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Monday 23 January 2012

'light me up'

It wasn't until now when I went through my photo library to find this 'before' photo of the hallway that I realised how great it looks NOW. When I took the new photos earlier today I was thinking there wasn't a huge change but I was wrong and clearly had memory loss! How terrible was it when we moved in? It was very dark with blue walls, outdated timber doors and trim and fully carpeted. The wire lamp frame decorated with some cheap fake flowers and hung up by some ribbon was clearly one of a kind and some thought I should keep it! lol. It did stay there for a lot longer than intended... until I came across my own light fitting last week and sent Mark to get the ladder straight away! We put up the new shade which I really love, it is very beautiful when on. Today I hung some photos to finish it off and well I think it is a huge improvement from 5 weeks ago with it's fresh new paint and white trim and a jute rug down in front of the kids rooms.


before we moved in

during the making of...

 the hallway now

old light fitting before

new light fitting

lit up

the hallway from the other end 'before'

as we were painting

lovely and new


Tuesday 17 January 2012

The Perfect Fit

Over the weekend I went to Melbourne with a lovely friend, we shopped til we dropped for 2 days...sounds like we went mad and spent heaps of money right?... NO we didn't go too crazy unfortunately which was really hard, we had a few bigger items to get and not as much in the budget for lots of smaller things. We were both on the hunt for the perfect pieces. I needed (wanted) a bookcase, picture frames, a box shelf, curtains, a rug and mostly I needed a desk. Our house doesn't have a separate study as I had before, so instead of a big communal 3m desk we all used to share we now have our 'own desks'... the girls have one in their room and I have a small 'nook', the perfect spot for a desk, so I had to find one to fit exactly 105mm and this was the only one in the land! Believe me I searched every furniture website known!.... so the perfect desk was found at IKEA...

Micke Desk  from IKEA

I also have on order to go with my new desk this Ghost 'side chair' made from clear polycarbonate, much nicer than the chartreuse one I have there at the moment.

available from  Make Your House A Home

I made the flat pack desk last night and here are a few shots of it in place below the half-wall in the family room. It fits perfectly and surprisingly has quite a bit of storage. Although I will have to try extra hard to keep it clutter free. I just have to get a wireless printer or a small one I can hide in the cupboard!





Wednesday 11 January 2012

'Floor Talk'

Our house is around 60 years old and in the original part of the house, which is all the rooms except the kitchen and family room (I'm guessing previous owners did an extension around 15 years ago) we found Australian hardwood floors underneath the carpet. I knew there was timber underneath as I had a little peek at our settlement inspection but had no idea what type of timber and what condition it was in. The carpet came up ridiculously easy and they were in mint condition... very lucky. We put a stain over the boards as a temporary measure but I am loving the more rustic look and everyone that comes by say they love it as it is! There is original polished boards in the dining room though, so they don't quite match up at the moment, but I don't mind, I plan on having quite a few rugs! I have put new carpet in the bedrooms as I wanted a more cosy feel. I have a sneaking suspicion this house is going to be colder in winter than what I am used to in a new house, and after today's cold snap I think I did the right thing by putting in the plush carpet. It's lovely for the children to sit and play on seen as they have big spaces in their rooms!

here we have just pulled up the carpet

We were so thrilled with the result of the stain...

...and it went on very easily
I have 4 days off work and am off to Melbourne to get a few things for the house, will share on my return!

Sunday 8 January 2012

The 'lounge room'

When we walked into our home 4 weeks ago it was dark, dingy, dusty, dirty and disgusting, but I could see past all that, it had so much potential and it has turned out better than I could have ever imagined. We have it at the stage where it is more than liveable but still lots of work to do! You wouldn't think it was the same house now just after 4 weeks.
We had my wonderful brother and his wonderful best mate come and work non-stop for a week with us, mainly painting, but it was like a domino effect, we kept finding things that needed to be fixed, replaced or pulled out all together and they were so obliging (ha hum) I worked them hard... poor fellas!!
We all worked solidly from dusk til dawn, with Mark and I still working our 'real jobs' too most days. With one week to go before Christmas we moved in! Onto our 3rd move in 4 years we had it down pat but could not have done it without the constant help of my parents in-law over the week, they just worked so hard and I thank them so much for helping us move in for Christmas. x
So here is the first before and after... the lounge room, it was the most rewarding room to see finished as it took me about 6 hrs solid just to remove the wallpaper and the fireplace is a nice feature in the biggest single room of the house about 6 x 5m. I have used Dulux 'grey pebble' on the lower half of the walls through most of the house and the top is just white. I love the contrast!


original room...


getting there...


wallpaper off and carpet coming out...


painting done and stain going on...


finished!


this was my rough christmas 'do' but the room has evolved since then...

The room is now all furnished but I am still working on the finishing touches... you will see that later!

Tuesday 3 January 2012

Happy New Year (I'm a little late)

Happy New Year everyone, wow, I can't believe it's all over... (christmas) and I did take down all my chrissy decs on New Years day, mind you I only had a quarter up than usual, next year it will back to normal. I wish everyone a wonderful year for 2012. I know I have a lot planned personally and professionally for my husband and I.
Now, on a decorating note I have made some new cushion purchases. I must say I am addicted to cushions!!! I especially love the little round 'carina sherlock' one and the geometric patterned one. It can be an in-expensive way to give your room a quick makeover!