Project (kind of) - Dollhouse

I had grand plans of making a dollhouse for Puddleduck over the holidays. My plan was something relatively minimalist - some Ikea Expedit bookcases forming the frame and internal walls. We even went so far as to get one of the units (Puddleduck chose the black-brown wood) and start sketching out layouts (do dolls need bathrooms?).

However, I then stumbled across this dollhouse reduced to just over $100 at Anthropologie. It was too good a bargain to pass up - especially when I realised not only would they ship it to Australia, it would only cost $25 to ship it!

So we waited patiently for it to arrive. I think I gave myself some sort of repetitive stress injury as I obsessively refreshed the tracking information. FINALLY it arrived.

The construction nearly did my head in - at least six hours all up. I came to the conclusion that while the Brinca Dada flatpack workmanship was far superior to any IKEA flatpack I have come across, they really could take a leaf out of IKEA's book when it comes to labelling and describing pieces.

Anyway. Here is the end result. It's a huge hit!

Lunch dates

Little Miss Puddleduck is heading back to preschool next week and will be there for three days this year, not two. When you throw in ballet, swimming and play dates it leaves precious little time for Mummy and Puddleduck to just hang out together.

We've had so much fun together over the past year just enjoying one another's company. I'm really going to miss that - especially after the lovely school holidays we have just had.

So she and I have decided that we are going to be ladies who lunch one day a week. We'll go somewhere together, order something scrumptious and just 'hang'. No phone, no ipad - just chatting. We went to the local pub last week for our inaugural lunch and it was lovely to just chat. She is so incredibly observant and insightful and her curiosity is insatiable (mummy, WHY are we warm-blooded?). I love that I get to spend time with such a special little girl.

Some Christmas odds and ends

This little bell has been in my family for as long as I can remember. When I say 'in my family', I mean it was my grandmother's and used to hang on her tree along with lots other other shiny, pretty bells. My cousins and I would sneakily appropriate them on Sundays when we would visit her and reassign them to our trees at home. You know, steal them. Charming children we must have been. I'm not sure why, but the allure of these bells was too much to resist. I distinctly remember the great lengths we went to to sneak into the lounge and nab them. 

So for many years it would hang on our tree at home (I'm sure my parents were delighted with a yearly reminder of my childhood thieving) and when I moved Mum handed it on to me (read: I took it with me along with quite a few other decorations).

I hope it lasts long until Puddleduck is ready to move out and take it with her.

I mentioned in my pendant light post I was making paper chandeliers for Christmas decorations - this is one of them hanging in the front window.

Puddleduck, Mum and I also got a little bit crafty and made some decorations out of borax crystals and pipe cleaners. As it turns out, when you mix hot water and borax and suspend pipe cleaners in the solution overnight, it will crystalise around the pipe cleaners and create 'crystal' decorations. Very cool.

They don't withstand a lot of touching and the ones we used food dye with tend to 'bleed' a little, but all in all a very fun activity and something I think we will do again next year.

Experimenting ...

My apologies for another post with no real purpose. I'm experimenting with the Blogger app ...

So, here's a photo of my recently pimped fridge. I'm actually on the hunt for removable wallpaper in just the right pattern to cover it with, but in the mean time these postcards will do!

Project - pendant light

I should know better, but I was randomly googling recently in the hope of finding some hints on how to make a paper lantern chandelier to hang as a Christmas decoration and I came across coffee filter pendants. Instead of sensibly 'pinning' the images and going back to the task at hand, I thought "Oohh, what a great idea. I should try that. Now."

I became a teensy bit possessed with the idea so I set off looking for coffee filters. Not as simple as it sounds in this brave new world where coffee machines use pods instead of filters. I did track some down online though (thank you Officeworks) and ordered two thousand. Yes, two thousand. At the time I thought I was over-ordering.

Full of crafty enthusiasm and armed with my trusty glue gun (actually, the glue gun was a new purchase but it sounds more poetic to call it my trusty glue gun - and by the end of the project it had certainly earned the moniker) I started. 

At this point I was still enthusiastic - as opposed to the dogged determination that took over about a thousand filters later. It's that middle bit of the lantern that breaks you. You can glue and glue and glue and you'd swear you hadn't covered any more of the lantern than you already had.

 

Anyway. 

I got there in the end.

And I'm pretty happy with the result. Of course, having done one, I had to do the other one too. Sigh.

Before and after - kitchen

We finally, finally found our stash of before shots - taken before any demolition or removal of old desks and shelves happened. They have eluded us for ages - filed away safely - so I'm a bit excited to finally have them back. Expect the before and after posts to come thick and fast now. Consider yourselves warned.

This is a picture of the bedroom that became the kitchen. There was no internal access to the room - only this door that was accessed via and grated gangplank over the internal courtyard.

The view out from the bedroom to the courtyard.

On top of this contraption custom built set of drawers was the previous owners mattress. Behind that back wall was the only bathroom in the house (now our upstairs powder room). 

There was one long, thin rectangular window letting light into the room. I think it is fair to say he would never have had a problem being woken up by the early morning sun.

This is the view back out to the courtyard now. The wall where the bench and louvers are is the wall he had his bed against.

(You know how I've said I am always rearranging? Well, I've since turned the outdoor table so it runs the other way. I think it gives us a little bit more space outside.)

The louvers let an enormous amount of light - as well as breeze - into the kitchen. Even without the glass doors to the courtyard the kitchen would be full of natural light all during the day. It's beautiful to be in.

I used to keep my cookbooks on the benchtops, but because we don't have huge amounts of bench space I decided they would be better off out of the way on a shelf. Until we put in our permanent kitchen, this wall was just wasted space so it was the perfect spot.

This shot gives an idea of the 'temporariness' of the kitchen. Nothing is built in and the oven and dishwasher just sit side by side. The wooden board on top of the dishwasher is a handy bit of extra bench space for when I'm cooking. It's surprisingly functional for all its temporariness, so we're no longer in a rush to get something built in.

The wall above the oven has seen several incarnations and this is the current one. Puddleduck quite likes to get the blackboards down when I am cooking and doing some drawing. Which suits us both. Actually, I suspect part of the reason I quite enjoy our kitchen not being 'final' is that I get to change this wall whenever the mood takes me.

Gratuitous flower photos

I don't think it is any secret that I love flowers. They hold such happy memories for me. I remember visiting my grandparent's house and Grandad was always growing something. Every time I see gladioli or old fashioned single gerberas I think of him.

Similarly, my Dad has always grown roses, pansies, sweet peas, gladdies, chrysanthemums, carnations and a myriad of other plants and flowers. Even in the NQ heat and humidity he perseveres and our house was rarely without his beautiful blooms.

I think the first time I realised how beautiful hydrangeas were was when we visited my Uncle and Aunt in Melbourne when I was about 12. They had massive bushes out the front with huge heads of flowers. Gorgeous. I'm trying to grow my own now ... I've not killed them yet.

Peonies are another favourite. I love them at every stage of their unfurling. From tight buds to flopping petals revealing the bright yellow stamens. Our peony plant remains - shockingly - alive, although hasn't flowered since we've moved to Sydney. Poor thing.

Roses are so classic and David Austin roses are simply magical. They are both beautiful to look at and beautiful to smell. My local flower man always has some in stock and I can't resist them. The heady scent of rose in the mornings after the house has been closed up for the night is one of my favourite things. It's amazing how it wafts around the entire house - even outdoors.

Here is my own meagre rose offering. Our first crop of Pierre de Ronsard. They mightn't grow quite like weeds as they did in Canberra, but I hold out high hopes for my little roses this year.