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House Nerd

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  • Home Envy
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Stories on our house and its never-ending renovations!

  • DIY

    How Is Our Painted Driveway Holding Up Two Years On? (And Would I Paint Concrete Again?)

    March 8, 2023March 8, 2023

    We just got back from a long weekend in the south west that ended up being unintentionally unplugged when I discovered our accommodation didn’t have reception. Well. That was alarming. How am I supposed to relax without watching Tiktoks of animals who think they are humans? I should have paid more attention when our accommodation’s

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  • Happier Home

    Making Home Safer: Swann Security Review

    February 27, 2023February 27, 2023

    This post was sponsor-supported by Swann Security. All views and opinions expressed in this piece are my own and unaltered. Thanks for supporting my blog and sponsors. It wasn’t all that long ago when home video security systems were thought of as something that only wealthy people could afford; protecting mansions in ritzy areas. But

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  • DIY

    Painting a Frozen-Inspired, Rosemaling Wardrobe

    January 3, 2023January 9, 2023

    The idea of painting Miss Nerd’s built-in wardrobe to make it look like a Frozen-inspired cupboard had been lurking in my head for a while. So when Dulux approached me earlier this year to see if I’d be keen to work with them to create some social media content to help showcase their Dulux Colour

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  • Nerd Life

    Meet Luka! Introducing a New Puppy to Our Moody Older Dog

    February 24, 2022January 4, 2023

    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 down… in a mostly good way. She loves belly rubs, going to

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  • Happier Home

    Robot Vacuum Review: the Ecovacs DeebotT9+

    August 6, 2021January 27, 2022

    Wasn’t it exciting when robot floor vacuums came out some ten-odd years ago? Well, perhaps you’re 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

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  • Happier Home

    How We Made Our Old House Warmer

    July 4, 2021August 1, 2021

    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.

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  • Gardens

    How To Grow a Lush Garden from Cuttings – for Free

    May 30, 2021June 7, 2021

    There is nothing that chills my husband to the bone more than me than the sound of me screeching, “STOP THE CAR. I SEE PLANTS.” I have gotten so, so many plants for our yard – for free – by finding them on the side of the road, in the wonderful scheme that is green

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  • DIY

    How to Paint an Old Concrete Driveway

    February 6, 2021May 3, 2021

    Guys, don’t think that just because I have a house blog that I’m always super gung-ho about getting started on our long list of things we want to fix up here. That is definitely not the case. I procrastinate a lot, sometimes because I’m scared of making the wrong choice, because I just can’t make

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  • Home Projects

    Our New Walk In Robe

    January 13, 2021July 4, 2021

    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

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  • Before & After

    Our Tiny Ensuite Bathroom Renovation – Seven Years Later

    June 5, 2020June 5, 2020

    It’s 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 that’s normal for everyone who has kids? With

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  • Home Projects

    Our Cubbyhouse Makeover

    February 7, 2020February 22, 2020

    Pass me that mother of the year baton, guys. I don’t 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,

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  • Our House

    My Husband’s Big Deck: Our Backyard Before & After

    November 15, 2019April 16, 2021

    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 – our new patio and deck, which is about thirty times nicer than what what our once-daggy 70s house had there before. (Those before

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  • Home Projects

    Spray Painting Our Old Colorbond Sheds

    October 8, 2019February 17, 2021

    Recently I tackled a DIY project at our place that had been on my to-do list for a LONG time – 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

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  • DIY

    How To Make DIY Wallpaper from An Old Book

    August 9, 2019April 20, 2021

    This post was first published on my original blog format on November 17, 2014.  Today I’m going to share a very easy DIY project – one that I think is maybe my favourite DIY project ever. I feel like everyone should do this to their home, partly because it is so easy, but mostly because

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  • Home Projects

    Our Budget Nursery Makeover: Miss Nerd’s Room

    June 24, 2019April 23, 2021

    Not everything about writing a blog is fun and roses. But one of the things I love most about blogging being a part of my life is that it gives me so many kicks up the butt – deadlines and incentives to finally get my act together and do something. I need these kicks up

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  • Before & After

    Our Cladding Makeover Reveal

    June 21, 2019August 21, 2019

    Don’t fall off your chair. Today I finally have a reveal for you! Our before and after of our Scyon Walls elevation makeover, where we overclad the exterior of our double brick 1970s house. Yep, it’s been a while. If this is your first time to my blog, welcome! Basically we decided to overclad our

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  • Home Projects

    Florence Broadhurst Blinds for Your Home (and WIN!)

    April 18, 2019August 9, 2019

    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

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  • Our House

    From Bugcatchers to Bluetooth LEDs: Our Lighting Makeover

    March 31, 2019April 14, 2019

    “I just want lights on a dimmer,” 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

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  • Our House

    Rejuvenating Our Garden For Summer (and my Favourite Hardy, Affordable Plants)

    December 23, 2018August 13, 2019

    This story is a paid partnership with Scotts. Thank you for supporting my blog’s sponsors. Ahh – summer. I am going to be honest, I’m not a summer person. In my past life I probably was the Wicked Witch of the West who melted to death. Her rage was an accurate representation of my snippy

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  • Our House

    Nearly Finished! Our House’s Cladding Makeover (and How Much it Cost)

    September 17, 2018February 18, 2021

    Little Nerd is at his Oma’s house, Mr Nerd is at work, the dog and the baby are down and I’ve 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

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  • Our House

    Our Living Room Makeover Series: The Before Pictures

    June 27, 2018April 5, 2019

    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 – most people seem to do the living room first, don’t they? I

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  • Nerd Life

    Shooting a Video in our Home for Karndean Designflooring

    May 26, 2018May 26, 2018

    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

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  • Home Renovations

    Making Over Our House’s Elevation: The Progress!

    February 8, 2018February 8, 2018

    Well this has been one very exciting and very busy fortnight! January 15th finally came round – the date the guys from TJP Carpentry were scheduled to start on our Scyon Walls mixed material makeover, and they’ve almost finished! We’ve still got to finish the painting, tidying up and a little replanting of the gardens

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  • Home Projects

    A Tiny Bedroom Reveal: Little Nerd’s Nursery

    January 28, 2018January 31, 2018

    So, most bloggers probably share their baby’s nursery when they’re still pregnant, or maybe in the months after the newborn has arrived. Most probably don’t share it when their little person is two and a half years old… and they’re uh, pregnant again. Clearly I am not most bloggers! But better late than never, right?

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  • House-Nerd-laundry-makeover-renovation-70s-house

    Before & After

    Our Laundry Renovation (and my Tradie Recommendations)

    December 29, 2017December 31, 2017

    Today I’m finally sharing our laundry renovation on here! I absolutely love our laundry makeover. If you were to ask me which renovation project in our house has given me the most satisfaction, I have to say I think it would be this room. And I don’t even LIKE doing laundry. This is my favourite

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  • Nerd Life

    Renovating our House: What I’ve Learned and My Advice for Renovators

    November 20, 2017May 25, 2021

    “If we ever renovate again, I would…” “Our next house, we should do this…” These are words Mr Nerd and I have uttered to each other many a time as we’ve been ankle-deep in renovation rubble here. I am still FAR from a renovating pro, but we’ve learned a lot of things through trial and

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  • Our House

    Making Over Our House’s Elevation: The Design

    September 13, 2017October 6, 2017

    So I’m excited to share that we are about to start our Scyon Walls™ elevation makeover! Not long ago I shared in this post that we were going to be making over our house’s elevation with a modern mixed materials look in collaboration with Scyon. We also had a designer on board to help us

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  • craft-room-makeover-home-studio

    Advice

    How to Make Any House Feel Like Home

    August 24, 2017August 24, 2017

    When you were growing up, you probably dreamt of the day you’d 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

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  • ikea-kitchen-renovation-lidingo

    Advice

    Thinking of Doing an IKEA Kitchen? My Pros and Cons List

    August 24, 2017February 25, 2020

    A while ago I wrote about how we gave our old 1970s kitchen an IKEA kitchen renovation, completing it (kind of!) just in time for 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

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  • Our House

    We’re Renovating Our House’s Exterior! Our Before Photos

    July 11, 2017February 14, 2020

    The renovating bug is a sneaky thing, isn’t it? Once you’ve been bitten by it (or the home building bug, which I hear is as equally infectious) it’s never long after you throw down your paintbrush one day and swear, “That’s it! I’m done! I’m not doing any more renovations,” that bug raises its little

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  • Before & After

    Our IKEA Kitchen Renovation: Before and After

    March 17, 2017February 22, 2020

    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 (the floors). But now it’s done and I couldn’t be happier, even though

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  • Home Renovations

    How We Turned Our 70s Bar into a Walk-In Pantry

    May 26, 2015February 14, 2020

    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, even the toilet). But I AM in love with our new pantry. I first learned about

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  • DIY

    How to Paint Tiles: Our Budget Kitchen Makeover

    April 30, 2014February 22, 2020

    If you are looking for an inexpensive, easy way to update your kitchen or bathroom, tile paint could be the way to go. Today I’m going to share how we used it to give our dated, 1970s tile a mini-makeover for less than $100. Yesterday I showed you guys the before photos of our kitchen when we

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  • Home Projects

    How to Make Shelves from Reclaimed Wood: DIY

    February 25, 2014February 25, 2020

    Check out my new shelves in our toilet! Yes, you read that right. Today, while the house is filled with the noise of Mr Nerd drilling away on our bathroom renovation, I am going to blog about our toilet. I aim to thrill. But seriously, I love how we improved the toilet with the addition

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  • Furniture

    A Roadside Find: Thonet Chair Makeover

    January 13, 2014February 25, 2020

    Don’t 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 let’s-drag-home-some-more-junk (thank you, Deb!) Hey, I can

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  • house-nerd-craft-room-junk-room-makeover-studio

    Before & After

    My ‘Monica’s Closet’ – My Junk Room Turned Studio

    December 18, 2013June 11, 2021

    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 Stewart’s pantry, I envy you. But if you have that messy part of your house that has

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  • DIY

    Our Budget Sunroom Makeover – & How to Spray Paint Aluminium Windows

    February 13, 2013February 13, 2020

    If you grew up in our sun-bleached country, like me, you will be familiar with one of the great Australian home features – the ubiquitous sunroom, or sleepout. When I was a kid so many of my friends’ houses had a sleepout – and so many still do. Commonly tacked onto the back of 60s

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    housenerd

    Some lovely rain for our summer-parched garden and Some lovely rain for our summer-parched garden and a new blog post 😊 I got a DM recently asking how the driveway we painted in lockdown with @crommelin_australia Tinted Sealer was holding up now. With both old and new driveway to stitch together somehow, this was a job we would have loved to hire out but wasn't in the budget, so we did it DIY  for about $400. I thought I'd show pictures I took today - two years on and after daily use. Just letting you know, I didn't tidy or clean up our garden for your visit. That means we are real friends now 😜 Will link blog post in my Stories 🖤 
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#housenerd #housenerdhome #painteddriveway #crommelin #drivewaypaint #DIYdriveway #womenwhodiy #DIYblog #budgetrenovation #houseblog #budgetrenovating #renovation #paintmakeover #gardenideas #landscapingideas #70shouse #70shouserenovation
    If you saw my little front door makeover the other If you saw my little front door makeover the other day, then you might have seen our newest addition - our video doorbell! 💛Some of you might understand me here – sometimes, you just don’t FEEEL like answering the door to certain people. Right? 

I recently partnered with @swannsecurity to review a couple of their home security options, and had way too much fun creating some content to show their SwannBuddy Video Doorbell 😬😅 Can you guess who I am in each one? I'll be impressed if anyone gets them all right 😜 Who do you like seeing at your doorstep? Who do you NOT answer the door to?

Designed to give young families peace of mind and a feeling of safety at home, I’m impressed with this doorbell. I've put my pros and  cons on the blog, but I can't see us going back to not having one. So good being able to see who is there before you answer it... or don’t 😆 And so useful seeing if you've had a delivery while you're out. Thanks Swann for giving me a fun excuse to have fun with this... the only awkward moment was when a delivery guy came by while I was pretending to be a delivery guy 😬🫥
#ad #sponsored #brandedcontent #swannsecurity #videodoorbell #homesecurity #housenerd #housenerdhome #swannbuddy #perthblog #homesafety #houseblog #entryideas #entryrefresh #perthproperty
    A little update for our entry – a fresh new pain A little update for our entry – a fresh new paint colour for our front door, plant shuffle and some new video security! 💛🌿🎥 (Swipe to see a before - what do you think?)

Recently @swannsecurity asked me if I would review a couple of their DIY home security options, including their SwannBuddy Video Doorbell and XTreem Security Camera. My full pros and cons are over on the blog, but overall, I would recommend. Both are wireless and easy to set up and connect (I did myself and I REALLY hate reading boring manuals 🥱). It’s great having video security when you go away, but the best bit - having it has made me feel a LOT safer in our home. When Miss Nerd was three months old and Boy Nerd was 3, I was home alone with them one night while Mr Nerd was at work. I woke up at 2am to Nala barking and growling and a man trying to get in our front door. I called the police who came immediately but they never caught him – I felt so rattled afterwards! 😬We had literally talked THAT day about getting video security (which we got promptly after that, let me tell you). After that, I can't speak more highly about having video security in place if you can afford it 👍🏽

#ad #sponsored #brandedcontent #swannsecurity #videodoorbell #homesecurity #housenerd #housenerdhome #entryrefresh #frontdoor #doorcolour #perthblog #homeblog #entryideas #exteriorcolours
    A budget DIY project for the summer - recovering o A budget DIY project for the summer - recovering our outdoor furniture 💚 We've had these @earlysettlerfurniture outdoor lounges with light brown seat cushions a few years now. I love them but... last year we got a puppy, and she loved them too (swipe 😅🫣❄️). I got material from a @spotlightstores sale and my wonderful mum helped me redo them - she has sewing skills that I don't! We made new pillowcases too - I wanted @amberinteriors style patterns, but without the Amber Interiors price tag 😆 And yes... I did end up using the underside of some of the fabric 😁 I thought it was so pretty - some rules can be broken, right? 😉 It cost about $100 for the material, Mum was free and we haven't come home to 'snow on the grass' since - fingers crossed 🤞🏽🐶

#housenerd #housenerdhome #DIY #DIYblog #DIY #patioideas #patiodecor #outdoorsofa #outdoorliving #summerinperth #coffeetable #perthblog #reuse #australianblog #interiorsblog #DIYideas #puppyproblems #amberinteriors
    We got a new sofa bed and I have to share how impr We got a new sofa bed and I have to share how impressed we are with it! 🤩 With family and guests coming to stay in the summer, and no guest bedroom, we decided to finally buy a sofa bed for my study. After careful measuring to work out what we could actually fit (there's a big archway on the left and a built-in cupboard to contend with) we bought the double sized Cushy Sofa bed from @koala. The slim arms meant it would fit and the promised delivery time meant it should arrive a couple of days before our Christmas guests. 
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Woaah - modern sofa beds have come a long way from the thin, squeaky contraptions of our youth! 😍 It's comfy as a sofa, and as a bed. The mattress is very firm/supportive and while I personally like a softer bed, our guests all said it was a comfortable sleep 😴 The design is so clever - it folds out easily into a bed in seconds (swipe to see video) and no need to store extra pillows if storage is tight - you can use the four pillows it comes with 🛌 
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They must have been doing a pre-Christmas special - we ordered it on a Thursday night and had guaranteed delivery for arrival on Monday. Which it did 😆 I know in an era of COVID delays and long shipping turnarounds that these things do not always happen, so I think it's worth shouting out when it all goes right! 🎉 Koala's customer service was also really good. The only issue is Luka seems to think we got it so she can have her own room 😐
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Now I just have two questions for you, as I'm stuck! Does the fabric colour go with the existing green of my built-in? One day I'd LOVE to wall in this study with a cavity slider - but it's a way off. I've always wanted a cosy all-green study - could I paint all the walls in here, or would that look weird being part of an open-plan space? Your thoughts.... I need them 🙏🏽
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#housenerd #housenerdhome #tryitproperly #sofabed #smallhouse #70shouse #smallhomesolutions #smallhomes #perthhomes #cushysofabed #guestbedroom #guestbed #houseblog #australianblog #perthblog #notsponsoredjustgood #study #wfhspace
    Hope you all had a beautiful Christmas! It was Lu Hope you all had a beautiful  Christmas! It was Luka's first one with us and she was wonderful, except when she decided to put her long legs to use by trying to snatch the baked ham off the table 😳 Thieving aside, we do love her - she is so good with the kids. Such a happy dummy and loves to make everyone laugh; it's like having our own personal clown.

Also thank you for all your very kind words on my previous post. I was blown away 🥹 I read every single one and haven't even managed to reply to all yet but I just wanted to say I appreciated the kindness in every single one ❤️ you are the best tribe! 😊
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#christmastree #christmas2022 #merrychristmas #housenerd #housenerdhome #christmastree #balsamhill #aussieshepherd
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