Living and Dining Room

I have to say, the task of furnishing a three bedroom house on a small budget and using the existing items we already had in our own home, was a challenge. We sacrificed a lot of our own furniture to use at Sunnyhaven and our own home was pretty plain and sparse for a few weeks there!

When we first painted over the 'Aloha' a few years ago, it was with Resene's Quarter Spanish White. We really loved this colour at the time, however after two children (Rose and Harry) and then two lots of tenants, it had really had it's day and needed updating.

 

After a lot of discussion about paint and trying to find exactly the right colour, we ended up going with Resene's Merino, an old faithful colour which we had used at our previous house in Hillcrest. I like it because it is a true neutral and isn't too brown or too grey. It is clean and still has a nice warmth to it which I thought would work well with the Matai floors.

After a family effort with Mum and Dad coming up from Hamilton for the day, the roof gaps were filled and the ceiling painted, as well as all the walls and skirtings (in pure white). Taff then later painted the fireplace to match and we rehung the curtains and it was ready to go.

We hauled in our bargain buys and chose items that would make the room look bigger as it isn't a huge space. Literally everything in the room was from Trademe!

We bought the glass dining table which originally came with ugly black plastic chairs and swapped them for the white chairs from our current house. The lounge suite was another bargain and all the cushions were less than $20 for the lot.

The mirror was from our house but was orginally a mirror from someone's home gym and it had huge drill holes in the corners from where it was bolted to the wall. I took it to Winstone Glass and got them to chop the glass down as a cost of $10 and then had a custom frame made at Factory Frames.

The old TV, DVD player and small white entertainment unit were spares from home and we also used our coffee table from home, a designer bargain originally from Bo Concept. Finally, the EAT letters were purchased from a craft fair for $5 and painted red.

Although it was a lot of work in a short space of time, we enjoyed it and were happy with the way it all worked out in the end. When I formulate a scheme or idea in my head I am never sure if it will all come together or not in terms of colour, etc. Perhaps one day I will get more technical and create a mood board for such projects but there was no time on this occasion! :-)

Sunnyhaven Series...

For the next few posts I thought I would focus on our house which we just sold at Sunnyhaven. This home was always very special to us as it was our very first house! We bought it on 11 June 2003 and lived there for almost four years, before renting it out to a lovely couple expecting their first child. We have so many happy memories of Sunnyhaven and it was the perfect first house for us.

When we first moved in, the entire house was painted in 'Aloha', a pale apricot colour! Although it wasn't to our taste, it wasn't actually too bad so we lived with it for several months. Over the next few years we worked on a few projects and more recently, an intensive redecoration to get it ready to sell.

Our aim was to list the house on the market on the weekend after Easter and we began our work there in early March, 2010. It was a very busy six weeks and as I look back on it, I am not sure how we did it. We both worked full time and then spent every spare moment there to try and meet our deadline. Our poor kids tagged along with us for many of these trips and were amazing. We had a short space of time and a limited budget but with the wonderful help and support of family and friends, we made it! Over the next few days I will explain in further detail what we did to maximise our chances for a sale, and yes, we did sell!

Pantry Organisation

One of the jobs on my 'To Do' list in terms of home organising, was to rearrange my pantry. When I left home and got my first flat I purchased some round plastic containers with blue lids from the $2 Shop and have been using them for the last 10 years! They had broken seals and had definitely seen better days and it is with great shame that I post this 'before' pic!

After looking for some ideas online I had some serious pantry envy. I love all the Tupperware pantry containers but I just couldn't justify the cost when there are so many cheaper options. A trip to the Warehouse was in order and I settled on the Cuisine Queen brand with white lids. I got them all on sale and they range in price from $2.00-$9.00 so a lot more cost effective than Tupperware!

After putting off this job for months I spent a Saturday afternoon on it and it is now a lot easier to find what I need when I am baking. It is still far from perfect, but a lot better than it was! Note to self: Never buy round containers again, they just don't fit well. :)

Florence Broadhurst Wallpaper Collection

I am in love with almost anything Florence Broadhurst at the moment. Florence was an eccentric artist and designer, born in rural Queensland in 1899. She is probably most famous for her stunning handprinted wallpapers which are now enjoying a revival.

After spending too many hours poring over interiors magazines, I decided I had to have a piece of Florence of my own! lol. There was no way I could afford to wallpaper a wall, let alone a room with her costly rolls so I searched on Ebay Australia and found a 120cm "piece" of some wallpaper from her Blueprints Collection. It is a dusty turquoise on a matt brushed silver mylar and is soooo pretty!

I saw these photos of a feature wall online (sorry, I can't remember where I found these!) and blame them for my obsession. I love the white and wallpaper combination.

Anyway, my wallpaper arrived and the print is much larger than I thought and the large Ikea frames I got to present them in, just don't work. My beautiful wallpaper has now been rolled up and placed back into it's protective tube until I decide what on earth I am going to do with it. :-)

Mmmm, Birthday Cake...

Since Rose is having her birthday party at the end of the month, we celebrated with a quiet family dinner in  Hamilton. Due to still being quite tired from my school report marathon last week, I decided to whip up our family's favourite chocolate cake recipe...Sophie Gray's DG Chocolate Cake. This cake is the absolute best cake, uses standard pantry ingredients and never fails.

I made a simple butter icing (also from Sophie's book, 'Enjoy'), coloured it pink with some colouring paste and added some raspberry essense....Yum! I hunted through my craft box and found some spare ribbon to tie around the base, added a fabric flower and picked out the pink, white and orange flower sprinkles that I had leftover from a cupcake making exercise a few weeks ago. I am certainly not a cake decorator and this is the extent of my skills, I leave the true decorating to the pros!

As for the dinner requests, Rose's Uncle Brian made his famous macaroni cheese for her lunch and I made butter chicken using a combination of these two recipes. Happy Birthday Rose!

Happy 6th Birthday Rosie!

I honestly can't believe my little girl is six already! The day she was born was the happiest of my life. I had wanted to be a Mum for a long time and she was long awaited, much anticipated and very loved.

She arrived at 1.45pm in the afternoon after a VERY long labour, three days before her due date. Our Rosebud weighed in at a whopping 5 pounds, 14 ounces and I was instantly in love.

Due to her small size, those early weeks were made up of hours and hours of feeding as she only had a small tummy and had trouble bringing up her wind. To offset that, she turned out to be an amazing sleeper, and actually still is to this day!

I am looking forward to celebrating her special day today. When I asked her what she wanted for dinner tonight, she told me:

Macaroni Cheese

Butter Chicken

Stir Fry Chicken and Rice

I am not sure how I will combine all of these in one meal! :-)

Rose's Self Portrait Collage

I must admit, I have never been one for saving and displaying my children's art. It's not that I don't love it, it's just that there is so much of it and I don't know what to do with it all! I have seen all manner of clever ideas and ways to display kids art but to be honest, sorting through the overflowing folders and picking out some gems just seemed like too much work for me.

The other day Rose brought home this self portrait. It was a collage made from different coloured pieces of paper and tissue and I thought it was super cute! I loved how she made her torso purple and extra long with tiny legs on the end! I thought it would be a good time to frame something that represents her interpretation of herself as she is now, because let's face it, she won't be drawing like this forever!

Child Free Weekend

Rose and Harry are spending the weekend with their grandparents in Hamilton, so that means a chance for us to catch up on some projects around the house. We are trying to get back on track with all our plans as we were feeling a little burnt out after working so hard on Sunnyhaven Ave...but now we are enthusiastic again!

Sanding and painting doors, trips to Mitre 10 Mega, some household organising projects, going out to dinner and the movies, it has been a big day!

Here are some photos of us completing the "exchange" at 7.30am this morning! We meet half way at the Bombay Hills and the kids were super excited to see Nana and Papa!

Sherwood Book Parade

It was Book Week at Rose's school this week and due to it being the last week in a very long 11 week term, we needed a quick and easy option for the book parade today! Snow White was the solution.




We picked up this costume from Trademe about 18 months ago after Rose was invited to a friends Disney Princess party. It was originally from Marks and Spencer in the UK.

I love the matching red velvet cape and red headband but unfortunately Rose doesn't feel the same!




Despite trying to use my powers of persuasion, the headband only made it as far as the car. As soon as we arrived at school she took it off and told me she "didn't like the way it sticks up"! At least I got a couple of photos with it on!

She had a great time at the parade and it was a lovely way to end the term. Here is Rose with the NX Sherwood Crew!

I love my kids!

I am so enjoying my kids at the moment. They are such a fun age and we have the best laughs together! They have their moments when they want to tear each others hair out but most of the time they get on fabulously.

The other day Rose asked why God made nits! I love "kid logic".

It is such a blessing to be a Mum and I am really looking forward to spending some time with my little ones these school holidays. Bring it on!

My Favourite Spiderman

As most of you are aware, Harry is Spiderman obsessed and has been for several months. We are always on the look out for anything of a Spiderman nature and have two great buys to share.

The Spiderman DVD's are far too scary for Harry so we searched You Tube and found the kids cartoon version, Spectacular Spiderman. Harry loved watching the clips with me so I tracked down the DVD's at a great online store called Might Ape. I was able to order Volumes 1 and 2 and they were shipped really quickly.

I have now discovered that Harry won't watch them alone and wants me there with him to watch! Consequently, they haven't been watched a lot. :-)

Our second great buy was this super cute Spiderman costume from Lotsa Goodies at Chartwell Westfield. It cost a mere $7 and has provided hours of entertainment since!

I couldn't resist sharing this picture of my cute little Spiderman, he was very proud of himself!

Secret Garden Birdie Art

As part of Rose's room changes for this Winter, I purchased a beautiful pale blue spotted quilt and sham. This formed the basis of her new theme and I was looking for some art to go with it. Her walls are a very stark white and the carpet is charcoal so it does need a little colour!

While searching online for some blue themed items, I came across the Giddy Giraffe website, which I haven't visited for a long time! The had some lovely shabby chic style items and one of the goodies I ordered was this pretty Secret Garden Birdie Art. It is hand painted and has one of my favourite colour combinations, red, blue and pink. I am now tempted to get some others in the series are they are gorgous and really nicely done.

Rose's New Crystal Drawer Handles...

We have been doing some minor work in Rose's bedroom in the last few weeks to freshen it up a bit as she is getting a little older, but most of all it is because I get bored easily and love regular changes in our interiors! She has been using her pink Treehouse handles for quite a long time now (several years) so I decided a change was in order.

I have been on the search for some faux crystal drawer knobs for her white chest of drawers and after exhausting all local possibilities, actually I'll rephrase that, all "cheap" local possibilities, I decided to go global! Where to go for bargain international buys you might ask? One word...Ebay!

I found these great handles from one of Ebay's US 'Power Sellers' Homedoxx for a bargain US$1.49 each! The cheapest ones I found in NZ were $16 each so these were a great find. I ordered 10 and for under NZ$35 including shipping, they were a steal. To top it off, they arrived within a week too ! I have waited longer than that for parcels to get to me from across town!

Her new crystal handles have now been added and she loves them!

'My Little Girl' Cross Stitch

I must first confess that I have not cross stitched anything since my teen years, however I have been the recipient of some lovely cross stitched items over the years! I have had some very thoughtful students stitch me personalised boomarks and wall hangings in the past. One of them even cross stitched a hand made bib when I was pregnant with Rose. It was too beautiful to use so I have kept it for her in pristine condition so she can see how much she was cared for by my fantastic students in 2004!

I had a lovely class that year who were very excited about our impending arrival, even going as far as throwing me a surprise baby shower one lunchtime with tables full of gifts and a HUGE hand made cookie with 'Congratulations, It's a Girl!' on it!

One student in my class cross stitched a poem for Rose, entitled 'My Little Girl'. It was covered in Duraseal and has sat in her room for the last five years, waiting for me to frame it! Last weekend I finally got around to it, again using one of the white Briscoes frames I mentioned in my last post. I was really happy with how it turned out and it now sits proudly on Rose's drawers as a lovely reminder of some special students that year.

Harry's New Ish and Chi Print

While searching for some new interiors inpiration I came across what has since become one of my very favourite blogs, Ish and Chi. The gorgeous Viv has fantastic taste in fashion and interiors, and I find her work really inspirational. She decorated a gorgeous nursery for her son here in a great circus theme and after seeing her circus print I decided to order one for Harry's room to add a splash of colour.

I purchased several bargain white frames from Briscoes during one of their many "sales" and used one for the circus print. It now sits on top of Harry's chest of drawers and I love it! You can find more of Viv's prints here.