Eating well-ish

I try to eat well. I'm not sure how well I go, to be honest. My diet seems to be better than others, but also not as great as some people seem to eat, sometimes. I feel like I don't eat enough legumes or greens, but then I don't eat a lot of artificial stuff or processed stuff, so it probably all balances out in the end.

Our tv is full of reality shows that aren't reality. The shortest time the Biggest Loser contestants go between "weekly" weigh ins is 10 days- it's normally about two weeks, and they duct tape the loose skin up because of course they do, if you loose lots of weight that skin doesn't magically spring back most of the time. Home reno shows? Hah. Isn't it amazing how families who are picked to have their house done never seem to have a problem with going somewhere for a week? They never seem to have other commitments, like a big football match, or assignments due, important doctor's appointments or work commitments? They just pack up and go? Isn't it amazing that contestants suddenly know how to tile like a professional, and never botch their paint jobs? Isn't it amazing that you don't see them hobbling around the house, barely able to walk, after unpacking and what not?

Yeah.

I think the worst thing about moving was the food. We ate a lot of junk food, whatever was available, and cheap. Hot was good, since it was freezing. I do not do grease very well. I don't think any of us were doing very well- once we started eating a bit better, the toilet would often be, err, occupied.

Anyways, I thought I would share this poster I have, which I find super helpful as a guide to eating kind of well.

Bonus: It hides the heavily oil stained wall slightly!

I got this from a health food store in Darwin, but many health food stores seem to stock them. I have three charts from Liz Cooke, and they're really quite charming, don't you think? This one- the nurtirtion chart- is hands down my favourite.

I find it helps keep things in perspective for me- and it's easy to let my eyes drift over the chart, and see what I might be lacking in. I try to keep avocados (both fresh, and the tubed ones) around, as well as bananas- these cover my need for good fats, B group vitamins, Vitamin E, Magnesium, Selenium, phosphorus and potassium. In the panty I keep dried organic black apricots (these are far superior to the bright orange ones you see in store- so much juicier and tastier!) as well as Vegemite, dried seaweed, almonds, oats (cooked with various dried or fresh fruit makes a delicious breakfast) and chickpeas (which I can roast, or turn into hummus)- these help cover most of my other dietary needs. We also tend to have carrots in the fridge (excellent with hummus!) and I'll often make a cabbage and potato soup- which sounds boring, but it's really quite delicious with pickled cabbage and lots of pepper. I try to keep orange juice or mandarins around to snack on- I like to mix with orange juice with a green supplement (it's not quite that one, it's a mix of four different green things).

I miss summer. I feel like it's easier to eat well in summer, when you can snack all day on healthy snacks- carrot sticks with hummus, fruit- especially since a lot of fruits are in season then- and you naturally want lighter meals. That said, I'm not quite fed up of soup involving ham bone yet (ham bone and cabbage, ham bone and split peas, ham bone and potato) but I am getting rather annoyed at my lack of large pots... I wonder if it's worth getting a large stock pot now? Even if I only use it for a month until next winter? It would certainly be easier than boiling everything in two small pots, or freezing half of a super concentrated stock.... 

(nearly) four and a half.

M called, and we had a brief chat- when will you be home, should we go here, have you eaten- and I turn back around to tell Willow that m would be home soon. She pops up next to the mysterious berry bearing vine growing over the neighbors fence, and straight away I can see her parts of her face have are red.
"Willow... Have you tried to paint your face with those berries?"
Willow shakes her head, guilt written all over face.
"Have you been... painting?"
Willow again shakes her head. The guilt has been replaced with a look of discomfort.
"Then... Why is there red all over your face?"
Willow doesn't answer. The look of discomfort has been replaced by a look of misery.
"Willow, tell me. Did you rub those berries in your face? In your eyes?"
"Its stinging my eyes!" Willow wails. I bundled her off, and a shower later and her eyeball isn't even red.
I'd given her a brief warning on I don't know what this plant is, don't eat it, ok? But I never specifically warned her off rubbing it in her eye. I mean, why would I when she's never been the child who rubs food everywhere?

Willow made herself a sandwich all by herself the other day. She used her kitchen stool to get bread and jam and a knife to spread it all. Then she cleaned up- I don't know what happened, but the tea towel was covered in jam. But she still cleaned up. So, there's that. She was very proud of herself.

After her bath I gave Willow a little talk about the importance of not touching the freshly painted walls. When she came out to the kitchen, m also gave her a lecture on these walls are freshly painted, don't touch them. Willow nodded. Then she turned to look at the freshly painted wall... And touched it.
God give me strength, m prayed, once he finished howling why would you do that? WHY? that is.
The howling went on for a while.

At the shops Willow wanted to bring a chair down from a display while we waited for m. I was tired, sore and snappy. I grumpily told her no, stop it, stop asking, my back is sore, leave me alone, that no is final.
After being meanly told no, willow thoughtfully looked at me.
"Mummy, do you want me to rub your back?" She kindly asked. She then climbed behind me to rub my back. There, does that feel better mummy? 

Willow comes into my room.

"Mummy, can I have a wet cloth?"
"Why?"
"Because I want to help you out by cleaning my walls," she says. I stare at her. 

"Uh huh," I eventually say. She starts to look guilty.

"Oh please mummy. Just get me a cloth?" Willow begs. I continue to eyeball her.

"You want to clean your walls." 

"Just... don't go into my room, ok?" Willow blurts. I get up. Willow is in full panic mode now.
"There's nothing to see in my room! Don't go in!" She attempts to hold the door shut. I push the door open. She's drawn over the walls in purple chalk. Willow, in the past, has been absolutely skinned alive for the crime of drawing on the walls or tiles in our last place. She knows that it's an absolute hanging offence, and one of the few crimes she can commit that will get a furious scolding from mummy and M. But now? Her walls are getting repainted after all, and this is our own place. We don't have rental inspections. Drawing on the walls isn't the war crime it once was.

I choose to tell her none of this. I quietly study the wall while Willow flutters around in a panic. I find I honestly don't care. I mean, it's chalk. Secondly, her walls are pretty badly dinged up anyway- there are repair patches on it, and we are going to repaint it soon enough. She could have drawn in permanent marker, and I wouldn't have cared about the extra mark's on the wall. I do, however, care that she knows she's not supposed to draw on the walls, but she still did. I care that I asked her to do something different in her room (tidy up) and she's gone and done this instead. 

So, I tell her I will get her a damp cloth. But she has to tidy up her room first... and quickly, before M get's home. 

Willow's relationship with M fascinates me. It's him she looks for when she wakes in the morning, it's him she misses when she's away from us. It's me she calls for in the night, but in the daylight, she worships the ground he walks on. She also lives in terror of his disapproval- getting in serious trouble with M is many times worse than getting into trouble with mum. Willow bursts into tears. I can't possibly tidy up before M get's home, she sobs. I tell her standing there crying won't get her room tidy. She begins running around in a panic, tidying up. She gets it down, I wipe it down while she anxiously points out all the bits that I missed, and that's the end of that.

Willow is peering into the pantry.
"Mummy, can I have fairy bread?" She asks.
"No."
"Why not?"
"Because its no good for you."
"But I really want it and you said I can have some next week, why not now?"
"I don't have the ingredients for it."
"Can I have toast then?"
"I guess."
"Well mummy. If I can have toast... We have bread. We have butter. And we have sprinkles in the cupboard..."

Willow is now at the age of wanting to join in our conversations. She laughs at our jokes, even though most of them would totally go over her head, and she tries to add to the conversation in any way that she can. M is driving through Sydney- somewhere between Redfern/ Alexandria, when we spy some run down terrace homes down a side street. They're not that well maintained, and look pretty bad. However, location, location, location. We begin to speculate on how much they would cost- easily over a million?
"I think they would be $10," Willow airy informs us.

4 and a half. Sometimes I am suprised and touched by her intelligence and thoughtfulness. Other times I'm surprised by the short sightedness of some of her decisions. 4 has been a fun year.

Down the white out rabbit hole- repainting the living room.

As soon as we moved in I tried to pick a colour for our bedroom with my mother in law. I bombed out with the stupidist shade of blue (Everest breath). It looked lovely on paper. Kinda mysterious and neutral and cosy. Looked awful once I painted a sample pot on the wall. 

M and I know, in theory, what colour we want our walls through the whole house. Its the colour that a friend of mine has her walls painted (the friend from this recent post, in which you can see her walls). (That is probably our first mistake. Thou shalt not convert thy neighbors goods). Friend is renting, so has no idea what the actual colour of her walls are, so m and I are trying to replicate it from memory. (Second mistake. Everyone remembers things differently.)

WHICH COLOUR IS IT?

We look at samples at night, in different rooms. We look at samples during the day, in different rooms, at different times of day. We bicker over the massive difference between gray and mushroom. I wonder if maybe we should do all our rewiring now, since that will change how we view colours. 

Enya. You know you've made it big when you're not just an artist, but a paint colour. There's also a colour called Slim Dusty. Meanwhile, Restful Place seems an apt description of where M probably wants to put me as we split hairs over paint colours.

Colour #2 came two weeks later, and was called Montpelier and seemed close to the ideal. I showed two female friends our top 3 colours and they both separately picked Montpelier. Female friend's opinions carry scientific weight. I painted little samples all through the house, in every single room except Willow's bedroom, the laundry and the bathroom. I painted it in several spots along the hallway, just so we could see how it looked in every light. $6 of sample pot later, it looks like freshly poured cement got smeared on our walls. Urgh. 

I spent a lot of time watching paint dry and thinking maybe it will get lighter when dry? 

On our well lit and well worn kitchen bench. I'd say this photo is fairly accurate. 

Colour #3 is lighter and called Morning Coffee. It's less mushroom gray and more beige. I tried to move away from the cement-ness of Montelier and picked a shade that looked a fraction lighter and warmer on my collection of swatches. I ended up with a colour that is the mere breath more gray than the current cream walls and is totally different to Montpelier.

Blue- Everest Breath. The white is plain ol' untinted paint. Below the white is Morning Coffee, and to the right is Montpelier. Around it all is the current colour of the walls. 

This time around, I spent a lot of time watching paint dry and thinking maybe it will get darker? 

This... pretty much sums it all up.

M and I sat down with all the samples again. At this point, picking the perfect colour for our walls  has become picking at a scab- painful, but you just can't stop it. In the days since, Montpelier has kinda grown on me, the more I look at it. If only it was a little lighter. I mean, the sample pots are matt, and we're going for a semi gloss, so it would look a little different. More sophisticated and less concrete. Right? Plus, we look at the sample card for Montpelier and Morning Coffee, and those two look so similar on paper, and then you wonder how these other paints come out, and arrragh. 

The two colours in question, in full sunshine. The difference is more obvious here.

So, back we trek for another sample pot. I've decided to try Montpelier at half tint. M wants to try a totally different colour- Evacuator, which is very gray. Combined with the name and shade, it definitely makes me think of cement. We bring home Montpelier at half tint, since happy wife= happy life. We paint it on the walls, and....

Around the silver switch is Montpelier. Below it is Montpelier at half tint. The wall has been painted with two coats of white under coat, so it's as white as white can be. 

... It's pretty much indistinguishable from white. Or it's TOTALLY DIFFERENT to white. It depends if your M, or M. M hates it more than the original colour. I argue that Montpelier is far too dark to go into the girl's bedrooms, and that's why I've been going so white. We compromise. Montpelier through the house, and Montpelier at half tint in the bedrooms-and hallway, maybe. (Or we could go darker in our room, since it's bigger.) M seems to want to do something different in the spare bedroom. But that's later. And right now, we've found the colour for our walls...

Hipster's rejoice! (Rejuice?) FYI, kale is totes not that colour. I'd call this "army trunk green." 

.... Except, halfway through the first coat, M's all "are you sure about this? It seems way too light." I insist it will darken up with another coat since we have the white undercoat showing through. M asks if I'm happy with it, and I'm all "OF COURSE I AM WHY WOULDN'T I BE?.... I can't really say anything different after we purchased 10L of this stuff, can I?"
"Nope."

Then we sat down to watch paint dry, again. I don't think our neighbours have to worry about us being that sort of young couple, the type you end up ringing the police about and complaining about to other neighbours.

This is what it all looked like after one coat. For us, it was pretty fascinating stuff. 

"It looks totally different from that sample over there. The sample is way lighter. This is too light."
"I did two coats on that wall. It'll darken after another coat."
"I guess. And you did it with a paint brush so it went on thicker."
Silence as we continue to review the walls.
"Are you sure we got the right colour? Because it looks exactly the same as Morning Coffee over there."
"It's just the lighting. I mean, that other wall you painted looks a lot greener."

Montpelier on the left, plain white in the middle, Morning coffee down the bottom, on a hallway wall.

Willow, meanwhile, is completely unimpressed. She wants us to paint the walls in pink or purple, not white- a thought process that seems vaguely familiar to me from my own childhood...

Who knows what she's thinking about the entire process? She sees us go to the home improvement store, argue over identical colours, come home, argue over identical colours some more, and then sit and watch paint dry together. Meanwhile, every time she wanders into the kitchen to check in on us, we shriek at her to getoutdon'ttouchanywallsagain! 
"I haven't. I won't," an offended Willow tells us. "Now can I please watch tv?" But you did once kid. As your parents, we can't ever let you forget that. She's since been trying to turn the situation to her advantage.
"You know mummy," Willow casually mentions, after complaining she's just so bored without tv. "If we had a tv in the hallway, I could watch tv without having to go in the living room... or if I had a tv in my room..."

The freshly painted walls. I don't know if you heard, but it's Montpelier :P The wall on the left used to be one of our red suede ones. You can see after a sand, two coats of a thick stain blocking undercoat, and two coats of paint- it's come up exactly the same as our other walls. 

But. It's now done.

Desk got turfed. Cube bookcase got swivelled around into the corner. Shag rug, which was a gift from M's mother, stays until I can bring myself to go into the shed and drag out my normal rug. It's raining this weekend.

In real life, the difference is amazing. I think it really suits the floor boards- it seems so Australian somehow, the warm gray wall, the crisp white trim with the warm pine floorboards. It reminds me of gumtrees, how they have that warm white, and when you cut them open, the contrast of the wood inside, which is what I want- a gum tree colour scheme- the warm whites, the wood, the minty green leaves, the yellow flowers... I'm not sure how our teal coloured couch fits into that colour scheme of course :P I wanted gray, but Fantastic Furniture didn't do the right shade at the right price, so I picked a light tan suede... but M refused such a light colour. Then I wanted to go navy, but the only navy available was more expensive and M refused to spend more money. M wanted black to hide the dirt. I argued that black is one of the worst colours to hide dirt. M suggested chocolate brown. I said if were going to pick a brown, we might as well give up on our youth right now. At that point, I just want WHATEVER and... we ended up with a teal couch. Our first battle over colour.
I actually quite like it still, because it's a bit of an unusual colour. I don't know anyone with teal upholstery in their house. M wonders what's the point of caring about the colour when I always have it covered in throw rugs- throw rugs which compliment the couch and are much easier to wash, thank you very much.

Without the desk, this bit of wall seems so much... fresher. Or maybe it's the paint? That aircon unit is becoming more and more of an eyesore. New debate: brick it over, or add in a window there? Office chair is standing in for arm chairs, which is another discussion- save up and get two arm chairs, or save up for a sectional lounge to wrap around this corner?

What's done is done. I personally love the colour of the wall, and think it's just perfect- but maybe that's the hysteria talking. M and I have a whole house full of joint decisions to make. High gloss cabinets, or just regular gloss? Repaint the front door white, or buy a new one for $200? Murder the other partner now, or later?

To wallpaper, or to not wallpaper? We originally tentatively thought wallpaper, because it saved sanding one wall, and would look smart as a feature wall. Then I did the maths and realised we needed like 11.5m of wallpaper... and wallpaper comes on 10m rolls. Because of course it does. But if you look at the wall- see that little slither of wall not covered by wallpaper? That is literally what why we need a little bit more wallpaper than what comes on the roll. I've suggested sanding that strip back and painting it white or black. Hell, if we go black, maybe it could go over the suede directly and no one will notice? It's behind a door, after all... M was against it. Then we realised that we'd have to sand the wall anyway if we were to wallpaper, so urgh. But a feature wall could still look pretty awesome... Or maybe we should spend that money on a sky light? What a grim and dark hallway we have at the moment...

M suggested we paint this wall a darker colour, so the tv stands out less. I screamed and said no more feature walls. But, at the end of the day, if he wants to do it... we will see. We will both think it over. We've left that wall unpainted for now. I've suggested that since he's thought of going REALLY dark, why not go all the way and paint it with chalkboard paint? It seems like a fun and interesting idea.... until we want a plain wall like all the others and find ourselves having to sand a wall again, I guess.  We haven't painted that wall in the kitchen/ dining either, as you can see by the fact we still have a sample up on here. The reason is... we have plans for the kitchen. Eventual plans, but plans nonetheless. So why paint when we might just have to touch it up again later?

Need a fancy door mat. Also planning on spray painting that door white, one day. And maybe rendering that exterior brick white too? 

Another former red suede wall. Note the new power point in the bottom right. It's... just so nice now. The plant on the table isn't just because I love indoor plants- it serves a purpose. Underneath my fabric table cloth, I have rug stop to stop it sliding. I need to get some more to go between the clear table cloth and the fabric table cloth (hence the table runner on top of it all- so you don't see the rug stop) to further reduce any slide. Rug stop is designed to stop rugs moving around on floors- a rubbery friction reducer. (That... sounds filthy). Then the heavy pot helps to weigh it all down- so any young children who might grab at the tablecloth are very unlikely to pull down plates or hot drinks.

It feels so clean and serene in here now. I don't know if that's due to the wall colour, or the fact it's been so messy for for long and now it's actually clean and tidy.... But it's nice. Really, really nice. I'm really looking forward to seeing how this room will look with curtain rods up and pictures on the wall- the finishing touches. I'm especially keen to get rid of that old blind over the sliding door :) 

You can see a progress shot of the dining room here, with base paint on the walls and the old cream trim (doesn't the white look so nice!) Meanwhile for the living room, we have progress shots here and here. You can also see how it looked seven days after moving in... or how it looked on day zero :P

So, back to the ol' to do list: 

Sooner: 

• Repaint. 
• Something with that study desk. 
• Down lights. 

Later: 

• Lace curtain instead of the Venetian blind. .... Although now I'm thinking three smaller venetian blinds.... 
• Verticals removed, and replaced with a curtain. 
• Trim needs doing. (Mark also did the skirting boards in one glorious hit. Over and done with!)
• Rods. 
• New rug/ shift another rug in.
• A coffee table. 
• Plants. 
• Heating. 
• Pictures and art on the walls.

Willow's room- a month in.

Another Friday, another week since we moved in. It's Willow's room that's seen some big changes (as well as our kitchen/ dining and living room, but we're still working on those changes.)

Isn't it lovely? The curtains are hemmed and properly hung. The room is rearranged and there is now SO MUCH SPACE. Even though, despite this being a low res photo, you can see see how badly damaged that pink skirting board is in the bottom right of the photo. And... that's why there's a line of Willow's stuff in front of the rest of the skirting board. Out of site, out of mind for now.

Another shot of my work of art. 

It's a tight fit to get the kitchen in beside the bed! But we JUST made it. Also yeah. That door frame has had a terrible paint job. We will get there... eventually.

These photos don't really do all the extra floor space justice. 

When my parents come to visit, all we have to do is swap Willow's bed for the bed with a trundle in the spare room. It'll be warmer weather then, and the play kitchen will move to the patio, so the white cube bookcase will move to where the play kitchen is, allowing a full sized bed to fit in there. Then, once they leave, Willow can get used to sleeping on a slightly higher bed without side rails, before graduating to a BRAND NEW bed of her own! Including new skirting boards that look smart, that she won't even care about. She doesn't want us to remove the carpet. But what if I can't find my ugg boots? Then my feet will be so cold! She wails. She says she misses Little Town and her friends because it's not cold there. I keep explaining that July is the coldest month regardless of where we go. I don't think she believes me. 

So, our to do list looks something like this now:

Sooner.

• Repaint walls. (Coming soon! Just got to finish up in the living area, then the spare room.)
• Repaint window trim and wardrobe door. (When we do ours, since she's getting our wardrobe door handles. They're floral. In our room they look dated. I think in Willow's room they will be charming.)
• Mount blind. (Once the trim is repainted.)
• Hem her rainbow curtains. 
• Get fairy lights. (Yeah yeah). 
• New- switch out her single curtain bracket for a double bracket, allowing us to to have TWO rods mounted there. The outer one will have white fabric swagged over it, and the fairy lights. Brilliant, huh?

Later.

• Shift the hand me down trundle bed in here for my parents. (Closer to their arrival date).
• New layout. 
• Remove carpet. (Summer 2016?)
• Fix up skirting boards. (Summer 2016?)
• New rug. (Autumn 2015? Can sit on top of ugly carpet.)
• New-new bed with underbed storage. (Autumn 2016?)
• Hooks on the back of her door. (Whenever.)
• Her own mirror. (Christmas gift?)
• A wooden valence? Or the double bracket idea is easier, after all. Hmm. 

Our house: One month, and future plans- part two.

I feel like there is a great migration taking place. Unlike God's majestic creatures making their way across Africa's great veldt, our migration is our stuff from one area to another. Like the realisation that we're not using the top shelf in our cupboards for anything, so why not take the bed linen for our bed from the hall cupboard and stash it there? And just like there, we now have oodles of space in our hall cupboard... so why not stash some board games from the living room in there? And why on earth are half of Willow's books in the living room and the other half in her room? When I was unpacking that made sense, because they all didn't fit in there, but now I've actually packed some toys away, they'll totally fit. Instead of Willow's trucks living precariously on a shelf on the book case, maybe I can pack them on the bottom of the hall cupboard where they're not going to damage our freshly painted walls? And so on.

Outside patio area:

Ok. This isn't the view from our backyard. It's the front yard. But it's nice, isn't it? 

Pictured: Our hills hoist. Not pictured: The winds that tear through the valley (anything from "briskly windy, chill factor 3C" to "severe weather warning, blizzard like conditions forecast") unhindered by trees or even a building, until it slams into this part of the hill. Brr. I've never owned so many pegs in my life. 

One day, this area will look amazing. Just not yet. 

We don't have stairs from our shed for some reason. Big bit of lattice was over the double side gate for some reason. Anyone want it?

Don't completely knock it, it's an awesome cardbox box kingdom.

Sooner:

• Pick up all that old lattice that Willow and Ethan dragged out the other week, since it's full of rusty nails and tacks and broken wood.
• Honestly, it's much too cold and windy to go outside, ever. Especially when there's so much to do INDOORS first.
• We need to get our old outdoor table and chairs back off a friend. We were using it as a dining table, but then got a better dining table so we gave it to a friend. Friend used it on her back deck, until she got a better table and chairs, and... now it's back to us. We just need to pick it up.

Sliding door. Yep, it's messy. But... keeping it real. You can all be amazed when we finish the house and move out here. Also note: stupid aircon unit to the top left.

Later:

• Remove that stupid aircon unit. Literally it's stupid, it's a box air con that juts at forehead height right in front of the side gate. 
• Get rid of the boxes. Yeah. Eventually. 
• Lattice down? Open up the patio more? Hmm. 
• Day bed out here. M's mother gave us a day bed. Need to find a way to stop Indian myna's pooping all over it. Effing Indian myna's. We have loads of native birds hanging around, but none of them poop all over our stuff like the myna's do. Some local councils offer a $2 bounty on the dratted things heads. Many a time while sitting at the dining table Mother in Law has thoughtfully commented that there's $4 strolling across my lawn. It's also not just the pooping- it's their habit of roosting right up against our house (and pooping) and making weird noises when they move around- cue, Willow at 3am waking up sobbing that a dinosaur is looking in her bedroom window and it has claws and "I think it wants to lay an egg." Also cue me waking up at 6am to a myna walking all over the aircon unit right above my head. Plus, they spread diseases (which are transferable to humans) and MITES WHICH ARE ALSO TRANSFERABLE TO HUMANS AND ARE AWFUL and they can jeopardise the health of the future chickens I want to get. 
• Maybe I should build a trap for the Indian mynas and let the local population witness M wringing ones neck. I don't want to scare off the natives that visit us however, and I don't want to turn the magpies against us. Most mornings Willow goes out to feed them bread, and I hope come spring they'll remember that we're their friends and they won't swoop us. It's just those intruder mynas, guys. We don't mind the rest of you. 
• Clean up. Yeah. Sweep, hose down- we haven't even swept yet.
• Get some decorative pots and dump some agaves in them, since they're all over the yard. Or succulents. There's a lot you can do with pretty decorative pots. 
• Would the house look stupid partly rendered? Like, if we just render this part? 
• Remove the clear part of the roof, and grow grapevines up there instead. Maybe.
• Terrace this area. Ditto with the front. However, this would require an engineer, and council approval, and heavy machinery... so this would be very much later. Unless we win some serious money. 

The spare room.

Did I mention we live near a small airfield? It's too small for domestic flights, but has lots of light air craft coming and going, including one that seems to do nothing but loop the loops all afternoon, to Willow's enjoyment. This room... is looking better than what it was. 

Sooner: 

• Paint. Yeah yeah, you know the drill. We might start on this room after the dining/ living, or we might move on to the hall. I don't know yet. Hallway requires sanding, so maybe it's good to get it over and done with.... on the other hand, it's also good to take a break.
• Blind up. Once we repaint the window trim from pink to white. 
• We need a wardrobe for this room. M commented that he never thought he would ever say "Let's go Ikea, since they're the cheapest." We're looking at getting this one. 
• Security screen over window. There's not even a fly screen there, and because we are on a hill, this window opens up onto the driveway, which is a whole floor away. Not good. I'm thinking a decorative wrought iron thing could be nice... and possibly out of our budget. M is thinking of lining the window ledge with broken glass to deter any children from climbing out. 

Later:

• Carpet up. We will probably start with this room or Willow's.

The hallway.

Looking better! Top shelf I still haven't figured out what's happening, bottom shelf is home to a heater and the vaccum. It's a work in progress, but looks so much better with a bit of paint and some order. Willow helped me paint this. Don't tell M. I'm half thinking of edging those shelves in a bright colour for contrast. Some stuff from the living room might end up in here, and some stuff in here might end up in our room, like the present wrapping supplies on the top shelf, or the big white box of Willow's art.

View down the hallway. 

View from the front door. Yeah, there is an arm chair right in front of our front door, since we're painting the living room. Willow's shoes go in one basket, mine go in another.

Sooner:

• Down lights in the entryway, since it's so dark. 
• Repaint. This hall has the last two bits of red suede in the house. The one by the front door we've been thinking of wallpapering. Wallpaper= no sanding or painting. 
• Hall runners. One by the front door, and one along the long part, by the hall cupboard. Something to quiet foot steps, to add warmth, and to trap dirt. I have my heart set on an $80 runner from Spotlight- we've had similar as door mats, and they're awesome. I can throw them through our machine, and they're non slip. Or we can spend like $40 on some hideously cheap ones from Bunnings. Or get one of each. Hmm...

Later:

• Framed pictures and art. I was thinking some maps along the hall way? Educational charts? 
• Mirror. To lighten the area.
• Shoe storage. Something like this.
• Turf the bookcase, since I don't want our hall way to get cluttered. 
• Skylight? Another way to bring in more light to the middle of the house. 

The bathroom/ loo:

No real changes, except I packed those two boxes away. 

Sooner.

• Eh, it's fine enough for now.
• Well, once we get a blind for the window, to keep some heat in. But other than that, it's serviceable. It'll be fine. 

Later.

• New mirror cabinet. Something bigger, brighter and white. 
• New handles. It might make the cabinet look more modern?
• Cover up those flower tiles. I'm thinking a black diamond sticker could make the bathroom look more edgy and modern, and less... purple and old. 
• New loo seat. Why is ours even scratched? Thinking of getting one with a built in kid's seat. 
• Two extra towel rails. Why do we only have one? 
• Hand towel rail. Why isn't there one?
• New loo paper roll holder. Why is it on a random block of wood? Why is it so cheap and ugly? 
• Magazine holder. It saves everyone's books being on the floor. 
• Exhaust for loo. Why isn't there one? No one wants to smell other people's poop when they are in bed. 
• Something to stash our loo rolls in. You know, something that sits behind the door? Yeah. 
• Rewire the exhaust fan in the bathroom. All we want is for it to be on a separate switch, so we can turn the overhead light on without having drafts straight off the Antarctic swirling around the bathroom. 
• A bin. You always need a bin in the loo and bathroom. 
• A fern. Embrace the 80's vibe from those tiles. 

The kitchen/ dining:

M is in favour of turfing this cupboard and getting a built in, since he says the cupboard is cheap and not that great. I'm in favour of taking a wooden spoon to the next child who swings off the doors, causing them to break. (Willow and his nephew do it. Willow probably does it more often, but nephew is several years older and heavier.) Why out of every door in the house do they keep swinging off this one? Oh yeah, I moved the microwave.

The microwaves new home. Yeah, our kitchen cupboards are two different colours. Some people say the bottom ones are sun faded. I say they did it on purpose. The debate continues. 

NO MORE RED SUEDE!!! This is just the white base coat. But doesn't it look so much better? I don't even mind that our dining table will be in the middle of the kitchen for a few more days, until two top coats dry and we repaint that window trim glossy white. 

Sooner plans:

• Repaint. This is taking ages, since it involves sanding, then cleaning up. But... getting there.
• Do something about the tap handles. They keep falling off. Weirdly, it's not as annoying as it could be.
• Improve the lighting. It's really dim in there at night. We're thinking spotlights mounted on a bar will be easiest, wiring wise. M wants to put in a new, more modern fan.
• Change the power points. M has been slowly upgrading all our power points from old to shiny new chrome ones. Because he can? He thinks it looks better. (The chrome is debatable. I prefer white). It's probably safer, since the power point nearest the stove actually has grease inside of it. It's a little thing, but it's kinda nice to see new power points instead of old grungy cream ones. 

Yeah, there's a burn on our kitchen bench. It came with the house. 

Later plans:

• New blinds for both windows. Right now there are cheap plastic Venetians on there. They're.... not going to last, being plastic. Especially since we actually open and close them (previous owner didn't.) So, when they go, we will replace them with wooden ones. I'm keeping an eye out for some on sale. If not wood, I'll at least aim for white aluminium. I'm not swinging off them to encourage them to break, but I know it's going to happen. 
• Get two more dining chairs. You know, ones that match.
• Get a bench. For people to sit on, when we have more than four people in the house.
• New kitchen bench tops. Because burnt laminate is so not cool. Also, it's textured, and food spills GRIP to it.
• Retile the splash back. Something plain white? Slight texture/ pattern? Bonus points if it's the same size as the tiles currently there. Or glass. Something to price up. 
• Repaint the cupboards. *I* think if we repaint them white, give the handles a good scrub, then they will look great. Retro and bohemian. M is in favour of new doors. 
• Floating shelf under my clock, by the pantry. Or two. Definitely at least one for my plants will be nice. 
• Centre that clock. Just a little thing that makes sense.

I think after repainting the kitchen might be our next project. M seems keen to get it done. I wouldn't mind getting it done too... but only if I'm the project's sole designer. :P M and I have two different styles- his is sleek and modern, mine is more eccentric, warm and homely. Left up to him, the kitchen will be tiled with large white tiles, with stark white cabinet fronts and black bench tops. Left up to me, there will be a lot of wood, soft greens and mint and warm whites, much more light and open- like a gumtree, with it's warm white textured trunk, and minty green leaves. And plants. Lots of plants. Where I want that floating shelf? I want to put plants on it. If I get lucky, TWO shelves full of plants will go next to that window. M wants to put a cupboard there.
M wants a bright green splash back, since I mentioned wanting green in the kitchen. I want white tiles, something with a bit of detail or pattern to them, and light mint green walls- or some green tiles to contrast.

The laundry.

This rug came with the house and was originally in the kitchen. It actually looks a LOT better in photographs than it does in real life- the only reason I haven't binned it yet is because I thought it would be good to see if a rug would work in the laundry, weird as that sounds. I've thoroughly cleaned several years worth of dirt out of it by spending a morning vigorously beating it. I really needed a hazmat suit for that job. Anyways, the laundry doubles as a bit of a "going out" spill over area- it's where our hats and Willow's school bag lives, as well as M's crib bag and work boots. The basket under the chair is where his other shoes are kept. It's working well for us so far.

Yeah. Still haven't upgraded the door handles... or anything else, really. 

Sooner

• Tidy up that dump tub of stuff. Do you do dump tubs? Very handy to contain chaos when you're dealing with other chaos. Stuff I don't know where to put I keep dumping in that laundry tub. 

Later. 

• Floating shelf up. I'm thinking a shelf could be handy above the laundry sink. Not just for plants, either...
• Hooks up. This photo is angled too low, but there is a plank of wood further up that used to have hooks on it or a retractable clothes line. I'm thinking of putting some hooks up there. 
• Broom hooks. Or in the hall cupboard. I haven't figured that one out yet. 
• Hand towel rail next to the laundry tub.

Our house: One month, and future plans- part one.

Make yourself comfortable to enjoy the latest in "our house," as well as a longer post about a plans for each space. I skipped a week or two, because things started looking more the same, week to week, as we settled in and breathed easier. Plus, a lot of the stuff we've done is kinda pointless to photograph- like cleaning between the slats on the hall cupboard, or getting quotes done on stuff, or the endless discussions.

The master bedroom:

Boxes. Although, these are likely to stay in our room- the first, with the pile of clothes, are our out of season clothes. The second plastic tub holds extra bed linen. The last box has stuff I have no idea what to do with right now. Yeah, we've been playing with paints. The blue didn't work out.

Our wardrobe doesn't fit our clothes, never mind all our bulky jackets. Our curtains aren't very fancy. In fact, they look like crap. We have amazing roller blinds on the outside, so it doesn't really matter too much- it's just during the day, when the blinds are raised, we want something between us and the street. When those babies are down, it's as dark as a tomb in all the rooms. Having a house that came with good shutters was what sold M on the house.

The only change in the past two weeks is that we've dragged our bookcase into our room and make it my bedside table. I got this bookcase from Office works when I first moved down here, since I needed something to hold my text books. When I moved it in with M, it ended up in Willow's room. Then it was Willow's wardrobe, hence the pretty backing paper and the curtains, then we shifted it to the bathroom to hold bathroom stuff. Oh, and we've run an extension lead across to M's side, since previously I had the only power point. Now we both have our own power boards, and we have a lamp in our room. It's the little things that make it much more homely now.

Sooner plans:

• Repaint, once we've done the main parts of the house. 
• Fix up the wardrobe- it has a really bad layout inside. So, rip all that out, rip out the carpet, repaint, new rod hung the full way across, some drawers put in, maybe a second rail.... repaint the doors, and put new, modern handles on them. Oh, and remove the mirrors on the outside of the doors. Both M and I find it really weird to be in bed, and staring at a reflection of ourselves.  It's also a bit weird because of the way the mirrors are placed, you can't see who is beside you in bed. 
• Shift the cupboard from to spare room to in here to store fabric. 
• Hang our curtains properly. The curtains were in Willow's room at the old place, and they're fine here- they fit- but I didn't use enough curtain hooks since I've robbed Peter to pay Paul, so to speak, since we have more curtains here. 

Later plans:

• Do something about the whole curtain thing. It's not too big a deal- we have SOMETHING up, but it's just nice to live like a civilised family. Ie, clean the venetian that's there, get proper curtains (with thermal lining? Even just curtains that fit...) Also, if we get some proper curtains up, it will help keep the room warmer in winter and cooler in summer.
• Bookcase under that window. A long, low one, maybe with a blanket box down one end. Hey, we have books we need to store SOMEWHERE. This seems as a good a place as any. I'm thinking something like this, with doors. 
• New mattress. M purchased his mattress before I got down here. It's very soft, and perfect for one person to sleep on. However, with two? Yeah. Not so comfortable. I'm also a fan of firmer mattresses. 
• New bed frame. Right now we just have a ensemble. We're planning on turning the upper shed into a guest room, so it can go in there. Later. Much later. 
• Bedside tables. Because... we are grown ups. Mismatched melamine furniture is cute and all, but... eventually we will get around to adulthood. Before the move we had galvanized steel shelves from Ikea. New bedside tables and bed frames are luxury items, so they're much later down the track. M complains about the sharp edges on our current bed side tables. Personally... I'm kinda ok with it, because having a bookcase next to my bed is hugely functional. Even if this means I'm kinda sleeping on top of the family's tax paperwork and Willow's immunisation records, since they're in folders on the bookcase by my bed. 
• Do something about the skirting boards and window trim. The people have spoken. Pink trim is OUT. White trim is IN. The window trim should be pretty straightforward, but not so sure about the skirting boards, since they're pretty damaged. They're that fluffy fake wood stuff, so it might not even be worth repairing them. So, replace them? Sounds like something to consider later. I'm also tossing up on black window trim, like here, or here. It looks smart with pale walls, and adds a bit of contrast to the room. It could be a real pain to paint over on day in the far future though. 
• Rip up the carpet. Our current carpet has grown on us. Sure, it's like 30 years old, but it's really good quality and it's also really soft underfoot. As long as we're not looking at it, we're actually pretty content for now to ignore it and deal with other stuff. Underneath we have polished floorboards. So, we might rip up the old stuff, remove the tacks, and have floorboards, or we might get a large rug, or we might re-carpet. Either way, we'll do the skirting boards at the same time. In the meantime, we will happily avoid looking down. Out of sight, out of mind is our new motto. We will probably do our room last. 

The living room.

Remember when it looked like this? It still looks the same, just less plastic drop sheets. That suede wall's been sanded, and we will paint this weekend. Then there is the "shift everything back" and "slight rearrange to living room since we've been here a month and we have a better idea of what does and doesn't work in here."

Sooner: 

• Repaint. Again, it's a slow job, because of the sanding, then cleaning it all up, then M goes to work, and it's winter and it takes forever for stuff to dry.... also, we can't pick a colour, that never helps. We are losing our minds over the colour. 
• Something with that study desk. It's being debated. I like it there since we have no where else to put it. M does not. It's practical-ish. We COULD in theory do away with it and be ok. So, the discussion continues. We've agreed that the terracotta red wall is warping our perception of space and how things look, so we will re-discuss this post paint. There's a few things we're going to change about the layout now we are more settled. 
• Down lights. It's REALLY dark in there at night. You can't even read. In a previous post, with the photo taken at night, you can see the hallway light is MUCH brighter, and it's just your bog standard hallway light.

Later: 

• Lace curtain instead of the Venetian blind. We have cheap plastic (and very dirty) Venetians through the house. I have no idea where the previous owner got the one in the living room from, since it's 2.6m long, and it's rare to find a blind that's even 2.4m off the shelf. The bigger a blind gets, the heavier it gets, and the quicker it will break. I don't really feel like it's good use of our money to get a large Venetian custom made when this one dies. So, when this plastic blind dies, it will go to the giant recycling bin in the sky, and I'll just string up some lace curtains for daytime privacy, and put some nice light blocking curtains up to help control the temperature of the room, night time privacy and to block out light when tv watching. And yes, I know I could CLEAN the venetians the previous owner left us... but they're plastic. I'm terrified if I try removing them to hose them down, they'll break. And then we will have to shell on new blinds RIGHT NOW when that's not in our budget. Better to leave them be and try to not move them too much. I already broke a few slats on the kitchen one trying to clean it.
• Verticals removed, and replaced with a curtain. It's a pain in the butt fiddling with the cords when you want to go in or out. 
• Trim needs doing. Around the windows and door frames only. We will worry about the skirting boards later. 
• Rods. Yeah. We have to hang the curtains off something. The current rod in the window is bowing under the weight of the lace, so it definitely won't cope with a heavier blind, and there's nothing about the sliding door anyway. A nice thick rod.
• New rug. Thinking flat woven wool. We have a brown rug Mark's mother gave us, and it's functional. It's a shag pile, so things keep vanishing into it.
• A coffee table. Something that can easily be shifted so kids can run around, but also the right size to sit around to do a puzzle or play a board game.
• Plants. Plants are always the solution. They make every room look better.
• Heating. This might be a next winter thing. Meanwhile, we shall shiver through and wait for summer.
• Pictures and art on the walls.

Willow's room.

M gave Willow a packet of this monkey hooks before we moved, explaining that when we moved, she could put them on her door. It was a little thing, but Willow was SO EXCITED to finally do it. There were three in the packet, but one is on the spare room door, since it was needed there. We all have hooks on our doors- Willow's two holds her towel and her dressing gown. 

It's the start of a collection. Willow says she wants 10 of them on her wall. I gave her the little rainbow one, and the purple one is from M's brother's missus. 

After the dream catchers, you have Willow's wardrobe. Also, her rainbow curtains. She asked if once we moved, she could have a rainbow curtain in her room and I agreed. I'm happy with how they turned out, but if I did them again they would turn out better. I'd reduce the yellow area and increase the purple and violet at the top and bottom. Also, I'd hem them first with cotton thread- It's impossible trying to figure out what could thread to hem them in. (They're not hemmed yet. I don't have room/ clean working space). When she first saw these hanging on the line, Willow just beamed. "They're beautiful," she breathed. "I just can't stop looking at them." With a clean neutral wall, that carpet gone in spring and her growing wall of dream catchers, I think Willow will have a stunning, bright room that is so uniquely her. 

The current inside of Willow's infamous wardrobe. See? Once you rip up that ghastly carpet... there's beautiful polished floorboards!!! On top of the wardrobe are several plastic bags of her clothes, labelled with labels such as "big winter clothes," "summer clothes" "big summer clothes" "summer pjs" "big winter pjs" as well as an extra dressing gown. The cardboard box holds "other people's stuff." Stuff to give to her friends, or stuff her friend's have left behind, or stuff her friends might use if they suddenly drop in and then we decide to have a sleep over- so there's over night nappies in there for one friend, and bigger boy pjs that two other friends can use (hand me downs from someone), and a bigger size of clean knickers for another friend... Anyways. The top of her wardrobe isn't pinterest worthy, but it's organised and efficient. 

Sooner.

• Repaint walls. New drinking game: every time I mention "repaint" you take a swig. Willow has picked out a deep pinky red swatch and a sunflower yellow swatch as suggestions to paint her room. We are going with a clean neutral colour since a) it's cheaper since it's what we're doing the rest of the house in b) kids tend to have really colourful stuff anyway, even when they don't have rainbow curtains. 
• Repaint window trim and wardrobe door. Are you taking a drink?
• Mount blind. Willow currently has pink trim on her windows. Once we repaint that, we can stick her new blind in here. It's plain white. Willow is disgusted. 
• Hem her rainbow curtains. I've dyed them, but since we've been sanding and repainting, I haven't had room to bring out my sewing machine. They also need more hooks (which I have a shortage of). They don't hang right with a lack of hooks- they just look like sheets in the window.
• Get fairy lights. She wants fairy lights and is constantly disgruntled that I've done her rainbow curtains, but I'm yet to wire up any fairy lights for her. It's all about the money, chicken. 

Other corner of Willow's room. She refers to the top of that long bookcase as her "collection shelf." The white tubs hold her clothes- pants, skirts, pj tops and pj bottoms. Underwear is store in a plastic basket in her wardrobe, and her singlets are in an old fruit salad bowl by the wardrobe door. Socks are in a plastic basket next to her shoe basket. Eventually, she will have proper drawers to hold all her stuff. In the mean time- it works and it's free. 

Watching a movie in bed. The pink flamingo stickers were REALLY annoying to put up- I think it took me about 10 goes to get them level AND lined up. We've just shoved pictures up on the hooks already there. M got Willow a Frozen poster, but we want to laminate or frame it first. 

Later.

• New to her bed. M's family gave us his niece's old trundle bed. So, eventually that will go into Willow's room, since my mum is coming to visit in a few months. Willow's bed will go into the spare room. 
• New layout. Natural side effect of a new bed- we will have to rearrange her room. Her bed isn't at it's full single size- it was just easier with the move to shrink it for moving... and we left it shrunk. It meant we could dump more stuff in her room, since you know, smaller bed. Her play kitchen will go outside, and her long cube bookcase will go upright. Where it is now, Willow's bed will go there (since it will be a VERY tight squeeze to fit a full length single bed in along that wall. The other walls have a window or a wardrobe, so it's along this wall or... I don't know. 
• Remove carpet. Maybe before we shift in the other bed? I'm in favour of floorboards with a rug on top, although not sure if it will be a year round rug or just a cooler months rug. All this will be happening in the the warmer months anyway. I'll probably put this rug in her room since it's only $50 and I think it will look really good.
• New-new bed. Unlike the three projects above, this is probably something we will do around summer of 2015-2016, rather than this spring- summer coming up. She will be at school, and growing up, and needing more storage. We're looking at those raised up types of beds with storage beneath- not too high, since we have a fan, so not a bunk. See below. We can't pick one with a bookcase on the end because there isn't quite enough room to get in there to get a book out.
• Hooks on the back of her door.
• Her own mirror. 
• A wooden valence? 

$1,400 from Domayne. This one is the most expensive. It also looks the smartest, and will grow very well with Willow since it's a blank slate. We can mount a bed rail on it, so Willow doesn't fall out. I'm worried about how she will climb up and down though. This seems better for an older kid. Which... she will eventually be.

$1,200 from 40 Winks. I like the design, but it only comes in red, so not quite a blank slate like the others. I can see this maybe looking a bit childish as she gets older- like when she's entering her teenaged years. This one has everything we need- a way to climb up, built in bedrail, somewhere for her books, her own desk, and plenty of storage. It's my favourite of the three finalists. 

$400 from Fantastic Furniture.  Again, we could mount a bedrail. This one is the cheapest by a lot. Not as many drawers as she'd need for when she's a bit older, but the bookcase would be handy for her books, and the tub on wheels would be handy for her stuffed toys. It has a built in ladder. No desk.