Personal stories and what we’ve been up to
This post contains affiliate links – that means if you click on a link in this post and buy something through it, I might earn a small commission, at no extra cost to you. Thanks for supporting my blog as part of my job! š Some nights I absolutely love reading my kids a book
Well, we finally did it. After (only) a couple of years of thinking about it, we got another dog! Meet Luka, our beautiful Australian Shepherd x border collie puppy. She is 12 weeks old today and has turned our house and lives upside downā¦ in a mostly good way. She loves belly rubs, going to
This post is sponsor-supported by Emma Sleep, who gifted me a mattress for review. All words and opinions are entirely my own. Thank you for supporting my blogās sponsors! A little while ago it was time to finally upgrade Miss Nerd to a ābig girlā bed. We got her a new (secondhand) bed frame off
Wasnāt it exciting when robot floor vacuums came out some ten-odd years ago? Well, perhaps youāre not as easily excited as I am, but as a lifelong hater of vacuuming, I thought it was awesome. It made me feel like, WE HAVE ARRIVED. We have house robots now! Look how far tech has come in
Who’s feeling the cold right now? Yes, I know the whole running joke about people in winter in Perth, where it gets to 16 degrees (60 Fahrenheit for those of you overseas) and people start squawking and moaning that they’re freezing to death. To give people overseas an idea, it never snows in Western Australia.
Forget rose petals on the bed and chocolates for Valentineās Day. My idea of romance is the Sunday morning I got to sleep in late, then wake up to see Mr Nerd had made breakfast. But not just any breakfast. He had prepared for me a replica of one of my all-time favourite, iconic Perth
There is nothing that chills my husband to the bone more than me than the sound of me screeching, āSTOP THE CAR. I SEE PLANTS.ā I have gotten so, so many plants for our yard ā for free – by finding them on the side of the road, in the wonderful scheme that is green
Recently one of my old editors, Alecia Hancock, asked me if I would be happy to give a talk for her annual digital marketing summit Change the World. She started this event under her organisation Hancock Creative five years ago. Itās basically a free, full day virtual summit aimed at giving tips on social media
We finally got a new walk-in robe! Well, when I say new, I mean that we got our old 1970s walk-in robe fitted out at last – after 11 years with our old robe. Nala turns 11 this month, and her birthday made me realise that we have been in our house a whole 11
For much of my adult life, Iāve had the same recurring dream; Iām in a big house and I discover a secret passage or a secret room. It’s always quite thrilling and I always wake up feeling vaguely disappointed that there is absolutely no chance that my 1970s brick 3 x 2 in Perth suburbia
Have you ever had a house so messy you feel like you are going to scream? If thatās never been you, I envy you. (And how are you managing to achieve this?) While we have had numerous fantastic once-off cleans and had a terrific weekly cleaner back when our first-born was a baby, for the
Itās been a while between posts, online friends. Time feels like it has flown past lately. When we all had to stay at home, the mornings and evenings felt a little slower, but the days still rushed past – and are still rushing past. I wonder if thatās normal for everyone who has kids? With
Wow ā how things have changed lately. Without going on too much about all the negative things about COVID-19 – I know we all know it by now! – what it means for a lot of people is that we are working from home… and many of us with children home too. For me, having
Pass me that mother of the year baton, guys. I donāt get to have it too often, but I totally deserve to hold it for a good minute or two. I won a cubbyhouse! I won it late last year through an Instagram competition held by a local Perth cubbyhouse company called Kidzshack. To enter,
If you are after one of the quickest, most affordable and also easiest ways to freshen up a bedroom or living space, I always think new cushions are a fail-proof way to go. Nothing brightens and lifts a space quite as easily! Add in a fresh new plant and youāve treated your room or outdoor
Well, that got your attention, didn’t it? Blame my shrunken, shriveled brain, but somehow I have totally neglected to share a big part of our home renovation here on the blog ā our new patio and deck, which is about thirty times nicer than what what our once-daggy 70s house had there before. (Those before
I always admire it when people donāt merely just dream or talk about doing things, but they actually go out and give them a red-hot go. It makes sense that I frequently admire small business owners, professionals and creatives, and one of my favourite local businesses is also run by one of the nicest women.
Recently I tackled a DIY project at our place that had been on my to-do list for a LONG time ā spray painting our old Colorbond sheds black. Woohoo! I know they are just sheds, but they look SO much better now that it legitimately thrills me. I had it in my head for months
Lately thereās a saying thatās been doing the rounds on social media – that to help maintain overall health and wellbeing, you need not just one, but precisely three hobbies. One to keep you fit, one that exercises your creativity, one to make you money. Itās a very neat and clever little idea, and I
Would you like Florence Broadhurst patterned blinds in your home? Or would you prefer to design your own pattern and have it printed and custom-made just for you? Whatever your fancy, you can have the most stylish windows going with one of the newer window treatment companies to make waves on the market, Blinds in
This post contains affiliate links. As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases. This means if you purchase something through an affiliate link on my site, I may make a small commission on the purchase ā at no extra cost to you. If I was down to my last $20, Iād probably buy a
āI just want lights on a dimmer,ā I used to say to my husband every time the topic of new lights came up. I remember when I was growing up and my friend’s house had their lounge room lights on a dimmer and I thought mood lighting was just the most incredible fancy thing I’d
I was a teenager the first time someone told me I had an addictive personality, and I didn’t know what it meant. āOh!ā I said brightly. āMeaning people find me addictive?ā I was picturing myself as this alluring, magnetic creature. āNO,ā they shot back rudely. āIt just means that you get addicted to things very
This weekās blog post is for one of my biggest critics and one of House Nerdās biggest personal fans (well, at least I like to think) ā MY DAD. Heās probably reading this right now while grumbling to himself, āWhen is she going to get a real job?ā however, one of the bonuses of me
Little Nerd is at his Omaās house, Mr Nerd is at work, the dog and the baby are down and Iāve had two coffees by 9am. What better time to snatch some blogging time at my desk and hastily share some progress photos of our Scyon Walls cladding makeover. (If you haven’t seen our before
I havenāt blogged in a little whileā¦ and if you follow me on Instagram or Facebook, you might have seen why! We recently welcomed our sweet little baby girl Miss Nerd to the family. She is a sweetheart; a smiley, cuddly little koala. She has been warmly welcomed to our family, especially by Little Nerd,
Even though our living room is one of the two rooms in our home where we spend the most time, after years of living here, I still never felt like we had fully finished it or properly styled it. A little embarrassing ā most people seem to do the living room first, donāt they? I
After we found out we were having another baby, I started a little bit of a mental baby bucket list. Just some fun things I wanted to do before baby number 2 arrived; things I knew would not necessarily be impossible to do with a newborn in our midst again, just trickier. I was so
My freezer club started with a jar of homemade tomato sauce left on my doorstep. A friend of mine had messaged the girls group chat and said sheād just made a huge vat of veggie-filled passata but had way too much ā would anyone else like some? Four of us said yes please. I added
A little while ago we had a promo video shot in our home for Karndean Designflooring, the company we got our awesome vinyl floors from. If you follow me on Instagram you might have seen my post from the day; a little clip of the boys filming Little Nerd playing while Nala harassed them. (Sorry
If you come here just for the home-y stuff, this post is probably not going to be your cup of tea, sorry. If you are here because you are pregnant and hating it, read on! Iād like to preface this post by first saying Iām not a horrible or ungrateful personā¦ honestly. I know some
Thereās nothing like stepping into your beautiful, blissful bathroom renovation, carefully designed in a minimalist colour palette of tasteful neutralsā¦ only for your eye to be immediately drawn to the stash of colourful, garishly labelled shampoo and conditioner bottles in your shower. Am I being a little OCD? Yeah, I know itās a first world
Well this has been one very exciting and very busy fortnight! January 15th finally came round ā the date the guys from TJP Carpentry were scheduled to start on our Scyon Walls mixed material makeover, and theyāve almost finished! Weāve still got to finish the painting, tidying up and a little replanting of the gardens
So, most bloggers probably share their babyās nursery when theyāre still pregnant, or maybe in the months after the newborn has arrived. Most probably donāt share it when their little person is two and a half years oldā¦ and theyāre uh, pregnant again. Clearly I am not most bloggers! But better late than never, right?
So guess what guys, we have some newsā¦ I am pregnant! We are expecting our second baby in early July 2018 ā I am 17 weeks along. We just found out what we are having – a baby girl this time! I hope she likes Enid Blyton and drawing house plans and Tomb Raider and
āIf we ever renovate again, I wouldā¦ā āOur next house, we should do thisā¦ā These are words Mr Nerd and I have uttered to each other many a time as weāve been ankle-deep in renovation rubble here. I am still FAR from a renovating pro, but weāve learned a lot of things through trial and
So Iām excited to share that we are about to start our Scyon Wallsā¢ elevation makeover! Not long ago I shared in this post that we were going to be making over our houseās elevation with a modern mixed materials look in collaboration with Scyon. We also had a designer on board to help us
When you were growing up, you probably dreamt of the day youād have your own place. I was way too dorky to get invited to house parties and do normal teenager things like hook up with boys, so daydreaming about my future house was pretty much my hobby. One of my first (and quite possibly
A while ago I wrote about how we gave our old 1970s kitchenĀ anĀ IKEA kitchenĀ renovation, completing it (kind of!) just in time forĀ our baby’s arrival. (These pics above were taken by the lovely Alanna of Earthbound Images when he was nearly four months). I also shared our IKEA kitchen renovation diary. Since then I’ve had a
The renovating bug is a sneaky thing, isnāt it? Once youāve been bitten by it (or the home building bug, which I hear is as equally infectious) itās never long after you throw down your paintbrush one day and swear, āThatās it! Iām done! Iām not doing any more renovations,ā that bug raises its little
So today I finally have a before and after to share with you – our kitchen renovation! (Finally!) I had putting off doing this Before and After story for ages because I was waiting til we could renovate one of the biggest elements (theĀ floors). But now it’s done and I couldn’t be happier, even though
So I have exciting news – our new walk-in pantry/scullery renovation is finished! I think this may actually be my favourite renovated room in the house now (although I think I say that about every room once we finish it,Ā even the toilet). But I AM in love with our new pantry. I first learned about
Today’s post is about how we made this bedhead out of pressed tin panels for our main suite – a nice way of adding impact and charm into our rather small bedroom. When we gave our bedroom a makeover, one of the major things Mr Nerd and I knew we had to do was upgrade
Donāt you just love an exciting email out the blue? When a design-savvy House Nerd reader dropped me an email a little while ago to tell me that it was verge collection time in East Fremantle, I was out the door and driving thataway before you could say letās-drag-home-some-more-junk (thank you, Deb!) Hey, I can
Hands up if you have a junk room in your house. Or a junk cupboard? Come on – at least a junk drawer? If you have none of these, and your entire house is as organised as Martha Stewartās pantry, I envy you. But if you have that messy part of your house that has
If you grew up in our sun-bleached country, like me, you will be familiar with one of the great Australian home features ā the ubiquitous sunroom, or sleepout. When I was a kid so many of my friendsā houses had a sleepout ā and so many still do. Commonly tacked onto the back of 60s