Time of change and a Spiderman party

Well again I have been away from the blog for a while as the last few months have had me on a bit of a roller coaster ride as far as my job goes and this of course impacts everything else.

We have gone through a restructure at work and downsized. I currently work three days a week and had to think whether to put my hat in the ring for full time jobs but being a mother of two young children, after a lot of thought decided not too and now I am still waiting for what happens next.

Through all this we have tried to stop spending money on the house and are getting frustrated with all the little jobs that need doing. With a miserable Winter we have lost the motivation to do things ourselves and have been trying to get away from the house as much as possible.

In the past week though I have turned a corner and realised no matter what is going on my love of design, gardening and reading your blogs and home magazines is still there, so I am back!

 Design on blackboard by Daniella for her little brother

I think my new motivation is partly helped by having my little boys fourth birthday party last weekend at the house. It was amazingly sunny warm day for Winter and the house preformed. What I mean by that is we did the renovation to make this an entertainers house and with the new open plan living space and wrap around deck it tolerated 12 four year old boys, my daughter and a few of her friends, parents and Spiderman perfectly!

Organising the party was full on but the actual day was so much fun, seeing the excitement on my little boys face, especially when his hero Spiderman rocked up! Spiderman (from Dreamscape children's entertainment) was worth his weight in gold keeping all the kids occupied with magic tricks, superhero exercises and balloon animals, hats and swords. He made my boys day, he had a grin from ear to ear. This meant I could just enjoy!

This weekend I am off on a girls weekend away. We are leaving tomorrow morning for Rye on Mornington Peninsula to visit wineries, eat great food and just relax. Can't wait! I sure the weekend away with great company and in a beautiful setting by the beach will motivate even further.

First day of School memories

First day back at school for my daughter today. She is starting year 1. So to remember the day we took a photo of her next to this blackboard with the intention of now doing it every year.

When she started Prep we naturally took lots of photos at home and in front of the school but was wondering what we could do this year and for the many more to come. I saw a great article with ideas, one of which suggested holding up a small blackboard to record the year and take the same picture each year and watch them grow. So this is my plan, plus to each year take one on the deck and in front of our Maple tree as we did last year.

This blackboard is coming in handy for many occasions and so has a permanent place near our kitchen.

Kids bedroom elements

With our extension we added to our two bedroom house with two more bedrooms, thinking how excited the kids would be to get their own bedrooms. Well my five year old daughter and three year old son have decided they want to both stay in their old bedroom and keep sharing, so the new rooms have become a playroom / guest room and a study (where I am now writing this blog post).

So I thought I would share with you some elements of the playroom, a bit of a sneak peak as I haven't implemented all my ideas to make this room a little magical for the kids, a plan for the next two months.

As you will see I am going for a red, blue and white colour theme. Love these ball cushions from Target......

This red checkered lamp from a kids bedroom store and of course some of my daughters art work from when she was three....


Can't go past IKEA for children's bedroom furniture, both the bed and chest of drawers are from there......

And these red carpet spots, the kids love moving them around........

Some red feet and hand artwork, done for Father's Day last year....

And the kids enjoying the room, love the soft grey carpet. The carpet is a new environmentally friendly one made from corn.....

The room also has built-ins which I will show at a later date once I have decorated a little more.

Hope you all had a great weekend, it was a little miserable here in Melbourne but good for staying inside and doing house things.

Kids comments on renovation make me smile

"Oh no my house!" - This said by my two and half year old boy with wide eyes and a big round open mouth, when he saw the builders ripping down our deck and back wall.

The renovation has been hard, with the feelings of being trapped in the front half of our house, frustrating when delays happen and often tense but the kids can be counted on to say or do things that make you smile."Hello boys" - the kids loved running out the first few days of the build and shouting this at the builders at the top of their voices and then laughing and running off again.

Once the builders had broken through and were working inside my little boy often offered to help running off to get his Bob the Builder tools.

"Can we paint the house red, it would look great," said my little girl with a very serious face while looking at her Dad painting the weatherboard. She got quite upset when we said no as we don't think the neighbours would like it.

Following on the red theme when I told my five year old the plasterer was working on her new room she went up to him and said 'can you make it red? I want a red room'. A girl that knows what she wants!

And seeing the roofers climbing on our roof and putting the tiles on my daughter announced she wanted to climb on roofs for a job. Not if I can help it!

And one I try to see the funny side of - at the moment we have one toilet in our ensuite as still have no family bathroom. This toilet is a fair way from the living area and it seems every time I go my daughter suddenly needs me and starts screaming at the top of her voice "Mummy, where are you?" This is said over and over while I scream back louder and louder "I am on the toilet." I am sure our neighbours can hear this exchange.

Kids bedrooms

Now the build is well underway I have got even more focused on interior design ideas. Interestingly enough the rooms I am looking forward to doing the most are the kids bedrooms, I think because here you can potentially have the most fun.

Images from - http://www.livingetc.com

I do like these neutral styles above but with my kids love for colour they don't really suit.

I also love this beautifully classic style bedroom below but it would be more appropriate in a house a lot older then ours, plus my little girls favourite colour is red.

Image from - www.besthouseinterior.com/classic-childrens-bedrooms

Image from - childrensbedrooms.blogspot.com

This room would suit my five year old daughter more but with red instead of pink. I would also think of painting the wall behind the bed red. I do love bunting as a form of decoration.

Image from - homes-designing.net

And some good IKEA style and colour for my little boy. I think he would prefer a Lightening McQueen or Buzz Lightyear theme though if he had his way.

Thinking about the kids rooms I visited Adairs Kids the other day and was very tempted by the bed linen form the Morgan collection pictured below. Funnily enough they say it is for boys but my daughter would love the red. So maybe red for her and blue for my son.

Images from - www.adairs.com.au

We already have these star lights in the bedroom the kids share and I know my daughter will be taking them with her to her new room, so I am thinking of getting car shape ones for my little boys third birthday.

I can't wait to decorate these rooms but a few months away still, so I will keep collecting ideas.

Fairies in the garden

For my daughters fifth birthday just before Christmas I set up this little fairy garden. I always imagined that fairies would be attracted to lavender like this one in the background.

And here is my own little fairy out playing treasure hunt at her party. This was the game the kids enjoyed the most, running around the garden collecting gold chocolate coins in cups with the child who collected the most winning a prize.

A house with kids

I love to look at houses in magazines and there is always at least one in every issue of Home Beautiful or Real Living (my two favourites) that I think is close to perfect, a dream house and more often then not they are family homes with young children. So I wonder when the photo shoot is over how long does the house stay looking that way?


A friend recently posted the following on Facebook -

The Movement to Restore Children’s Play Gains Momentum

www.nytimes.comAdvocates are reaching out to parents, who are not always comfortable with the chaos and disarray caused by unstructured play.

And even though I am not a big fan of mess and like things just so, I love my kids making up games and setting up their imaginary Worlds, so much fun to watch. I often even leave it that way until the end of the day and then we have a big clean up (as long as my bench tops and dining table are clean I am happy).

These boxes bought from Go-Lo in the Christmas week are great for toys

So these photos of my house today, having fun and enjoying being with my kids. These are the things that make a house a home.

Drawing mermaids and fish in the mermaid cave underneath the dining table

The Owl and the Pussycat

The Owl and the Pussycat collection (all from Freedom) that my daughter got for her 5th birthday and then Christmas looks great in her bedroom and she loves it. A nice change from all the plastic toys my kids got.

My daughter has already put money in this gorgeous money box and turned the lamp on and off many times. This year I plan to teach her how to read the alarm clock.