A Seven year old Room

Within the blink of an eye, your baby is SEVEN! It incomprehensible , but somehow so very true!

Not only is she 7, she is also growing up. Watching and observing. Asking and listening. Maturing and changing. Somewhere, along the way I realised that Stella needed a space of her own (she used to share with Lacey , 5) and a space that was a little more on the 'grown up' side. 

Don't get me wrong, I still look at her as a little girl. She has so many years ahead of her to be a 'tween' or 'teen' but for now, seven is still young. Still pretty and girly  and still a time for playing and being a kid. Well that's my opinion anyway.

Stella still asks me to pick her clothes for the day ( I am holding onto this for as long as possible), she still likes to play with her siblings, she still likes to play with Hilda her bunny in a role play Mummy situation and she still likes a soft cuddle toy at night. Hallelujah! 

When we decided to give Stella her own space ( and me stop working from home) , she moved into the smallest  and oddest shaped room in the house. Regardless, she was stoked!!  A space to call her own. And a space to kick her siblings out of when she was sick of them! We wanted something pretty but inspiring, a little area for her to write and draw (her favourite things to do) and some storage and display for her 'precious items'. All while being rental friendly! 

Now, seeing as though we live in the desert ( Ok, not quite the desert but it sure can feel like it at times!) we only have one shop, being Kmart. Its a pretty good shop to have at the moment, as they are busting out some awesome homewares but it still makes of limited shopping, especially when you are looking for something in particular. So sourcing bits and pieces we wanted for her room was the not the easiest task. 

Plus budget. Always back to the budget! We are a single income family (or were until this week when I returned to work) and therefore everything needs to be budget friendly.

I can't say I have ever set out to decorate a room. I have never said - Right Liz, lets make over this room from top to bottom. And gone out and bought everything that I have needed/wanted. Our budget has never allowed it. Our rooms have just evolved over time. 

Stella's room

I think with any bedroom space, whether it be for a child or adult, its nice to have some different bedding options. By simply changing your quilt cover or throw cushions with each linen change, you are essentially creating a new look and giving the room a fresh feel. Stella has the above quilt cover and also a reversible Coverlet which we change up every time I change her sheets. This gives her 3 different looks for her room. 

Cute love heart battery operated lights (bought on sale after Valentines Day from Woolworths for $5) add some fun and a soft glow when she is having trouble getting to sleep at night.

An older photo before we sourced new drawers and painted them . 

I had the floor mat made by a local lady who used fabric I had in storage . I love that it is machine washable - a must while living in the Pilbara.

The bookcase was given to us by a friend , Stella stores all her precious and keepsake items in it, as well as her books and craft supplies. 

Her desk area is a funny little alcove in her room and the desk is repurposed from my old work area.  It fits perfectly into the space and a lot of gorgeous drawings have been produced here. 

Bits and pieces and 'pretties' are a must for any girls room!! Free printables I found on Pinterest stuck on the wall with washi tape, brighten the space nicely.

A room is never complete without a wall collage! 

The watermelon print Stella drew and painted herself and the Ice-cream print is just scrapbooking paper with a sticker of an ice-cream added. Wall art doesn't have to be expensive!
The Live the Life print is actually the front of a Typo notebook that I cut off and framed.

There you have a look inside of Stella's girly space. She loves pictures and colours, watermelons and crafting. She likes to leave her shoes on the floor and is a bower bird for anything shiny she can find. Typical 7 year old really ;)

And because I know the questions and emails will come, details of pieces in her room; 

The quilt cover was bought for $20 on sale at the Adairs Outlet store. Its reversible as well.

Her newer drawers were bought for $20 off our local Facebook Buy and Sell site and I sanded, painted and added glass knobs to them. She just needed a few more drawers for things like knickers, socks, bathers etc. 

Stella name banner- Pretty Paper Label 

Pillowcases - Adairs and Cotton On Kids

Watermelon cushion - Cotton On Kids 

Face cushion - Adairs on sale for $15

Love Canvas- Adairs for $9

S letter- made with letter from Spotlight and scrap booking paper

Your are My Sunshine Hoop- Ollie Rose

Coverlet- Gifted to us by a friend but from Kmart a while ago

If there is anything else you would like to know please feel free to ask!

And despite Stella loving her own space, she also loves the other kids visiting her, and they love hanging out in there too!! Angus can always be found laying on her bed , watching her draw or taking her a book to read to him! 

New Cushions

After searching high and low, in bricks and mortar stores and all through the internet, for cushions for our living area that were both affordable and nice to look at , I finally gave up the hunt.

Instead I settled in, deliberated and procrastinated , over purchasing some fabric that would become our new cushions. I knew what I wanted, but I didn't at the same time, so this seemed the best option. Plus this is a high traffic area of our home , as we only have the one living area, and the kids dominate this space for most of the time , so spending a small fortune on a few pretty throw cushions was simply not an option. 

I ordered this yummy loot from Fabric .com , and with postage it all cost about $75, and I have PLENTY of fabric left over for other projects (I used one of them for the  lamp I recovered, see post HERE). I used an existing quilt that we have laying over the lounge as the inspiration for the colours and just chose a few to highlight in the throw cushions.

A bit of time on the sewing machine, lots of pretty, creative mess and a few curse words (always the way when I am driving a sewing machine) and our cushions were complete! I made them all with a simple envelope closure at the back , which makes them easy to take off and throw in the wash quite regularly. 

The end result? Pretty cushions, all a little different. All a little wonky, all needing new inserts ( I just popped the ones I had already in them and they aren't all the right sizes) but I love them all the same! 

I love the Pom pom trim detail, I love how they all pick up different colours and complement each other and I love the felt flower (that my sister made and I have already ) that pinned onto the green spotty one and adds some pretty detail.

I love the few pops of colour in the lounge area now. I am trying to be more daring and I am really enjoying the fresh pops of brightness here and there.

With the covered lamp (that ties in with the cushions) , our new throw cushions and a good decull and reorganise of the space, our lounge feels like a new room! 

All up I think the 6 cushions have cost about $30 to make, with so much fabric left over , so for $5 a cushion, I can't complain! It was nice to have a project in mind and be able to get a little crafty and whip something up on the sewing machine. I really think that even beginners to a sewing machine could make some cushions covers and its a really great, low cost way to snazz up any space! 

Easy to make, easy to clean and look cute. Perfect. 

And a bonus? When I get sick of these ones, I can whip up a whole new set and the look of the room will be different again! Love it! 

Re covering a Lamp

Since moving into our home, and beginning our 'rental' journey, I have been more inspired to add some colour to our home. I have been in the safe zone for so long, using mostly whites, tans , beige's and browns to decorate and I still love that look, however when you rent there aren't many things in the house that have control over, other than your soft furnishings. 

The window treatments can't be changed, you are limited as to what you can hang on the walls and can't change anything big (like cupboards, paint , bench tops etc). 

So whats the solution? 

Well my solution is to add colour with new throw cushions, recovering lamp shades, pretty table runners and painting a few items around the place. So far so good!

After sharing some piccies of my recovering adventures, I was asked a few questions, so what better way to answer everyone , than to show you just how I covered my lamp shade. 

Now I am NO expert, I am really not sure if this is the proper way to do it but its what worked for me. 

Recovering a Lamp Shade 

Supplies;

I started with a neutral colour lampshade that came with our standard lamp (the lamp itself was $20 from Target). 

Fabric to the length of the diameter of your shade

A hot glue gun

A can of Spray Adhesive (mine was purchased at Spotlight)

Spray your first section, with the nozzle about 20cm from the shade. 

Its best to spray the lamp shade in small sections, because the Spray Adhesive dries quite quickly. 

Lay your fabric over the area that has the wet spray adhesive, ensuring that you have a seam allowance on either side ( I measured my fabric and added 3cm to the width to allow for this)

Smooth with your hand as the fabric is rolled on , to remove any air bubbles or creases in the fabric.

Continue this process for the rest of the lamp shade until you have covered it all .

This is what it should look like when it is all covered, with the seam allowance on the top and bottom.

Cut off any excess fabric, leaving another 2-3m for the seam , and fold it over. I ironed my seam so that it would sit flat on the lamp shade ( just gently ran the iron over the fabric and lamp shade)

Run a strip of hot glue just under the seam and press to flatten.

Next we need to fold the small seam on each rim over and secure with a line of hot glue as well. Again, its best to work in small sections as the hot glue cools and sets quite quickly.
Run a length of glue, fold the fabric over and wait a few seconds until it sets, repeat the whole way around.

Ta - Da! 

There you have an updated, brighter and customised lamp shade to suit your living area and colour scheme. 

And it only took an hour or so. Now I am looking for my next victim to be recovered! 

Its addictive!

Organising and Tizzy- ing!

As you all know by now, we have moved towns and houses in the past 6 months , and we are now in a rental property.
This is an entirely new ball game and situation for me, as we have always owned (paying off) our own home and I could do just as I pleased with our rooms and walls. If I wanted to hang something I could, if I wanted to drill something , hubby would! ha
However, that is no longer the case, and I am finding I have been quite reluctant to decorate and personalise our rooms, even though I know you can do a lot with soft furnishings and some command strips, I guess the idea of not having free reign puts me off.

Sooooooo, to encourage myself , and perhaps a few of you at home, reading along, I thought I would start up the 'Organising on A Budget' Series that I ran on the blog a fair while ago.
Do you remember the Laundry post, The Shared Wardrobe , Pantry Door Organising , Laundry Cupboards, Our Main Bathroom  and of course, the popular Toy Room Makeover ?

Well I aim to do the same thing with our rooms and spaces in our new house, all with a small - as - possible budget , the least impact on the walls and existing house (rental conscious) and as best as I can from a town with not much choice in the way of shopping (Kmart and supermarkets is about the extent of it ).
Even though we have only recently moved into this house, it was a fast and thoughtless move, in the way that my husband had to work the day the removalists came, we had just a few days to get the house in working order and not much thought was put in to the placement of items etc. Now we have had a bit of time to live and use the areas, the problems and lack of efficiency are evident!! But not for long!

I am armed with a list of rooms, spaces and cupboards that need help and a revamp, and  the wonderful world of the Internet to inspire, and supply the goods.

Wish me luck!!
And if you have any ideas, hints or tips that you would like to share, I would LOVE to hear and see them!!
I would also love to see any revamps you may have done at your house, before and afters are my fav!! I am looking at popping some others that have been shared on the blog also! So flick me an email, or message me on Facebook if you would like to be included!!

Plans and Changes

You won't believe your eyes!! A post from Liz! Thank you so very much for your encouraging messages and emails, I have always had thousands of ideas for posts running through my head. Just no time or motivation to carry through with them. And I think my head has been elsewhere. Namely on our house.

We have just made the decision, yet again, to stay in our home , instead of selling and building. We really have tossed the ideas around for years, had the house on the market a few times and always changed our minds and taken it off. I think we were trying to tell ourselves something and finally we have started to listen. I started to think about how I would feel if our house sold, and I got upset. I would be devastated. So that in itself was the only answer I needed to stay.

We have bought all our babies home to this house, we have built a family home and created some beautiful memories here and we have also made so many changes and improvements over the years that I really love the space we have made for our family.
Yes, we wish it were a tad bigger, a little more yard area, a few extra rooms but all in all, we love the design, finishes and we would just not be able to afford to replace everything if we were to build.

So..... now that we know we are staying, I have started to do all those things I have wanted to for ages. Place things on walls, get quotes for new flooring, add finishing touches to rooms that I had put off.

Here are a few things that I have been doing just this week;

Finishing and expanding Angus' photo wall in his room

Making some new pom poms for Stella's room, from Easter tissue paper from Woolworths

My poor gorgeous Easter buffet display has been swamped by drills and things waiting to be hung on the walls and given life.

The paper hanging I made for Angus' Christening party was finally put to good use in his room, above his cot.

And I have just started in the reorganising and redecorating of Max and Lacey's room. Unfortunately when they went into their room I was heavily pregnant with Angus and have never really had the time or drive to create a gorgeous space for them. I think the thought of a boy/girl shared room and the difficulties that come with it , really put me off. But I am on a mission now. So yesterday I swapped the bookcase for the small Expedit in between their beds and have, just today, hung the ribbon garland from Angus' First Birthday above it. I just added some pink and purple ribbon and its quite unisex  now. ( I just need Hubby to saw off the end of the dowel)

Small changes but it feels good. Big changes to come. Time, budget and planning. It will happen!!

A bit of Quote love ...

Every now and then I need to change things up a bit around our home. I am constantly doing something to improve and renew, whether it be big or small,  but I am struggling with it all at the moment, as our house in For sale. I am at the point where I can't make any permanent changes and don't really want to spend money on things that we aren't going to be able to take with us when we move. Insert FREE printables and some cheap frames. Such a perfect way to add some cheer and enough change to satisfy my nesting.

These 2 Love prints have been sitting in the cupboard for a while now, I got a bulk lot of them done at the photo shop, all printed on 5 x 7 paper and they look great. I have a few put away for our Valentines Day display, and some Christmas ones also.

I found these gorgeous plastic frames as a pack of 3 from Crazy Clarkes not long ago for just $5.95.

Bargain and child safe!! Perfect!

 This printable is available HERE

Gorgeous love quotes for our bedside tables!

This printable is available HERE

And I have also had this gorgeous Scrabble tile 'HOME SWEET HOME' print waiting to be framed for some time. It was a free download and I found it HERE, and I just had it printed at a photo shop as a 5 x 7 and its gorgeous and clear. Perfect colours for the toy room too, and I placed it in a great spot for it to be seen every time someone enters our house and living area.

Next on the list to have printed and pop in a frame is this quote. I just love it!!
I think it will make a great addition to Stella's photo/art wall!!

Printable available HERE

So art and decor doesn't have to be expensive. Infact $6 for 3 pieces of art is pretty budget savvy if you ask me ;)

Bathroom Wall Art

Following on from my previous post on our Main Bathroom and to finish the first of my Home Organising Posts, I wanted to add something pretty to the walls.

Even though the room is VERY small, there was a perfect wall for art and I needed some colour in there too!

I found these cute FREE printable on Pinterest from HERE and loved the simplicity of the designs and the colours. The main towels we use for the kids are a blue and the Boon frog is green so they match nicely ( the FLUSH sign is more of a green than it appears in my photos).

I managed to pick up these frames at Red Dot ( I know, they look like Ikea huh?! Red Dot sell nearly exact copies, cheaper but not quite as good quality) , framed them, then mounted on the wall with my beloved 3M Command Strips .

I can not speak highly enough of those strips, I can now hang things when I want to , without the help of hubby to drill holes, they peel off without much fuss and hold so securely!

And while we were at it, our bathroom got a little prettiness added as well!
A cute Ikea print (that I picked up for 50c last time we were there!) , another copycat frame from Red Dot ( a great alternative to those that live 500 km or more from Ikea like me) and another bare wall, made over!

All up, I think the frames for the kids bathroom came to $21 and ours was about $12, so pretty cheap for cool wall art!

Keeping it Real

So, I know I said that I had a great day on Monday, but today I had one of "THOSE" days. Yep, I was looking forward to 6:30pm alright, bedtime for kiddies!

Even though we had a wonderful morning catching up with one of my good friends, talking and the kids playing, the school drop off and pick up run , were horrendous!!

They have quickly become the most dreaded parts of my day. Why oh why does my precious girl have to go to school anyway? Max and Lacey just want to stay, I mean why wouldn't they? They are 2 next month and have most certainly hit a hard age. Strong willed and disobedient when we are walking, crossing the road, everything. And today I had to wake them from their day sleep, and Max is not well. He has an ear infection and the start of Tonsilitis , according to the doctor when we went yesterday. Grumpy kids, a fair walk to the Kindy area and it made for a difficult trip. Thankfully, a lovely parent and good samaritan came to my rescue when Max wanted to be carried ( he is dizzy and sad from being sick) and Lacey decided she wanted to walk in the opposite direction , head for the road and cling to a pole for dear life and not listen. Hmpf, you just can't push a pram and carry 2 toddlers at the same time, unfortunately!! BUT... we made it! Tomorrow is a new day (and a daycare one!) and I keep telling myself that it will get better! It will, and it is! And...... then the terrible 2's set in! Oh dear!

Seeing as though I have just had a whinge, and in the spirit of keeping it real, I want to share something with you. Now... you don't get much realer than this!

Our master bedroom is a mess. Like stuff everywhere!! Over the years it has evolved somewhat. Before kids and even when Stella was a wee baby, it was gorgeous. Had a chaise lounge under the window, no clutter and "STUFF". Now days, it seems to be a dumping ground for anything and everything we need to keep safe from little sticky, grubby hands or things that need a home.

It really is the only room in the house that is semi safe from the rath of Max and Lacey. Well that was until they learnt to open door handles, and now they just know its a no-go zone! Still, we need to do something! Our room is now also my scrapbooking room. Believe it or not, I sit on the floor, lean on a large wooden chopping board and spread everything out. It works, but its not exactly the most comfortable of things to do and I later wonder why my bach aches? Der . And the more I go to scrapbooking, the more the spell is cast on me and the more equipment I have. Where does it all live?

In the Master Bedroom of course!

I don't necessarily thing it is a bad thing, because our bedroom is the largest one in our home, and all we do there is sleep, so I feel I should be making the most of the space and using it to its full capacity, but there are some changes that need to be made! Definately!

Here is the proof! Argh, the shame!

And I did NOT touch a thing before I took these, as hard as it was, I am keeping it real!

Boxes full of goodies that need to be sold at a Garage sale, we are planning for next weekend, seriously nowhere else to put it!

                                      The scrapbooking Storage Expedit unit is overflowing!!

Presents bought for Easter and kids birthdays next month , and they haven't moved since coming home. Lazy Liz!

So.. the plan? A makeover of course!! Not the usual type of makeover, this one is on a budget! A shoestring budget! The start of this year has really kicked our bum on the bank balance front, so I don't have alot of money to play with. No stress, thats half the fun of the challenge!!

Now I need ;

Somewhere to sit and scrapbook, and maybe be able to leave a project half done ,

 and be able to return to it.

A more streamlined and classy look, not so much "Stuff' everywhere

Better storage

And an overall new, improved and stunning room, thats useful too!