Amazing Design Idea

Brittany Groundhouse

This design was featured on Grand Designs UK years ago and I haven't been able to get it out of my head..I found it amazing then and still think it's amazing now.  The Brittany Groundhouse is just outside Balleroy, France.

http://www.greengite.com/to-rent/brittany-groundhouse/

There are so many aspects to this house that draw me to it, particularly the fact that it is a one of a kind, solar eco house that is set in organic gardens (DREAM HOUSE!!)

What you see above is a recycled glass wall which separates the lounge and bathroom.  When they were constructing this Kris and I were thinking 'what the hell??'  It looked so messy and rough, what were they thinking??  But then as the episode continued and the final result came out we were absolutely amazed.  The reason for the wall is to let in natural light and apparently it provides a stunning light towards evening.  They have a few bottles scattered above doorways through the house itself which I think is a little overkill.  I would love to emulate something like this in my own house, maybe even in an outdoor area..



Seaside

The idea of having a 'beach theme' to anything gives me shivers.  Think pelican statues, blue and white stripes, giant anchors, shells, starfish and sand.  It's too much and it's unnecessary!! 

Because we live near the beach and it plays such a big part of our lives, especially weekends with our dog.  I would like to share a few ways that we bring a little bit of the beach into our house without it being OTT..

Shells - Over the years we have collected so many shells that we have a couple of jars that we keep around the house that I always empty Kris' pockets into after a beach trip.  Typically I'll go for the pretty ones and Kris searches for 'rare' shells.  I am always looking for white shells, you can have them in jars and it looks quite nice.

Candles - This is a candle combination that we have 2 of on our coffee table.. I specifically have shells that are only black and white in the bottom.  I think this look can be way overdone so I've kept it as simple as I can, and the candles smell divine.










This is another little candle and shell combo, this one is on our dining table.  We have a really small table so I needed something really small to put on it.  The ceramic tray was from a winery in the Hunter Valley, a gift from my mother in law.  There are so many beautiful shells in this little collection.  I put the prettiest ones I have found in this and my Nieces and Nephews are always going through it picking out their 'favourite'.








Navy - The colour navy is a good alternative to doing the nautical looking stripes.  My idea is to incorporate navy into the bathroom, its fitting and easy to find accesories that match. 

I am bursting with ideas for this blog, I hope those reading are finding it interesting.. Em

About Us

Ok so I guess its time we did a little introduction of ourselves!!

Our names are Emily and Kristoffer and we live in beautiful Port Macquarie.  We rent a little house at the moment and think we will buy our first house next year.  So, living in a rental means NO renovation experience.  But hey, that didn't stop Polly and Waz or Soph and Dale!!  Our drive and confidence is enough for us to do well on The Block.

We both work in retail, I (Em) manage a workwear store and Kris works in a fishing tackle/marine store.  We both have high hopes of not working in retail forever!!  I'm hoping that by being on The Block some more doors will open.  I am originally from a tiny town called Batlow which is near Wagga Wagga.  Kris is from Taree, so we live close to where he grew up.  We met each other in Wagga where we both worked for a major camping/fishing store.  As you can tell from our professions we are very outdoorsy (is that even a word??), down to earth and share similar life standards and passions.

I can't say that I love something like Kris loves fishing!!  At the moment he is sitting at #2 on the bream angler tournament ladder, this changes often and he has been at #1 at times too..  I don't think he has been out of the top 5 since we've known each other.

I'm devoting so much of my time into our Block campaign, I guess you could say I love The Block as much as Kris loves fishing.  Even though being on The Block would be the experience of a lifetime, Kris would be having fishing withdrawals the whole time!!  We would both miss our dog very much too, we have a Kelpie called Heidi and she is the most spoilt dog in Australia.  However she is spoilt even more so by Kris' mum so we know she wouldn't miss us too much.

So there we go, I hope that this has given you all a good insight into our lives, let's all just face it, WE WOULD ROCK THE BLOCK!

Fifty Shades of Grey

Hated the book, LOVE the colour!!

Look in my wardrobe and what do you see??  Grey and black (no white, I'm too messy).

As a interior decor colour I think grey can be amazingly warming and inviting.  Grey sums up our entire design concept its sleek, paired with basic colours (white, black) and modern.  I would just have to have grey as a central theme through our block house.  Our designs will be timeless, you wont be looking at them in 10 or even 5 years and saying 'yuck'.

When I saw this, I laughed!!
Grey Obsessions

What does every else think of grey??  Do you love it too??

Our Audition Plans

We're going to be making our audition video fairly closely to the cut off date. This is because I want to have an established Blog, Twitter and Instagram first.  Then we can refer to these in our audition process and add the links to the video, for that extra little insight into our (insert sarcastic voice here), fantastically exciting, insipiring lives..

How great is this vintage camera??

In all seriousness deciding on what is going to be in the audition video has been sending me crazy!!  I've looked at what some of the last contestants put in their videos..

• Katrina and Amie (2011)
• Mike and Andrew (2012)
• Jake and Erin (2010)

I've told Kris that it looks like we'll just have to dance in our audition video..that didn't go down so well :) a jib jab video is as close as we'll get to that!!  Or I told him I was going to start secretely filming him so I can capture the moment when he busts out in a dance haha..

We're definitely not conservative and boring, I think we can be quite funny and we bounce off each other really well.  We'll certainly make good telly and to renovate a house while we're at it would be amazeballs!!


Who has ideas for our audition video??

Introducing Our Style

I'd like to think that we have (compared to previous Block contestants) a little bit of every ones fantastic style.. A little bit quirky but refined, simple and practical.

Something that I loved in 2011's The Block was Josh & Jenna's pallot bed (see more of their stuff here). I grew up making pallots and apple bins for my dads business, so it was great to see them used in a different way!!  I've compiled a little collection of excellent ideas for pallots and would love to utilise the myself.  Using an item for something that it wasn't originally designed for is so creative and I really enjoy scouring Pinterest for inspiration. 

All of these ideas have come off pinterest, let me know what you think, or if you have an even better idea!!

The Block 2013

So basically we want to be on The Block in 2013.  I am hoping to create a social media following in order to encourage Channel 9 that we were born to be on the show!!

I (Emily) have watched EVERY season and have dreamt of going on the show since the first season.  It's a difference experience now than what it used to be..even better.  You have to invest so much of your life into the show and we would be perfect.

We will make our audition video as soon as our social media following takes off.  My plan is to get everyone to fall in love with us, to get the topic trending on Twitter and inspire people to BEG Channel 9 to have us on the show.

So subscribe away and hopefully we can inspire everyone to want us on The Block 2013