Shoes and bags - where do you put them?

What do you do with your shoes and bags when you come into your house? Is your place a shoes off kind of home?

Ok this is a post that says a little something about me which some of you may go, don't be so precious but here goes...

My house is a no shoe zone, has been for a while and since we have had the boards sanded and polished recently we are even more hot on it.

Of course this means my kids are well trained on this particular thing to the point of going into anyones house will immediately take shoes off. The issue I am facing at the moment is getting others to do the same. Some friends and family do easily but others need constant reminding to the point where it is getting uncomfortable. Would it be bad to put a sign in the hall saying Welcome - take shoes off here! - maybe a suggestion for one of you lovely graphic designers to do a print?


And then there is bags, now of course these are allowed in the house but the issue I have is where to put them? I am finding most people walk down the hall into the kitchen and drop them onto the central kitchen island bench. For some reason this gets to me, probably because it is my main food prep area (I like it to be clear). Or the put them on my lovely sideboard, pictured above and this I don't like much either. But I can't bring myself to ask them to put them in the nearby bookcase where I have a vacant shelf. My family who I can ask to move bags just look at me like I am a little mad!

So is there where you are going to tell am I am a little over the top? Maybe but even though I like these two things to be neater I do not run a minimalist, sterile house by any means. I love photos and kids stuff and things from our travels around the place, plus a big fan of bookcases.

So any suggestions? Do you have any house pet hates yourself?

Blackboard easel for decoration and Happy Birthday

This blackboard / white board easel from IKEA has become a bit of a feature in our new living space.

As can be seen in my previous post we have a long white wall joining the kitchen and new family area. The easel now sits proudly in the middle of it and I am finding it works really well to add that personal family touch.

We have written menus for dinner, had kids drawings and written special messages on it.

Like today it is my gorgeous Mum's birthday and my five year old decorated the easel accordingly. Mum is over from Adelaide helping out with the school holidays, which I am so grateful for. My Mum gives me so much help and support. Happy birthday Mum!

Hoping to get more pictures on this wall .......

It is also nice with this visit to have the inside of the house almost finished and a bedroom for my Mum to sleep in away from all the noise. She used to sleep in the lounge on the fold out sofa bed.

Anyway will show pictures of new bedrooms soon just want to get a bit more decorating done.

A blank canvas

Well after a break finally back and starting to enjoy the house, slowly sorting out rooms and decorating.

I have been away from the blog and even getting online outside work for the past month due to illness, being away from our house so we could get boards sanded and polished and then just getting re-settled. It has been a difficult and busy time and we are now finally coming out the other end.

So I thought initially I would share some photos of what I call 'the blank canvas' we came back to after two weeks away (well after I cleaned all the dust). And over the next month I will do some reveals, before and afters, as we settle back into the house.

So in sort of a logical sequence - as you walk in the front door and down the hall slightly first door on the right is the living room....

Then walk through the living room and look through the French doors to the dining area....

Next more in the dining area you can see the servery through to the kitchen and out towards the new family room....

Looking out the stacking doors to the garden, were we hope to have the alfresco deck built very soon.....
Turning around and looking back towards the lounge......

If you walk straight down the hall from the front door and not turn off you end up in the kitchen so in the next photo you can just see the corner of the kitchen island bench....

Looking back from family room to the kitchen (which is high on the list for re-doing).....

So that covers most of the living space. Later I will show you the new bedrooms, bathroom and laundry.

The end of October will be a year since we started the renovation and here's hoping by then I will be able to have a renovation warming party, well that's the plan anyway.