Woohoo! Finally!

Today was the day, Ikea day!

After a few months of selling furniture on Ebay and saving, we headed down to Ikea this morning. It is always a shopping experience, I don't know what draws me to Ikea furniture. The price? The range? I don't think that it dates (if you buy wisely), and I am addicted to storage! Anyway here again is the entertainment unit that we went down today to buy.

And here it is in our home (ignore my wonderful husband's feet!)

When my wonderful husband was putting the unit together I had the awful thought that it was too big! But now that it is in place, with the TV and all the associated electronics as well as the DVD's, photos and such it actually makes our house feel bigger, and more organised (love that part the most!)

Wonderful husband was worried that now the TV looked small, we don't have a big screen TV. Just don't see the point, but it is a flat screen. I don't think that our TV looks small at all. Perfect sized I think. Also a bigger TV would take up too much space in our little lounge room.

As you can see from the above picture I haven't finished unpacking and putting things in the unit yet. That will be one of my jobs during the week.

Next we are going to be saving for a new desk for my wonderful husband............I can almost see the next Ikea trip coming very soon!

It begins!

I have finally began a project that I have been itching to do for a couple of months now. The redecorating of our chest of draws. Ever since I found this picture I have wanted to recreate this look to really warm & brighten up our bedroom.

I have my red paint and my husband got a friend to help him take the chest of draws downstairs, now I am in the process of sanding. I am not a huge fan of sanding, particularly when it takes sooooo long! But I know that preparation is so important to the finished result. Particularly with a colour like red. I will say that I didn't have the best experience with the place that I got my paint from, granted I didn't go in as prepared as I normally would be, I did need a bit of advice especially with whether I needed a grey tint undercoat. To get a good red colour and not pink generally it is a good idea to use a grey undercoat instead of a white one. But I spoke to two different people (in the same store, standing right next to each other) and they gave me two different answers, one said that a grey tint was a good idea to get the depth of colour needed with red, but the other person said that it wasn't necessary with the that particular colour red. Didn't get the undercoat, but my husband did suggest that I just tint the can of white undercoat that I already own.

Here is the before picture, as you can see the chest is in great condition (little dints and scratches on top) but just alittle dated, actually alot dated for my current tastes.

Can't wait to show you the finished chest of draws after I have finished with it!

I have also finished the book case that I have been working on, love the result! I will post some pictures soon. It the mist of unpacking stuff that I had to pack up from preparing for all of the redecorating.

Bring on Ikea!

I have been selling some of our furniture that just doesn't fit our small home, all together I have sold three pieces of furniture coffee table, buffet cabinet & TV unit. Having the furniture gone has really opened up our home and given us alot more space. There is one one smallish problem......no where to put anything. This is how we are living at the moment


Kind of feels like we are moving or just moved in. I don't like the feeling of disorganisation and things not having a home. The money we have made by selling our old furniture is going towards one new piece of furniture that I have had my eye on for a year & a half, it is from Ikea and will hopefully contain alot if not most of the stuff that we have littered around our house at the moment.

All I have to do is sell our old washing machine, which I am hoping to get between $50-$100 for. That way I can have alittle extra spending money when we go to Ikea to get some other things that I would like (pillows, a blanket).

Need your opinion

My sister-in-law wants to have a stall at our local Sunday markets in August and has invited me to make some stuff to sell. So I have been thinking and I came up with a fabric covered notebook using fabric that I already have around the house. This is the plan that cam out of my head (I couldn't be bothered to get my sketch book from my scrapbooking room so grabbed a pen and envelope that I already had sitting next to me on the couch)


And here is the finished notebook, this is very much a work in progress but I am quite happy with how it has turned out. What do you think? I already have two more notebooks of the same size (A5) underway and am thinking of making some smaller as well.


The word 'Notes' is made with acrylic paint and a stencil, love using acrylics as they dry fast and give great coverage. I have other decorations ideas, like fabric flowers and using the collection of stamps that I have. But I do like the simplicity of just the word 'notes' in this lovely bold tealy colour.

Mother's Day

To my mother, my husbands mother and to all the other wonderful mothers that I know. You are all so special and wonderful.

XOXO Suzie

It's been awhile old friend

This is the first scrapbooking page that I have finished in almost 6 months, just haven't been able to get into creating scrapbooking pages. Felt so good to finish this page, been trying to finish for about 2-3 months. This isn't an original page, it is one from a online class I did through Jessica Sprauge. Really like her website she has some great classes and really cute digital supplies.


The word 'lunch' is painted chipboard, using my favourite paint colour, it is called burnished bronze. I have had this tube of paint since I got married 5 years ago, I used it to make my wedding invitations. The best part about it is that there is no need for an undercoat, and you get this lovely rich colour.

Redecorating

As well as reorganising and am also redecorating some of our furniture, we have had a few pieces for 5 years and some pieces more than that. On my hit list for redecorating is;


1. Bookcase (my husbands, it is one that belongs to his Dad so it is quite old)



2. Dresser draws (mine, had it for a couple of years before we got married)

3. Bed side table (these we have had for about 5 years, bought not long after we got married)


First is the bookcase, mostly cause I already have the paint. It is left over from when I stained and painted our bed a few years ago. I forgot to take a before picture, but this bookcase started its life (before it came into my life) black, then got painted the colour that I am use to seeing it which is a beige/pinky colour, and now it will be a chocolate brown glimmery colour.

Here is the bookshelf after two coats of white base coat/primer and one coat of the final colour, the paint is quite thin since I have applied the first coat with a brush. The more coats that go on the less the brush strokes will be visible, and the final coast I am planning on applying with a roller to give a nice flat finish.

I also have plans for the dresser draws, found the picture below on the American Better Homes and Gardens website, and I would love to recreate this look. I have a very similar dresser except that mine is taller and will be living in our bedroom instead of the kitchen as a kitchen island (though love the idea of using two chests of draws and a solid cord door to make this kitchen island.....maybe when I get my own house)

Have absolutly no idea what I want to do with the bedside tables......thinking maybe painting them black but not sure.

Organising things

I have been reorganising the house at the moment, getting rid of alot of furniture that just doesn't fit out smaller sized house (I have been selling the furniture on Ebay, made slightly under $150, going to use the money to get some furniture that suits our space alot better). Yesterday I got into some smaller spaces of our house, drawers, and more specifically bathroom draws.


Here a before picture of our medicine draw (love to have a funky metal medicine cabinet but being renters we have to make do), I don't think that I am totally alone in seeing this sight everytime a draw somewhere in your house is open.


For a while now I have been saving the butter containers after we have emptied them, havn't been sure what my plan was for these containers (I have used some as seedling containers, and have one that I propagate succulents in).

I emptied out our medicine draw and used the cleaned out butter containers to neaten and organise the draw. I am really happy with how it has turned out. I did discover that for some reason we own ALOT of sunscreen! Maybe it's because my husband has European white burns instead of tans skin and I am fair and covered in freckles....but it is still weird. A slightly unexpected plus is I know know at a glance what I need to buy at the supermarket.

I also organised the other 2 draws in the bathroom as well as the cupboard under the sink. Finally got around to cleaning up the four shelf basket unit that we use for extra storage, it now holds our spare towels. Moving the towels into the bathroom is something I have wanted to do for a while, afterall it is the logical place, and it saves the run across the house when you forget the clean towels (not that I have ever had to do that....thankfully notice before I turn on the shower).

Having a cold

Oh the first cold for the season. Started with a really sore throat on Wednesday, which got worse on Thursday and the runny nose started. Friday I started taking cold & flu tablets to combat the runny nose & stuffed up feeling. Saturday was probably the worse day as I hadn't slept since Wednesday and was just so warn out. Today I am feeling much better, had a nice long nap this afternoon so feel so much brighter. Hoping that this is the end of the cold......just want to sleep and be able to hear things properly.

Yesterday was 'Slave Day', a group of the youth & young adults @ our church are participating in Relay for Life (a fundraising event for the Queensland Cancer Council), and their fundraising involved a silent slave auction. Basically every member of the church relay for life team put themselves up for doing anything that anyone is willing to pay them for. Me and my husband put some money forward to get our garden weeded and some piano lessons (my talented hubbie has taken up the piano, and is teaching himself). So thankful for the work that got done yesterday, hardly recognise our backyard, the only thing left is to sort out some of the rubbish that was discovered (joys of renting). Great job guys!