Can't wait for you all to wake up! I love Australia! I've been up and down the whole east coast, but somehow never made it down to Melbourne.

Hi girls, I am from Melbourne and love the cut and thrust when the Houzzers know each other.

Hello from perth!

Hey, I'm from Perth. I also love Melbourne for its cosmopolitan vibe and cultural hub. Trying to talk my husband into going over for the festival, which we have done before and really enjoyed. It falls around our anniversary time which is a big plus.

Sydneysider here. Hi everyone.

Hello, from the Gold Coast Qld

Hello from sunny Townsville, North Queensland. Love Melbourne and Sydney with more historical architecture. However, I'm obsessed with American architecture, the history and variety is fascinating. travelled from LA to San Franscisco to LV and it was beautiful.

Hi Aussies, I would love to see more design dilemmas from Australia as we have such different style here and our suppliers are different as well. Help spread the site so we can have fun getting to know each other as well as some of the other Houzzers.

Hello from sunny Townsville, North Queensland. Love Melbourne and Sydney with more historical architecture. However, I'm obsessed with American architecture, the history and variety is fascinating. travelled from LA to San Franscisco to LV and it was beautiful.

My husband is American and we were married in Honolulu, lived there for six months after our marriage and then San Diego for five years. I enjoyed living in the US but I love my home. My husband loves living here which makes things a little easier.

Hi Sharon from Perth, loving the spring weather, looking forward to reading all your ideas!

I'm from Healesville, Vic. Living in a fibro cottage built in 1958 and it is a pain! I love the homes in USA I love the more rustic look I saw in Oregon, but of course, not so good in a termite infested area such as mine! Hoping to meet more of you Aussies as we go along.

So excited to see you all here! I loved the time I spent in Australia. In fact, I bought some art prints from Jimmy Pike and Martin Dougal in Freemantle that have been hanging in my house prominently ever since. Would love to go back and spend more time.

Hi, are there any other Aussies out there?

Great to see this! Love this site but would like to see more aussie input. I am so jealous of the american shops and products. Im in Perth

What a sweet idea. I'm from Fremantle WA and love everything about it. Especially the people who inhabit it!

Do you guys find you can have most things shipped there, or are you out of luck if it comes from an American store? I imagine shipping would be expensive too.

Emily we have a small population in general and there is the issue of the stores here being mostly franchised hardware or homeware, which have the same stock Australia wide. So we get limited supply of things. Having to buy overseas can be very expensive with shipping. You also have to remember that things like lighting run on 110 volts in USA and here its 240 volts so you also have to factor in a step up transformer in costings. Plumbing sizing is often different as well. Often overseas places won't even ship here in the first place! Grrrrr. I often see the fashion trends of housing and decorating being about 2 years behind here, so that also makes buying things difficult when you see something on Houzz and you want it NOW! Hee hee. So yes, we can get things but often it is difficult.

Hi everyone. I'm not from Australia so I hope you don't mind the interruption. Since you were talking about products, I thought you might be interested to know that Uttermost (who is one of our favorite vendors) now has an Australian distributor. They carry a smaller collection but I assume they have the lighting products modified already to work there. I don't know anything about the distributor yet - they are new to Uttermost - but here is the link -- http://www.timepiecesaustralia.com.au/uttermost-index-page.html

There are also package forwarding services like Bongo International that you could use to buy from vendors who don't ship to Australia directly. The shipping will still be expensive but it might be worth it for unique items.

Of course, if anyone wants to pay for me to hand-deliver anything, I'm more than willing. :)

~Lyvonne

Lyvonne Just looked at the site. Very nice things there! I've used a few packaging forwarding sites and lots of them require a payment upfront. I've had a few lose my things and others have taken forever to deal with. Only one company accepted my friend's USA address then changed their mind at the last minute! Gah! I think that is why lots of us Aussies don't bother with overseas buying due to being stuffed around so much. I buy and sell regularly on ebay and deal with customers and sellers and I bend over backward to be a good seller but same can't be said for overseas sellers, sadly. I can't speak for others, of course, but my experience has been over the years fraught with annoying red tape, or companies which just can't get their act together!
I'd happily pay you to hand deliver to me, oh wait....I've just seen the air fare prices.....Hee hee.

junipergirl -- I'm so sorry you've had bad experiences. I find shipping to Australia super easy. Unfortunately it can be very expensive so we don't have too many customers from your neck of the woods. Shipping to our closest neighbor (Canada) is the most complicated as far as what the buyer can expect to pay in broker fees & taxes/duties, but we've figured it out now I think.

I'd love to see what you're up to on ebay. Share a link?

Keep an eye on the air fare prices for me!

~Lyvonne

Lyvonne, had multiple surgeries this year so am only selling what I can only describe as 'junky stuff' on ebay at present. Had shoulder surgery two weeks ago so in time I'll be listing my furniture re-vamps again. Hooray! Anyway, nothing much of interest but if you like to have a look maybe something might catch your eye. ;) Oh, and I DO ship internationally!
http://www.dailylife.com.au/dl-food/food-features/feeding-your-family-for-17-a-week-20130911-2tjub.html

You like flying cargo or economy (coach) ? Hee hee.
Cheers!

Oh poo bums! WRONG LINK! Gah! here is the right one http://www.ebay.com.au/sch/gracefulangels/m.html?_nkw=&_armrs=1&_from=&_ipg=25&_trksid=p3686

I have a question regarding whitewashing some pine furniture. Has anyone used either Feast Watson Liming White 500ml (Bunnings) or Minwax Whitewash 946ml (Masters)? I need to whitewash some pieces of pine furniture for my new craft room and I have never done it before so I'm not sure which product is best. I'd appreciate any advice or help. Thanks.

Hello, is anyone out there?

Just us Possums! I don't think anyone has used the Liming product, so they haven't answered. I've not used it before but would be interested in knowing, too. I do a lot of furniture makeovers so would love to know about it.

Thanks, you're probably right. I'm leaning toward the Minwax product as it was much cheaper. I will do some research to find out how people find the use of it.

Cathieg, Have a look at Annie Sloans chalk paint website. They use it for "washing" and it looks fabulous. Not a cheap product though.

Hi everyone. So nice to see some Aussies on Houzz and even some from my own town - sunny Townsville :) I'm no decorator but love the input from everyone on this site. Makes me a bit jealous when I see what ppl in America can buy though, so many beautiful options!

There is only one distributor in WA (not near me) for the Annie Sloan Paint and I can't seem to find a price. I will therefore be heading down to Masters and purchasing the Minwax White Wash Pickling Stain and giving it a go, as I read some good reviews for the product. I will post a before and after, with any luck.

I don't live far from the Duncraig shop that stocks it. I am going to use it myself soon on an old piece of furniture. From memory the small tin cost around $45 and the wax wasn't much cheaper. It apparently goes a long way, but that is not of benefit unless one was going to do lots of painting:) I look forward to seeing what you achieve with the Minwax white wash. Good luck

Hello from country Victoria, used to live in melb and Sydney, country is better

Anyone out there? We're in the same time zone more or less!

Cathieg. How did you go with the Minwax? This is my effort
Hi chookchook!

Hi heather wazzup?

Great drawers

Hi from the south west coast of Victoria. In Australia, we all end up with yh ed same stuff due to such a limited array of shops. I'm determined to fill my new house with more uncommon items from overseas. I've recently purchased a quilt or 'duvet' on an american ebay site, so now I can buy US duvet covers and they fit. It's awesome the range of bedding.

Hello again! Did you all see that the new Aussie version of Houzz launched this week? Http://houzz.com.au ?

Houzz downunder … how good is that ….VERY :-)

Hi from Central Coast NSW.

Hi from Adelaide and One Small Room www.onesmallroom.com.au - Retail, Interiors, Styling and Design. We source unique items from all over and create interiors with heart and soul We set up events, hire out pieces, art direct photo shoots, visual merchandise and more... check us out in Croydon, Adelaide.

BF moved to Melbourne for an exiting opportunity. I will travel back and forth between Melbourne and SF for the next couple years. I'd love to get in touch with local interior enthusiast. Let's get in touch! :)

-Anna