bathroom inspo

what a freaking nightmare. on our list of to-do's for our house is to completely redo both our bathrooms. the kids one has always smelt slightly musty since we moved in, but smelt wet in the winter months, even when we were not using it. we had a plumber come in and look at the two (as our ensuite has leaked through to the wall behind in the past also) only to find that the two of them were not sealed correctly during the build and are leaking into the rest of the bathroom and house surrounding them.

oh great. 

however, (here enters jade the eternal optimist) when we bought the house, the only things that i did not like were in fact the bathrooms and the laundry. just not to my taste at all. so, this gives us a chance to make them something we are happy with! i was totally convinced that i wanted white and grey, but after doing some googling/pinteresting over the last week or so, i am obsessed with green! dark green/white/copper pipes are totally singing to me. now just to get the husband on board. 

here's some of the pics i have for inspiration, which i am posting here, so that when we decide on what we are doing and actually finish it, i can look back and see if it's anything like what i currently have in mind!

little changes for a (possible) big change

we've been toying with the thought of buying a bigger house, with a granny flat so that doug's mum could live with us, so we've spoken to a broker - and in the meantime started doing things around the house to make sure that if we decide to go ahead, it's ready to sell. i thought the list would be soooo long, but when it was all written down it wasn't long at all and consisted of some rather random things like:

-new dishwasher (current one doesn't work simply because it has a broken pipe and we can't repair it grrr)

-putty and paint holes from curtains in kids bedrooms (it's about time considering the plantation shutters have been in for a couple of years now)

-have garage door serviced (cause it's noisy as all heck)

-new locks on the doors (current ones are breaking and super hard to open)

-new plants out front (cause the old bushes were half dead and ugly - see photo below)

so little changes are being made, bit by bit... ticking things off my "to do" list gives me such a sense of accomplishment, especially when they are things we can do ourselves.

for example. the side gates are openable for the first time in years after doug discovered he had a pair of boltcutters and got busy with the wd-40. look at that! alex is so excited about it and keeps running down the side of the house in the hopes that he can go and play out the front, but i have to be careful because he also loves to run on the damn road. yikes. 

 

my friend pippa that works at bunnings made the suggestion of rosemary to replace the bushes in the planter out front and i love them! i have always been a huge fan of rosemary. it must be all those years in the funeral home, it's traditional to have it at funerals. rosemary is for remembrance as it leaves a scent on your hands after you've touched it, that help to remind you of things, so much so that you'll often see it growing around post offices. there's your useless fact for the day.

two of the bushes were salvageable and are now in our backyard where we had gaps and look much better. i just don't think they liked that front spot.

**update late may**

after careful deliberation as a family and financially... we have decided to stay put for now, but we are still very much working through our to do list and it's going well. hoping to have it all done by mid year! i would be so stoked.

a pretty hot night!

there is nothing better than an epic fire... and the bonfires at my parents house in clackline are famous! the build them up until they are so big it's ridiculous and then light them up with family and friends around to share the fun.

(mums helpful path from the house to the paddock)

this one over the weekend was no exception... there was a stack of us on hand to watch as dad tipped a bunch of petrol around the perimeter (goodlet's love fire and explosions... i swear it runs in our blood!) then threw a match in and ran off! it went up like nothing i've ever seen before and between grace cackling and maddie screaming... it was certainly a sight to behold.

burning in full force

sitting with my love enjoying the raging heat

of course the fires are always so huge that there is no way you can get anywhere near them to toast marshmallows, so our crew of kids scrambled around collecting their own little stack of firewood to make their own fire, which after a little while was successful enough to start toasting. so cute! i love our little people!

especially this one... look at his swollen little cheeks full of marshmallows. he looks good enough to eat!

of course a party in clackers wouldn't be complete without the bestie... it was a great night!

boxing day

boxing day was spent at my parents house... my very favourite place to be. sure, growing up in clackline can't compete with growing up in the big city, but we made our own fun - and had the best time. and now, even as an adult with children of my own, going to clackline feels like going home. the wide open road with bush either side that stretches forever and the dirt roads, the kangaroos... and their house, my childhood home, that holds the very best memories i possess.

as you would have seen from my posts over the years, i love nativity sets... and this is the first one i remember... my mothers one. taking it out of it's black tin and taking it out of the tissue paper to set it up each year was my favourite thing - and definitely began my obsession. 

cooking and fun with my niece laura ♥

and maddie with her favourite cousin emma ♥

my two favourite babes. i love these kids!

i know people might not be a fan of the country, but for me it will always be home. i don't know how anyone could not love this view. the end of the day in clackline... it was a very merry boxing day and -

home is wherever i'm with mum ♥

plantation shutters

we had these babies fitted to the three back bedrooms yesterday and i am in love! i am so so happy with them!! we were lucky enough to buy a house that had been completely decked out with norman style plantation shutters throughout, with the exception of the three back bedrooms. they had some basic curtains which over the past 22 months we've been here had quickly died, even to the point that you couldn't even open and shut the ones in the kids rooms... and that was without them even touching them! 

i am so thrilled, they just look so tidy and really complete the rooms... but most of all, i am bummed i didn't take a picture of the rooms before they were fitted, the before and after was amazing!

worth every cent! ♥

the "joys" of home ownership

i remember when we lived in a rental and when there was an issue, we would contact the real estate and they would come and fix it. gone are those days... welcome to the wonderful world of home ownership! a few months ago, one of the kids dropped something behind one of the couches in our theatre room and couldn't get it out, so i got behind there to find it and what did i find? the wallpaper peeling off the wall because water was seeping through from the shower in our ensuite. insert big sad face here. long story short: the insurance company wouldn't pay out a cent because the waterproofing was found by the assessor to have not been done properly... the builder came and looked and said sorry your 6 years of new home warranty is out, but just for your information, we wouldn't have covered that anyway... and we were at a dead end. the wall in the theatre room will have to dry out for months before we can repair it, (thank goodness you can't tell whatsoever!!) and the shower had to be completely regrouted. (please imagine our money flying out the window here) 

ugh. at least it looks good and cost me less than $600, i was honestly picturing $1000+ here. but. to add to my joy, while he was here, our drying stopped working. it's pouring outside, i have no way to dry my clothes and bye bye dryer. $99 later... we have a repairman coming tomorrow to have a look. fingers crossed that's all for now, i don't think my credit card can take much more! :(