There have been many changes at Chez Jess this year since last I wrote. For a start, all of our chickens died unexpectedly and suddenly overnight and we never found out the reason why. I had one of the chickens autopsied but there was nothing outwardly or inwardly wrong with them. I suspect poison but there was no evidence. A tragedy and I’m not sure I will ever really recover from the loss as I cannot help but feel it was all my fault. If we get chickens in the future there will be some changes here to ensure they are safe and sound, including re-siting them to the backyard. I miss my girls and the trauma of their death still shakes me to this day.

In other, rather more exciting news we have a new bathroom! Of COURSE our quote came back at double what the original quote said. Of COURSE it did. You’ve seen the plans – up and down they were gorgeous, and I knew they would probably be a bit exxie… but at $800k it was more expensive than the property is worth. We cannot justify the cost. After I finished weeping I realised we can still do the kitchen and bathroom, even if we cannot do the top deck just yet. I think the deck will be a year off, and maybe prices will stabilise a bit, or perhaps just go up. At any rate, it’s not going to happen this year. So we have gotten started on the kitchen, bathroom and some other much needed additions to the house, including more solar panels and a fast charger for our new electric car (work vehicle), roof insulation, some skylights in the kitchen, ducted air-conditioning throughout the house, 3-phase power (boring but necessary), and if funds stretch far enough, an exterior paint job, and a wine cellar installed under the stairs. In truth, the wine cellar is already there, but the IKEA Kallax shelves have limited potential…;)

Prices for building work in Australia are breathtaking and far more expensive than other similar places such as the USA. This is because we pay our tradespeople extremely well. But oh, boy, the cost bites. So let me show you the bathroom as it was, and as it is now. First up we have the moodboard. Since we now cannot afford the schmicko ensuite and walk-in-robe, we had to make the family bathroom the one we use all the time.

We lightened the colours and made it gentler and softer so that we wouldn’t be shocked every time we walked in the room. One of the issues we discovered early on was our design team did NOT want us putting in a floor-based vanity unit – they wanted us to have a floating unit that was light and bright. Well, says I, you need to find us some extra storage then, as this is now our main bathroom and a one-drawer vanity is absolutely not enough. So they did a clever thing and added a hidden unit in the wall. I’m thrilled with the result.

The wallpaper we chose was a beautiful design from Natty and Polly Wallpaper suppliers: Amazonian by Caselio in Vert D’Eau. https://www.nattyandpolly.com.au/amazonia-vert-deau-wallpaper/

We selected the tiles from Stone and Tile Project – the small tile is a sage green Moroccan-style porcelain tile from Italy, because even though I would have preferred real Zellige tile the colour did not work with the wallpaper quite as well. The floor tile was also from Stone and Tile Project – a faux terrazzo in ivory – it’s a nice combination of grey and beige once laid. Check out the images online: https://stoneandtileprojects.com.au/collections/terrazzo-tile/products/navarre-ivory-terrazzo-porcelain https://stoneandtileprojects.com.au/collections/ceramics-tile/products/sage-zellige-moroccan-porcelain-100×100

Tapware is a pretty brushed gold from Phoenix – Vivid Slimline https://www.phoenixtapware.com.au/product-collection/vivid-slimline-up/?refinementList%5Bcollections%5D%5B0%5D=Vivid%20Slimline%20Up. It is a super clean design, offsetting the more traditional elements of the room. We have had a ton of comments about our wallpaper with lots of folk saying before it went in that our bathroom did not look like “us”, and with other folk wondering if the wallpaper was coming out!

We chose a special bidet toilet from Caroma but although it now works well, the people at Caroma were pretty terrible and the information in the installation and user guide was singularly unhelpful – it was missing at least 20 pages of really important information. Still, we have worked out how to both use and fix it (especially since there have been numerous black-outs where the electricity has been cut for renovation purposes). A bidet toilet is a really useful addition and we are seeing so many people put them in their houses now.

We selected an above mounted sink which, after living with other options, I prefer, as I can place my makeup against the sink and not have it tumble into the sink itself! We have a pill-shaped medicine cabinet that stores more of my stuff, and we have a repeating vertical stripe pattern throughout, which shows up in the textured glass shower panel, the front panel of the vanity, and the VJ board throughout. Some other great ideas include a shower LEDGE rather than ALCOVE – much easier to navigate, and even though we live in a hot climate, adding a heat source via the lights/ extractor fan has proven rather useful in the cooler months.

There are plenty of curves to choose from, too: the pill shaped vanity lights (nom nom), the curved glass and mirror, the curves in the tapware, and the curvy pattern in the wallpaper. I don’t have all the product names and suppliers available to me but rest assured they are all available in Australia.

Our soft furnishings and decor were purchased almost entirely from Pillow Talk as they are my favourite homewares store – well, OK! They are RIGHT next to my gym. Dangerous. We bought 3 different towel colours, which I switch out when I need a break – just 2 of each, in grey, mustard and teal, all available in 2024. The floor mat and hand towels were also from Pillow Talk. We splurged just a bit and bought a slender vase from Dinosaur Designs that perfectly complements the tones in the room, and pairs nicely with the soap dispenser. Finally, we threw in some old baskets that I had in a former life to hold spare toilet rolls and towels and stuff, and we are done!