Off the back of a truck

We found this beauty at the side of the road during what was probably the last ever inorganic collection. It's in the shed for now but we have plans to use it as an entertainment centre once the rumpus room is fully fitted out...

Christmas Cases

Winter always seems a good time to start thinking about Christmas, even though it's six months away. The colder, darker, wetter months are much better for creativity and crafting than those long, hot days when you need a sea breeze in your hair not scissors in your hands.

So I've started work on a fancy dress set for our daughter. I took two suitcases - snaffled during an inorganic collection a few years ago - and tidied them up with some green washi tape. Next, I added stickers to the outside to make them look even better-travelled.

The two suitcases will have different themes - one will be a dressing up box - jewellry, scarves, handbags, ties etc - and the other will contain fantasy costumes - a dinosaur, wild beasts, a clown etc. I've picked up quite a few bits and pieces at thrift shops and dollar shops already. Now I need to pick up a needle and thread and start work on the costumes that I want to create myself. Wish me luck!

Vintage Wallpaper

I still regret the loss of the hedgerow wallpaper that coated our house just before we bought it and couldn't resist snapping this vintage wallpaper in the cafe at the Corban Estate Arts Centre recently.

Remember this?

Does this play kitchen look familiar to you at all? 

Yep - that's right! It's the old vanity unit from the original bathroom suite that's found a new lease of life after being ripped out during our renovations. It makes a pretty fine kitchen, doesn't it? 

Bathtime Beauties

We claimed one of the seven bathrooms to create a new family bathroom - a vast improvement on the old shower cubicle at the top of the stairs, not least because it has a view of the garden. 

 We've tried to keep some of the old features though - like the classic kiwi Feltonmix shower, though the new one is not quite as bold as the original.

Nesting

There are two children's room along the landing from the master bedroom. One occupied, and one not quite yet.

My favourite feature of these rooms has to be the curtains though the lampshades are pretty cool too - not that I thought that when I was growing up with them.

Holiday at Home

I've had complaints that our bedroom looks too much like a hotel room. It must be the first time since leaving home that I've occupied such an immaculate space! We've put some pictures up since these photos were taken though so it's looking a little more homely now.

This room has probably changed least - it's just the furnishings that look different. However, we now boast a walk-in wardrobe and an en suite bathroom which are a little different to the bathroom that we endured before the building work started.

 

Can you work out which is before and which is after? And have you spotted our old floral carpet in the wardrobe? Oddly, we've grown quite partial to it and couldn't bear to part with all of it.

Welcome

And welcome to the main house...

I was delighted to be able to give our junk store dresser pride of place in the front hall - it sets the tone straight away!

 

The stairs have been straightened up and some of the space under the stairs reclaimed from the laundry to make larger storage cupboards. We now have a stationery cupboard and a boot room - some of my favourite parts of the project, of course.

I gave up waiting for the laundry room to be tidy and free of washing so here it is looking functional. The best bit has to be the rack which hangs from the ceiling. I can hardly believe that washing actually dries quicker just those few feet higher.

And finally, here's the stairs with the bannisters in place. It's a shame we couldn't get stair gates to match but you can't have everything.

Downstairs

Some of you will have seen photos of the granny flat before. Back then, there was no door on the bathroom, no light fittings and definitely no library corner.

But now I've spent many happy hours arranging our travel books and my fiction on the shelves and it's looking rather tempting.

 

There are bedside tables in the bedroom and light fittings all round. 

And not only is there a bathroom door - there's also a great 1960s lock. 

So what are you waiting for? Book your tickets today!

Beginner Baking 16

My year of baking will soon be drawing to a close so I thought it was about time that I tackled two demons - the food processor and chocolate brownies.

Whilst the chocolate brownies had been haunting me because of a fear of failure, I consider food processors to be cheating. My granny didn't learn to bake using a food processor.

However, Hugh made it quite clear in this recipe for River Cottage chocolate brownies that I was not likely to succeed if I didn't take the mixing very seriously indeed. So out came Pamela's Kenwood mixer.

Somehow my sleep-deprived brain managed to put the mixer together and turn it on. I added the eggs and sugar and it whirred away until the two ingredients were well and truly blended and fluffed up.

Thankfully, my first attempts at using the mixer and making brownies were both successful. The brownies weren't the most attractive offering but they certainly tasted good - lovely and fudgy. Mmm...

I only just managed to get a quick snap of the last brownie before it was gobbled down (by me). Here it is on one of my latest garage sale finds - a plate from a mustard yellow-patterned Kelston Ceramics dinner service.

Good enough to eat

I had a disappointing thrifting experience last week. I visited one of the new-style Hospice Shops in a smart-ish mall. The shop was clean and fresh but that only made the merchandise look shabby and overpriced by comparison. So this week I visited an older, more rundown Hospice Shop and re-discovered the thrill of the hunt for thrifted treasure.

And I found some treasure. An apple sauce pot that looks like an apple. To add to our growing collection of fruit- and vegetable-themed pottery. Here it is with some of the apples off our tree. Can you tell which one it is?

Desk Job

I had the enjoyable task of setting up my corner of the rumpus room last week. The cornerpiece of the arrangement is an old desk that I found in a junk shop a few years ago. I was tempted by the large surface area which will be ideal for sewing and crafts and by its solidity.

It's a bit shabby round the edges but I love all the clues to its former life - the labels on the drawers ("insurance notifications") and the stamps and scribbles inside the drawers. Intriguingly the drawers only go halfway into the desk and there are secret, locked cabinets at the back. The builders put the desk in place before I had chance to explore the secret compartments but one day I'll take a hairpin to the locks and find the treasures inside.

Turning the Tables

I've been hunting down bargains on TradeMe again. This time I've secured a cupboard for the laundry and four handmade rimu stools - two are now functioning as coffee tables in the living room whilst the other two have become bedside tables in the granny flat. And for less than $100 for the five pieces - two great bargains!





So far, I've succeeded in securing all additional furniture that we've needed for the house from the secondhand market. We've saved money, given good pieces a good home and kept close to our 1960s theme. I'm feeling pretty pleased with myself as a result! I'm no nearer to finding a good sideboard at a reasonable price though. Watch this space.

Safekeeping

J has recently extended his collection of pottery which looks like fruit and vegetables to include containers which look like the food that they are intended to contain.

Witness the lemon-keeper and the garlic-keeper:



Next we need a chilli-keeper and a ginger-keeper.

Shots of Suburbia 2

Pottering About

When I took the truck in for repairs recently, I found the Salvation Army opshop next door to the garage. On browsing through their stock, I was delighted to find a vinegar jug - just what we need for the nights when we have fish and chips.



I didn't really need the other jugs but think they'll come in handy.

And I've definitely felt the lack of a platter.



I need to decide on a theme for our house though before I get tempted with too many other things. As you can see, I'm quite partial to earthy colours and designs. But I've picked up a few bright pieces as well. Decision time...

Wacky Wallpaper

Readers will be relieved to know that I've limited the patterns to the curtains - no crazy wallpaper like this orange design that I found in the cupboard at the bach where we stayed recently.

Soft Furnishings and Hard Decisions

So we thought that we had the colour scheme sorted for the outside of the house. It turned out that we didn't.

The original fibrolite and concrete block was painted a lovely green-brown which blended with the surrounding land. We wanted to recreate that with the weatherboards but found out rather late that the warranty on the weatherboards would be invalidated if we chose a paint with a light reflective value (LRV) below 45.

We went back to the drawing board and eventually selected Resene Half Hillary, with an LRV just over 45. Apparently it's "a genteel well mannered ochre, a green and beige blend".

It seems apt given that Sir Edmund Hillary's house looked rather like ours anyway and I think we'll get used to it being so light.


The next hard decision was the curtains. We started looking at curtains only for the bedrooms where we'll need to block out the light when we move back in. We quickly realised that we needed to look at the other rooms too in order to develop a consistent theme. So we added in the living rooms in the main house and the granny flat.

The first fabrics that I picked out were all far too expensive and all of them needed to be imported from Europe with a delay of several months. I have a taste for the finer things in life obviously.

I started again and this is what we came up with - Free Range for Lark's bedroom and the other children's room (looking ahead), Urbis in Lime and Natural for the granny flat (one granny vetoed some more eccentric fabrics!) and Gloria and Fragrance respectively for the master bedroom and living room upstairs.



The bold patterns should give a hint of 1960s design without being overbearing. I still have the windows in the rumpus room and on the stairs to play with and might look for even more of a statement there.

And we need to decide whether to put blinds or curtains or nothing at all in the bathrooms. It all depends on how well our new neighbours can see the house...

TradeMe Treasure

I found these lovely shelves on TradeMe recently - just the thing for keeping the 1960s feel in our house.



And perfect for displaying a few more of my op-shop finds - a lovely little succulent with a lime green bowl, a cute teacup which is calling out for a tiny potted cactus, and, best of all, a pumpkin pot.



This pumpkin pot will join our endive cruet set, grape and rosebud teapots, red apple salt and pepper shaker, pineapple sugar bowl and avocado bowls. Have you spotted the theme yet?

Signs of Life

Whilst we've been living in the house over the last few years, we've found several traces of former residents.

From the stickers on the back of the bedroom doors to the patterned wallpaper in the back of the wardrobes...

...to the graffitied names of children on the wardrobe shelves in their best joined-up handwriting...



...and the scratches from the family dog on the back of the door...


No doubt we'll put our own marks on the place when we move back in at Christmas.