So I've been thinking alot about our friends across the pond lately and how much I would love to visit them in Australia. So today I wanted to take a look at the house we stayed out for most of our time in Australia. I hope you don't mind the throwback and enjoy seeing the beautiful, bright, and gorgeous home we stayed at during our trip in 2014. This post is from my old "travel" blog, darcilove, which I am now consolidating into this blog as well. So I will probably be moving other old posts over to this blog as well. Enjoy!
Hellooo!!! It's been a while since I've updated you guys on what we're doing here in Australia. We've mostly been relaxing in the house that we are staying at, so I'm going to start there today and give you a little tour!
Some of you may not know that Anthony studied here in Australia in 2011. While he was here he became really good friends with quite a few people, including his house mate Haopeng. Before we booked our tickets to Australia, Anthony had been in contact with his friends here to figure out living situations, jobs, transportation, etc. Haopeng extended his home to us for at least the first month of our stay in Australia...as long as we were okay with having three other male roommates and sharing a bathroom with them. So far it hasn't been as awful as it sounds. Anthony and I are at home by ourselves during the day usually. During the evening, everyone comes home from work or school and we sometimes eat together or watch a movie or just sit and talk.
So, today I'm going to take you through a mini virtual tour of the house. I took some snapshots of the house, minus the guys' bedrooms. Anthony and I are living in the cinema room while we're here, just a mattress on the floor. It was a bit of a mess when I took the photos, so excuse that please! What I like most about the house though is how well it's decorated. The house itself has beautiful architecture and design, but the pieces in the house make it a home. So I'm going to share some of the decor with you as well! I'm in love with the beauty of this home!
This is the front door and entryway. To the left side is the office, a bedroom, and the billiard room. On the right, beyond the photo, is the door to the cinema room. First, let's go through the office and billiard room!
How beautiful are these colors against that white wall!?
They become so vibrant and seem to scatter across the canvas!
And how cute is that little green plant!?
Here is the office! Notice the large Mac computer (I was real excited when I saw it)! I don't think any awesome design stuff gets done on it though. What a shame!
Walking out of the office straight towards the pool table, you'll walk by this man. I can't decide if it's my favorite yet! You can obviously tell how gorgeous these colors are, and I LOVE color! But my absolute favorite thing about this painting is the texture! The painting is so expressive in many ways. Just by looking at it, I can feel the soft, smooth feathers of his headdress, compared to the soft, fuzziness of the white feathers closer to his head. You can feel his wrinkled, leathery skin, and the coarse black hair over his shoulder.
Is this what Pocahontas meant by painting with all the colors of the wind?
If so, I enjoy it thoroughly.
This is the billiard room, I hesitate to call it a room because it's actually a very open area. You can see the doors to the cinema across the hall there. I really like that the pool table is a beautiful cobalt blue felt. It already is the focal point of the room, but the color makes it a bit more exciting.
Behind you, you would see a couple of couches and this lovely painting. It reminds me of the Matrix, although I haven't actually seen the Matrix. Must just be the numbers. Also, the numbers are mimicked in the black pillows on the couch which has small white numbers printed all over it.
Here we have the cinema (and our bedroom)! Complete with six reclining chairs with throw pillows, and even floor lighting!
Those are little windows in the back of the room, so you can open and close those blinds.
Don't know why you would have open blinds in a cinema room, though.
Now we'll go up the stairs. At this point you can either climb the stairs to the full bathroom, and other bedrooms, or step down into the living area.
Here you see Max the Pug on this pretty sweet landing.
He turned to make sure I was still following him.
Above the landing are these gorgeous, organic shaped, wire light fixtures.
Here we are at the top of the stairs where there is: the bathroom to the left, a loft and the master bedroom/bathroom straight ahead, and two bedrooms to the right.
Here is what I have donned the "Pollock Painting". The style reminds me of Jackson Pollock's abstract drip paintings, which are meant to record the movement and action of the artist. Again, the colors of this painting vibrate against the white walls of the house and bring life to the environment.
This is our bathroom we share with three other guys. It's quite clean for being male dominated. And I promise I didn't do any tidying up for this photo!
This is the loft, which also serves as a little study area. Haopeng's room is directly connected to the loft (there's no door) to the left where Max is walking towards. I think this is mainly Haopeng's area, but still very cool and eclectic. You can see a little patio area outside and our little inlet that the house sits on.
I found this retro rugby ball on the shelves (which I mistook for a basketball).
The view of the living room from the loft! I'm digging the cowhide seat by the couch. It's really soft too. Outside the windows you can see part of the pool. Now we'll head back down the stairs and I'll show you the main floor!
When you walk in the front door and down that short hallway, this is the living area you see first. We haven't used this table yet, I imagine that it suits well for game nights since it is round and can seat eight. The shell chandelier is so pretty and looks really nice above the dark gray wooden table. Off to the right you see part of the pool and a little patio seating area.
The contrast of the metal form of the chandelier and the delicate shells and beads hanging from it create a unique lighting piece.
I like how the pool makes this patio into a peninsula, so cute! And the pool water actually enters into the house on the far right. It is a heated pool, so the warm water is pumped from the house and into the pool!
Behind the table and chairs is this wall with a display area. These ceramic pots are such a pretty deep red, this photo doesn't do them justice.
This is a detail shot of two sculptures that represent vertebrae (or might be real vertebrae, I haven't asked). You can see these in the picture four photos back (they are displayed on the cabinet behind the table). Whether it is meant to be human or whale, I do not know. They are beautiful sculptures though, and there's something interesting about taking an object that is usually small in size and enlarging it's scale to something like this.
Here is the living room where I spend my time blogging, checking Facebook, and Skyping with the family. What you can't see is the gorgeous view I have from where I sit on the couch.
I really liked this shot showcasing the large red drum in the corner. I thought it to be quite an odd piece of furniture at first, but it has since been growing on me.
Across from the living room you will see our dining area. This chevron rug is awesome, and I love the large print! It also pairs really well with the wooden table and chairs. Again, the lighting fixtures here add to the ambiance of the room. To the left you would find the laundry room, a toilet and sink; to the right is the kitchen and door to the "backyard".
This painting hangs on the wall to the left of the table. I have said it is my favorite in the house, but the Native American portrait is a very close second! This painting has physical, surface texture and I am obsessed with it. If you know me well, you know that I have a weird thing for textures. I love touching different surfaces (stay with me here) whether it's fabric, housewares, textiles, or paper. I also really enjoy the muted palette this painting features. Although I really love bright colors, I think that neutral colors are easy to decorate with in any room. The metallic silver adds a bit of energy to the painting as well with it's reflective quality.
This bowl of decorative spheres sits on the kitchen table. Textures obviously play a big role in the decor of this house. Maybe that's why I like it so much! I like how these textures range so drastically and closely together.
These are the flowers that Lucy greeted me with at the airport! Such a sweet and thoughtful gesture! They were displayed in the kitchen and made a beautiful addition to the house for our first week!
Here is where I've been spending quite a bit of time as well. Laying in the sun, tanning and reading Don Quixote with Anthony and Max nearby. It's quite nice, except the pool is still too cold, even to cool down in.
This is a view of the house from the dock. Not only is there a little patio right by the pool, but there's even a deck that overlooks the water. We've already had a couple of breakfasts and a BBQ out here!
Well, that pretty much sums up the tour of our little home!
I'll leave you with a few extra shots from our first week in Australia!
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