The Peacock Makeover

One of the perks of being the only girl in our family is that Eleanor has now scored a room of her own and so we spent the weekend changing bedrooms around and tarting hers up a bit. She wasted no time outlining the brief - blue walls, polkadots and lots of bright rainbow-y colours. We were on a very tight budget, allowing just a tin of paint to be the most costly item. She chose Dulux "Oceanus" - her favourite shade of blue. It's bright and a complete change from the otherwise white interior of the rest of the house. I did suggest toning it down a bit to a quarter strength but she wanted this colour specifically and really wanted it more than I wanted it a different colour so in the end she won. She loves owls, peacocks and birds of any kind, so when we found this Peacock Bedhead at the tip over Christmas, we couldn't believe our luck - it was just $10 and in perfect condition. Sold! I have seen these exact Bedheads go for over $400 so it is one of my best bargains yet. About 6 months earlier I picked up a Peacock Chair at the very same place for $5. It needs a bit of work where the cane is coming loose on some areas but we have plans for yarn bombing those spots. Are you familiar with this new craze? 

We painted them white and if your eyeballs are ready for a colour explosion here is how they look in the new blue room. Please ignore the Whippet's long sad face in the photos - he puts it on for the camera. I did manage one shot of the room before he stole the limelight.

The bedside table was a lucky roadside find which is actually Tassie Oak and super sturdy. The pillow cases were $7 from the Sheridan Factory Outlet and the little cat pillow was 50 cents from the local Op Shop. The Granny Blanket was also $5 from an Op Shop which I bought almost a year ago. The Red and White spotty valance is just a piece of material I already had - I could probably sew a hem onto it but why bother? The little colourful rug in the above photo and that was just $1.99 from Spotlight. The owl on the wall is in a strange place but it's hiding the ugly underfloor heating switch box :-).

The feature i love the most is her wall of artwork - all done when she was in Year 1 in Sydney as a 6 year old. Her more recent work is scattered around the house but these earlier ones look great in her room and are a lovely reminder of her time in Sydney.

If you look closely you can see a Picasso inspired portrait, a Pro Hart inspired Still Life and an interpretation of "Where the Wild Things Are". It's an absolute credit to her wonderful Teacher who placed a huge importance on creative arts as a tool for learning.

There's some Monet inspired Waterlillies too and my favourite is the one with the Mum and Daughter in the rain. As I was sticking it on the wall she thought it was funny that she drew the water droplets upside down - I had actually never noticed that.

The final project is to transform the daggy brown built-in wardrobe on the opposite wall where the desk is. I'm thinking maybe painting over them or adding wallpaper just to the wardrobe bit. I'm also thinking of converting the part of the wardrobe for hanging clothes into a little reading/cubby nook. If anyone has any idea for colours for curtains/wall covering I'd love to hear.

Eleanor loves having her own little space after all these years of sharing, even though the boys are still in there a fair amount of time playing "Schools" with her. 

The Whippet has stamped his seal of approval too :-)

Island on Fire

This is our view from the top of our hill looking North East. The heat of the Summer Sun and lack of rain has changed the landscape dramatically over the last couple of weeks. The grass is long and there are fields of gold as far as the eye can see. The colours at Sunset are stunningly beautiful. I took this photo while on a walk at sunset last week with the words of Dorothea Mackellar ringing in my ears "I love a Sunburnt Country. A land of sweeping plains.....". *

However, this was the view this morning. The smell of smoke thick in the air and covering us like a blanket. 

As you have probably seen on the news, Mother Nature unleashed her fury on our little Island State these last couple of days. Last Thursday we experienced the hottest day on record with temperatures soaring to 41.8 degrees. As fate would have it, the wind was ferocious that day which caused several Bushfires to rage out of control across the state.

Our property was very close to being threatened with a Bushfire in our local village of Richmond breaking out just down the road. This is the view from our hill shortly after the fire broke out. 

I received a call from a friend who lives closer to Richmond saying she was coming over to our place as she could see smoke on the hill across the road from her. I looked out the window and could see a bit of smoke so jumped on the internet to get an update from the Fire Service. There was an "Advice" but no serious alert.

My friend arrived and it wasn't long before an Emergency Warning Advice was issued and all residents from Richmond were evacuated. We were OK to stay where we were for the time being but started getting things in place. These Bushfires are terrifying in their speed and unpredictability. You can see in the picture above how windy it was with the grass and smoke leaning a fair way over to the right. If the wind had changed direction at any moment we would have been in serious trouble.

Shortly after, I look out of the Kitchen window and see another Bushfire resembling an atomic bomb erupt across the river in Forcett.

This one spread so rapidly and we were surprised to receive an Emergency Warning by text message from The Tasmanian Fire Service the following day. There was a fair distance as well as a large body of water between us and the Fire but all we could do was keep an eye on the internet for updates. 

We went up to the top of the hill and watched. The following 3 photos were taken at 7.30pm on Friday 4th of January 2013.

It wasn't until the following morning that we heard of the horror that had taken place overnight - thousands of people evacuated, over 100 homes and buildings destroyed and now the grim task of accounting for the missing. Totally devastating. The Fires, while mostly contained, are still burning and it can take some time for authorities to get in to affected areas to assess the loss and damage. Our thoughts and prayers are with all those affected.

Mel x

PS. Thank you so much for your e-mails and other messages of concern about our safety over the last few days. Really appreciate it.

* "My Country", Dorothea Mackellar 1908

Overdue

Hello lovely Blog friends. 

How is your Wednesday going?

I'm still here. 

Still waiting.

Overdue.

Still a Mum of 4.

Taking things slow.

Enjoying long walks around the farm.

Embracing the calm.

Watching the echidna cross the driveway.

Marvelling at all the Ants crawling over its back.

Walking up to the top of our hill after dinner with my Love when the kids are in bed. 

Admiring the view.

Wondering whether we will have a Spring or Summer Baby.

Hoping everything is OK.

Getting very uncomfortable.

Almost cried when I dropped the soap in the shower.

Can't sleep.

Distracting myself with some monotonous crochet*.

Doing a bit of preparatory reading. 

Dusting off the only birth book I have after 8 years and reminiscing about life before Kids and being a couple with just a Whippet puppy who had a fetish for chewing book spines (or a dislike for the impending new additions?). Poor Remy Boy.

So any day now.....

We are so excited and ready to meet you Baby.

Hope you are ready for us!

Anyone want to play the gender guessing game?

Any tips on how to spend these last days?

Mel x

* I decided to make the Kids little crochet gifts from the Baby and the overwhelming request was for Minecraft characters. Minecraft is a game. This is the Creeper. I had to google what a Creeper was and found this pattern.  I created a bit of a stir after posting my Creeper on Facebook yesterday. Apparently it resembles an appendage of the male anatomy. Totally didn't see that in my 40+ week pregnant state! But just in case you did, I included an image of the real Creeper in this Post :-)

Happy Corners

Sometimes I amaze myself with my ability to put up with minor frustrations when there is a perfectly simple solution to a problem. 

Every member of our family seems to be cursed with the inability to put the cordless telephone back on the charge. There is nothing more frustrating than the phone ringing and not being able to locate the handset. It drives me bonkers. And in the odd occasion that I am able to locate the handset before the ringing has stopped, there is a brief exchange before being systematically cut-off from the caller due to the fact the handset has run out of batteries because it has been left off the charge for too long. At this point my blood pressure flies off the charts and I start getting snappy with the Whippet, even though I know he didn't touch the handset and it was most likely me who left it in the bottom of the laundry basket.

While I'm on a little rant over the phone issue, the other issue we seem to have is the never-ending pile of stuff that sits permanently at the end of the bench. No matter how clean and tidy the kitchen is, there is always an accumulation of cords, devices, odd and ends, stuff and things that remains right at the very end.  So today I found a solution to the phantom telephone and end-of-bench clutter and tried to turn this sad sad corner into a happy happy corner.

Note the absence of telephone on the charge!

This is the gorgeous Tasmanian Oak side table I found at the tip last week. The top was in pretty shabby condition but it's really beautifully made and just needed a sand and varnish. My dad makes lovely fine furniture and I really struggle buying new things when there are so many abandoned pieces that would have been made with the love and care that my dad would have given a piece and that you just don't get with the mass produced furniture. 

Here it is all finished and sitting happily in the corner.  I ditched the cordless phone and replaced it with this old telephone that will never let me down. I can not tell you the joy I feel knowing that if the phone rings there is a 100% probability that I will be able to find it. Why on earth didn't I do this sooner! There is a little nook for my wool basket and some books and magazines and not a cord in sight! 

I picked up these two cute little pots from the op shop for $3 each and the vase on the right is one of Grandpa's pottery pieces, filled with some Jasmine from the garden.

The clutter from the bench has gone and the sad sad corner is looking much happier. 

Now there is a sunny spot where I can sit and have a natter on the phone or look at the view or do some granny squares. If you were to come over, you could sit in the chair and put your feet up while I make you a cup of tea. You may have to fight the Whippet for the spot though :-)