Displaying posts from January, 2014

The real estate market is reluctantly dragging itself away from its summer holidays and new listings are popping up online. It’s still a little slow… like the kids going back to school in the coming weeks. Kicking their heels and whinging about everything. Like I am with my real estate leftovers. Call me whiney, particular, choosy and hard to please. I’m fussy when it comes to which houses make it on to the blog. Not quite right, bad photos, I need more photos please! House is amazing furniture is deplorable. Can’t quite put my finger on it listings with something that has me nodding “yes”. This week’s finds include the obligatory exorbitantly priced inner city Sydney and Melbourne homes, a small country farm, a cute little studio apartment and a beach shack that tumbles onto the sand (I shudder at the thought of the price). All via realestate.com.au.

It has been a cat frenzied week and I am so glad it’s over and has a happy ending. I just got back the test results and Agnes is free of deadly kitty diseases so she will be going to her new home tonight! Her health is good – just had some ear mites and a haert murmur that turned out not to be anemia, but she does have a broken tooth that needs to be pulled, and her hernia and spaying (if she is indeed not spayed). If anyone would like to help out with a donation for these surgeries (I have paid her initial vet visit, along with some donations from my family), please let me know. Her new owner works for a non-profit and is very kind to be helping me out, so I want to give back if I can.

Happy Friday everyone!

The Selby

Acclaimed San Francisco interior designer Ken Fulk continues to rock the world of décor with his witty, often flamboyant yet sometimes subdued, always chic designs (Jo blogged his work way back here). His versatility is impressive, catering to any style thrown at him. Now that is talent, considering the amount of one-dimensional designers out there. Kudos Ken.

We were sent an email from the folks at HomeZada and asked to try out their online solution to help manage the home. Man, could I use some home management help! I’m not a very organized person, and I don’t spend alot of time in the planning stage of projects. So this site rocks for someone like me. It does all sorts of cool things to help make your life easier.  The main features are tracking and maintaining a home inventory (an account of your possessions and household fixed assets), tracking maintenance about your home and then alerts the homeowner when these maintenance activities need to get done, managing home improvement projects from wish list inception to tracking shopping purchases, to managing the overall project budget or managing multiple projects over time and finally tracking all the finances associated with your home. So it pretty much covers all bases. 

Here is what the main dashboard looks like:

(I like the snooze option – LOL)

This is a sample of the Finances dashboard:

I am a fan of graphs. I like visuals. Graphs are your friend. 

In between blogging, the day job and stray cat rescuing, I had a little bit of time (not really, I just slept less) to try out their site, and gave the project management section a shot. My husband and I would love to renovate our powder room in the near future so this tool will be VERY handy to keep us in check.

Our first step was to include each item required in the bathroom remodel – the best part about this app is that it lists everything you could need for you, and all you have to do is remove the items that aren’t required. We then put quantities and our budget price against each item.

We entered 2 base cabinet options in the Shopping Choices page. The app allows you to upload documents, images and include all sorts of information on each so you have everything you need when it comes time to purchase. 

The HomeZada mobile app is incredibly convenient when you’re out shopping for different options because it allows you to note all the details and you can photograph each item while you’re wandering from store to store so you can keep all the info organized and you can review it all at the end of your trip. The website and the mobile app are synched up so you can access your project from anywhere. 

The last step is the Purchased Items page. When you make purchase decisions you select them from your Shopping Choices page and it keeps track of all of them here. You can always view your purchases and your budget in the top summary section that displays on each page.

Holy smokes do I ever want to get started on this bathroom reno now, with HomeZada to help along the way. Go on over and try it out – they’re offering free memberships. 🙂

 This is a sponsored post in partnership with HomeZada, and all opinions expressed in this post are my own. 

escape (noun) ih-skeyp ~ a form of temporary distraction from reality or routine.

Elysium (noun) ih-lizh-ee-uhm ~ any place or state of perfect happiness; paradise.

daydream (noun) dey-dreem ~ a reverie indulged in while awake.

Masseria Tenuta Potenti via Welcome Beyond.