21 October 2016

Feature Friday: Collette Dinnigan's Home

If you’re new to my Feature Friday posts this is where I love to show you inside both real and celebrity homes. 
Who does the home belong to you ask? 
Fashion Designer Collette Dinnigan.

 Eighteen months after buying this Watson's Bay $6.25 million dollar home, it's on the market.

No expenses have been spared on this Sydney home, with Dinnigan renovating elements of the home after buying it. Shortening the pool to add palm trees and a garden (don't they look divine!) and adding extra bedrooms and bathrooms. Its a series of eclectic, feminine spaces with French details. 

It is the details though that are Dinnigan's signature style - the detailed bed linen, intriguing art and furniture. 

18 October 2016

Spring Sale



I love being creative and using my hands - there is nothing more satisfying to me than standing back and being proud of something you have created.

I have been making dreamcatchers and wooden bead garlands for two years now and loved every minute of it - especially the custom orders, making special baby mobiles or gifts.

My life is taking a change in direction though and soon I will have two little newborns nestled in my arms. My days of creativity and having the time to fulfil orders will be non existent.

So I am having a sale on all existing stock currently listed in my store. A chapter is closing and a new one is beginning, its very exciting!!


Pop on over and take a look - there is 30% off all stock and you never know, there may be something you like for you, or maybe even a gift for Christmas for someone special? All creations are handmade by me and come beautifully gift wrapped. 


Thank you to those who have supported my creative venture so far and thank you to those who take the time to look at my store.


Hope you are having a wonderful week!

Linking up with team IBOT
Follow Glamour Coastal Living:
 INSTAGRAM // FACEBOOK // PINTEREST // SHOP



14 October 2016

Feature Friday: Palm Beach Hampton's Style

 Hello! If you’re new to my Feature Friday posts this is where I love to show you inside real homes. Today's home tour, is a home in my local neighbourhood. If you are a Gold Coast local, you might know it too?

There was a block of land that was nestled alongside the waterfront homes of Queensland's Palm Beach. Right on the stunning Tallebudgera creek, its a beautiful waterfront location. It was recently bought and this stunning Hampton's home was built. It has recently been listed for sale and was turned in at Auction, now for sale for $1,490,000.

Let's step inside this slice of Hampton's on the waterfront...

11 October 2016

A Life & House Update - Dirt, Nesting and DIY!


I have been a little quiet around here lately!

It has been a massive couple of weeks and I am finally catching my breath! On a personal note, the babies are growing well and we are currently at 23 weeks. All this baby growing is super tiring and some days I just have to pause (to catch my breath especially when walking up stairs!) and just reflect on how incredible the human body is. I feel so blessed to be able to grow and carry two little miracles and constantly find myself staring at my belly in disbelief. I already feel so huge, but there is lots of growing to still do!

At home, we have been busy the last two weeks packing up three bedrooms, as if we were moving house. We had new carpet installed into the bedrooms yesterday, so we had to literally pack everything up and move all furniture out. It was a great excuse for a big spring clean and cull though. Nathan would come home each day to piles off things - things to bin, things to donate to charity and then the pile of 'am I being too sentimental in keeping this, I need your opinion?!' hehe

27 September 2016

Spring has Sprung!


I would have to say September is one of my favourite months of the year.
Spring is officially here, the days are getting much warmer and I have even been tempted to go for a swim! 

I also love a doing a good Spring clean and especially now am in full nesting mode. Yesterday we emptied out the guest room, ready for new carpet to be installed next week, then I can start putting together the nursery for the twins. I am so excited! I keep walking down the hallway, looking at the empty room and cannot believe that soon there will be cots, teeny tiny clothes and two little babies. It is such an exciting time! 


21 September 2016

Chewy Choc Chip Cookies

I had a moment where I had a craving for chewy chocolate chop cookies.

 You know the ones they sell in the bakery section of the supermarket? Filled with sugar, preservatives, but oh so good and chewy?! 

I wanted to recreate this cookie to satisfy my 3pm cookie craving. I came across this recipe and its an absolute winner, I thought I would share it with you today!


 ingredients

1 1/4 cup almond meal
1 tsp baking powder
1/4 cup cacao
1/4 cup cacao nibs
1 cup shredded coconut
1/3 cup coconut nectar or rice malt syrup
3 tbs melted coconut oil

1 egg

method

STEP 1Preheat your oven to 190 degrees and line a tray with baking paper. In a large bowl, sift almond meal, baking powder and raw cacao. Stir through cacao nibs and shredded coconut.
  • STEP 2Whisk remaining wet ingredients in a bowl and add to dry mixture. Use a large spoon to combine.
  • STEP 3Scoop out tablespoon sized mounds onto your baking tray.
  • STEP 4Bake for 10-12 minutes, less time for more chewy cookies, more for some crunch! Let cool for 10 minutes before serving.
DO YOU GET THE 3'OCLOCK SUGAR CRAVING? 
Do you like making healthier options like these cookies, with no added refined sugar too?

On a side note - I just wanted to say a big thank you for all the love and well wishes on my post yesterday - I was honestly so touched and cannot thank you enough. Such exciting times ahead and I cannot wait to share them with you all. so from the bottom of my heart, THANK YOU!
Follow Glamour Coastal Living:
 INSTAGRAM // FACEBOOK // PINTEREST // SHOP

20 September 2016

Big News!


It is a very exciting time at our house.

You may have noticed over the last few months that I have been missing in action a little - not so many blog posts and over on Instagram only every now and then?

You are probably thinking its the new house build plans that have been keeping us busy? 

Not quite!

You see 1.6.2016 was a very exciting day for Nathan and I. 
It was the day we signed the contract to buy our new renovator and build our dream home, but it was also memorable for another reason. 
At 10:30am that day, we found out we were pregnant.

P R E G N A N T.


We were so thrilled, completely over the moon. 

The morning all day sickness kicked in very early, from 6 weeks. I was spending hours at a time horizontal on the lounge, unable to move, for fear of being sick. I would have an hour or two at a time where I felt well enough to stand and I would squeeze some work in, before retiring to my horizontal position. 

Dry crackers, popcorn, mandarins and ginger was all that got me through. 

Our blood tests revealed that our hcg levels were very high and we joked about being pregnant with twins - which the high levels can sometimes indicate. 

It came as a complete shock to us then, when we had an early ultrasound at 7 weeks and discovered two strong little heartbeats.

Yep, we are expecting TWINS!
Soon those three footprints in the sand will be five...

No wonder why the all day sickness was so bad, I had two bubs on board!

From early on, we discovered that they were identical, meaning the one fertilised egg naturally splits and develops two babies with the exact same genetic information. Our babies Monochorionic diamniotic (MCDA) twins and are sharing the one placenta and one outer membrane, but they each have their own separate amniotic sac. This also means that they will be the same gender - either girl/girl or boy/boy.

So, currently I am 20 weeks pregnant and now over the halfway mark of pregnancy (full term twin pregnancy is 37 weeks). I cannot believe how quickly time is flying and in the last few weeks we have really started getting organised - buying cots, prams, car seat capsules and all the big ticket items. 
Next job on the list is to start clearing out the spare room, which will become their nursery and starting to assemble furniture. That is certainly something you don't want to do under pressure! 

Here is our latest scan of the twins, both hiding their face from us, with their backs to us and the twin on the left has their little hand up - can you see the teeny tiny fingers?

We will be starting our house build (hopefully!) around end of November and babies are likely to be delivered around Christmas, so it is going to be a busy couple of months ahead of us! We envision at this point that we will be living at our current home until around April, when we will move to our new home. Not ideal, but hey, we wouldn't have it any other way!! 

Telling the Family
Sharing our news with our parents and siblings was the best part. I had a baby onesie printed (see below), with the news that we would be having a baby (if it was a singleton baby, our actual due date is 2/2/2017). I had it made before our 7 week scan, as we had decided that as soon as we had heard baby's heartbeat, we would share it with the family. We just wanted to play it safe first. It had been such a long hard journey to get to this point and we also had a miscarriage, so we were keeping it a little under wraps and not shouting it from the rooftops initially. When we found out that it was two babies and our due date wasn't now going to be February 2017, we wanted to still use the onesie as the announcement to our family anyway. Isn't it just the cutest?!

So we had our 7 week scan and couldn't wait to share it with our parents and siblings, firstly handing them a bag with the onesie inside and telling them to open it. There was squeals of absolute delight, tears and lots of "Oh My Gods". Once over the initial shock, we then produced an envelope, showing the ultrasound and the two little peppercorn sized dots on the scan, telling them there wasn't just one, but two buns in the oven.

Their reactions were priceless and we even recorded it. It was just so much warm, fuzziness and amazement all in one- it was the best moment EVER!


Here is how we shared the news with family and friends...


We are so smitten and excited to become parents and feel so blessed to become parents of twins. Such a miracle!

 Clearly this is all very new to me!
 Feel free to give me any advice mamas or pregnant ladies! 
Be sure to let me know your first time parent advice, tips, tricks and must have things I need to buy?!
I am told the white square cloth nappies are a must for spew rags and clean ups, any other great tips?!

I promise to post another update soon x

PS: any guesses on the gender?:P
Follow Glamour Coastal Living:
 INSTAGRAM // FACEBOOK // PINTEREST // SHOP
 

CONTACT/WORK WITH ME

ASHLEA KERR

Blogger, Creative + Business Owner

Gold Coast, Australia

Interested in working with me? Sounds fantastic, I love working with brands and creating fabulous content for my readers.

glamourcoastalliving@gmail.com

On Glamour Coastal Living