An end of September status report

September was to be the month in which the house was finished. Luckily, we are not waiting to move in at the earliest possible convenience. There is a lot finished. There is also a lot on the still-to-do list. New additions include:

A front door - Dulux Tristan



Shower screens



A new concrete slab awaiting water tanks but good for picnics in the meantime.



Looking for a place to hang

Whilst I am most satisfied with the neutral walls and finishes appearing each day on the house, there is a singificant sized part of me urging need colour, need colour so I am looking forward to adding the soft furnishings and pictures that will give the place some of our life and warmth.

For the first time ever I have even commissioned some original pieces - courtesy of the younger members of this family - and we are all very pleased with the results.


Homemade by the kids under my (close) supervision, inspired by the artwork created with playgroup and auctioned at a recent church fundraising market. All fabrics have been used in clothing I have made for the kids so there's a nice nostalgic touch. Box frame from Ikea.



Artists: Leisel & Meg (Jack's isn't quite finished yet), Frames: Ikea

I know just the spot for these...

Handy handles

We can now open cupboards. Progress.

A tap or two

Not long now before we can turn on a tap...and water will come out. Magic.

Recovering Ikea

Remember Bemz? the company that exists to make good quality removable covers for Ikea furniture? I was very excited to discover them some time back and finally got around to a trial order before committing on the couch front. The old (white!) cover of this Poang chair was suffering from livinginahousewiththreesmallchildrenitis. I ordered on-line from the Swedish company who then custom-made my cover in Lithuania and posted it over. The whole process took about 6 weeks. And yes, the fabric fits.



The bathrooms are on the way

I ummed and aahed over the mosaics for ages. I love the look of mosaics. If I look at bathrooms in a magazine, my eyes are drawn constantly to mosaics. Mosaics in the shower, mosaics around the bath, mosaics on the floor. It's fair to say my heart was set on mosaics. However, along with mosaics comes all that grout. Grout that can get grubby and mouldy and take nasty chemicals to keep clean. The green side of my brain knew I should be choosing tiles as large as possible to minimise the cleaning, so for a while there it was going to be big tiles all over everywhere. And yet, I love mosaics! Eventually I reached a compromise with myself. There's room to both be green and to love mosaics. In the ensuite the mosaics are well away from the shower and should stay dry and mould free most of the time. And as for the mosaic clad bath in the dowbstairs bathoom, well, I love it and....better pass the toothbrush.

Sizing up a few things

With a bit of assistance, I have started checking out some sizes of future lights and wall-hangings. Not one of the items in the following photos is actual size or actual fabric, but they were on loan or in my stash and gave me a good idea of the sizes that might work best for what I do have in mind...and the modelling was worth a few photos here!