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House Nerd

  • VISIT THE OLD BLOG
  • Home Envy
  • Before & After
  • Our House
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  • Advice
  • Happier Home
  • Nerd Life
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  • Archives
  • Contact
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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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  • Happier Home

    Eating at Home: Our Eggs Benny Chan Recipe Hack

    June 21, 2021July 5, 2021

    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

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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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  • Advice

    How Non-Profits Can Engage Bloggers, Influencers and Journalists

    May 27, 2021July 4, 2021

    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

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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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  • Gardens

    You’ll Love this Cute Indoor Plant Shop

    January 15, 2021July 4, 2021

    Perth plant fans, there is an indoor plant paradise right here in suburbia called Novos Home Nursery, and it is amazing. Can you believe this place is someone’s backyard – and you can go there to buy plants? Novo’s Home Nursery in Leeming is run by a lovely family that have turned their backyard into

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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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  • Happier Home

    Make Your Home Beautiful with Bambury (and WIN a $500 Gift Voucher!)

    December 15, 2019February 7, 2020

    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

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  • Home Projects

    How to Make An Amazing Succulent Bowl

    September 15, 2019June 8, 2021

    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

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  • Happier Home

    Cook and Clean Perth (and Win a Free House Clean!)

    August 23, 2019September 11, 2019

    When I first heard of Cook and Clean WA four years ago, my first thought was, “What a good business idea!” I think Little Nerd was about six months old, and the reality of how hard juggling a baby and a job (with a husband on frequent work trips away) had most definitely sunken in

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  • Home Envy

    An Energy Efficient 1960s Renovation in Bayswater

    June 2, 2019February 7, 2020

    Bayswater is one of my favourite suburbs in Perth. If you don’t know it; think old farmhouses, sleepy streets, old trees, character houses with tons of potential, and little pockets of former farming land that make you feel like you could have stepped back in time. It has so much perfectly unpolished charm, and it

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  • Before & After

    Penshurst – A Sea Captain’s Mansion Saved from Ruin

    May 22, 2019October 16, 2019

    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

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  • Home Envy

    Before the Fire: Paganin House by Iwan Iwanoff

    March 17, 2019August 9, 2019

    I originally published this post on the old format of House Nerd here. Iwanoff fans rejoice.  Iconic Paganin House has been saved! After this famous Iwanoff home in Floreat was gutted days before Christmas 2015 by a house fire, it has now been brought back to life by the careful work of its owners and

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  • Home Renovations

    Le Fanu, Perth’s Most Expensive Renovation, is Now For Sale

    March 14, 2019March 16, 2019

    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

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  • Advice

    How to Update Dated Lighting in an Older Home

    March 3, 2019March 21, 2019

    The right lights can have a major effect on a room or an interior. In fact there are few things that can date a home more quickly than old, daggy lighting. Hello boob lights and oyster lights! No matter how curated and stylish your décor, or how modern your renovation, if you still have an

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  • Home Envy

    The Hilton Fibro Cottage Renovation

    January 3, 2019January 7, 2019

    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

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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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  • Home Envy

    A New Hamptons-Style House in Wembley Downs

    May 19, 2018June 25, 2019

    Having built four houses across a range of looks from coastal to Colonial to contemporary, empty nesters Debra and Steve knew exactly what style they wanted their next home to be. The end result is what they both call their dream house – a beautiful, timeless Hamptons-style home perfect for dinner parties and entertaining. Beginning

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  • Home Envy

    An Old Lady Cottage Freshened Up for a Young Family

    February 15, 2018February 16, 2018

    What do you do when you love renovating and building and are itching to do it again… but you love your current location, which is just perfect for your family? Well, it might not happen very often, but these two dedicated renovators sold their much-loved labour of love – and built their next home right

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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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  • Home Envy

    A Light and Bright Home Renovation in North Fremantle

    October 13, 2017May 4, 2018

    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

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  • staple-design-rachael-pearse-house-nerd-shaker-kitchen-renovation-subiaco-green-kitchen-reno-traditional-herringbone-parquetry-floors-custom-made-cabinetry-perth

    Before & After

    Before and After: A Beautiful Traditional Kitchen Renovation

    September 23, 2017September 25, 2017

    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

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  • house-renovation-perth-home-renovation-70s-80s-house-DIY-Scarborough-housenerd

    Home Renovations

    A 1980s Renovated Home on a Steep Scarborough Site

    August 25, 2017August 25, 2017

    Amy and Andrew Palmer-Millin stumbled upon their new home by accident. They were house-hunting in seaside Scarborough and were on their way to a different home open when they chanced upon the place that was to become their next home. “We accidentally went to see the house, it wasn’t on our list to view at

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  • Home Envy

    A DIY Makeover for a Daggy 70s Willetton Home

    August 20, 2017May 8, 2019

    Would you buy a house you hated? Could you make an offer on a home with an interior you didn’t like at all – a home that was actually a particularly ugly example of the era it was built? Home owners Craig and Emma Croxford did – buying a 1970s Willetton house that was so

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  • Frank-House-Iwan-Iwanoff-Menora-House-Nerd-interiors-Meghan-Plowman-1970s

    Home Envy

    The Frank House by Iwan Iwanoff

    August 20, 2017September 25, 2017

    So I’m going to make a bold call here, but I have to call it – I think I’ve found my favourite Iwan Iwanoff house yet. (At least my fave of all the ones I’ve visited so far!) It’s this quietly shy beauty – the Frank House in Menora. The house is owned by Michael and Carmen

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  • Home Envy

    Two Apartment House: The Ground Floor Apartment

    July 22, 2016July 29, 2019

    This story was originally published on my old blog format on July 26, 2016. The house I’m sharing with you today is so cool – and ahead of the general Perth design curve. Built on a tiny inner-city infill block just 200sqm in size, it’s a freestanding house that has been designed to comfortably accommodate

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  • Home Envy

    The Eco-Friendly Small House in Maylands

    April 27, 2016July 29, 2019

    I have been a fan of the houses of WA architect Ben Mountford for a while now. You might remember I did a story a few years ago on the renovation and extension he designed for this old Mt Hawthorn cottage, which won him an architecture award. His homes are cool; yet relaxed and liveable, different; but not

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  • Before & After

    A 1903 Worker’s Cottage Reno

    March 17, 2015February 17, 2020

    I have always loved the tiny, original workers’ cottages in suburbs like Leederville, Subiaco and Fremantle. But although I look at them from the outside and admire their quaintness and charm, often I think that I could never live in one – I presume that they must almost always be way too small and cramped

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  • Happier Home

    A Mother of Three’s Completely Edible Suburban Garden

    March 8, 2015February 25, 2020

    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

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  • Home Envy

    The Pretty Palmyra Weatherboard Cottage

    January 7, 2015May 2, 2021

    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

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  • Home Envy

    A Spooky Old Sea Captain’s Mansion

    October 28, 2014July 4, 2021

    Some people like gardens that are perfectly neat, with not a weed in sight or leaf out of place. But I tend to prefer the messy, crazy, overgrown ones; big and rambling, or small courtyard gardens, I like ones that enshroud their houses in dark jungle-like thickets. To me a crazy overgrown garden is so

    Continue Reading
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    housenerd

    One of my favourite pieces of tech in our home is One of my favourite pieces of tech in our home is our @sproutaus Immerse Bluetooth Speaker. I was gifted one of these for a review two years ago, and we still use it all the time. The sound quality is so good, and I really notice how being able to play your favourite music easily boosts your mood and enhances your day-to-day life 🎶😊
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To be honest, I said yes to receiving this initially to be able to give it to Mr Nerd, who is a huge music fan. I knew it would score me points! 😁 But the truth is the speaker has been something our whole family loves. We play music on it while cooking, baking, prepping oranges for Boy Nerd’s football.... I can’t believe I’ve become a footy mum now -  I don’t smile like this on those freezing early mornings! 🥶😆 It also gets a workout during dinner parties, barbecues, we take it on holidays, and it fits on the basket of my e-Bike for picnics. The rechargeable battery offers up to 4 to 5 hours of unplugged playtime 🎶
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Immerse also has two built-in wireless charging pads for effortless convenience – you can charge two phones off it at once! No more slyly unplugging your partner’s phone to charge your own 😉📱<📱
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#ad #gifted #sponsored #sproutaus #housenerd #housenerdhome #wablog #homeproducts #immersebluetoothspeaker #greattech #techforthehome #howwehome #bluetoothproducts #70shouse #perthhomes #perthblog
    Perfect rainy weather for sofa snuggles 🌧️ Th Perfect rainy weather for sofa snuggles 🌧️ This beautiful blanket was a gift from my dear friend Julie @bedtonic. Handmade in Nepal from natural fibres, it is SO SOFT with gorgeous fringed edges. Being cashmere and wool, it's also smell-resistant - great if you have a pet 😆 Bedtonic only sell 'forever' pieces and this is definitely one 🖤
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Speaking of forever pieces, I've talked to so many friends lately about paring back the stuff in our homes. We are all in the same boat with busy lives and work, but want our homes to be more minimal and easier to pick up and manage. I've donated a lot.... but there are some 'forever things' I never will:
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1. My 1930s oak cabinet. A gift from friends for my 28th birthday. It makes me feel like a real grown up 😜 I used to hide my fancy chocolate in it - the kids and hubby would run past it in plain sight a hundred times a day 😶‍🌫️ It was from @postirving (who are back open now!)
2. Two gifts given to me when Nala died. A @winterwares bud vase from @tanya.birnie, and my mini-Nala, handmade as a surprise for me by the beautiful soul behind @something.scouted 🥹 Yep, I cried happy tears when I opened it. 
3. The antique clock. A heirloom from my hubby's family. I love how it looks, hate the hourly chiming! You can turn the sound off with a key. Sometimes to annoy me Mr Nerd has turned it on and hidden the key 🙄
4 Smoking is bad, but this cigarette tin was one of the only items my dad had when he came to Australia so to me it is special. A little reminder of how hard he worked for us and where hard work can get you. 
5. Our cups from Stewart Scambler. Handmade ceramics just FEEL special 🤎
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#gifted #housenerdhome #housenerd #bedtonic #shoplocal #perthsmallbusiness #throw #cosy #rainydays #aussieshepherd #perthhomes #perthblog #wablog #vintage #curatedeclectic #leatherandwood #warmminimal #70shome
    House creeping in leafy suburbs with @tanya_birnie House creeping in leafy suburbs with @tanya_birnie 🌿 I actually took a photo of the first house years ago because I love it so much. But this time there was a dog out the front which now makes it an 11/10 instead of a 10/10 🏆🐩 Let's play! Which lovely old brick home would you have: 1, 2, 3, 4 or 5? 
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#housecreeping #housenerding #perthhomes #homeenvy #oldhouses #perthproperty #houseblog #australianblog #luxuryhomes #perthblog #oldhomes #brickhomes #houseaccount #housestalking
    Well, this customised Monopoly set officially wins Well, this customised Monopoly set officially wins first place for the best business birthday gift - maybe even PR gift - I've ever seen 😆🏆 Local WA building company @plunketthomes recently celebrated their 120th birthday - and sent me this amazing Monopoly set... custom-made to feature Perth suburbs they've built in. Made me laugh. No boots or Scottie dogs either, btw - all the tokens are building tools! You can buy up and build your way through WA suburbs including Cottesloe, Melville and East Freo... notably missing Joondalup and Morley though 😜 "And Dog Swamp," said Mr Nerd. 
"You realise Dog Swamp is not a suburb, right?" I said. 
(We are still arguing. Google is not cooperating).
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As a builder @plunketthomes sit under the @jwhgroup umbrella, along with @oswaldhomes, @ruralbuildingcompany and @wacountrybuilders. I've written about so many JWH homes over the years, and never visited one I didn't love. Not surprised Plunkett are celebrating 120 years of success - congratulations guys 🥳🎂🥂 Looking forward to many more games of building hotels in Dalkeith 💰😏
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#gifted #plunketthomes #buildingcompanyperth #prgift #perthbuilder #perthhomes #housenerd #housenerdhome #perthblog #perthblogger #houseblog #homesblogger #monopoly #giftideas
    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

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