Before, during and after - walk in robe

Our walk in robe is finished and I love it. Before we had built in robes on the other side of which was our family bathroom.

Before

Now these have been removed the wall knocked through and new frame built to make a walk through robe and ensuite.

During

After

I know this looks very bare but believe me it is filling fast since these photos were taken.

Hope you all had a wonderful weekend. Ours was a busy one which included cleaning weatherboard now the brick is off the front of the house and I have to say it is looking fantastic. More photos later.

Before and after - brick to weatherboard

Stage two of our build, the rear extension has started, well the demolition part anyway.

Before

Our brick has been removed to expose weatherboard and already I think the house looks better, even with the weatherboard being dirty (well if you use a bit of imagination of how it will be with new deck, cleaned and painted).

After

Our house is weatherboard house built in the 1950s and then in the 70s someone put brick cladding on it which in my opinion is nowhere near as appealing. This now exposed weatherboard is also going to be removed for newer board and our extension will be done in weatherboard to match.
Anyway the thing we can't get over is already this few days of demolition has caused arguments with our building company who were trying to claim they didn't know the weatherboard was there and wanted to charge us extra to remove it.

To cut a long story short I am happy to say we managed to prove that they did know, we had e-mails about it and so they will not be removing the contract variation they were trying to make us pay. So lesson learnt - keep everything in writing and stick to your guns!

Thankful 4

This week I am joining in with a tankful 4 post hosted by the lovely Lisa at Ledamae.

I think it is a great idea to regularly reflect on what is good in your life. So today my focus is on my little family.

Today is my Hubby's birthday so in buying presents for him I have been thinking about him a lot and am so grateful for the loving, supportive person he is, my best friend too.

My little girl started school this week and I have been missing her and so have been reflecting on what a gorgeous, loving, generous child she has grown into. She is the best big sister, to her little brother, people often comment on how good she is with him, she really takes care of him and makes up games for them to play together.


And then last but not least there is my little boy who at two and half is so full of energy and love. He tells me 'I love you Mummy' a number of times of day and it always makes my heart melt. He loves cuddles and early morning I often get a long one from him.

There is so much more I could say about these wonderful three people in my live but I will just finish off by saying I love them so much and am so thankful 4 them.

A few finds

I was hoping to show you photos of our new WIR today but alas the guy installing everything rang this morning to say he would be here sometime after 12pm, so I sit here waiting. Don't you love the time windows most trades give!

Anyway instead I thought I would share with you some recent finds, all were on sale.

I have been looking for blue bottles for ages and got this pair for $8 from a little shop in Melbourne CBD called Spoilt.
From the same store I got this great set of three tea light holders. You can get hanging ones to match so might have to go back!

And this Eiffel Tower quilt cover set from Bed, Bath and Table. It goes very well with some other French things in my bedroom. I will show you more photos of the bedroom later when I have managed to clean it out and finish it off. The bedroom is currently full off stuff that needs to go in the WIR, so once that is done!

And great news, our carpenters are locked in for Thursday, so the build of the back extension begins! So glad I am home this week to see it, as normally work Thursdays. I am now taking lots of photos of the back of the house for the before shots.

Free day?

My little girl started school today, her very first day of primary school. She was very excited once we were there and she saw her name above a hook to hang her bag on. It helped that one of her closest friends is in her class and so they both walked off without a backward glance. Not as easy for me.

Monday is normally a day I work but I have this week off. Even so my little boy is in creche today as he normally would be so that I can get a few things done. A week ago I was excited about this prospect but when I got home this morning I felt quite sad and the house a little too quite for my liking.

So I pumped up the music and set to work cleaning out our walk in robe which is just filled with bags and piles of clothes. Tomorrow a guy is coming to fit it out properly, can't wait! So hopefully can share some photos tomorrow afternoon.

A postcard I use as a bookmark - it always makes me smile

I have had a coffee with a friend, done some housework and gone for a long walk and it is only 2pm! I am hanging out to go and pick by girl up and hear about her day. Only an hour and a half to go....

A soak in the bath

I have been dreaming of having a long soak in a gorgeous freestanding bath a lot over the past week.Now with our ensuite complete we have a wonderful shower but we won't have the new family bathroom and therefore a bath for at least another three months but more likely four (or actually when you talk builders time-lines five).


It has been a difficult week and I haven't been on the blog for over a week. Last week I came down with a awful virus early in the week and as I was getting better got the sad news that my Grandma had passed away. It was very unexpected even though she was 91 but she did pass away peacefully in her sleep which is good. We had the funeral a couple of days ago. It was a beautiful service with lovely speeches, very fitting for the strong, inspiring women she was, a woman well ahead of her time. To give you an idea we shared a love for the TV show Sex in the City and she worked as a high school teacher even after having children, in a time when this was almost unheard of. Later in life she became a librarian and has passed down her love for books as I read to my children every day.

Also on another note my heart goes out to the people of North Queensland. I was happy to hear a friend of mine who had only just moved up there was safe and not too affected in the end but I am certainly thinking of all of those that were.

So over the week I have been longingly looking at some of my style file images and many magazines, trying to work out just what kind of family bathroom we want, it has been a great distraction. All the images I love are of white very calming spaces.

Love Rachael's bathroom for Room for Everyone blog

And some good news, we had a meeting with our building manager yesterday and they are going to start again late this week, so excited.