The Evolution Of A Family Garden

When we bought and moved into our house eight and half years ago, the garden was already well established and the lawn lush and perfectly kept.  And while it was neat and tidy and visually pleasing, gradually, changes were made here and there to make it more us.  As we pulled out shrubs past their used-by date, straggly day-lilies and overgrown daisies, we began to have more of an idea of our vision. Old woody roses gave way to Double Delight and Iceberg varieties.  A mish-mash of cottage style plants was replaced by a row of ornamental plums, lavender bushes and a Poinciana tree.  An abundant but awkwardly placed herb garden was relocated and an adjacent sandy patch of yard turned into a sweet little vegetable plot.  

For the past few years, there's been much waiting... waiting for things we'd planted to take off and to fill in gaps... to grow so that they looked as though they had been there all along... to look like what we'd envisaged from day one. Finally, after several years, lots of planning and much hard work, we're feeling closer to that point.  As I hang out washing, I smile at the Cottonwood Hibiscus bushes which in under a year, are already peeking over our fence.  While I am sipping a cup of tea at the kitchen table, I look proudly out the window at our lemon tree, the branches of which are currently weighed down with an abundance of fruit. I pull into our driveway greeted by a show of pink roses, with blooms bigger and brighter than any year to date.

Gradually, as well as changing visually, our garden has evolved to suit not only our taste, but also our needs. Nowadays, with two little ones running around, it has come to feel like another 'room' in our house. It is where sandcastles are built and 'cakes' are baked in the sand patch... where fairy gardens are tended to and imaginations run wild... where Asha is cuddled and shown affection.  I love that I find garden gnomes hidden among the lettuce leaves in the vegetable patch and flowers poked optimistically into bare patches of earth in the hope they will grow. Paths are covered in chalk drawings. Balls and gumboots and watering cans lie on the lawn.

Our garden looks not only more established, but 'lived in' and enjoyed and much more like a family garden...

Sophie's Nursery And Farewelling Babyhood

At each stage of babyhood, there have been so many 'lasts' that I've found so very sad... so many moments and memories I've found myself desperately wishing I could freeze and hold onto forever.  When Sophie moved from her bassinette in our bedroom to her own cot at six months, I was devastated.  Ten months later, I felt tears pricking my eyes as I watched her cot leave our house, the same cot that Grace slept in and whose rail she gnawed bite marks into during one particular episode of teething. The same cot I spent many a night sitting beside, patting my girls to sleep and comforting them.  The same cot which I stared at many times during my pregnancies, dreaming of the babies we were yet to meet.

Farewelling that cot seemed so final, a sign that babyhood was well and truly over... and so it was that at sixteen months, our little one began sleeping in her toddler bed.

Slowly, since that day five months ago, Sophie's nursery has been morphing into a toddler room.  The once relatively bare, simple layout and decor beginning to take shape and growing alongside our little girl, coming to life in an effort to match her little character.  One of the blessings of keeping this blog is having a record of our family and our home and so today, I want to freeze time just once and capture Sophie's nursery in its current state before it too becomes a thing of the past and is made-over into a 'big girls' room'...

Sophie's nursery back when she had a cot

I love that Sophie's room (like Grace's) is filled with touches I've crafted with my own hands such as the owl cross-stitch above (Grace has an identical one in blue), cushions, pillowcases and basket liners.  I love that it has pieces from my own childhood (such as the pale pink bed cover) as well as from our family history (the green bunny on Sophie's shelf was a gift of my own Dad's when he was born.

The empty spot on the top shelf above is where I'm hoping to put a clock from my own childhood bedroom... 

I just need to re-claim it from my Mum's house...

With only three months until our little poppet turns two, I'm almost ready to begin sewing a patchwork quilt - a bed cover of pretty fabrics in mint and aqua green, pale pink and grey with touches of red and yellow. Come summer when she moves into a 'big girl's bed', I'm hoping it will be complete.

Other 'toddler touches' are slowly creeping into Sophie's room too, the latest being an adorable wooden doll house (an early birthday present) which Sophie has been playing with every single day recently. Low shelving or a small bookcase beneath the window which I can deck out 'Montessori style' with Sophie's favourite toys and knick knacks is also on the cards and will see me farewelling another well used piece of nursery furniture... the feeding chair...

I guess that's what decorating a house is all about though... nothing will ever stay exactly the same forever as the people living within its walls grow and change... and so as sad as it has been saying goodbye to many much loved baby pieces, I know deep down that in doing so, our house is becoming more of a home and that the chapters of toddler hood and childhood ahead of us will be filled with just as many memories and moments to cherish just as precious as the baby ones we've farewelled.

Our Simply Styled Ensuite

I was chatting recently to a friend about how the one thing that bothers me with our house is how 'unfinished' it is... how after eight years, walls waiting for artwork to be hung on them, shelves and sideboards in need of styling and chairs begging for new vibrant cushions all frustrate me.  All those little bits and bobs that make a house a home really.  And while we've come a long way with renovations and furniture, it's these little touches that I'm eager to add to our place, the pieces that tell a story... our story.

I do realise that decorating a home with such authenticity and with meaningful pieces doesn't happen overnight, as it's all of a family's experiences, travels and memories over time that will add character to any dwelling.  I also realise that the process of decorating a home is an ongoing one with tastes and needs constantly changing.  So, taking my friend's advice, I've decided not to focus on all that is yet to be completed, but to instead be happy with all that HAS been achieved, all the rooms that look 'lived in' and all the parts of our home that make me smile.

Aside from needing new curtains, our lounge room is fairly cosy, Grace's room is definitely well decorated and Sophie's nursery is finished (although about to gradually go through a transformation into more of a toddler room).  I can also say I'm happy with our ensuite...

Being such a small space (so small that taking any decent photographs to share with you all was near on impossible), my plan was to keep things fairly simple and uncluttered and neutral coloured.  I made a soft, billowy curtain out of some sheer material to hide the ugly security screen, changed our towels from blue to ones in a latte shade and have kept the top of our vanity as clear as possible.  As for artwork, I initially intended to go with a larger piece in black and white, until I came across an old painting packed away in a box which we'd bought from The Rocks Markets on one visit to Sydney.  It's a small piece, but somehow, it's enough size-wise and its pop of green adds just enough colour to the room.  I also keep a vase of greenery filled with lilly-pilly branches from our garden.

Do you have parts of your home that are still 'unfinished'?  Or do you have one of those 'lived in homes' that I'm desperate to achieve?

Three Things To Share

Coughs and colds have finally cleared up here so we've had a happier few days this week. However, aside from two much healthier girls, a few other things have added some sunshine to my days...

With the temperature dropping dramatically from the late afternoon onwards around these parts, leaving the warmth of our living room heater for the colder end of the house has been less than appealing come bedtime... until I bought a new set of sheets. After one set of duds that remained like cardboard after numerous washes and softening remedies, I've learnt that quality when it comes to bed linen is a must. Our new taupe coloured sheets are a cotton bamboo blend with a thread count of 600. They are SO luxuriously soft and cosy and in my opinion, guaranteed to contribute to a decent night's sleep...

A cancelled play date yesterday gave Sophie and I the chance to run a few errands, one of which was to pick up another one of the Ikou candles I bought back at the start of the year.  I've since decided these are the only candles for me.  They are high quality, burning right to the edge of the candle wall, 100% natural and their scent is strong enough to leave our whole living area smelling heavenly.

Equally lovely is my pretty vintage saucer on which my candle sits... a gift from a dear friend, I was devastated when the teacup broke.  However, the saucer has now become my 'candle plate' where I can still admire its sweet pattern and enjoy it day in and day out from our kitchen bench top where it has a permanent position.

And finally, I couldn't not include a photo of our 'currently in full bloom camellia' in this post... the definite show piece of our backyard come winter.  With our frangipanis due to lose their leaves very soon leaving our garden looking rather bare, this beauty adds a much needed burst of colour between all the greenery.

Wishing you all a wonderful end to the week...

Bringing A Room To Life Through Art

Any progress in our house when it comes to decorating or renovating is always painfully slow.  Firstly, I am the world's biggest procrastinator and my perfectionist tendencies often work against me when it comes to making design decisions.  Secondly, any shopping is always done with my girls in tow and nothing makes browsing for homewares more difficult than a strong-willed toddler who detests being confined to a stroller.  However this week, a new piece finally found its way into our home...

Whilst we were in Fremantle having an anniversary lunch and collecting a print which was waiting to be picked up from the framers, a gorgeous painting caught our eye and is now hanging above our 'fireplace'.  I'm not usually drawn to bright colours and this piece is not what I had originally pictured for this space.  However, the longer this painting has been in its new position, the more it has felt 'right' for this room... a room which had been looking rather dull and uninspiring and in definite need of a lift.  It is an original acrylic on canvas titled 'A Stroll In Fremantle' by artist Anna De Jager.

I love that it depicts an every day scene in an every day Perth suburb.  I love the way your line of sight is drawn down the road in the painting as you walk along our hallway.  And I love the life and vibrancy that it brings to our living area.

So now, slowly slowly, as with any progress around these parts, I will look for ways to make the rest of our living area flourish and to complement our latest purchase.  This room is the centre of our home and I want it to feel warm and comfortable for both us and the girls. Now I need to look for ways to make that happen and to have the patience to accept that those 'perfect pieces' that are the right fit for both our home and for our family will find their way to us eventually... it just may take a little bit of time.

Homely Snippets

A few homely snippets from these parts today…

 

Over the past few weeks, as part of my night-time wind-down ritual, I've been reading a chapter or two from my current book of the moment 'The Happiness Project'.  However, there's also a stack of books currently piled up on my bedside table which I'm desperate to delve into.  Some were much loved Christmas gifts, others are titles I've recently treated myself to.  I'm trying hard to read them slowly one by one and to take in all that each has to offer, free from distractions.  I think it might be time though to mix things up with a fiction book perhaps...

 

 

As part of my ‘leave no stone unturned’ de-cluttering and sorting frenzy, I whipped up some visual labels for the girls' toy storage crates today.  Labelling things neatly makes me feel so organized and is one of the aspects I loved about having my own classroom back when I was teaching.  Sophie and Grace both have some toys stored like this at the bottom of their wardrobes which I drag out and rotate often. 

 

The throw draped over my lounge above is the cosy and ever-so-soft one I’ve ordered from Wallace Cotton… my friend lent me hers so I could see if the colour was suitable before I ordered my own.  I can’t wait to snuggle under it as the cooler autumn weather approaches. 

 

Yesterday I let Grace loose with some paint and asked her to cover a page in flowers for us to use as wrapping paper for our baby cousin’s first birthday this coming weekend.  It will look amazing when we package it, although part of me wants to keep this painting for myself now… maybe we'll have to drag out those paintbrushes again tomorrow when Grace has a non-kindy day...
 

Our Autumn Garden

Here in Perth over the last week or so, it’s really begun to feel like autumn.  Crisp mornings, sunny days, the odd shower and cooler evenings have all been welcomed in this household.  I love that it’s cool enough to put on slippers and cosier pyjamas, but warm enough during the day to spend time outdoors in the sunshine.

With the arrival of the slightly colder weather, we finally got back into the garden over the weekend.  Paul is always out in the yard over the weekend mowing the lawn or weeding, but this is the first time in months we’ve done any actual planting.  The girls and I headed to Bunnings on Friday and bought a whole bundle of flowers to add some colour around the place and with the assistance of my gardening helper Grace, we managed to get them all in before a good downpour that night.  On Sunday, we went and got some more flowers as well as some seedlings to start off our vegetable patch again.  Our previous crop of vegetables got fried during the long heatwaves Perth experienced over summer but we are now growing some cherry tomatoes, beans, pak choi, lettuce and baby spinach with some seeds of chicory, beetroot and spring onions still to be planted.

Our garden is one of the parts of our home that has really changed over the years.  We’ve invested a lot of time and money into changing things to suit our taste.  However, changing things in the garden requires a great deal of patience as lots of shrubs and trees we have planted are yet to grow to their eventual size and so when I look around, I often feel as though there are bare patches in our garden.  What's needed now are some low border style plants and groundcovers to 'fill in the gaps'.

Anyway, all this talk about gardens has made me realise I'd better go and water our vegetable patch before dinner...

    

Around Our Place

This week has been a fairly quiet one for Grace and I as we haven’t ventured too far from the house. Apart from my Mum and a few friends popping in here and there, we’ve had lots of tea parties, spent plenty of time outside picking flowers and collecting snails (Grace is infatuated by them) and done a bit of baking. Yesterday we made a batch of delicious Mini Raspberry Melting Moments to enjoy for our morning tea which you can see above on the pretty china side plate I bought last weekend from a church fete.



I have also managed to get a few little crafty projects done, just a few small things for Grace’s room like the tissue box cover above. I’d originally seen a tutorial on Janette’s blog and ended up using a combination of two – the one she’d seen on Design*Sponge and one from here. I’ve also managed to finish adding a few new small touches to our ensuite and once I hang the little piece of artwork I’ve made, I’ll share some photos of it with you next week.





Today I’ve been alternating been pottering around the house and sitting outside in the glorious sunshine (after having a downpour of rain last Sunday and hail, tomorrow we have a forecast of 35!) Paul has been laying lawn all morning and ‘Grace’s Garden Corner’ is starting to slowly look a bit better now that the brick path and grass are in. You can see a current shot and before shot above. I have seen a cute little table and chairs at Bunnings which I’d love to get for here and once we fill the sand patch in the corner with sand, we just need to decide what else is going to go on the lawn – trampoline or cubby…?

How have you all spent your Saturday? Do you have anything special planned for tomorrow?

Artwork In Our Home

I read somewhere recently that you can tell a lot about a person by the types of artwork displayed in their home. That’s a bit unfortunate for us as we still have several bare walls yet to be filled. However, the artworks we have bought so far are all pieces we love. Today I thought I’d share with you some of my favourite art from around our home.

The canvas in our bedroom was actually a Christmas present one year from Paul. It is by Kanvas, a West Australian company based in Subiaco with a range of great designs and I had been eyeing this particular piece off for some time when I first discovered their website. With some help from one of my best friends, Paul managed to buy (and keep secret) exactly the canvas I had been admiring. It fits in well with the feel of our bedroom.



In our entryway is a signed print by artist Helen Norton. We purchased it from Helen’s old gallery (Cockatoo Gallery) in Fremantle which unfortunately no longer exists, although Helen’s pieces can still be purchased from other sources. We loved her quirky style of art and finally settled on the print above titled ‘Sniffing Dogs’. You can see more of Helen’s artwork here.

In our lounge is a small original oil painting we bought from ‘The Old Butter Factory’ in Denmark on our last visit. It is actually a scene from Albany and for its size wasn’t cheap, but we loved its colours and subject matter. Its title is ‘Come Walk With Me’ and it is by Lois Drygan.



Two small pieces I purchased from Etsy are by print gocco artist Bernadette Sipkes of Sugarloop. When I first discovered Sugarloop, I fell in love with Bernadette’s simple designs with their almost folk-like feel. A gold owl print now sits next to our computer and a green bird print is on the wall directly outside our study.





Finally, our kitchen / living area is home to three of our favourite artworks. Above my tea and coffee station on top of our kitchen bench is a canvas we purchased on our last trip to Sydney. It is a view from the Sydney Harbour Bridge and has an almost fishbowl effect to the way it has been painted. It’s fun trying to pick out famous Sydney locations like Bondi Beach or the SCG while the kettle is boiling.

On the opposite end of our kitchen bench are two prints by Sue Miller which we bought in Salamanca when we visited Hobart. The left piece is called 'Boats On The Derwent' and the other 'Emmalisa Off Battery Point'. The image on the right is particularly meaningful to us as we had a cruise on the exact ‘Emmalisa’ paddle steamer in the scene. We had these professionally framed once we were back home.

So there you have a snapshot into some of our artwork. I’m not sure what these pieces say exactly about Paul and I, but they are all part of our ‘story’ we have built since we moved into our home over six years ago. I’ve spent a lot of time this week researching galleries around Fremantle and Perth that I can drag Paul along to so we can hopefully finally fill our bare walls. We’ll also check out the galleries down south when we go on a little holiday later in the year.

Do you have a favourite piece of art in your home? I’d love to hear about it.

Grace's Nursery At Present

We're in the process at the moment of making some changes to Grace's room to make it less of a nursery and more of a toddler's room so today I thought I'd share some photos of how it looks in its current state and explain my ideas of what we're going to do over the next few weeks. Not a lot has changed in here since I last posted photos apart from the new carpet, new white skirting boards and the previously dark wooden window sill and wardrobe door having been painted white. We added a little shelf from Ikea in the corner where the Poang chair is and from this I have hung some bunting I made. This has definitely finished off this corner better and now I just have to decide on a few final objects to display on top.







As for changes which are slowly taking place, the first is that we have bought Grace's 'big girls bed'. Paul picked it up today and it's lying in our hallyway at the moment ready to be assembled on the weekend. I'm hoping Grace will be able to sleep in it on Sunday night. I took the photo below in Harvey Norman the other day to give you a sneak peek of it, although the one below is a king single and we've just bought the single. Our mattress is also not quite as deep so the overall height of the bed is a bit less.

Next up are blinds and curtains. This decision is still driving me crazy! I have a few companies lined up to come and give me quotes this week as a few things have been pointed out to me which have led to yet another change in my decision. I won't go into details here, I'll leave that for another post, but the vertical blinds above will be going soon.

The Poang chair and the bedside table will be moving to the new nursery as will the chest of drawers which is currently used as a change table. With Grace almost toilet trained, I figure I can just change her nappy on the bed on the odd occasion I have to. We'll get her a new chest of drawers that perhaps aren't quite as deep as her bedroom is rather small and with the bed going in, I want to still give her as much space as possible. The area under the window is going to become a little play corner as we bought Grace a gorgeous wooden kitchen for her birthday which will fit perfectly here along with her toybox.

Above the cot (where the new bed will go), I have some more artwork planned and I would like to hang something girlie and pretty rather than the turtle (although Grace is quite fond of him). As for the bed itself, rather than a doona, to start with I'm going to attempt to make Grace a simple patchwork quilt for her bed. I'm thinking of sticking to pale pinks and yellow. I've never made one before so fingers crossed it won't be too tricky. Under the bed, I may get some baskets to use as extra hidden away storage. I also have my heart set on a pretty Moroccan leather pouffe I've seen for beside the bed - it would be perfect for Mummy or Daddy to perch on to read bedtime stories.

So that's where we're at and where things are headed in this room. I'll be sure to share some photos as things progress. As excited as I am to be redecorating this room, I must admit I feel a teensy bit sad to see Grace's baby things go. I can't believe how quickly little ones grow up.

New Things Around Our Home

We haven't really done a lot of renovating or decorating around our place recently. Between me not feeling as energetic as usual and most of our focus being on our outdoor project, my decorating enthusiam disappeared for a bit. However, in the last few weeks, I've been getting excited about homely projects again as we plan on making changes to Grace's room, have talked about perhaps renovating our main bathroom and as I begin picturing in my head how our new nursery will look.

So today I'm sharing with you a few smallish additions to our home I've made over the last week. In the top photo is the new front doormat I bought on the weekend. As we walked out of the house on Monday Grace remarked 'nice doormat'. Apparantly it's very hardwearing and can be 'hosed off' if it gets grubby.




Today I added the second little frame above to my laundry which is an Irish blessing I found on a Tumblr page. I still don't know if this the right spot for it but for now it fills in the space a bit. As for the ugly security screen, I'm hoping to sew a simple curtain to cover this window soon and hopefully my little pot plant will eventually grow bigger to hide the power point a bit more.

The bottom artwork in a simple Ikea frame I especially love. It is a sketch of a scene in Holland by my Pop who was a draughtsman by profession. I never met my Pop but I had a few of his sketches in my family tree file and thought it might be nice to frame one. I know my Dad would have loved to have seen this up on our wall.

How about you? Have you made and little additions to your home lately?

Bedroom Colour

A little while back, my sister and I went for morning tea with my Mum. On our way home, we stopped at the flower sellers along Beaufort Street where Mum bought each of us a bunch. The yellow blooms I chose added a nice bright pop of colour to our bedroom where I placed them. I'd never considered using yellow in our bedroom but having these flowers beside my bed made me rather like the sunny touch it added, especially when teemed with the aqua hints already in our room.





I have also been thinking of ideas for something to hang from the ceiling hook in our room to fill in that corner and provide some visual interest. One afternoon, I was playing around with options and strung up the polka dot bunting from Grace's party to get the idea of the possible length I could work with. While the polka dots are the wrong colour for our room, I've decided to try making a new polka dot garland in more suitable colours or perhaps from something like old maps of meaningful places we've visited.



After the busy Christmas season, I'd like to look for two new wall lamps for above our bed and to decide on some new curtains. I have no idea what colour to go with to complement the white, stony greys and dark wood in our room, all I know is we need something fresh. I'm looking forward to adding the finishing touches on this room in the New Year... makeovers in our home seem to take forever!


P.S Thank you all for your comments and recommendations on my kitchen mixer post - I will read them again carefully before I decide to make a purchase...

New Kitchen Touches

I was flicking through some photos I’d taken recently with our new camera and realised I hadn’t yet shared a few small additions to our kitchen. Back in February when I posted some kitchen snaps as part of my Homely One House Tour, things were looking rather bare. Our kitchen is relatively new following a big renovation (see here for before and after shots) and I had mentioned it was lacking those finishing off touches that add warmth and character to a room. I am slowly making progress in this area.

One of the additions we’ve made is a little shelf above our bench. I wanted a ‘tea and coffee making station’ close to the kettle as walking back and forth from the pantry wasn’t practical, especially with me who enjoys several cuppas each day. After searching and searching, I eventually found the perfect canisters to put on top of the floating Ikea shelf I had Paul install. Not only does this make things more easily accessible, it adds something to the previously bare wall.




Also, I have found a better ‘home’ for my recipe books and folders which were previously hidden down the bottom of one of the kitchen cupboards making them very difficult to use. With some inspiration from Nicole’s kitchen, I now have them positioned neatly above the fridge. My recipe folders (which I talked about in a previous post) are separated into two Kikki K magazine holders (one for savoury things like meat and pasta and one for sweet things like cakes and desserts). Any ‘not so attractive’ books are kept in the third holder. Inspired by a post on Nina’s blog, I made some ‘Dymo’ looking labels using a free font found online.

There are still several bits and pieces needed to finish off our kitchen but I’m liking the way things are headed and now have a clearer picture in mind of the look I’m aiming for.