Seeing the beauty

Sometimes you have to look a little deeper and closer to see the beauty.

Look past the mess and chaos

Block out the demolition and destruction 

In the midst of renovations it is hard to see the beauty that will be the end..... 

 Luckily my husband found some beauty going unnoticed in the garden outside all the chaos and brought it inside.....

 

I am so grateful for the opportunity to be in this mess....creating a space that we have waited a long time for......

But I do wish we were on the other side now!

Simple Play

The renovations at our place are well under way......

and I am not one to waste ....

So playgroup returned today and what fun they had with a little of our "rubbish" 

Living in a demolition zone

We are still plugging away with our home renovations...we feel we are all in now and there is definitely no going back......

Today a little demolition job......a surplus decorative little wall was deemed not needed....

Hoping these little things will make all the difference to the overall picture... 

 

..........Oh my the dust

Another job ticked off the list....now we can finish painting the front half of the house.

 

Tick....another off the list

I would like to be able to tell you it has been quiet around these parts due to being extremely busy!

But quite the opposite. The sickness knocked the chief renovator down and so pretty much all worked ceased for nearly two weeks.....

But he has his spark back and boy is he a handy dude to have around....

JOB LIST:

* Remove the flu and chimney from a pre exsiting fire place and patch the ceiling ...( the fireplace has been gone for a very long time)   - ALMOST DONE 

* Ceilings and cornices throughout the rest of the house painted  - A STEP CLOSER

* All the walls repainted throughout - Overwhelmingly closer 

He is not always the tidiest handy man I have seen but then what would I be able to contribute to the project if he always was?

Smelling Roses

The paint was barely dry enough....

After two weeks of our bedroom being rebuilt literally from the roof down, it was nice to wash the brushes and move back in....

The roses that my Hubby found in the garden did a little to off set the paint smell. 

Now my dilemma is that I actually like the minimalist look...but what to do with all the "stuff" that came out of there?

A bit of a forced rest day today as the flu has struck down the main hard worker on our renovation project.

I will continue on paving the way for the next stage....I have decided the only way to renovate and live in it is to pack up . So I grabbed packing boxes off gumtree and away I go....

Missing here....busy there

A little update ....

We are still enjoying hanging out together in this time of different....but we had a to do list while we had the time....other than lots of coffee dates!

Our home of 16 years ( we bought it when it was 8 years old) has been in desperate need of some attention. We have had some structural issues that have plagued us for a few years....

Finally with the right help...some time and a little money up our sleeves we have begun to tackle it all.....

but we all know that one thing leads to another....

So excuse the lack of interest here in this space while we work hard to give our home the tender loving care it needs ..new roof structure, ceilings installed and now onto some major painting hours....

A long overdue redo...

It was decided that it was time to repaint Meg's room.....we first painted it when she was three......

 

The pink has suited her all these years.....but once we came through the  " masses of posters covering the wall" phase...we knew the walls needed redoing.....

 

Surely a couple of coats of paint and a couple of nights on the couch will be all it will take.......

Everyone pitched in.....but lots of undercoat and sealer were needed to make our dodgy walls workable for a finish that was going to be pleasing....

The picture rail went... leaving lots of filling to be done.....

It was decided.....well heavily suggested.....and very well received ...that a neutral colour would serve her well for the next stage of life......

So Antique White it was........

A whole week later she was very pleased to be back in her tiny room that now feels a little bigger and certainly more grown up....

 

Now just to add a little colour back with some accessories...although she is adamant that she likes it a little on the bare side.......but what am I going to do with the boxes of barbies and other relics that she had stashed and wants me to save for the next generation??

Wardrobe to study nook

A little project we the talented hubby and son undertook during the school holidays was turning a wardrobe full of junk into a study nook.....
Our  home has very little bedrooms and there was no  room for a desk in Fraser's room....we were getting tired of clearing off all his drawing stuff from the lounge and floor.

So now he has somewhere to draw, do homework or at least a place I can stick all his bits of paper.

This is what we started with...well I had already cleaned out most of the junk before this pic....

 

Lets face it he is a boy and not much was getting hung up in there anyways

Here is the rest of his junk....belongings from the inside...

So once it was cleaned out...the painting began....

 The hubby made a simple desk at just the right height....

We then made a trip to IKEA and picked up a chair and mat...

a magnetic board....

Reused a pin up board we had lying around.....

Bought some hanging containers for pencils and bits and pieces....

A  times table chart  ......

and presto ...one happy little guy with his new space....

One happy mumma having somewhere to off load all the drawing creations.... 

 We also purchase some little self adhesive battery operated LED lights and attached them under the top shelf, to light up the space should he need extra

He will outgrow this space but it buys us some time before we have to find other creative methods to create space in our home.

Lights revamped

With the summer well and truly upon us, now comes  the urge to be outside in the evening and there are a few things on my to do list.

One being the restoration of our outdoor lights....

A number of years ago I saw on Better Homes and Gardens some light balls made from hanging baskets.....

I made them and they have hung proudly and brightly ever since.....  

That was until Spring 2011 when the resident Willy Wag Tails decided to make their nest in them.....

They have never been the same  since....

So I finally got around to pulling them apart and relighting them ..... 

One of those jobs that actually didn't take that long but has been put off  for far too long.....

My ever dutiful husband  had them hung in their rightful place in no time....

 They are shining brighter than ever with the new little LED globes......

Now to send out the invites to come and meet and eat under our lights.

Sunday Snippets

This weekend......

 

 

 

 

 

{sunday snippets} A collection of photos from your week weekend. No need for words. Let the pictures tell your story.  
Joining in the fun here..

also

Just taking a moment with Jody here.

Creative Help

 Yesterday turned out to be a great day....

It all started when my hubbie stepped into Jody's awesome studio on Friday...my very talented and darling visitor also grabbed a peek.....

Then on Sunday as we left a local eatery having finished lunch we wandered into a gift shop that was having a sale.....

I was more interested in this sign rather than the stock for sale.....

 The short story being that my visitor ...(did I mention that she is very excitable and loves a design challenge to get her teeth stuck into?)....helped me to make the decision to grab one of the shelving units that were up for sale......

and my hubbie having seen the potential of a very organised studio space didn't take much rallying .....

.....so on Monday we returned and had that "sucker" down in a heartbeat.....hehehe

 The bigger job was to empty my extensive stash out of my room......

 then the rebuild......

 Oh My ...three hours later I was beginning to realise that there was hope for me yet.....

I actually had a creative space that was workable and felt so comfortable.....

Now combining the original reason for this space and the creative needs I also have, perfectly....

Now I just need these crazy fun visitors of mine to leave so I can get creating in my special new space...... I am so only kidding, we are going to miss them terribly....

Oh but wait there was one more project that still needed to be tackled.....stay tuned!