So far from all these ideas we spend our days in the monotone routine of every day life. Chasing dreams made out of glossy magazine pages in some bizarre avantgarde style luxury manor. But just think of the possibilites that an unlimited spending account could offer. On the other hand that would surely be pure passtime after a while.
You just live your life the way it is and maybe someday it will be your turn or maybe not. That´s the stuff that dreams are made off.
My italian relatives villa is situated on a mountain overlooking the sea and has possibly the best view in Trieste. The whole house was designed by an architect with a very modern view and the interior was designed by a decorator that celebrities over there use. It is all white with splashes of colour thrown into the rooms, with dramatic chandeliers falling from the ceiling. Each bedroom has its own ensuite bathroom with a spa bath and gorgeous latte coloured tiles with the shower being all glass. I can imagine as soon as something is even slightly out of fashion they will have the whole place renovated to the new in thing.
So we may not have the newest of places but we can certainly have hopes and dreams to. I will keep my scrap book of renovating ‘to do’s’ and we will also keep on saving because one day I would love to have myself a brand spanking new kitchen with all the top of the line appliances and of course a dishwasher. And one day I would also like to have a shiny new bathroom with glass walls for the shower. But until that day comes I’m afraid we will just have to keep on saving each and every penny.
In this particular room she has the most awful concrete statue of a dragon painted green. It’s a complete disaster in what could potentially been such a stunning room. Even the front door to their house is ruined by a menacing looking dragon perched on a lamp out the front.
And my dad has a liking toward water features (it must be the Italian blood in him) so he has a giant mosaic one on the balcony out the back. It did take many months of convincing him that a water feature would not be appropriate in their front yard, and would most likely end up the butt of most jokes especially if he woke up to it full of bubbles.
My Italian relatives have almost the opposite taste though as their 4 story mansion in Trieste in Italy is the ultimate in modern design. It is incredibly indulgent and over the top, and it oozes money and wealth. However it is all about image over there, so it is the utmost importance to portray class and richness. The house even has an elevator that I’m sure is never used.
I’ve seen in a couple of home decorating magazines that mention the importance of accessorizing your home, which is something we definitely don’t do enough of. I would love to have some pretty scatter cushions on the couch and beds to add some colour and life. And even the odd vase of flowers adds so much warmth to a room.
We’ve discovered that art work alone doesn’t give you the finished look that accessories can give you. The problem is that we have to have cat friendly things that can’t get shredded or covered in fur so it certainly does make it a bit harder to make your home look nice.
My parents have a room in the house that looks fantastic but definitely needs some colour thrown into it. It is a soft cream colour with a stunning ivory coloured couch which is so comfy. They have a feature chair that has a real Victorian feel to it and a few extravagant pieces of art work that just pull the room together. The one thing I hate about my parents taste is mum manages to throw in one tacky item to every room of the house. She is absolutely obsessed with dragons.
Another thing I really wanted to fix was the hideous ceiling we had. But unfortunately it was another thing we just couldn’t afford as yet so it was going to have to wait. We bought ourselves some lovely chocolate wooden venetian blinds that complimented the floors beautifully that we managed to put up ourselves, so that saved quite a bit of money. Unfortunately our renovation plans have been put on hold again as we are moving overseas for six months but when we get back I have decided to make sure we get the ceiling done. I’d like to have some down lights put in every room as well, it just leaves such a cleaner looking finish.
My parents have got some lovely looking down lights in their kitchen and it makes the place look so much brighter and more open. I also like the idea of wall papering one wall as a feature wall just to add texture. There are some stunning wall papers that blend in with the paint but are textured so that it adds a slight contrast without over powering the room. Because everyone knows that coloured feature walls are so 90’s now.
The only problem with that was that he took the dodgy and cheap way out for everything. So none of the cupboards and joints was sealed properly and water was getting trapped in all sorts of nooks and cranny’s which was causing mould. So we had to seel up what we could so that the wood cupboards wouldn’t deteriorate. I wanted to have a dishwasher put in as washing dishes by hand didn’t seem appealing to me in the slightest.
So I got in a plumber to give us a quote on what we could do. He said that it would be more expensive than it’s worth to do this as the pipes were positioned in the wrong spot and the cabinets would need to be knocked out. I was devastated as we didn’t have much more money we could play with so we really had to think if it was worth doing it. We decided it wasn’t for the time being and we would save for it. I must say though it would make our kitchen look a lot cleaner if we did have one.
We had almost decided not to go to the ugly apartment but last minute we changed our minds and showed up to the auction. Amazingly unlike most of the auctions we had been to, there were only about six other people there. We decided we would bid and I put my hand up for 370,000, but no one rose on that. We were shocked. Did we just buy an apartment? The vendor ended up not wanting to sell for that amount so we through in 20,000 more and he agreed.
We had bought an ugly, smelly apartment that needed lots of work. Damn!! So we came up with a list of what needed to be done. The highest on my priority list was the floor. That pink carpet had to go. We chose a coffee coloured distressed bamboo floating floorboard to replace it which instantly lifted the place. The walls were all painted an off white to compliment all of our art work and furniture that we already had from our previous place. The vendor had actually attempted to renovate the kitchen several years earlier so it didn’t need too much done to fix it.
Mums current renovation is turning my old bedroom into the dining area so it opens out onto the balcony. The moment I told mum I was moving out, she was in my room with a tape measure and note pad scribbling down possible designs she could do. She calls it her hobby but it is the most expensive hobby I have ever heard of. The only problem with this current renovation is that it may end up making the kitchen look too long and stretched as its last design was to go along one wall which is about 8 metres long. So by doing this one (knocking out my room) it may create another job for Russell to do. I think possibly this was her plan all along. It’s a way of killing to birds with one stone. And she won’t even need to convince dad. One possibility I brought up was rather than knocking down the whole kitchen because it is too long is to just put in an island bench in the centre so it distracts from the length of the kitchen and fills in some empty space. There is nothing I hate more than seeing a home with furniture all around the walls and nothing in the centre.
Which brings me to our house. Well actually it’s an apartment but it’s quite a large apartment as far as flats go. It’s roughly about 60 square metres with two bedrooms, one bathroom, separate dining and living area’s and a newly renovated kitchen. When we I first saw this place at an inspection I originally hated it. It has those hideous fire proof ceilings from the 70’s that look like a bad plasterer came along with a spray gun and was let loose. The walls were yellow, the carpet was pink. The kitchen and bathroom tiles were also pink and it stunk like cigarettes. The kitchen ceiling had grease dripping of it as did the range hood and splash back. The bathroom ceiling was black with mould and the grout in between the tiles was brown. There was also glitter everywhere as the apartments tenants were professional transvestites. I couldn’t believe how revolting the place was but my partner saw potential. The day the place was up for auction ended up being a record for the most auctions in one day in Melbourne and so obviously we had several other properties to go to on the same day at the same time.
She has her favourite builder Russell on speed dial and he, his son Trevor and their dog Arko have become part of the family. I have known him since I was three and he is at their place at least once every two years doing something or other. Russell always puts mum’s jobs at the top of his priority list as he knows that he has a lifelong income with her and she has been a client of his for so long.
Her most recent renovation was building Sam the family dog a clear solar, rain proof roof over the whole side part of the yard, which in effect has turned out to be a giant dog kennel just because she didn’t want him getting wet when it rained. She also had new fencing put up around the balcony as Sam fell off it one day when he lost his balance. Another funny one was when dad said he wanted a better shed so she got a miniature version of their house built into a shed. It’s almost a perfect replica except it’s a single story but big enough to fit his two motorbikes and all the tools you can imagine. He completely loves it!
My mum is the queen of renovations and known for turning their house inside out and upside down. Ever since I can remember my mum has been renovating, extending or redecorating the house. They have been living in the same place for 25 years now and the house is barely recognisable from the house they bought all those years ago.
It was originally a three bedroom , one bathroom home situated on quite a large block of land (by Australian suburban standards) and it was by no means anything spectacular to look at. Now it has turned into a two story, five bedroom + study, three bathroom, two kitchens, three separate living area’s and library/reading room.
So what was a 140 square metre house is now a 350 square metre house with a completely different lay out. And some areas of the home have been renovated more than once. For example, mum has a rule that every five or so years the kitchen and bathrooms must be redone. I have seen that many kitchens and different lay outs and designs that I feel like an expert on building a practical yet aesthetically pleasing kitchen that is still user friendly.
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Sep.6,2011