Glimpses of Summer in our Garden

Pear Tree Blossoms

Strawberries

Lemon Tree Blossoms 

Blue Skies (and an air display)

Inspiration Station: Guest Bedroom

Oh dear, oh dear!  Here's the state of what we currently refer to as "the spare room":

Yes, it's currently a dumping ground, a place where we dry clothes and store odd bits of furniture.  I'm determined though this summer to turn it into a gorgeous guest bedroom.  Not sure yet how exactly I'm going to go with this, but here's what's inspiring me lately when it comes to bedrooms:

Stripy Rugs

Interesting Headboards

Black & White...

... with Pops of Juicy Colour

Etsy Lovin'

Here are some items I'm currently hearting on Etsy.

Cushions from alexandraferguson for our living room

Mustache cufflinks for himself from beautyspot who's based in the Ukraine

Wild side animal prints from pixiepixels for our bedroom

And this leather handbag (with tassel!) for me from Opelle based in Toronto

All above images via Etsy

The house with the glass stairs

I think I may have mentioned our future renovation plans, maybe just once or twice! I also recently posted about the villa next door to ours, which has had the full reno job and featured in the property section of the NZ Herald. This time I'm posting about a villa reno in our neighborhood that is a bit of a legend...the one with the glass stairs.

When it comes to period houses, I really like when there's a clear definition between the original house and the new extension. This is one of the requirements we've included in the brief to our architect (see here). In this house, they've taken the concept to the extreme by building a new pavilion style extension and linking it to the main house by means of an ultra modern and very cool glass staircase. And if this isn't enough of a feature in itself, underneath the glass stairs is a lap pool!

 Feast your eyes on the rest of these images and me know what you think!

Ready for a before picture?

Et voila...

And now for the rear...

Ta da!

All images via trendsideas.com