Come on in!

....and take a look around our new home.

Our front entrance.  

We raised the ceilings to 2590mm throughout and it's raised to about 2800mm in the entrance. 

Looking back at front door.  The strip of carpet is there only while it's still grubby outside.  Need some art on the wall and some downlights.

Dining and Living Rooms

I love my sunburst mirror

Kitchen

Our Kitchenaid which is responsible for the splashes of red throughout the house

True colour of splashback

Walk-in-pantry. 

There's shelving on the left as well which is where we keep our microwave & toaster.  Very hard to photograph in such a small space.

Family Room.  You might notice the blind hanging a little awkwardly? Because the window was so wide, the fabric with it's natural fall didn't span that distance so they had to "rail-road" it which simply means hang it the other way.  Unfortunately it therefore it doesn't hang as perfectly as it otherwise would however it's not quite as obvious in real life when a camera flash isn't high-lighting it's imperfections.  Oh and they (Abbey Blinds) accidentally hung block out blinds in all these rooms instead of sheer blinds so I'm hoping it will be less obvious again in a lighter fabric.

Main bathroom

Main bedroom.  Looking a little plain at the moment.  I have a few things in mind though.

Our ensuite

My son's bedroom

Still a little plain at the moment as I couldn't find another decal I really liked until recently...

 

However I bought this one a few days ago from this shop on Etsy.  The tree is just under 2m tall so should fill the wall nicely.  It's particularly suitable for my mischevious, climbing little charmer.

 

Love these little guys.  So does he apparently as they end up in his bed each night.

My other son's bedroom

Oops, just noticed his name is crooked.

Loving his feature wall!  He loves Space and Planets so it only seemed fitting.  I've had the decal for months after seeing it on a friend's son's wall (hi Lisa).  It's from My Munchkin Home.  Oh and if you think it looks a bit sparse on the left, that's where the door usually sits open and my son requested the small, medium & large star combo thingo going on if you think it looks a bit odd like 'B' did.

Here we have the playroom / guest room.  Though it's got a whole lot more of a playroom thing going on.  It's such a great room with one whole wall with wardrobe space and french doors that open up to the backyard.

So there you go, that's our home as it currently stands.  Still need to hang a few pictures and do all our lighting and that's on top of the landscaping so it will be a work in progress for some time yet.  Loving every minute though!

 

What I got up to over the weekend!

I made a Kid's Art Gallery!  Ta da!! 

Well technically, I just hung the frames and the kids took care of the "art".  It only cost $29.30 too thanks to the colourful Ikea frames!

It's positioned between each of the boy's bedrooms in the hallway and it makes us all smile when we see it.  Especially Mini Picasso and Tiny Van Gogh.

Here's how I did it... 

I worked out what pattern I wanted the frames in on the floor.  I tried a few different ways but soon realised I prefer a more orderly pattern / shape. 

Then I cut out the shapes of each frame & put them on the wall.

I had already measured and drawn a spot on each paper so I knew where to put the hook.

Then I hung the frames up & pulled the paper down from behind.

And lastly I filled the frames with masterpieces.  I used a little blu-tak on the bottom of each frame at the back to keep them from going crooked.

And here's the photo I've had in my "inspiration" folder for aaaaages and from which  I drew my inspiration from.... Unfortunately I don't recall whose photo it is.



  

Mood Boards

For MONTHS I have been trying to picture in my mind how "this" rug would go with "those" cushions or what colour I should paint my thrifty lamp so it doesn't clash with everything else but be a nice feature all the same (yep, all the important things in life) and it's been HARD!

I'd heard of Mood Boards and even fell in love with this one from YHL a while back but I'm just not clever enough in photoshop to make one myself.

Then the other morning I read on YHL about Polyvore and Mydeco where you can easily create your own mood boards for free.  I signed up to both to check them out but particularly love polyvore!

Polyvore is an America based site and has links to many of the American homeware stores which I personally think have much nicer things than you can find here (online anyway) however I discovered you can also upload any item you find on the net as well.

And here's my very first effort.  I won't even tell you how long it took me, let's just call it a labour of love!

Family Room Mood Board by karry327 on Polyvore.com

Firstly, I had to work with our existing chocolate coloured lounged. And if you're wondering, that tan thing under the rug is an idea of floor board colour.  My main colour palette is quite neutral, layered with chocolate browns, tans and ivory.  I'm trying to balance out our darker furniture with some lighter textiles.  For colour I've decided to add splashes of red and other smaller pops of colour.  My inspiration is the cushion.  I really love the colours in it and thought it tied everything in together.

Please be kind, it's my first effort but I definitely recommend giving polyvore a go!  It's so nice to see everything all together.  Later I'll show you what I was planning on doing and it so didn't work as nicely as I had pictured in my mind.  

I think I'm hooked!

Plush woolly goodness

I've been keeping an eye out for a floor rug for a little while now.  I wanted something big and comfy for the family room and originally I was looking for colour - something with duck egg blue in it perhaps - but that was next to impossible to find.  When I realised that I went back to my original idea of a white shag rug.

Now I know what you're thinking....white (or ivory as it happens) probably isn't the best colour for a house full of boys but I actually think the texture will help to disguise "every day living" and I also think spot cleaning will work better with a lighter colour (no concerns about fading).  

I found this gorgeous 280 cm x 190 cm shag rug on Grays Online.  It's hand knotted, thick felted wool with a soft 2.5cm pile and I can't wait to sink my toes into it!  

The ivory will also help to balance out some of our darker furniture and the texture will help to add layers to the room and a bit of softness.

Check out the plushy goodness!

This lovely new addition to our home cost $490.  At first I wasn't sure how the price stacked up but after a bit of research I found for pure wool shag rugs of this size you were quite often looking closer to the $900 plus mark.  

I was tossing up between this one and another one that looked so similar but the other was made from polypropylene and even though it was $200 cheaper, the safer natural woollen rug won out in the end.

Inspiration For Boy's Bedrooms

Decorating boys bedrooms can be a little hard I reckon.  Harder than girls rooms anyway.  Everywhere I turn I see beautiful, pretty things for girls.

So this post is dedicated to inspiring boys bedrooms and ideas - little boys in particular - just like my 2 little monkeys!  No girls allowed :P

I'll let the pictures do the talking but I will say I don't dig skulls & crossbones, licensed items and going overboard with any one particular theme (which I must admit I find hard not to do).

I love how simple yet sophisticated this room is with gorgeous pops of red!

http://www.nameyourdesign.com/

Now this is a bedroom I love! So great for a boy of all ages

http://jackandizzy.blogspot.com/2010/03/jacks-big-boy-room.html

I know this is a Nursery but I LOVE the colours, the strips / circles, light - everything!  And how easy to make this a big boy's bedroom once the cot and change table are no longer needed!

http://www.freshchickdesigns.com/

How's this fabulous lego headboard!

http://www.anitaroll.blogspot.com/

Love the stripy ceiling and tying it in by painting the same green on the back of book case

http://www.decordemon.com/

I don't actually know which bedroom I love best but they've all given me loads of ideas!