kids room revisited

Our beautiful baby has nearly outgrown her bassinet. So, the time has come to revisit the layout of our second bedroom so we can fit three little kiddies in there. New carpet (yay!). New bunk beds. New shelving. And the sides will go back on the cot before baby sleeps there of course.

Check it out...

fifty shades of stain

That pretty much sums up the original, 18-year-old carpet in our house.
This image is a collage of actual photos taken of our carpet (except for the ink bottle - that was just to complete the effect).
I know. Gross.

And now, I am sitting in my room, listening to the glorious sound of that stain-ridden floor covering being ripped up. Hooray! Our new 'Natural Oak' floating floors are being laid today.

I cannot even describe the state of the underlay and slab underneath the carpet. Too awful for words. I've also just been informed that the slab near our balcony door is in such a bad state that I'll need to pay an extra $240 in cash today so the man can fix it and flatten it out. For goodness' sake.

I don't care all that much about the extra cost, because I know that it's all going to be fixed and finished today. The carpet in the bedrooms will be laid on Wednesday, then we can move on. The place is going to look fantastic. The floor will look clean - and be easy to keep clean! It will be marvelous.

goodbye precious food

After nearly 8 years, I think it is finally time to say goodbye to the sugar flowers that decorated our wedding cake. I've never felt so sad about parting with something edible before.

Now, if only I had the guts to do the same with my wedding dress. I'm never going to wear it again, but I really can't bring myself to part with it just yet.

The flowers are enough for now.

jeans. how many pairs is too many?

After my resolution to buy nothing new for a year, I have begun to sift through the contents of my wardrobe and figure out what exactly is in there.

The first thing I'm honing in on are my jeans.

I currently have seven pairs of full length jeans hanging in my wardrobe (aside from the sneaky pair of jeggings I may, or may not, own). According to a UK study a couple of years ago, this is below average. They reckon that most women have 10 pairs, but only wear three of them! I do, in fact, wear all of my jeans. I just wear some a lot more than others. Here's what I have:

Dark blue skinny jeans - my 'dressy' jeans.
Black skinny jeans - can be dressy or casual.
Blue straight leg jeans - casual.
Grey straight leg jeans - casual, but now with a rip in the knee (adds charm?)
Charcoal bootleg jeans - casual.
Blue bootleg jeans - a bit baggy and faded, but very comfy.
Dark blue wide leg maternity jeans - these may live on indefinitely. I do love them.

I suppose this list could be cut, but which ones need to go?
It's only seven weeks after baby, so once I (hopefully) fit back into all of them I'll be able to properly assess the situation.

How many pairs of jeans do you own? How many do you actually wear?
Have you ever tried to 'cut down'? How did you decide which ones to keep?

(We're getting into lots of deep and meaningful stuff here, people!)

nothing new for a year

It's decided. I'm not going to buy anything new for myself for a year. No clothes, no shoes, no bags, no accessories. And how do I feel about this? Excited!

I'm so thankful to Pink Ronnie for the inspiration. Her "the happy closet" series has given me hope. There is now a light shining down onto the pile of clothes that I find myself drowning in - I just need to swim toward it.

It's no secret that I'm a sucker for sales. I convince myself that I need things or that I should just get it because it's cute and "such a bargain!!" This is actually one of my major struggles. So much money wasted on stuff. The result of this problem is a wardrobe filled to the brim with all kinds of clothes, shoes and bags, yet I still feel like I've got nothing to wear - or if I have decided what I'd like to wear, I can't find it!

Almost two years ago when I started my sorting spree (was it really that long ago?) I did a huge cull in my wardrobe which resulted in six garbage bags worth of clothes, shoes and accessories being given away - or thrown out. SIX! Honestly, some of the clothes I found I wore when I was 18. Why did I still have that stuff? Ridiculous! (The photo below shows some of what I got rid of.)

Last year I gave another three bags of clothes away and I still don't have any space in my wardrobe. It really is a serious problem. Even after this baby arrives and I throw out all of the clothes that have been stretched beyond oblivion, I will still have overflowing hangers and drawers. I'm ashamed.

I am SO ready for this challenge. It may be a struggle at first, but I truly am excited. I'm excited about what I will rediscover in my wardrobe. I'm excited about not caring what I wear - who even notices if I wear the same outfit twice (or even three times!) in a week? I'm excited about the prospect of having the weight of this materialism lifted from my shoulders. I'm excited about finding contentment. I want my kids to see that contentment. I want to set a good example for them. I want to be filled with real joy - not filled with worthless stuff.

"Now may the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you believe in Him so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit." Romans 15:13

the boys' bedroom!

Presenting another (almost) complete room! My boys' bedroom has been a tricky one - and there are still numerous things in the wardrobe that I'm not sure what to do with, but I'm pleased with the massive progress that has been made. My aim was to create a more organised space to allow my boys to more easily do what they do best - play!

Here's what I started with:

I am extremely fortunate to have such a great space for our boys to play and (sometimes) sleep. It also helps to have the built in wardrobe - this was one of the first things we added when we moved in. But, I was not using the space well. The biggest issue was clothes! How a small person can have so many, I will never know. But, by storing outgrown clothes in large, sealed tubs in the garage, I managed to free up lots of space and start organising things better.

Check out what I've done so far:

Installing safety mesh on the window allowed us to adjust the room layout, but the major changes took place behind closed doors!

• I bought a pack of shelf plugs so that I could put the shelf back into the bookcase cupboard. This almost doubled the storage space and allowed easier access to the toys.
• To create more space for the boys' clothes, I bought an Ikea Jall clothes organiser and used large Ikea Kasset document boxes as makeshift shelves. I kept the lids underneath each one to add strength and protect the box. As you can see, they fit perfectly into the hanger and slide in and out really easily. It looks neat too! 
• I have also gathered bits and pieces from the top of the cupboard into a large Ikea Garnityr box with lid. These are the perfect size for the top of the wardrobe and can fit heaps in them.
• I have used cheap storage tubs under the single bed for storing extra linen and also different categories of toys. There is a 'car box', a 'Thomas set box' and a 'Duplo train set box'. Keeping the same kinds of toys together (or sets) in the one box or bag has made it easier to stay organised. The boys can find exactly what they want - and are able to help pack up again before we get something else out!

I want to share some organisational highlights with you too...

• Craft drawers: these plastic drawers from Bunnings, while not cheap, are a fantastic modular solution for storing craft things in almost any space. The different shelf options mean that almost anything can fit into them. The clear fronts mean that you can find what you're after at a glance. And, the drawers pull right out, so you can take the whole thing with you to the table.
• Shoe basket: after becoming fed up with only ever being able to find one of each shoe, I added a 'shoe basket' to the cupboard. The boys can put their shoes away in it - and also find them again!
• Pyjama bag: most mornings are a bit of a rush, so the pyjama tops and bottoms would end up wherever the owner happened to be when they were removed - and there they would stay until I had to search for them in the evening. But now, I spend a moment gathering all the pjs and putting them into the designated 'pyjama bag' which hangs on the back of the bedroom door. Pretty sure this one was my husband's idea. Yay!
• Laundry basket: not much to say about this. But, it helps for the boys to have their own place for dirty clothes. (Matchbox cars and the like also turn up in here from time to time - so it pays to check before I dump the lot into the washing machine.) This basket also becomes a fun toy on the odd occasion when it's empty.
• Compact toys: living in a two bedroom unit has heightened my radar for toys that can be folded down and put away. My latest find ($5 on ebay!!) is this multi-level matchbox car set that folds down into a wheel with a carry handle. (This one was fantastic to take on holidays too!) We also have a water play system, play tents and a tunnel that twist and fold back into compact storage bags that are all currently stored under the toddler bed. 

Things are about to change again as we soon welcome another child into our home. That will mean more clothes and toys in use - and another sleeping space to sort out. 

But, I'm confident that, with the organisational start I've made, we'll be just fine.

I can take rings off tubs just like that!

"Have no fear of that ring,"
Laughed the Cat in the Hat.
"Why, I can take cat rings 
Off tubs. Just like that!"

– The Cat in the Hat Comes Back by Dr Seuss

Finally removing that ruddy ring of grime that never comes off the bath became my mission today. I went at it with all of the cleaning products I could find but it barely budged. Ugh.
I decided to consult the interweb and came across eHow, which listed a number of home remedies to clean that pesky ring around the bath tub.

I'm glad to say they didn't advise using Mother's white dress. The remedy that immediately stood out to me was, in fact - SHAMPOO! Who'd have thought?

Well, I got out the cheap Aldi shampoo and squirted a line of it around the bath. I scrubbed at the shampoo with a damp brush which made it form a bit of a paste, and then worked my way around the bath. I wiped it over with a wet cloth and, to my delight, was staring back at a shiny, white, spotless - no, RINGless! - bath!
The shampoo left it so silky and smooth. And it smelt great too!


I then had a thought. If shampoo works on the ring in the bath tub, would it work on the limescale on the shower door? I had tried everything on the glass of the shower door too but nothing worked. May as well give it a go!


Same method. Awesome results! Even though the photos are a bit blurry (it's hard to photograph glass), you can see the difference!

Now that you can actually see into the shower, I'd better get working on that hideous grout! I wonder if the shampoo will work on that too?

Ah, shampoo... my new must-have cleaning product.