The House of Horrors...Inside the Mansion

Bomp bomp bommmmp, I'd love to add sound effects but, 1, I hate it when you open a page and sound comes blaring out and 2, I'm technically challenged.

If a picture says a 1000 words, your head will spin at this post....A visual tour of Mellywood's Mansion, if you're weak of heart, please avert your eyes. These pictures have not be edited to protect the guilty and I leave them like this so you have a clear understanding of what my challenge is.

So without further ado, I present, Mellywood's Mansion:

Firstly the boys room, no storage space for two high school aged boys. Note the gross fab blue trim, this photo was taken during the morning light - this is as light as it gets, the window backs onto the pergola blocking the sun for most of the day.

Next up, Elizabeth's room, probably the best in the house, love the broken, blue verticals, and while the furniture is ok, there is no personality in the room and those love hearts are not likely to take her into her tweens.

The babies room, poor Max has just turned one and he has only ever lived with pink walls (let's just say he was an unexpected surprise) Madeleine is not really a pink girl, she's 2&1/2 and like most toddlers she loves bright colours and Sesame Street. I did put Max's name up on the wall but the M fell off.
If  life in a pink room disturbs him, I'm not sure what sleeping with the word Ax above his head will mean, we're currently saving for therapy, he may need it!

Moving right along, the kids bathroom, it's shabby and those blue tiles, I mean why? Why would you purposely put these tiles in your house. They show every spec of dirt and are as slippery as all heck.

The carpet, the true horror, bright royal blue carpet, reflecting off the living room walls. The red and yellow plastic gates belong to the playpen. It helps make the place look like a McDonald's playground.

Archways, the house is built around these arches, I'm pretty sure the builders of this 70's house were on a trip and thought they were building a time warp.

The Kitchen, please note the grayish blue laminate cabinets with the complimentary faux wood panels. Now I know gray happens to be "in" at the moment, but I'm pretty sure this shade is not high on anybody's list.

We also find more time tunnels in here

On the plus side I get to look out on this little face when I"m cooking, meet Max, the baby. This is one side of the living room, which doubles as the play area/craft room.

The Hall, in the bright morning light, this is as bright as it gets and we still have the grey/blue lifeless walls and blue trim.

As you can see, I have plenty to do and there are many more horrors, but that's enough for now.

So you may ask, why did you buy the place in the first place and why haven't you fixed it yet?

Here are the reasons:

1. It was cheap!
2. It was empty so I didn't really see the issues I would face when trying to put the room together.
3. The only time I was able to see what the house looked like, due to work commitments, was at night. Therefore the light issues weren't a consideration.
4. I worked 9 hours a day, then spent a further 2 hours travelling to and from, another hour per day doing the drop off and pick up of the kids so a house where we basically only ate, slept and promptly left, didn't really require too much attention.

Now I'm back home, with two more babies and I can't stand it any longer!!

Stay tuned for the starting point

Thanks for reading

Mel xo

Welcome to Mellywood's Mansion.

It's nothing like Hollywood, that's for sure!

Don'y be fooled by the name, this is no mansion and glamour is not an accurate adjective to describe our home in it's present state.

Follow me, as I attempt to DIY my house. Gasp in awe when I put together a room, cry with me as the kids subsequently mess it up, cringe in horror when I break all the DIY rules, not in a trendsetting/good way or hammer a thumb, boo when I don't finish a project but above all else help me believe I can overcome the urge to procrastinate and all rise for a standing ovation when I finally get this house finished.

Melodramatic?  The less dramatized version of is as follows:

I've started this blog to share my experiences trying to fix up the family home, with little knowledge but a whole bag full of determination. I'm married with 5 kids and have only recently stopped working outside the home.

 I'm guilty of starting a DIY project around the house and not finishing it, this blog is my motivation to make sure I finish everything I start, so if I look like a need a kick in the pants to finish, please, be my guest!

Here's me in all my DIY glory

This is what I look like most days, scratching my head and kicking myself, wondering where the heck was I going with this anyway!

I hope you'll enjoy the ride.


All the best,

Mel