Liv's Story
Where it all began...
So, a little backstory... I bought my first home with my partner Steve back in 2011, it was a little four bedroom, red brick home with heritage red and gutters and primrose wind! But for our first home we were thrilled and I knew I could do so much with it. The only thing was, we were on a budget, we both worked full time and were commuting over an hour and a half each way to work each day so alongside budgetary constraints were also time constraints. Little by little we plugged away on small upgrades while we found our feet and saved some money.
We didn't have any friends in trades and we definitely couldn't afford to pay any, so we taught ourselves. Steve didn't love renovating but I was in my element!!
Every spare minute I had I was either researching how to get it done or actually getting it done.
I'm Liv and I'm so happy you're here!
I'm so passionate about creating and putting my touch of design on spaces and I would really love to share with you what I've learnt along the way...
You will notice that I try to fit this into my life wherever I can find a spare minute between making lunches, cleaning the house and running a business so you won't see a sparkling kitchen with no clutter or a display home bathroom.
This is me, real and hopefully without judgement because at the end of the day I'm a busy Mum and I'm human.
When we bought the house it had linoleum flooring, horrible old carpet, every room was a different vibrant colour of red or orange or purple, the kitchen bench had been painted with brown suede paint that matched a feature wall in the bedroom. The one bathroom was really outdated as was the rest of the kitchen and the laundry had no fit out at all. so we had quite the list. This is how it was when we bought it.
When I say everything in the kitchen and been painted, I mean everything. The tiles, the cupboards, the bench top and not with proper paint. Just whatever they had.
Talk about intense and moody!
This wasn't even the worst colour. The other bedroom was purple, walls and ceiling.
Over the next two years we took on so many projects:
Installed new and updated door and window framing in a 62mm bullnose profile to change up the 30mm heritage profile that was already there
Installed new square finish, 98mm architraves throughout to replace the 45mm
Painted the whole house in Dulux Lexicon half strength
In the bathroom we replaced the old cabinetry and installed new tap ware and basins and tile backsplash, framed the existing mirror, regrouted and painted the tiles, put in a new shower screen and window covering and added some floating timber shelves.
Installed a brand new kitchen and wall pantry that I designed through IKEA kitchens including sink and tap ware
Completed a brand new fit out of the laundry with tiling, bench tops, shelving and cabinetry using IKEA flat packs.
Re landscaped the entire 1010m block including gardens and retaining walls.
Installed 12mm, wide board timber oak laminate flooring throughout the whole home.
Along the way there were so many ups and downs, some things worked, others had me going back to the drawing board. I learnt so many new skills from painting to tiling, floor laying to carpentry and even the odd bit of plumbing here and there. There were a MILLION flat packs to assemble which would test even the most patient persons patience. We accumulated so many power tools and so much equipment to get through the projects we had set ourselves.
Some days I asked myself "what the heck have you gotten yourself into?". That was usually on a Monday morning when I was scrubbing paint off my hands before work or trying to find work clothes amongst the dust because I had spent my whole weekend renovating instead of washing and cleaning but in the end I loved absolutely every minute of it.
Looking back, that was over 10 years ago. I've since had two kids, moved back to my home town and I've got to say there's a little fire inside me that has never gone out. Something that has always been burning away that I hoped one day to put fuel on and stoke back up. I guess its said with all passions that if you love something enough you'll make it work.
Tom's Room Revamp
Media Wall cabinetry fit out (this one is a big one! and a little scary...lots of learning along the way here!)
Complete Laundry Fitout
Nursery Revamp
Guest room redesign
Kids playroom cabinetry
Mum and Dads mini bar (you heard that right!)
There will be a few smaller projects along the way that I will share. Of course there will be lots of delicious recipes because who doesn't love food?! and some little lifestyle hacks that I've picked up from being a mum of two boys.
Follow along for more updates and don't forget to subscribe.
Enjoy!
From Liv, With Love x
These days life is a little more hectic. Tom is 4 and Patrick is 1. We work on one income so my upcoming projects need to be as cost effective as possible and Steve is away a lot for work so time is my biggest constraint. Im so excited though, I love this!
A few big upcoming projects at our current house:
