Creating A Family Friendly Home

With our new addition due in May (just over 3 months away!) Mr P and I have been busy turning our Jarrah Jungle into a family friendly home.

We are trying to finish all our renovating projects big and small in the next few months before our little one arrives - from plastering and painting ceilings, to installing door handles, wallpapering, planting a vegetable and herb garden in our front courtyard, setting up our new deck and patio space, making the backyard dog friendly with some grass and paving for Lexi ..... there's so much we want to do!

Besides all the renovating projects we also need to make changes to create a more family friendly home for the baby's bedroom, living space and bathroom and this is what we've come up with.

1. Goodbye Study/Craft Room .... Hello Nursery

We have 4 bedrooms - our master bedroom, guest bedroom, Mr P has his man cave and I have my study/craft room.

So what room will be turned into the nursery? After much consideration, unfortunately for me, we decided the best option is to turn my study/craft room into a nursery so Mr P gets to keep his man cave for now!

I've been busy finding a new place for all the bits and pieces I store in this room. I loved having my own creative space but I'll admit it was used more for storage and I would actually do my creative projects in the living room.

I can't wait to set up the nursery and plan to decorate it on a modest budget and use furniture and decor we already have. 

2. Creating extra living space .... An outdoor room

Another issue we have at home is we only have one small living room. Perfect for a couple but it's a bit of a problem now that it's going to be a combined space for entertaining adults mixed with an area for the baby's toys and equipment and things.

I like my home to be neat and tidy and everything in its place and know that sitting on the couch trying to look over all the baby's things will drive me crazy!

We are hoping our new backyard deck and patio we have just finished building will give us essentially another living room that can be an outdoor room and entertaining space for adults. 

We'll put some comfortable outdoor furniture and a TV out here so Mr P won't miss out on his sport if the cartoons are on and if the baby's equipment is spread everywhere inside we can retreat to our adults only outdoor room!

3. Bath time without a bath

The other issue we have is when we renovated our bathroom we indulgently removed the old bath and included a big double shower which I absolutely love but it means we don't have a bath for the baby!

I plan to get a baby bath to sit in the shower but from what I know most people bath their baby and young kids in the bath not the shower - I hope it won't be too difficult trying to use a baby bath in the shower.

We did think ahead when we did our laundry renovation and installed a large laundry trough and a laundry bench in here.

So for bath time I'm hoping we can utilise the laundry as well as a baby bath in the shower.

I'm pretty sure for the first year at least we will manage just fine in our home as it is with these changes.

Although we are keeping an eye on the housing market for a bigger family home to move into for the future, but for now we don't want to leave our beloved Jarrah Jungle home!

I think we're on the right track for creating a family friendly home.

Did you need to make any family friendly changes to your home?

Sharing with link parties:
Curly Crafty Mom - The Creative Corner
The Dedicated House - Make It Pretty Monday
Savvy Southern Style - Wow Us Wednesdays

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2016 ... A Very Plain Christmas

It's with a heavy heart I tell you all that I won't be decorating the Jarrah Jungle home for Christmas this year! Shock horror I know right I can't quite believe it myself!!

I  know some of you may have been waiting to see what theme I'd come up with this year and sadly the theme is going to be .... A very plain Christmas!

The reason I can't decorate is we're having work done to our living room ceiling and so I can't put the Christmas tree in it's normal spot in here because we have to move all the furniture out and cover everything up ready for the dusty work to begin.

The carpenter who is building our deck and patio also does ceilings and Mr P and I recently started a DIY ceiling lift in the living room and master bedroom using ceiling washers (much like we lifted the laundry ceiling). The carpenter is going to finish this off and plaster, skim and sand the ceiling for us which will save us a heap of time and work - then we'll just need to paint.

The downside is all my lovely Christmas decorations will need to stay packed away this year.

Every day that Christmas gets closer and my Instagram feed fills up with people's beautiful homes and sparkling Christmas trees and decorations and I'm just so sad that I can't be a part of the festivities as I just love to decorate for Christmas.

Each year I pick a different theme - you can see my previous year's themes here 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015 ... 2016 is going to be a very plain Christmas!

All I can say is watch out for next year because I'm going to have to go bigger and better than ever to make up for this years non-decorating.

This isn't the first time renovating has stopped my Christmas cheer but hopefully it will be the last!

On a positive note at least I won't have tiny bits of tinsel and glitter scattered all over my house like I usually do!!

How are you decorating for Christmas this year? Do you have a theme?

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[Images via my Pinterest 1, 2, 3]

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A Newlyweds Christmas ... Merry Kissmas!

I change my Christmas decorating theme every year depending on what's happening in the Jarrah Jungle home and so far over the years I've had .....

2009 - Our first Christmas

2010 - Christmas when renovation 

2011 - Christmas tree blue and silver

2012 - Christmas tree with pink, purple, blue and silver

Plus a Christmas vignette and Merry Mantle

2013 - Christmas tree with pink, purple, blue and silver

2014 - Decorating with a bright and happy vibe

In 2015 I'm going with a newlyweds theme because it's Mr P and I's first Christmas 

as husband and wife. Plus my word for 2015 is "LOVE" so it's the perfect theme!

Every year Mr P mentions that our Christmas tree is far too big for the house and every year I gush about how much I love it and it's not going anywhere!

This year the Christmas Tree is decorated with blues, purples, pinks and silver.

I've decorated with special decor from the engagement and wedding including my DIYed wedding bouquet

I'm not afraid to use lots of bright colours around the house as you can see even my wall art has had the festive treatment this year!

My gallery wall of art has had a bit of a change up with the addition of my custom Jarrah Jungle art from Minted.

Special ornaments from our honeymoon travels across the USA take pride of place here too.

My DIY painted birdcage has made an appearance again with baubles and birds.

I've created a couple of vignettes in the dining room and living room too.

My kitchen is looking bright and festive with it's Christmas shelfie and the dining room table is laid with Christmas cheer!

And I couldn't forget to decorate outside, now that I've added some pots and plants to the front path it's looking much more inviting by the front door.

I love seeing the Christmas tree and all the decorations up in the house it makes me excited for the Summer holidays and festivities ahead.

Now I need to finish shopping and wrap some presents to put under the tree!

How are you decorating for Christmas this year?

Sharing with link parties:

Curly Crafty Mom - The Creative Corner
The Dedicated House - Make It Pretty Monday
Savvy Southern Style - Wow Us Wednesdays

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[All images my own]

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Decorating With A Bright And Happy Vibe This Christmas

I put up the Christmas tree and decorated the house the other weekend and love how it instantly transforms the mood at home.

Summer is on it's way. Work shuts down and there's time to relax at home. Catch up with friends and family. There's lots of fun times to be had. It already feels extra special this year because Mr P and I are engaged there's a loved up, warm and fuzzy feeling happening!

Last year was absolute madness because we hosted our very first Christmas lunch for 30 of Mr P and I's family and in a word it was EPIC! 

This year it will be much more relaxed, so relaxed I haven't finished my present shopping yet, but not too many more gifts to buy.

I'm loving lots of colour this year and for the Christmas Tree I have used pink, purple, blue and silver. Every year Mr P tells me our tree is too big and every year as I knock ornaments off as I walk past I say you can never have a big enough Christmas Tree!

Typo have come to the party again with some gorgeous Xmas ornaments this year and I was very chuffed to see my cheeky Typo lightbox quote was featured in the Typo newsletter and social media pages last week!

I did a little DIY project and painted a rusty birdcage with Dulux Duramax Spray Paint in GoGo Blue and filled it with baubles and of course you can't have a birdcage without a a bird! I'll be doing a write up and hosting a giveaway for these gorgeous spray paints from Dulux in the new year, so stay tuned for that!

A collection of my glass domes sitting pretty on my Marguerite Dore plate which took pride of place on my Christmas table last year. 

My house plants have my special ornaments on them, I even have a reindeer that used to poop lollies (yes it's as charming as it sounds!) and I just can't bare to part with it, so each year it finds a new hang out!

How is your home decorated for Christmas this year?

Check out my previous Christmas decorating over here:

2009 - Our first Christmas in Jarrah Jungle

2010 - Christmas when renovation 

2011 - Christmas tree blue and silver

2012 - Christmas tree with pink, purple, blue and silver, Christmas vignette, Merry Mantle

2013 - Christmas tree with pink, purple, blue and silver

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Shut The Front Door: Sand, Stain and Seal

With the laundry renovation taking the spotlight over the last few weeks I just realised I haven't shared a proper before and after of our beautiful new front door that we hung a few months ago.

I just want it know that this DIY project was completed entirely by yours truly and I didn't even chip my nail polish :)

Firstly, the door needed to be sanded back to remove the imperfections and marks on it - we paid just $200 for the door which retails at $1400 because of those marks and it only took me 30 minutes to remove them with a bit of sand paper and elbow grease.

Our new front door

Before - Marks on door

After - A bit of sanding and elbow grease!

Door all sanded back ready for staining

Wiped the door over with mineral turps to remove all the sanding dust

Once the door was sanded and the dust all cleaned up it was ready to be stained and sealed to protect it from the weather, rain and sun. For that I used Sikkens Filter 7 in Light Oak which is what we stained our French Doors with. There was enough leftover in the can to do 2 coats front and back on this door which means we didn't have to spend a cent either!

We removed the door handle and weather seal strip on the bottom of the door and taped up the glass panels. Then I started from the top of the door and worked my way down with a large angled paint brush dipped in the stain, making sure I blended each brush stroke and took care of any drips straight away before they stained. Wipe up was easy with a damp cloth.

The tables have turned .... I'm working for once and Mr P is taking the photos!

Progress .... I love the 2 tone affect of the wood

Using an angled brush really helps to get into all the grooves

First coat on the front of the door

Now for the back of the door

Drying time was 16 hours and as this was a Sunday I had to do the second coat on the door the following weekend. The smell was pretty strong too and hung around for about 2 days. Ideally, we should have stained it before we hung it but thought that it might have been knocked about a bit when it was being cut to size to hang so it's probably best that we stained it after it was hung.

Now for the second coat of stain .... after I sanded out any scratches, marks and drips I put on another coat of stain which went on a lot quicker this time around.

After the first coat, I lightly sanded any areas that had drip marks or scratches
.... being careful not to chip my nail polish!

Another coat of Sikkens stain going on ....
This small tin has stained 3 doors with 2 coats each, that's pretty good for just 1 Ltr

The second coat went on a lot quicker than the first

Once the front and back got a good solid coat of stain and was left to dry overnight it was the moment of  truth when I could take the painters tape off the glass panels and admire my hard work ..... yes I can actually say MY PROJECT for this and I'm feeling rather proud that I got to do this project from go to woah!

The finished door

The stain is quite dark and especially after the second coat the Light Oak really came through and intensified and the outer wood is almost as dark as the jarrah floorboards and also matches the new French Doors which is what we wanted to create a flow on of similar wood tones for the doors throughout the house. 

  

The new door before and after stain

The new front door creates quite a statement and impression of what you'll find inside the house too .....  fun and personality await you inside!

What do you think of the new door and stain colour?

Sharing with link parties:

Savvy Southern Style - Wow Us Wednesdays

Home Coming - The DIYers

The Dedicated House - Before And After Wednesday

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[All images my own]

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