Hurray for holidays. The last week of school was full of fun and sugar filled children. I was very, very spoiled by the gorgeous kids I have the pleasure to teach. It was too much fun to hide Easter treats for them all and more than one also saw the rabbit run out of the classroom as we came up the stairs from lunch. My goodness we were all thoroughly exhausted by Thursday night and relieved to know that we had a bit of a rest to look forward to.
I spent the first few days of the holidays entertaining, being entertained and planning!! I pinned stuff like a crazy woman, I poured over the IKEA catalogue turning down corners to many, many pages, and I read blogs. Blogs that are full of many beautiful houses, so beautifully renovated and organised beyond my wildest dreams. I love being organised but find it nearly impossible to maintain during the busy term. I can only recall my former, newly renovated house with foggy memories of neat and tidy rooms and a perfectly organised kitchen. A shiny white bathroom bench wiped clean every morning, with a little vase of fresh flowers. Not a sign of toothpaste splattered all over the mirror :/ It was actually fun when I only had to go to work a few days a week and didn't have any extra responsibility at work. When we moved here my lovely friend, who volunteered to come and clean the filth with me, named this place the 'Monster House'. It was so revolting in every way. The decor was hideous when I had my first look through and every surface was covered in grimy, greasy yuck! The pool was green and the garden overgrown. Yet, somehow I saw some potential. Perhaps it was just because it scraped into Baulkham Hills affordability (only just, after some bargaining) and it was fairly wheelchair friendly. It had the right number of bedrooms and surely that pool could be blue again eventually??
Four years later I do kinda like our place. I absolutely HAD to replace the kitchen benches and doors- the apparent kitchen fire had done quite a bit of damage that the former owners obviously felt happy to work around! We have since modified the bathroom so that Campbell can access the toilet and shower with a bit more independence- I am happy with the way it still resembles a family bathroom and is not at all clinical. However, I am looking forward to getting a funky shower curtain and some new towels from IKEA next week.
Everything else though is unfinished. A sloppy coat of paint when we first moved in covered the grime but did look like a quick, sloppy paint job. We were very lazy with the walls that would be hidden behind furniture- that backfired when I decided I didn't like the original layout! I was in a bleach delirium for weeks after we moved in and there were lots of decisions that were made in haste and chemical confusion. Every square inch of flooring was scrubbed with bleach and a toothbrush (seriously sent me blind some nights) and all of the carpet was ripped up and replaced. This all happened on the first week back of school- because the former owners were big fat fibbers and didn't want to leave when they said they would!!
Sooooooo.....the past 4 years have passed in a bit of a blur. The pool did come good and has had many hours of use- since we don't have air conditioning it is only relief in Summer! We also invested in a camper trailer about a year after we moved and have had lots of very cool adventures since.
The time has come to transform the monster house once and for all! No more stalling and putting it off. Clear minded decisions need to be made...although those paint fumes are starting to make me light headed tonight. At about 11am this morning I decided on a whim that it was time to start and that I should single- handedly paint the entire family room and ceiling in one day! Yep... I did do it...but I couldn't lift my arms above my head to wash the paint out of my hair tonight. In fact typing is pretty painful too, but I am hanging in there ;)
I was inspired by the beautiful plates my darling Bestie gave me for my birthday. I really don't think I could have picked a more perfect present for myself. A set of four gorgeous blue and white plates by Rob Ryan (as well as a divine Cath Kidston bag delivered by her brother from London- I told you-PERFECT) . I decided that those plates needed to go on display and after pinning some totally awesome plate displays I have decided to throw in all of my vintage plates collected over the years. Of course this meant that I needed a freshly painted white wall.
Well the paint fumes are making me giddy and I am ready to start pinning more stuff. I hope my arms work tomorrow because I want to continue to white paint into the kitchen and explore Bella Vista for some wallpapering options.
I spent the first few days of the holidays entertaining, being entertained and planning!! I pinned stuff like a crazy woman, I poured over the IKEA catalogue turning down corners to many, many pages, and I read blogs. Blogs that are full of many beautiful houses, so beautifully renovated and organised beyond my wildest dreams. I love being organised but find it nearly impossible to maintain during the busy term. I can only recall my former, newly renovated house with foggy memories of neat and tidy rooms and a perfectly organised kitchen. A shiny white bathroom bench wiped clean every morning, with a little vase of fresh flowers. Not a sign of toothpaste splattered all over the mirror :/ It was actually fun when I only had to go to work a few days a week and didn't have any extra responsibility at work. When we moved here my lovely friend, who volunteered to come and clean the filth with me, named this place the 'Monster House'. It was so revolting in every way. The decor was hideous when I had my first look through and every surface was covered in grimy, greasy yuck! The pool was green and the garden overgrown. Yet, somehow I saw some potential. Perhaps it was just because it scraped into Baulkham Hills affordability (only just, after some bargaining) and it was fairly wheelchair friendly. It had the right number of bedrooms and surely that pool could be blue again eventually??
Four years later I do kinda like our place. I absolutely HAD to replace the kitchen benches and doors- the apparent kitchen fire had done quite a bit of damage that the former owners obviously felt happy to work around! We have since modified the bathroom so that Campbell can access the toilet and shower with a bit more independence- I am happy with the way it still resembles a family bathroom and is not at all clinical. However, I am looking forward to getting a funky shower curtain and some new towels from IKEA next week.
Everything else though is unfinished. A sloppy coat of paint when we first moved in covered the grime but did look like a quick, sloppy paint job. We were very lazy with the walls that would be hidden behind furniture- that backfired when I decided I didn't like the original layout! I was in a bleach delirium for weeks after we moved in and there were lots of decisions that were made in haste and chemical confusion. Every square inch of flooring was scrubbed with bleach and a toothbrush (seriously sent me blind some nights) and all of the carpet was ripped up and replaced. This all happened on the first week back of school- because the former owners were big fat fibbers and didn't want to leave when they said they would!!
Sooooooo.....the past 4 years have passed in a bit of a blur. The pool did come good and has had many hours of use- since we don't have air conditioning it is only relief in Summer! We also invested in a camper trailer about a year after we moved and have had lots of very cool adventures since.
The time has come to transform the monster house once and for all! No more stalling and putting it off. Clear minded decisions need to be made...although those paint fumes are starting to make me light headed tonight. At about 11am this morning I decided on a whim that it was time to start and that I should single- handedly paint the entire family room and ceiling in one day! Yep... I did do it...but I couldn't lift my arms above my head to wash the paint out of my hair tonight. In fact typing is pretty painful too, but I am hanging in there ;)
I was inspired by the beautiful plates my darling Bestie gave me for my birthday. I really don't think I could have picked a more perfect present for myself. A set of four gorgeous blue and white plates by Rob Ryan (as well as a divine Cath Kidston bag delivered by her brother from London- I told you-PERFECT) . I decided that those plates needed to go on display and after pinning some totally awesome plate displays I have decided to throw in all of my vintage plates collected over the years. Of course this meant that I needed a freshly painted white wall.
Well the paint fumes are making me giddy and I am ready to start pinning more stuff. I hope my arms work tomorrow because I want to continue to white paint into the kitchen and explore Bella Vista for some wallpapering options.
My class Easter Egg Hunt. Thankyou to 'A Little Delightful' for my bag toppers.
Busy making Easter treats for Good Friday.
Lili and Campbell being the big kids and hiding eggs for the hunt.
Time to paint. Check out the hand-me-down Trackie dacks from my Mum! Yes- I know- who bothers to accept hand- me- down trackies? They were very comfy OK!!!!
Got the slow cooker going before I started painting and just had to throw some puff pastry onto the chicken pot pies for dinner.
I used left over pastry bits to make mini chocolate croissants for the boys- because they haven't had enough chocolate lately :)
I love reading your blog Mrs Date!! A woman after my own heart. I've been pinning like crazy and have the redecoration bug too. It always hits at odd times and of course needs to all be completed in ridiculously short time frames.
ReplyDeleteI love Ikea too!
I want to sand and paint my dining room table today but I promised the kids we'd go and see the Lorax today so my decorating frenzy will have to wait. I just want it all done before I go back to work. Ive been off a year and thought I'd have so much more done. Luckily I'm only going back three days a week.
Thanks Mrs Taylor :) You are much niftier with a paint brush than I am and I dearly wish I could sew like you. Enjoy every moment of your time off- I know that you will make the most of every minute. xx
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