldn't have the cornice on the inside (see pic below) as it wouldn't have the same affect, and if we put the cornice  underneath, it would be in line with the square set door ways to both the study and children's activity room as well as the picture recess, furniture recess and open window in the entry way.

He first thought that if we still wanted to have it, we could just lower all the doorways and others to suit which I refused to do and just told him to leave the cornice out.

He then suggested that they (plasterers) did a square set instead. At first I hated the idea as I had my heart set on having the lovely feature of a fancy cornice, a 4 step fancy cornice.


But I guess you just have to go with it and hope that it'll grow on you which I think it has.

We didn't have to pay any extra as the price of the cornice was roughly the same amount, so it was like an exchange or trade off or whatever you like to call it!

I still think our entry is nice enough when you walk through the front door and no one would be the wiser unless I told them!

Ahhhhh, the joys or should I say setbacks of building!

Maintenance jobs

We're finally seeing the last of the maintenance jobs being completed at last. The lovely Fred (handy all rounder) has done all the painting touch-ups and fixed the bathroom cupboard doors that were out slightly and rubbed when closing.

He also drilled a couple of holes in the cupboard just behind the built-in microwave to allow for more air flow to stop the mw from steaming up when used. It hasn't improved, so we are now waiting on the guy from Kitchen Image to come back tomorrow (we missed our appointment due to flying back a day late last week) to have a look and see what needs to be done.

With so much steam escaping when you open the door after heating something up (even if it's for 2 mins or so), it's made a horrible mark on the trim and leaves a horrible smell on the inside so I'm hoping if the guy can't fix it, the whole MW will be replaced.

I'll never use the convection side of it (I have a proper oven to do all my cooking in), so I'm more than happy if they can just replace it with a normal microwave instead. Besides, it's that small on the inside that you cant fit much more than a small bowl or plate in it anyway. If I knew how small built-in's were, I wouldnt've paid the extra $$ to have one!
Never mind, you live and learn I guess.

We had the battens to the pavilion receive another coat of stain which we didn't have on our maintenance sheet (I forgot), but when Brian (SS) came over to tell me of the jobs he was handling to be fixed (as written down at handover), he said that he was concerned that on one side the stain was uneven. Now that's taking his role seriously even if it's 9 months later!

The down pipe to the front (near the study window) has been overflowing when we get heavy rain so Brian had his guy come take a look. Due to all the nettles that fall off the heritage pine trees out the far back, they had been blocking the pipe at the bend (as it comes off the guttering and goes down the wall) so now that's been fixed it's flowing like it should.

We had the guys come and fix the bi-fold doors. The ones in the meal area weren't opening/closing properly and started rubbing in the one spot which made us think that it could be an issue with the lentil/beam that gets put in before the bricks go on. But it turned out to be that the door just needed a slight adjustment and the locking bolts trimmed down just a little to make locking it smoother. Now she opens/shuts like a dream and with a one finger push.

We are still waiting for the sheet of glass to be replaced in one of the doors where it was obviously scratched before the bi-folds left the factory.

I noticed it straight away at hand over as it looked like it was a number (door measurement) that had been put on possibly with a chalk pen or something.

We also had the supervisor from colour tile come to take a look at the 2 deep scratches to the floor tiles in the ensuite.

He said that they were probably made by someone using a ladder, maybe the electricians putting the fan/heater in since it was directly above the scratched tiles.

He managed to get the scratches out within minutes and low and behold...used the same tile cleaner that I use, as well as a little magic coloured powder (wouldn't tell me what it was) that he had...go figure!

I kept calling him the 'Magician' because I tried to get the scratches out when I first polished the tiles after hand over and before we moved in read this but to no avail. I may not have been rubbing hard enough or just thought that they just need replacing and just skimmed over them but he seemed to make it look easy and before I knew it, the scratches had vanished...poof!

We have other tiles that just look like seconds (if you ask me) and even though it's only obvious in certain light, I know they're there. I guess it's because they're so dark in colour that they have these imperfections to them and because there's so many that are like it, it's hard to replace them and get the same batch colour with new ones.

I noticed from the start that some of them (no matter how much I polish them), seem to have like a strange coating or film on them too, but when the guy was here (once again due to certainly light), we  couldn't find them.

What (I realised after he had gone) I should've done was before he got here was to find them and put a bit of masking tape on them and then show him.

So apart from the glass for the bi-fold door to be installed and the MW to be looked at, that's all thats left to be fixed.

Splash!

With the temps souring well over 30 degrees today, the boys decided it was inevitable that they jump in the pool and cool off. I would've loved to have cooled off with them but once I dipped my toe in...brrr, it was way too cold for me. So both Geoff and I opted to lay on the sun beds in the shade of the hut and just watched them both have a blast. Perhaps in another month, the temperature will be warm enough for us to join in!

Another step closer

...to finishing the 'Cinema' that is. I managed to grab some energy this afternoon and put up the drapes  and they've made a huge difference already.

Once I get around to making the headboard/pelmet, which will go all the way across, as I'm also hanging curtains on the other side of the lights and fixed to a batten instead of on a track.

Now that's what I needed...

and what the doctor didn't order...

Really refreshing...

GINGER LIME ICED TEA

Ingredients:

1cup grated ginger
4 ½ litres boiling water
4 ½ litres cool water
¼ cup lime Juice
1 cup sugar

Method:

Place grated ginger into a jug and pour boiling water over the ginger and let it stand for 5 minutes.
Add cold water, lime and sugar to taste.
*serve with ice.*

Sunday...bloody Sunday

I got a lovely surprise in the letterbox when we came back from our holiday yesterday (Wednesday) and couldn't wait to go down to the PO to get my parcel.

I received not only one parcel but two and couldn't wait to get back home and open them.

At last my new drapes for the cinema were here and looked fabulous and just as I ordered...phew!

Then I opened my 2nd one and it was my jade Buddha canvas that I ordered online also seen here