October 2016 – The house that Jess built.

Free-to-air TV programs on the lifestyle channel have been extolling the benefits of going tiny. In all honesty it seems like many of the clients are those down on their luck, who are downsizing because of money woes.

That being said. I kinda have a desire to get me an old bus, (all those windows, all that light!) and create my own travelling wagon. One that I could plonk on my own bit of dirt, and survey my kingdom. And the views. Don’t get me wrong, I have no desire to leave civilisation behind and take up off-grid living. I would just like to live in a wee little home on weekends, preferably near the water, with my hubby and the dog. It’s a getaway thing.

Given that my home is rather visually colourful, my ideal tiny home would be Scandi-minimal. Besides, I really like clean design when it’s well-thought out. There’s an Australian company that creates tiny homes called The Tiny House Company (no surprises there!) and while their houses aren’t cheap, they are very beautiful. I want one:

This is an awesome tiny home, with tons of storage and very light-filled. It comes with a deck, too.

It’s like a weekend writing and reading nook with a bed, kitchen and bathroom attached! Want want want.

I’m loving a newly renovated wooden cottage round the corner from home this week, which has been painted the most delightful shade of sea green. Colours are hard for human eyes to reproduce away from the original, so the best I could come up with is this Benjamin Moore Sea Green:

paint-north-sea-green

(It’s a bit more grey.) With complementary white trim, and grey window shades and corrugated iron, it looks spectacular, dramatic and clean and a world away from the ubiquitous grey and white that has Australian homes in a stranglehold. I used to love grey and white. Now I think I prefer something else.

I’m not sure this colour will suit our house. I don’t want to be too conservative, but house colours can last for up to 30 years on the house, so one has to be prepared for a long-haul colour that won’t date too fast.

I’m liking the blue/green/grey combos such as Benjamin Moore Lucite Green:

paint-lucite-green

Matched with white trim, this colour is great. But without some depth, it can look wishy/washy. One of my favourite renovation shows is Masters of Flip, which shows in Australia on 9MSN. The colours chosen by the host are often fantastic, and I think this show is single-handedly responsible for my new-found love of rich exterior colours, such as this one below:

exterior-after-fixed