whirlwind

Where to begin...
The kids have been on Christmas holidays and we had a blast! We spent a good chunk of that time up the coast catching up with friends, surfing, swimming and generally having a great summer.

That explains why there hasn't been any posts in over a month but I'm back with progress in the dining room.
The gyprock is up and painted yay! I stayed with the same colour as the adjoining kitchen and family room so there would be a nice flow through the house. The colour has made a huge difference to the brightness of the house (plus some addition changes that I will post about later). The brown brick was really sucking the light out of the room but now the light reflects around the place and it is so much nicer to be in. If only it would stop raining so I can enjoy some sunlight streaming through, it has been raining for weeks.

I replaced the trim and kept that white, Ikea curtains went up on the windows, I believe they were $11 a pair, can't beat that even if I made them. The curtains are also a plain white I have thought of perhaps adding some coloured ribbon or pom pom down the side but for now I am enjoying the crisp and dreamyness of the white. I have left the grey/brown blind on the window for now, they are functional for when the sun is shining, I may end up changing them to a bamboo roller blind down the track.
The floor is still not done, I am holding out for  a charcoal coloured tile, they do sell what I want at Bunnings but I'm holding out for  a really good deal plus Brendan isn't in a hurry to lay them ;-)
Without further ado here are the progress pictures.

Life is so much easier with that internal sliding door removed too.
Just to remind us where we started.

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!