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 Valentine’s 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, “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
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. It’s basically a free, full day virtual summit aimed at giving tips on social media
This post was sponsored by Ted’s Camera Stores. Thank you for supporting my blog’s wonderful sponsors. Wow, Perth – what a crazy time to sell a house! The real estate market in WA – well really, the real estate market in most of Australia – is going nuts at the moment. In some parts, homes
One of my favourite things to give as a gift has got to be a plant. Most people like them; they’re usually a decent gift for that person who already has everything, they’re good for your health and wellbeing (more on that below) and they (generally) tend to have a shelf life longer than cut
Sometimes I think of a renovating or DIY project and then I become weirdly obsessed with the idea until I get to carry it out. And something I’ve always wanted to try is stencil painting an old concrete or tile floor. I always thought that stenciling looked like fun. (My idea of fun might be
For much of my adult life, I’ve had the same recurring dream; I’m 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
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
Wow – 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 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,
Of all the bad things to come out of Facebook – the creepy harvesting of our online data, a rise in loneliness, infidelities kindled from long-lost acquaintances, the erosion of individual self-worth through unfavourable comparison, to name just a few – there are also a lot of good things. For example, I re-met my now-husband
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 you’ve 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 – 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 don’t 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 – 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
If you’re like most people, the very mention of the words “spring cleaning” makes you want to dive under the covers and hope for six more weeks of winter. Decluttering, doing a deep clean of your whole house, knocking off all those cobwebs to get your outdoor area ready for the warmer weather… we all
If you have ever admired a pretty succulent bowl but thought they looked too tricky to make one at home (or that you’d kill it anyway) I have good news! Succulent bowls are super-easy to put together; and even if you’re a total black thumb with plants, you can keep one alive and thriving, I
Lately there’s a saying that’s 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. It’s a very neat and clever little idea, and I
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
I have a soft spot for Penshurst, the historic house I’m going to share with you today – which was actually one of my very first home tours – in fact I visited it before I’d even clicked ‘publish’ on my first blog post! (Original post here). When I was a teenager, after school my
Rolling country views, a pony, dogs, a beautiful solar passive new build, a lovely family and two pet sheep who are convinced they are people – this wonderful home visit was one of my favourites and I’m so pleased to share it here today with these gorgeous photos by Heather. Nestled in the Perth hills
If I was down to my last $20, I’d probably buy a coffee and a book… maybe a novel about a house. Me at bookstore *Spies book with pretty old mansion on cover* TAKE MY MONEY I am very partial to a story where an amazing house is almost a character. And I’m a total
“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
Le Fanu, Perth’s most expensive home renovation, is up for sale. If you could do with a luxury beach home and have a spare $17 million, this heritage-listed house could be yours! Some of you guys may remember the story I wrote a few years ago on this house. Right by the beach in Cottesloe
I was a teenager the first time someone told me I had an addictive personality, and I didn’t know what it meant. “Oh!” I said brightly. “Meaning people find me addictive?” I was picturing myself as this alluring, magnetic creature. “NO,” they shot back rudely. “It just means that you get addicted to things very
I love this house. This is the former home of our friends Tim and Caity Phillips, it’s a cool renovation and a house that I like because it suits its owners down to a tee. You guys may already know Tim’s name from some of my earlier posts; he and his TJP Carpentry team put
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
I haven’t blogged in a little while… 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 – most people seem to do the living room first, don’t 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 she’d just made a huge vat of veggie-filled passata but had way too much – 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
With increasing urban sprawl and an ageing elderly population, there is one kind of home we’re now seeing more of – the multi-generational home. And I have to say they rarely get lovelier than this. This gorgeous home is a new one I recently had the pleasure of visiting. This house is named the Oak
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! I’d like to preface this post by first saying I’m not a horrible or ungrateful person… honestly. I know some
I love Perth. But in my humble opinion, the rugged NSW coast has to be one of the most beautiful and special parts of Australia. A few years ago my sister-in-law relocated from Sydney to live in a beach house in a small town a couple of hours south of the city (just near Berry,
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
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?
So guess what guys, we have some news… I am pregnant! We are expecting our second baby in early July 2018 – 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
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
“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
One of the most common problems I think people have when renovating and decorating their homes is choosing the right white paint. We love our white walls in Australia, and for good reason – white walls are versatile, they feel fresh, light and airy, they work with all kinds of décor and they can make
When I am scrolling through Instagram, the photos always guaranteed to stop me in my tracks are ones of renovating. Maybe it’s because I have always been obsessed with a good before and after story – all the bits, from the demo to the drywall to the decking being laid out – but there is
Aside from our own renovations, I haven’t often featured room makeovers on House Nerd – I’ve always gone the whole hog and done a whole house. Even though putting together full home tours – like this one – take me ages, I haven’t often done ‘room renovations’, such as a kitchen or bathroom only, because
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
When Penny and Mat bought a dark, dated and daggy 1970s home in City Beach, they thought it might be a knockdown job – and their friends presumed they would bulldoze it and build anew, too. But when Penny and Mat decided that instead they were going to renovate and extend to make it a
Hi House Nerd, I live in an old home in Fremantle that I am renovating and would love some tips on how to reduce road noise in my house. Being close to the street and constructed of weatherboard I hear every car that passes and it is getting quite frustrating especially when trying to sleep.
When first home buyer and building designer Janik Dalecki bought a dumpy little Maylands cottage, his friends thought he had lost the plot. “The house ticked all my boxes and I instantly saw what potential it had,” he says. “But family and friends thought I was crazy and said things like, ‘it’s a bowl-over’!” But Janik,
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
Can you be self-sufficient from the average-sized suburban garden? I don’t know, but the owner of this one is definitely trying – and she has such an awesome garden that I think half of you will be itching to plant sweet potatoes or peaches this weekend. I was introduced to home owner Kate Reading by
I felt like I was going back in time a bit when I went to visit this house. In a quiet town about an hour’s drive out of Perth, this 1960s red brick cottage is home to interior designer Hayley Kessner, 31, (known as Hayley Gemma) and her husband Chadd, 38, a builder and construction manager.
I love all the houses I put on House Nerd. But with its unpretentious character details, classic weatherboard build and young owners who DIYed and decorated the whole house on a shoestring budget with lots of secondhand, op shop and side-of-the-road finds, this Palmyra cottage felt extra-special to me the moment I entered. I grew
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
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
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
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
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