The Outside TourThe Outside Tour

After giving you a tour of our back porch, I thought now would be a good time to continue the journey outside.  From the distance, our 1940’s art deco gem sits on her plot like a majestic queen.  We have been told in her day she was the trendsetter of Eastbourne.

It’s not until you are up close and personal that you can see her tiara needs a bit of a polish and buff. The house is constructed with solid concrete and finished with a stucco coating.  From the time she was built, there has been little outside maintenance.  Over the years the last paint job has been gradually peeling off to reveal a lovely shade of olive green.  Obviously it was a very fashionable colour in its day. 

The tile work that surrounds the house is also in dire need of replacement.  Like my eyebrows, her grounds could also do with a reshape and tidy up.  Often when I get out of the car at night, I try to close my eyes from the piles of rubble and peeling paint.  It’s a matter of taking deep breaths, reminding myself daily of our finished vision and telling Paul to get a hurry up.  Typed with a smile 🙂  

Speaking of Paul and on his request,  Santa bought him a 3D modeling design programme last Christmas.  He has become an absolute whizz over the last 12 months.  On our shoe-string budget this is how we would like the house to evolve over the next couple of years. 

We will be painting the house in a clean Alablaster white from Resene.  From the brilliant offline feedback I have received from my readers it looks like we will be sticking with the Resene Black for the windows. 

To soften up the stark black and white, we are going to add some warmth with a cedar garage door and strengthen up the columns by adding thick cedar poles.  

 I also like the idea of adding cedar paneling to the ceiling to give it another dimension.

One day we will add a new black front door and stairs up to the main living area.  Did you know that painting your door black or charcoal will increase your house sale by $6,271 more than expected? A study conducted of 135,000 homes from an online Real Estate agency released their attention-grabbing analysis here.

Beside our sheltered front door, we will also be putting up beautiful Hampton’s lights.  I wanted to add some funky lighting by our new garage door, but I have yet to find lighting with an IP65 rating for coastal areas and which doesn’t scream lighthouse. 

With a new paint job, and double glazed windows we think she is going to look a million bucks.  We want to keep the curb appeal going by adding adding a new fence and a designated path up to the house.  My design heart aches for a concrete fence, but Paul has stressed to me that it’s much easier to build a wooden fence than render one.  

For once I have decided to ease his back-breaking load and agreed to something like this?  Fortunately he loves it too! 

Now that there is only 10 more days until Christmas, I have had some time to reflect on the year that has been.  And wow 2018 has certainly been quite the colourful ride!  We have been blessed in so many ways.  Securing our new home, finding our passion for design and renovation together, and the opportunity to start another creative outlet – my blog.  It’s with a grateful heart that I thank you for taking the time to read my posts in this overstimulated digital world.  May you all have a wonderful and relaxing break with your loved ones.

Merry Christmas from the Bowker/Walker family!