Six months in

Six months! Six whole months! We have been living in the new place for six months! And what have we done in that time....not a whole lot! 

I have plans. Oh, do I have plans! But I don't have a lot of time. Or available funds. Or a clear path of how I should tackle all these plans.

Im doing the whole 'do a little bit in every room at the same time so the whole house looks in renovation stage for a really, unnecessarily long time' thing.

I just get an idea, and instantly feel inspired to try it out regardless if the 5 year old's bedroom is still covered in paint swatches and pictures waiting to be hung on freshly painted walls. 

case in point.

more paint swatches and trim work

even the pergola is covered in swatches!

I started the pergola first. Ten days after we moved in I felt compelled to paint it a sultry shade of charcoal. The bits that I have done look uh-mazing!But then it got hot-waaaay hot. Then I just wasn't motivated. And now it is cold, waaaay cold. And I look out there wistfully every day imagining how awesome it will look once its finished. And I think to myself 'today I will just go out there and start painting'. But then I do something else.  

But little lady is the clear winner in this here 'battle of the rooms'. Her room is actually, very nearly DONE! I'm not even joking. She had a very clear brief. Pink. 'Pink walls Mummy'. I protested. I tried persuading her my way. I had a vision of her room and pink walls were not in that vision. But how could I resist? She is very persuasive! In the end, we have compromised. She got her pink walls, but I chose the shade and got to stick gold polka dots over them.

MY original vision for her bedroom. Vintage yellow wallpaper, reclaimed furniture, mismatched decor and bedding...

sneek peak of her actual bedroom

I  must apologise for the sh*t quality of photos. A little photography course is on my to-do list but until then, its iPhone photos all the way. 

I still need to paint the trim in her room and now that I have finally decided on which shade that will be (Dulux Vanilla Quake) , I just need a day where she doesn't mind being kicked out of her own room all day again. 

Until then, ill keep chipping away at every single room in our house, a little bit at a time, just enough to drive the husbot completely insane. 

Lisa 

New Year,New House!!

You may have noticed my not so subtle hint to this in my last post. And after months and months of emails, phone calls, meetings, open inspections and the inevitable hoop jumping, I can finally say officially that we have BOUGHT A NEW HOUSE!!! 

It still feels so surreal. I mean, just mere months ago I didn't think this was going to be possible for a very long time. I know people buy and sell houses every day, but not us. We have been in this little house for a very, very long time and part of me just couldn't imagine ever leaving it.

We knew it was going to be that much more difficult given our self-employment, and that the market is still not great but I'm a big believer in fate and everything just fell into place...eventually. 

The new house is not a little house. It is a big house. A very big house. 4 big bedrooms all with walk-in-robes. The master bedroom with a huge double en-suite. A massive theatre room and an even bigger open plan living, games and dining. It is three times the size of our little house!

the NEW house-we have big plans for this area!

The new house is also exactly that, new. It is only four years old and comes complete with solar panels on the roof and a generous supply of rain water. So even though the size of the house is bigger, our environmental impact wont be. 

It is not our forever house. It is not our dream house. But it is definitely a house we can see ourselves in for maybe another ten years. Where our kids will go from pre-schoolers all the way through to teenagers....what a scary thought!

Even though it is relatively new, and modern, there is alot we want to change and update. Which is perfect! We weren't looking for a house that we loved everything about it. We were looking for a bigger house, in a nicer part of our suburb, on a decent size block with good 'bones' (high ceilings-tick!)

So the new house comes with a very long to-do list:
~front landscaping
~update front door
~paint entire house (each room including painting over the grey! skirting boards and architraves!!)
~replace all window furnishings
~update bathrooms (new tiles, fixtures)
~complete re-do of the kitchen (this time were going BLACK!)
~light fixtures throughout
~re-paint back pergola
~new shed for the husband

on the maybe list:
~render front of house
~change double roller doors to one single panel lift door
~update the back porch area from pavers to decking 
~a pool!!! (hoping, wishing!!)

Im beyond excited and I can not wait to get started on making this new house our new home. It will take a little longer to put the $ away for renovations this time around (bigger house=bigger mortgage) but I'm going to be looking for serious money saving options, DIY where possible, second-hand items and ways to save money in our day-to-day lives to put more towards funding these projects. 

Im really looking forward to the challenge of transforming a typical character-less modern 'mc-mansion' into a character-filled, beautiful, unique and stylish home. 

We will miss our little house. It is still weird to think we wont live here anymore...

forever this will be, our first little house

Happy New Year!! Here's to new beginnings!

 Lisa xx