New digs

For the curious, here is a piccy (from the estate agents' site) of the new villa. Yes, it is actually this cute and tidy (due to the fact that the owner comes and does the garden for us.) I'm not sure when it was built, guessing late 1940s? So now we're out of Frankytown, which leaves me with mixed feelings, but I knew I had to get out of there, as I'd been there too long and it had too many memories that were doing my head in.
So I guess my new hobby will be complaining about freaks on the 86 tram.

PS. Back to work today, not thrilled about that fact.

Edit - added the house piccy...it was there when I scheduled this post yesterday but obviously went walkabout. Sorry folks.

Garden musings

GWL - secret garden, originally uploaded by aaroscape.

No, this is not a pic of my garden...but it is representative of the light and feel of the front yard of the new place. This morning I was bemoaning the fact that I'll miss my orange tiles and looking at the bay when I wheel my bins out. And then I realised that while the new house is small, it does have a nice pleasant garden for Hubert and I to play in. And build some raised vegie gardens. And have a worm farm again. And have green things and flowers that will make me happy. So it's all a trade off I guess.

PS. Plus it's Earth Day, some good practical suggestions here.

Well it was for us yesterday, but living under my rock, didn't realise until Google told me this morning.

Hanging around

Yesterday afternoon, while shuffling* up the street to meet one of my fave chicks for coffee, I passed by a You Am I poster, and thought: "Hooray, local gig!" Then went: "Bah, last week, missed out, gumble, mutter." ...however given the gig had passed, I thought this gave me a license to pinch the poster (or do a community service by removing bills, if you will). I thought it would look rather spiffy on the lounge room wall:

Mmm, I like some good poster design. I added one of my Petty girl calendar pages that I just bought via Etsy, and also finally framed a print that I bought from Redbubble two years ago - the one that's hanging over the (unfinished) stool. All a bit industrious really.


Maybe I'm super slow, but it just occurred to me how taking a photo is a better way to get some perspective on your living space...I looked at the one above and thought, "that doesn't look right, that bookcase is too skinny"...so I think there will be some tweaking over the weekend, because I'm not happy. Another think I've noticed is how I'm all about black and orange now, as well as my fave blue. Does any of this matter? Probably not, but it keeps me amused.

* I am indeed shuffling everywhere at the moment, as my dickie knee is playing up.

PS. On a happy note, I only noticed today that Blogger now let you add pages. More easy links to crap that you don't care about about me. Hurrah!

Teary

Further to Drewzel's hunt for a new villa ~ which is rapidly becoming a saga in my own lunchbox (as opposed to a legend)...something happened last night which brought me to tears. They were happy tears though (albeit mixed with a bit of self pity) and of course house hunting related.
We all remember my wee one bedroom housie that I gave blog love to the other day...well I was MSN-ing last night to the Fella (aka Hubert Cumberdale) and he said "what about your dream house? why don't you just get that?" ...I said "what? the little one I blogged? but it's only one bedroom!" To which he replied "but it's your dream house, if you love it, try and get that one. as long as there's a space for a pullout bed for Miss C, we'll make it work. at least go and look at it."

Perhaps you may be thinking, 'oh so he told her to inspect a house, big whoop'...but that is not the point. That is not what made me cry. What made me cry was the gesture of kindness, the fact that for the first instance I can remember for a long time, someone involved closely in my life has just suggested that I try and get what I want, not compromise, be practical or do something to suit their agenda. Someone is willing to just try and make me happy. To me, that's a big thing.

PS. I may go and look at wee housie on Saturday... but I still have an odd feeling about the house I linked to yesterday. You know I'll update you.

Stool WIP

Further to this post, after pulling $5 stool apart, it was in a reasonable condition so last night I covered the chair pad with calico and then tacked part of a vintage tablecloth on top to see how it looked. (Gumboot Man next door probably didn't appreciate my evening hammering, but then again, I don't appreciate his midnight stinky chop cooking fests.) So here's the progress:

Still have to buy some paint on payday and respray the legs. The question now is, does the seat need some embroidery or something, or is that over the top and hokey? Or should I try different fabric? Am I barking in the wrong bushes?

As usual, I have embroidery on the brain, but even more so since I got my copy of Embroidered Effects in the mail yesterday. I feel another stitchy project brewing.

Today's vista

aka "the view inside my head".

Glad everyone loved the little house yesterday as much as me! Alas, it will remain in my dreams, as it's not a practical option... we really need at least 3 bedrooms, as we need a piano room for the Fella (to teach from) and a bedroom for Miss C (Fella's 11 year old) to commandeer when we're lucky enough to have her around. Currently this house is my favourite of the Ballarat offerings. I'm also conscious of getting a place that does NOT need renovations, because I lived for years mid reno in Portionvilla, and I am not prepared to live in mess right now or do any expensive house alterations. Plus I want central Ballarat, so the train station is easy. Oh, the Drewzel-parents (aka my mum and dad) are not at all keen of the Ballarat option, Mum expressing her disapproval by saying "But it's so cold there." Cold we can cope with Mum, ridiculous mortgages on a public servant salary ~ we can't.


One of the good things about blogging is that you can blurt all this sort of stuff out, and then go back and read it in a month and laugh...hopefully when you've sorted your woes. I like to use my blog as a sort of journal/scrapbook, and if anyone reads it, that's only a bonus for me. I know there's some out there who take blogging very seriously ...and I suppose because an internet presence is an easily available and powerful form of marketing these days. Lucky I've got nothing to market, except my malaise, and no one's buying that. I guess my point is, I'm trying to focus on the positive, because I know when I've sorted my house/work quandry I'll look back and say "Oh it wasn't that bad"...but right now, oh I'm stressing. I'm one of those people that know if I have to do something like move or buy a new car I want it done ASAP, otherwise I'll obsess about it. And right now I'm in obsessing phase. So I'll send a message out to the Universe asking it to help my have my shit sorted by the end of the month. Is that too much to ask?

P.S. Internet Explorer you suck. You make my blog template look askew. Blah. If any boffins out there know how to fix it, please let me know.

Day 7 love

In my house hunting, I found this little house in Ballarat. It's totally impractical really as it's only a one bedroom house... but I thought I'd grab the picture as it's representative of my architecture LOVE.

Just in case

You were wondering where the blog's name came from.

Ikea, I kill ya

I have a love/hate relationship with Ikea. Well maybe a like/hate, I can't say I actually LOVE anything there. But for the often lazy (yes that's me) they do make household necessities affordable and accessible.
Do you think I can assemble the furniture though?
Ahem.
I've always considered myself a reasonably intelligent, competent human being, but those instruction leaflets just do my head in.

Ikea tally to date:
success - 1 x chair, 1 x sofa
FAIL - 2 x chairs, 1 x TV locker. And a glass lampshade that cracked on me.

Oh dear. The TV locker is one of these, a single door model, and in my infinite wisdom, I put the lid on back to front, and now I can't get the damn thing off! You may think not a big problem, but to put the door on, you need a hole in each right corner for the door pins to go in. Oh noes. So here's the cabinet as it looks at the moment, waiting for someone strong and burly to put it to rights. And someone who can be bothered...both the Fella and Dad decided it looked better without a door anyway.

Now I also bought chairs called "Harry" from Ikea a few weeks back, and tried to assemble them. Oh dear. (!) I ended up ringing the Fella in despair, who told me to go and have a cuppa and leave it till he came over next. So I did. My spare room was beginning to become a testament to my Ikea failures, for it now held the locker door, one partially assembled Harry, one Harry still in it's box and a side table that I hadn't bothered with, as I'd grabbed the wrong one and didn't realise at the time. Sigh.

Last weekend, the Fella was over, and set to put my chair disaster to rights. He couldn't get it to work either, until he realised that I'd put one of the seat braces around the wrong way "Look Steph, it fits easily when you put it in the right holes." ...because my main problem with Harry chair was that I couldn't get the dowel pins to sit right in the holes. So as usual, I had everything arse about. Oh the shame! I'm an Ikea failure. The Fella looked around the room and said "Don't worry Steph, you're good at decorating, and knitting" in an attempt to console me. Sigh.

So now, you'd think I'd have learnt my lesson and should avoid Ikea. Or at least don't unpack anything that needs assembling when I'm on my own. But the thing is, I need a queen size bed, as the double I have is a bit patethic really... so I'm currently coveting this one:

[Pic source]

Of course it has a complicated headboard/shelving combination, I think I'm a bit of a masochist sometimes.

And I'm also considering one of these as a home for some rather gorgeous coffee cups that I op-shopped yesterday. (Or this one.) Me, Ikea, and glass shelving?! Sounds like a recipe for disaster.

to be continued...

Colour me coveting

Yes, I know that every blogger and their donkey loves turquoise blue paired with red. And everyone loves Cath Kidston style. But as I'm currently sorting the new nest at the moment, these pics I found via Ms Cate are very appealing for home cosiness. Just humour me, okay?


Cake tins ahoy!


One of my personal philosophies.


Tweet!


Just lovely.