The Princess and the Peas: March 2009

Things have been a little crazy around here. I've been really stuck into doing stuff around the house before it gets to cold and rainy for paint to dry. I was going to wait for everything to be perfect before posting but if that's the case I'll be waiting forever!

This is what the house looked like before we brought it.

http://www.nz.open2view.com/Property/173777

My biggest achievement is I've finished painting the outside - well the first coat anyway. I'm so over painting at the moment I'm not sure there will be a second coat!

The big window isn't unpainted without a reason - the window is being replaced with bifold doors on Tuesday which will mean the entire front will be accessible from our lounge. We are very excited. I'm hoping that the doors will spur Wayne into action to build the fence at the front of the property because until he does we will be giving everyone walking past a good look into our lounge!

In case you were in any doubt about our house number!

I've painted the front door black - it used to be timber and painted the walls white. I've still got a couple of coats of paint to go before it looks good but at least I'm getting there. The carpet is really starting to annoy me now after painting the walls! We won't be rushing to recarpet however as my little devils are not kind to it!
Here's the internal courtyard - I spent probably an hour or so hauling the pot plants that the previous owner kindly left for me! I've painted the walls (they used to be cedar) and the deck (also cedar). I need to sort out the ferns - chop them back and then replant on the other side.
Here's the spa room and conservatory - I've repainted the walls which took a while. Quite a strange experience painting the walls only wearing undies and a t-shirt as I was standing in the spa pool to reach the sides! I've still got to retile the sides of the spa and the floor - am thinking at this stage of using slate to tie in with the foyer

Here's another view of the spa room with cushions - I got a quote for a company to make me up a swab with cover and it worked out to be over $450! This didn't impress me so I got some fabric from spotlight and the foam cut to size - now I just have to find someone to sew me a cover!Here's the conservatory which joins to the spa - new furniture and I've painted out the cedar here as well. This room is pretty much done apart from the carpet and I have to remove the blinds (which you can't see in the picture). My bet is they won't last out the week.

Here's the back of the house - all painted. We are now starting to design the backyard. I was keen on a pool until I watched a documentary about child drowning in Australia. I realised I just can't have one until the girls are older so will have to plan around a pool like space!

I've painted the shed and my old outdoor furniture black. This little area is the most sunny place in our garden. The shed is about to be shifted and we will be decking over the water tank. At the moment its been a convenient place to stack our unwanted rubbish! This area used to be fenced off with a sink and ancient bbq. I think Wayne had a good time ripping all this down.

This is Madeleine and Juliette's room and it's very much a work in progress. I've done a number of coats of paint but a few to go - I do most of the stuff around the house when they are sleeping hence not much progress here! New curtains - i'm not keen on the pink ones now - thankfully they were really cheap as I'm moving in a totally different direction.

And this is our room - new curtains and new durvet cover - I'm planning on painting the hallway and our room next. With totally white walls it should look quite dramatic.

I have many other pots on the boil! We are in the middle of deciding what architect to choose - One is cheaper but hasn't offered any other view than what we have told him. The other is more expensive but far more exciting and has already given us many ideas. We could just run with the ideas the second one has given us and choose the cheaper one! We have many walls to remove and that can't happen until we get building consent and plans so we do need to get on to this one!

I'm in the middle of designing the new kitchen. I'm waiting for a few kitchen designers to get back to me - however I popped into Placemakers the other day and was really surprised at the quality of their kitchens - Oh what I would do for an ikea one!

So that's my life and the reason my posting is so behind!