Funky

I've been stuck in a funk lately, thinking what's the point of blogging? It's only me reading it... but then I got to thinking, I didn't start this blog to become rich and famous, I started it so I could remind myself of my thoughts and feeling and the many projects I start and never finish.
So I'm back with some progress pictures of the dining room and the state I have left it in. In my defense I have done about 90% of this project on my own and I'm a bit over it so it has come to a standstill.
It still needs sanding, cornice, floors, paint oh my. Probably after Christmas I will get my second wind. I hope...

Decorated of course.

This is where we started.

OK so there is still a way to go, I would go as far as to say it may even look worse at the moment but I am happy to be rid of all that brown brick at least.

In other news I have been selected as secretary for the P & C commencing next year. I'm scared!

And so it begins...

We have officially started the dining room. It's a huge job so progress pics are going to take awhile.
This is where we are so far.

I'm hoping to be done by the 10th of December, just because I want to decorate for Christmas :-p
Ah, this pic reminds me I really need to change those light fixtures in the hallway as well.

A sentimental gift, I hope...

We are doing a bit of renovation here in the dining room at the moment, more on that later, but first I wanted to show a really easy gift idea.
The dining room floor currently has lino on it which was laid by my father in law. Nice but perhaps a little ugly dated.

It was easy enough to cut a small piece out (thank you Ron for not gluing it down)

I stuck the cut piece in a frame and called it a day! One sentimental gift for the inlaws :-) Even though the lino will soon be gone replaced with tile, they will still be able to have a little piece of their hard work.

We have growth!

Hooray!
The herbs I planted for the teachers gifts are growing. I should have some decent herbs to pass on to in a few short weeks.

Operation family room continues

So this is where we left off. One big project.


There was a lot more of this. I won't bother with a board and batten tutorial because there are so many of them out there, it was relatively easy to cut and screw but these walls are really uneven so we used a lot of caulk!  

 So far...

I still need to change the wall colour, hang a blind, change the light fixture and paint the door leading to the garage. Slow and steady!

This is where we started

And here is the progress

Tea for the teacher!

I was in The Reject Shop yesterday stocking up on lollies for the Halloween Hunt and came across these.

At half price, I grabbed them!

I am going to give them as teacher appreciation gifts for Christmas-I'm thinking herbs (parsley, chives??)
I want to grow them from seeds so I better get busy if I want them ready by Christmas!
Side note: Can you believe they are playing Christmas carols in the supermarket, in October!!

P.S I am almost ready to show some more progress pics in the family room!

Happy Halloween!

This year there is such a huge contrast between 2011 Halloween and 2010 Halloween. Last year we were living on the coast and the kids got together with their friends and went trick or treating in the neighborhood. It was a blast. This year we live in a rural area where Halloween hasn't really taken off. Boo to that!
But we are still celebrating, I hid lollies in the backyard and the kids had to hunt for them, not really trick or treating but still lots of fun!

Girly Fabric- yes please!

This is the fabric I am using for bunting that I'm working on. I love the girly colours. In a house full of boys it's a fun change.

T

 

Tackling the pink

Before us this house housed a family of 3 daughters, it now houses 3 sons so the first thing I wanted accomplished is getting rid of the pink.
Some people are ok with their sons having pink rooms but I am not one of them.
All three of the bedrooms were some shade of pink, A's room was pink, purple and bright yellow (shaking head) Yeah Aunty P (previous owner) I'm shaking my head at you haha. Anyway A's room was the "brightest" so it was first on the agenda.

Move in day in all it's glory


There was a lot to be done in this room so once again with the help of dear husband we:

• rescrewed the sagging roof
• replaced the fluorescent light fixture
• peeled the wall paper
• filled about 100 holes in the walls
• painted the whole room from the ceiling to the floor

Then we got to decorate :-)

Behold the new and soooo improved room.

 

I love it and so does A.

The walls are painted Dulux Royal Beige half
The trim is Dulux Whisper White

•  The bed and the tv unit I got off ebay but they are from Ikea
• The chest of drawers are ikea
• The side table is a chair that belonged to my mother-in-law
• The curtains I made and the fabric is from you guessed it Ikea!
• The art is all original, some made by me. One is a picture of him and his brothers and another is a picture of our puppy Maisie.
• There is a painting of yours truly painted by him (there is a strong resemblance)
• The painting above the chest of drawers I picked up off the side of the road and it is one of my favorite pieces.

So there it is, one room down. Pink be gone!

One big project

One thing I have wanted for a long time is board and batten on the walls. Thanks to the help of my dear husband that's one more thing to cross off the bucket list.

 

Before - The view towards the family room from the kitchen
 
In this house, off the kitchen was originally a formal dining room, our family doesn't really formally dine so when we moved in I made it into a family room (dear husband calls it the sitting room). To incorporate the two rooms together we ran the board and batten through the kitchen and the family room. It has unified the space since they are connected.

During

 Instantly it became so much lighter and brighter. Yay for the power of white paint.

Day one

I'm a little late to the party (story of my life) but here I am trying my hand at blogging. Lord knows I spend enough time reading other peoples blogs so why not have my own!

Here I go....