Motivation Time!

Well it's a New Year, so that means a fresh start on some of those darn projects around the house.

As this year is our turn for Christmas (as we were informed on Christmas Day), I thought it might be just the motivation I need to get the house looking ship-shape and getting those projects that never seem to be finished, over and done with.

This is the last list I wrote of things that need doing...... The list was written back here in March last year.....

So what needs to be finished:
* Painting kids bathroom
* Painting kitchen and laundry (can't do this until the next project is completed)
* Put new benchtops on in kitchen
* Paint and put new handles on kitchen cupboards.
* Buy a new back flyscreen door - it was patched today, so that will do for the moment.
* Finish painting lattice work outside - I started that the other month..... did a bit but then again the enthusiasm wained....
* Finish putting shelf and drawer liners in (I've done the laundry, have to do the kitchen)
* Replace roof on back porch - the green stuff is loose, broken and flaps around.


Since then we have....
* Put the new benchtops in the kitchen
* Stained and put the new handles on the cupboard doors - well some of them.....
* Painted more of the lattice work outside.
* Done half the draw and shelf liners in the kitchen

and today I finished painting the kids bathroom!!! YAY!!!

But as always there are more things to ADD to the list.... I think the poor list is going to be bigger than what it started out as....

* Painting kitchen and laundry (can't do this until the next project is completed)
* Paint and put new handles on kitchen cupboards (finish the other half)
* Buy a new back flyscreen door - it was patched today, so that will do for the moment.
* Finish painting lattice work outside - I did more, but must FINISH!
* Finish putting shelf and drawer liners in (finish kitchen)
* Replace roof on back porch - the green stuff is loose, broken and flaps around. (so not essential, but nice to be done)
* Garden - do something with it!! Remove weeds from lawn, put plants in garden, buy water tanks, new compost bin, finish back garden/plastic on back fence.
* Finish loungeroom wall patching....
* Finish Olivia's bedroom wall patching (just a few spots from where we put the new window in)


Yep, darn list is longer than the one I started with.... But I've found that if I do a little bit before I head off to work each day, and a little bit more when I get home then things are actually getting done!

Tomorrow morning I'm going to finish varnishing the skirting boards for the kids bathroom and the cupboard doors that I have stained - so they can go on tomorrow night.

And tomorrow night, if the weather is not too freakishly hot then we might get stuck into the back garden and get the plastic down properly, so our fence doesn't rot, that I started about 2 weeks ago now.....

Maybe by Christmas our house will look like a house, not a renovation nightmare!!

New Couch!!!

After saying last time that our new couch would arrive in 2-3 weeks.... Guess what?

It arrived the next day!!!

BUT....

Yes there is a but.... When we went to pick it up on Saturday morning - in the freezing winds. The guys from the furniture store started loading it on the trailer for us....

I looked at it, and it looked wrong. It was the right colour. But it was the wrong style of couch!

I ordered a modular couch - it comes in three pieces and curves around the corner... the picture of our couch is below

The one on our trailer was a Chaise - an 'L' shaped couch, which an ottoman at one end.... And that's NOT what I wanted....

The guys at the furniture store then had to find out where MY couch was! The couch they had given me had my name on it.... Someone had boo-boo'd somewhere!

They found a couch that matched my description, (but with someone elses name on it) in the warehouse. So I ended up with that one (after they made a bazillion phone-calls to find out where the mix up had happened).

So we brought home the couch - stuffed it in the kids playroom until we had time to deal with the unexpected (but very pleasant) arrival.

The wall we were patching is still not finished. But the couch is together and in place now.



Complete with a 'Feet Seat' - which was supposed to be part of hubby's birthday present, but he got that part early. But someone else has claimed it!

More Renovation Stuff

I mentioned before about our loungeroom reno - see here if you want to read or see dodgy paintbrush pictures.

So we've made a start - OK hubby and my Dad made a start and removed the fireplace and mantle piece and hubby then put a new piece of plaster board to cover the hole. And we've started patching it up!

I'm now at the point where it needs one last sand back (hopefully only one anyway) before I can undercoat and then paint. I'll need to pic a warmish day to paint.... but who knows when that will happen given that it's the middle of winter and we're in Tassie.... were it's very, very cold.

It should only be about 2-3 weeks before our new couch arrives - *happy dance* so I'd LIKE to get it finished before then.

So here are some pics of the before and after...

Before ^^ (Excuse hubby head in the photo)

After ^^ No more mantle piece or fireplace!

Now I've Stained!!

Yes it is something to be excited about. I've stained something - in a good way.

Our on-going kitchen reno took another step this morning.

I decided I was going to try my hand at staining our cupboards - the ones I've sanded back and hubby re-plyed the fronts of. During the course of our reno's I have plastered (well filled holes and cracks), painted, varnished, done enough sanding to create a saw mill pile... So staining is new and exciting.

The first section has come up beautifully if I do say so myself. I now have to wait 2 hours (or so) for them to dry and I'll put the handles back on them - until I varnish them. But I won't be varnishing until I've finished sanding back the rest (I have 4 more drawers that need stripping and sanding).



The stain is Jarrah - it matches in with the blackwood benchtops that we have so well! Can't wait for it all to be finished!!!

The one downside - must remember to wear gloves next time.... I have a few fingers that are a funny colour now.... :-)

And I'm Back....

I really hadn't gone that far away..... I usually only work 1 day a week - but last week ended up working 3 days - two different jobs.... and the week just vanished.

This week is a bit quieter. So I've been catching up on the neglected housework - and also spending a bit of time in the very neglected garden.

The amount of rain that we had on the weekend has made it a lot easier to pull the weeds out - but there are just so many of the darn things!

I also had to re-plant my cauliflower and broccoli plants - they were planted in the wheelbarrow as the vegie garden is an overgrown nightmare.... But the wheelbarrow ended up looking more like a swimming pool - and I don't think the plants were swimming really well. So now they're in the garden - it may not be the vegie garden, but at least they're in a garden.


Speaking of swimming - Alexander had two weeks of swimming lessons with the school. He's been in a pool since the age of about 3 months - but CAN NOT SWIM - that is a WHOLE other gripe that I won't bring up here.

I started teaching him last summer - and we made progress! But in the two weeks of 1 hour lessons a day Alexander can now swim 8 metres! I am so proud!! So more swimming will be on the cards for this summer (and hopefully someone else will try to teach him to swim too - not just to splash around).


Tax time is upon us again - and people are deciding what to spend their refunds on (if they are lucky enough to get a refund). This year I decided that part of my refund would be going on a new couch!!!

Hubby had one when I moved it - it was (and still is) rather brown and worn - it's supposed to be brown, but I think there is a lot of brown dirt there too. I brought two couches with me - but they didn't suit hubby has he is a lot taller than me - and they weren't comfortable for him - so they went to my brother.... and then to my parents..... and now I'm not sure where they are....

Then we took my brother in laws old leather lounge - which was worn and cracked in a few places, and the cats LOVED to scratch! Darn creatures have got 3 scratching posts but are never satisfied to scratch them!

So two 3 person couches, plus two arm chairs in our smallish lounge/dining room has been cramped.... And if the kids bring anything in, or the clothes airers are up there is no room to swing a cat (not literally people - I wouldn't swing my furbabies!).

So a new modular 5 seater couch has been ordered - and should arrive in 5 more weeks! Along with the new tv unit as we have to move furniture around to fit the new couch in! And get rid of both old lounge suits!

This is what our loungeroom looks like now (sorry about the dodgy paintbrush pic)


And this is what it will be like with the new couch! So much more space! We can pull the dining table away from the wall and from the bookcase - so hubby can sit properly instead of being squished!

Give me inspiration!

I have photo's scattered all around the house in frames - but we will be re-decorating soon - new furniture and small renovations - but this means we will be losing quite a bit of space that holds our photos.... New TV unit, meaning no space, and taking out our mantle piece as it serves no purpose and will be in the way with the new couch (*happy dance* - NEW couch!!)

So I was thinking perhaps a photo wall.... I have empty walls....

Do you have a photo wall? Care to comment and post a link so I can have a looksie? Or know of a website or blog with inspiration?

If you have a photo wall to you just add new photos? Or do you change the photo's from time to time?

Renovation Progress!

When the kids are at Grandma and Grandad's - it's amazing how much Mum and Dad can do in 4-5 hours of solid work (and now sore knees and backs).

From this.... really bad bench-tops and lovely painted cupboards circa 1960's....



To this.... doors off and paint stripping started.



To this.... stripped and new drawer liners! Blue - no more pink!



And this - the last step before staining and varnishing!



There is still more to be done........... but it's progress!

More Projects?!???!!

I was asked to paint my nephew's bedroom. He is not due until July, but I thought I'd get it out of the way in plenty of time for them.

The fact that my own kitchen, laundry and the kids bathroom as still waiting to be painted seemed to just flit out of my mind when I said yes to my brother's request.

I was EXHAUSTED yesterday when I'd finished - I'd only done one coat, of just over half the wall (they're having a two tone wall with a Pooh Bear frieze running through the middle). And with only one coat of one colour on the wall how am I going to feel on Friday when I go back?!?

Maybe it will be the motivation I need to at least finish the kids bathroom - all that needs is painting - no holes to be filled or things to be moved, just paint.........

Let's hope the painting motivation sticks around and I can see what I can do next week!

Renovations that never end......

12 months ago we started renovating.... We decided that the kids needed extra space because you couldn't move in their bedrooms, and when they dragged toys out into the loungeroom to play, you couldn't move in there either.... and no matter how many times we asked them to pack EVERYTHING away, things always ended up hiding under the couch, or the table, or just being left out.

So the master bedroom became the playroom, and we built a new master bedroom with ensuite and walk in robe - more room for us!

In the process we had to halve the existing bathroom - to make a hallway through to the new bedroom...... So lots of fun plumbing work too!

The whole process was not particularly overwhelming, but our original builder was found to be unreliable at the 11th hour - uncontactable the day before we'd arranged for an excavator to dig the new footings.... panic ensued, but we found a new builder very quickly - very very luckily. It's amazing how friends turn up when you need them at the right time, and know someone that can help!

One of the unforeseen $$$$ grabbers that we found out after we had started (and had arranged out loan) was that because we wanted to put a Tastic in the new bathroom the whole house needed rewiring, because the wiring in the house was so old...... Not too much of a drama considering our new neighbour was an electrician and happy to help out! But in rewiring, we did some moving and remodelling - putting double powerpoints in instead of 2 singles, and turning 3 separate light switches into one double light switch! But that left holes in the walls and the architraves.......

Well it's been about 6 months since we've finished our reno... it took about 6 months to complete from start to finish - not too bad, considering that the thing that really took us the longest was the painting inside - lack of motivation on my part was the cause for that.

But we still have holes in the walls where power points used to be - UNTIL TODAY!!! It's amazing how a public holiday can spur you into action. We now no longer have holes, we have patches! The kitchen and the laundry still need repainting (I started painting the house when I moved in 4 years ago - OMG I really can't believe that it's been that long since I started that project!).

Walking around Bunnings this morning we were pointing out things that we still 'need' for the other 'projects' that we are doing - it's amazing what we start, but haven't quite finished, or things that do NEED to be done....

So what needs to be finished:
* Painting kids bathroom
* Painting kitchen and laundry (can't do this until the next project is completed)
* Put new benchtops on in kitchen
* Paint and put new handles on kitchen cupboards.
* Buy a new back flyscreen door - it was patched today, so that will do for the moment.
* Finish painting lattice work outside - I started that the other month..... did a bit but then again the enthusiasm wained....
* Finish putting shelf and drawer liners in (I've done the laundry, have to do the kitchen)
* Replace roof on back porch - the green stuff is loose, broken and flaps around.

But somehow I have managed to agree to paint one of the rooms in my brothers house - I think it's the room for their new addition :-) It's amazing how I can do things for others, but doing things for 'us' takes forever!

The problem with projects is that there are not just the house ones to be done, I have my own personal projects - knitting and cross-stitching to be done... but because something new comes up, other things get put on the backburner for another day... and things build up and up.....

Off to try to get some things under control!