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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Honeymoon Travels: Las Vegas, Nevada USA

Today I'm sharing part four of our honeymoon travels around the USA .....

After leaving New Orleans we jumped on a plane and flew direct to Las Vegas, Nevada where we stayed for four nights.

Now most people go to Las Vegas to get married, not on their honeymoon right! Well we had planned to catch up with friends in Las Vegas before we were even engaged and so true to our word we incorporated a stop off to Las Vegas in our honeymoon travels and I'm so glad we did we had so much fun here.

You are spoilt for choice on fancy hotels in Las Vegas there are so many to pick from.

I booked us into The Signature at MGM Grand which I'd booked through the owner direct on Air BnB at a great price. This was by far the fanciest hotel I have ever stayed in!

Days 1 and 2 - The Strip

Las Vegas city area is crazy, with people everywhere, drinking and partying on the streets, shops and restaurants galore, it really is all lights, party, action here! Unlike Australia, you can buy alcohol in the supermarket here and then drink it in the street and go inside the casinos with it - talk about a cheap night out!

Each night we walked along The Strip and checked out the different casinos, you could spend hours at each just admiring all the art displays, the shops, restaurants and bars. If I had more time I would have spent just one night at each Casino whereas we ventured to a few each night so we could see them all and there are still some we didn't get to so that's a good excuse to go back one day!

Las Vegas by day is just as entertaining!

So many people going up and down The Strip it's worthwhile stopping at a bar for a drink with a view and watching the world go by.

Day 3 - Downtown - Old Las Vegas

We took the local bus Downtown to the old Las Vegas for some shopping at the North Premium Outlets and got some great bargains on clothes, shoes and jewellery. 

In the afternoon we caught up with friends staying down here and watched some live bands, we had an amazing day and night Downtown, it has a much more relaxed and friendly vibe here and I would say more family friendly as well.

I would happily go back to Downtown again and recommend everyone visit this side of town!

Day 4 - Grand Canyon

At it's doorstep is the Grand Canyon which you can do a full day trip by bus or a helicopter ride takes 45 minutes to get there - as time was limited we went for the helicopter! This was one of the highlights of our trip.

We went with Sundance Helicopter Tours - Grand Canyon Picnic which included a limo picking us up and dropping us back to our hotel.

At the air strip which was just out of town, we boarded a small helicopter and being newlyweds Mr P and I got the prime seats in the front next to the pilot while 4 others sat in the back and we were up and away. This was my first time in a helicopter and it was a little noisy and scary but I did love it and the views were breathtaking going over The Strip and into the Grand Canyon, over Hoover Dam, Lake Mead and the Colorado River.

We landed and had a short stop on top of the Grand Canyon, enjoyed a picnic lunch and glass of bubbles, and then hopped back on the helicopter and made our way back to the air strip, except this time we sat in the backseat which was less scary than the front seats!

After this adventure, we went to the art gallery of my favourite artist Michael Godard known as the rock star of the art world and who I have admired for many years for his paintings full of personality and fun.

We purchased a stunning piece of art (Prepare The Perfect Pour pictured below) as a wedding gift from the wishing well at our wedding and when I sent out our wedding thank you cards I let everyone know that we'd purchased some art on our honeymoon in Las Vegas which they loved knowing what their contribution went towards.

It took 3 months to receive the art and art book back home in Australia as it was being signed by Michael Godard - while it took much longer than expected I am so happy to have this memory of our honeymoon hanging proudly on our walls at home .... I don't think it will be my last Michael Godard art piece either!

After I had spent time being lost amongst the art - it was Mr P's turn to have some fun.

Mr P has become rather obsessed with pinball machines (in fact we now have two life size pinball machines at home in the man cave!).

So we just had to check out the Pinball Hall Of Fame for a couple of hours of fun and games. If you're into pinball or travelling with kids, I highly recommend you save up your coins and check out this place for a couple of hours of good ole fashioned fun!

We also played Pinball in NYC where you paid per hour whereas this place you need to bring coins to play each game - there were a lot more pinballs and different types of machines from all different eras from retro to modern in the Pinball Hall Of Fame.

The food here is more modern American style - burgers, pizza, steak, chicken wings (at Hooters another place I just had to check out!).

We found the food to be a lot more expensive compared to the other places we visited, but it is a very touristy place and so that's to be expected I guess.

I would love to go back here with a group of friends for a week to see more of the Casinos, shows and entertainment. I would also like to explore the National Parks and more of the Grand Canyon around this part of the world .... next time!

Have you been to Las Vegas? What did you love about it?


Check out my other honeymoon travels around the USA here: 
Honeymoon destinations in the USA
Tours around the USA
Part 1 - New York
Part 2 - Louisville, Kentucky
Part 3 - New Orleans, Louisiana
Part 4 - Las Vegas, Nevada
Part 5 - San Francisco, California
Part 6 - Los Angeles, California

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[All images my own]

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Man Cave Art - Take Two

Early last year you might recall I framed a retro poster for the Man Cave and hung it on the wall only for the frame to come crashing down a few hours later taking a chunk of the wall with it .... it looked like this.

It has taken me almost a year but I finally managed to find the right frame this time - it needed to fit an A3 size poster and hang horizontally not vertically.

Kmart came to the rescue and for only $19 I found the perfect black frame. Funnily enough I was stopped by 2 different people on my way back to the car carrying the frame asking where I'd bought it from as they had been looking everywhere for one too!

The poster got wrinkled when it smashed to the ground so I went back and bought another one from Planet Books (they are such a bargain at $11.95).

I had to trim a bit off the edges of the poster for it to fit into the frame flat and smooth ... I can see why people find it impossible to find the right size frame for these posters!

With a bit of tweaking the poster is framed up and ready to hang on the wall. I really do love the cheekiness literally of this poster it's so fun.

It's very similar to the pin up girl art I have in the master bedroom.

So finally, the art is hung back on the wall where it belongs

Hopefully for good this time!

The Man Cave has had a bit of use lately with boys only late night game marathons and beers.

The cushions all end up thrown onto the floor though ... typical boys!

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Shiny Ceramic Stool Obsession

I have wanted a shiny ceramic stool to use as a side table for ages but haven't seen one under the $100 price tag. My inner Bargain Queen told me to hang in there and like a tiger stalking the prey I've been waiting on the sidelines for the right moment to claim my bargain ... sorry I'm reading Life of Pi and have tigers on the brain!

 

On my latest bargain shopping spree at The Reject Shop I spied their brochure on the counter and staring straight at me were ceramic stools with the amazing price of $40. Sadly, they didn't have any in that store so I rang around until I found a store that had some in stock and took myself shopping.

 

I figured at that price I could totally be greedy and get one in each colour .... but unfortunately there was only one white one left and it was marked. So I bought one red and one black not so greedy after all! 

 

The black stool I put in the Living Room styled with my favourite YHL book and I can't kill it it's fake terrarium :D

 

 

 

The red stool was made for the Man Cave it adds a bright pop of red and is the perfect perch for a beer and computer remote ... what more could a man need?

 

 

 

Have you scored any bargains recently?

Sharing with link up parties:

The Dedicated House - Make It Pretty

Savvy Southern Style - Wow us Wednesdays

 

[All images my own. Catalogue image The Reject Shop]

 

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Book Review: Posters V2 By Clay Hayes

I was given this awesome book Posters V2 by Clay Hayes for my Birthday from my awesome friends :) As the name hints it's full of gig posters for rock bands that can be ripped out and framed. On the back of each page is a list of other posters for that band as well. There are 100 to choose from I don't know where to start!

There are a few bird style ones that refect my bird obsession

Some cheeky pin up style ones for the man cave (they better stay on the wall this time!)

I really like this one for the kitchen

I would recommend this book for music lovers and thrifty home decorators, not only do you get the rundown about each album these bands have put out but to tear out the pages and frame them you have your own artwork that you can appreciate instead of being hidden away inside the book.

I give this book 5 stars ... sorry Johnny but this book rocks!

Jarrah Jungle's Star Rating:

1 Bad - I'd rather eat brussel sprouts topped with anchovies than read this again

2 Not Good - I'd rather watch re-runs of Neighbours than read this again

3 Ok - I'm sitting on the fence - its not great but not terrible either

4 Good - I'd pass up a pack of tim tams for this read

5 Great - I'd pass up a date with Johnny Depp for this read

[All images my own]

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