The Greatest Love Of All

Hi Guys,
Whitney once sang that the children are our future, I belted that tune out as a 10 year old in spite of the fact that I have 0 singing talents and I am sure I drove my parents crazy, Today I know my future will, at some point be in their hands. This is why I whisper lovingly into each of their ears when the others can't hear and say "you're my favorite, don't tell the others". I figure which ever one ends up choosing my home will believe my words and pick out something nice, at least my fingers are crossed that will happen. To clarify I don't really have a fave but there are plenty of days when I have a least favorite depending on who has or hasnot done what.

I can honestly say that while I love many things I do, within a short period I hate it. In fact I think I would haveto say there are only a few things I still love and until now my deepest DIY love was my patchwork chair.

This DIY was actually Jule's idea and it was BLOODY BRILLIANT, sorry but it deserves that kind of praise,

So those who have been around here for a while might remember a few craft rooms ago I had this table.

Then I covered it in houndstooth contact paper, which I did like but I missed this particular dining table so a few months later I ripped off the contact and placed it back into the kitchen

One evening, the night after the new peel and stick vinyl floors were laid, I went out when Jule's came up with an awesome idea. He took the scraps and off cuts from the flooring and placed them on the glass to imitate an old farmhouse wood topped table.

You see a few days before I was leafing through a Country Living or something similar when I saw an iron and wood table, it was only about $3500 and I fell in love, I showed Jule's and declared it to be my ultra dream table.  Anyway one night out I go and when I get back there was the newly covered table, he made it look pretty with candles and everything. I went out of my mind, fell in love (with both the table and Jules all over again, he's a keeper). Can you believe that the wood is in fact peel and stick tiles? I'll tell you now, I had a recent termite issue and the pest control guy was stunned, this guy inspects wood for a living peeps!

This top holds up to anything my lot can throw at it and believe me, if you have seen a four year old at a table that is quite a feat! I LOVE IT.

So since I work real quickly these days, 8 months later I took my old wooden chairs which the kids over the last 15 years had pretty much rendered them to the ugliest chairs on the face of the earth and painted them up.

My goodness can't even begin to tell you how thrilled I am with this dining set. My suburban country style home is coming together and for this all I spent was $15 on paint WOOOT!!!

She truly is a beauty, so in honor of my lovely lady I dedicate this song to her, take it away Whitney




Thanks for reading,

Mel xo

Ch ch ch changes

Hey there,

Well I said I would be back in a week it's been two, however a few net issues, by that I mean the kids streamed that much netflix I ran out of data..and by kids I mean me and Jules.

Anyway while we are on the subject of Netflix, I must tell you that it only came to Australia in March and how excited are we!! I have been reliving all my fave shows from the 90's and most recently Ally McBeal. In one episode her therapist suggests a theme song, and I actually thought, hey I need a theme song, but then it was too hard to pick just one, so I've decided to score my life, yes I am a total dork!

Change is the theme this week because there have been quite a few here and I thought I would bring you up to speed on a few of them.

The entry, it began its sad life looking like this

Then I went on a red and white kick, what I discovered is while I love it on Pinterest I can not live with it. I also realized that in order to stop making things over I had to really decide what do I like so I left it, for 13 months.

Also I am somewhat cash poor so these new makeovers had to be pretty much free and I had to love it, here she is. 

With the exception of the flooring which I will discuss more in the lounge, the make over came to the grand total of $28.10, mirrors free from my sister, table free from my uncle, large pink bottle 10 cents two smaller pink bottles $7 at a vintage market. A bit pricey for what they are but when you fall in love you fall in love. and $21 for the candles which I use because, it seems silly to buy them then not use them, they burn for about a month lit each evening when the little two go to bed. 

Now the lounge it was terrible with that carpet.

Painting the floor seemed like a great idea, but oh my goodness it turned out to be terrible. I got chipped and dirty and was so cold. It was worse looking than the carpet, I actually cried more than once.

The rest of the iron furniture was pretty but the glass tops also became putrid with the kids touching it all the time. Nothing ever looked clean.

Then we were watching Better Homes and Gardens and he was using peel and stick tiles, woah they looked fantastic, so off to Bunnings we went.

I will honesty say it has changed my life, that might seem over the top but I was so embarrassed, not only did I feel depressed every morning as soon as I saw it as it was but I didn't invite anyone to my house for over a year. 

The faux fireplace, I love I still don't know whether to paint it or not, but one of the lessons I learned on my break was if in doubt just wait. It still looks pretty.

Last year I said I dreamed of a country cottage filled with quilts, well why can't I have it now, they do say love the one you're with. The coffee table is on my not sure list too so we wait

I went with a clear glass vignette for under the television so as not to distract when we are watching tv.

There is a wooden bench under there, it will be painted once I decide on a colour, the artwork will go it's just not right for the place.

One day I am going to get a white sofa, however for now I choose to cling to the last remenants of my sanity and cash and keep my brown leather couch. Just yesterday I spotted some cushions I love so they're on my list.

We spent around $300 on the floor which isn't bad really, everything else was already in the garage apart from the mantle I bought last November $50 so $350, not over the top considering it was the floor.

What I can say is I'm much happier, the floor really did make a difference. I am inviting people over again and I don't wake up dreading seeing the eyesore that were those painted concrete floors. Others have had great success, but I will never try anything like that again. Those peel and stick tiles have been down 8 months, they are super kid friendly, easy clean and quite frankly the best money we've spent on this place.

So there's an update and of course this is my theme song for the week, take it away David Bowie



Mel xo

Well long time no see!

Hello,

You may remember e from such blogs as.....this one.

So what happened, well life, kids and all the family stuff and I just didn't know how to fit it in, then time went by and I kept thinking I don't think I can go back after this much time. Truth is I hadn't done much in the way of crafting, time had been short even for that.

I also hadn't spent much time reading blogs, although I do follow most on facebook so I know what's been happening, and I really missed my blog community and I missed my creative outlet.

Cut a long story short I decided I'm not dead, I can come back at any time and as for having time to do anything well I am setting myself a goal of one post a week, really that's probably enough to motivate me to do or share things I have done around the the house.

Really if I'm honest we have spent the last 6 or so months fixing the mistakes I had made over the last 4 years, I'm really excited to share that and a few lessons that time away has taught me.

Here's a sneak peek, until next week.

Thanks for reading,

Mel xo

Happy New Year!!

Happy New Year, my friends it has been a while since I last posted and truthfully this year it has been hard coming back.

We've been doing all sorts of things, including being chased by dolphins, seeing the "real" Thomas the tank engine, and time away at the beach, which left me with a severe case of sunburn.

It's been a lovely start to the the new year but more exciting we've ( and by that I mean Jules) have done a massive DIY project. By far the best transformation to take place at the mansion.

At this point our beautiful sunny weather has turned very grey and wet. We are having the craziest summer, it was hotter than hell with bush fires, two days later torrential rains and flash flooding....Melbourne weather truly is the strangest thing!

I just wanted to pop in and say hi before I try to catch up on my blog reading.

May you all have the best year ever

Mel xo