Little Girl's Room.

Baby girl grows up

I am at my best working to a deadline and this is a tight one! We get back from holiday this weekend , I am taking my youngest son to Wimbledon on Monday and my little girl's new, "big girl's bed" arrives on Wednesday. So that gives me a day to repaint her room and rearrange it into a more grown up space. Oh, and I forgot to say Tuesday is her 5th birthday. However, I do have everything I need - paint, filler, accessories, a new toy box that I made etc so it is going to be an extra birthday present for her - albeit it a day late. I am not changing the colours - Farrow and Ball pinks and blues, but giving them a freshen up. I have a selection of white frames to put some girly prints into as well. If the room is ready they will be able to assemble the bed for me, so with that as an incentive I shall work all night if I have to. The bed is a midsleeper so not an easy job to put together I hasten to add! We are not having a party for her until the weekend so I'm off the hook with that - a simple family supper with cake will do the trick. 

So here are the before photos - lovely and pink and full of girly clutter, which is how it should be, but needs rearranging and sorting and made a little more 'grown up'. The furniture is all too small for her now and she needs a lot of the toddler toys giving away or selling on e.bay to fund future purchases!

The New Toy Box

This box cost me ten pounds at the local Steptoes yard - sanded down, a lick of eggshell and a new cover and it looks great! Bargain!

I will post at the end of the week with before and after photos of the whole room....watch this space - just hoping it comes together alright. x

The Plumb.

"Daddy I think you need a plumb" was my 4 years old advice after hours wasted trying to fix a leaky toilet - wise words and ones which have since been heeded. 

My husband rather sees himself as a expert in most fields, who simply just doesn't have the time to give to the never ending list of jobs we have to do. The rest of us would tend to lean towards the opinion of well meaning amateur or reluctant odd job man.  Personas for some reason he seems somewhat reluctant to adopt. 

However , having wasted a few days trying to mend the aforementioned leaky toilet the wise advice was taken , the 'plumb ' was called and the toilet fixed within a matter of minutes.  With a combination of smug 'I knew it' looks and sheepish 'I should have done that myself' glances , peace was restored and with the early morning ritual of racing for the one working toilet relegated to the past , it was decided to file this under ' best not mentioned again'.

House Project 1.

For the past couple of years one of the most frequently heard phrases in our house begins " When all the children are at school I will..... ! The opportunity of having some time to complete many of the unfinished projects was suddenly drawing closer to being a reality, with all three children at school! Despite the fact that my little girl had pneumonia within a week of starting school and then was home again for some time , I do feel that there is now some time to tackle some of these jobs around the house! My aim is to start room by room so I am not completely overwhelmed by all there is actually to do to complete this project of a house. We do have some fairly major plans to knock down two garages and create a beautiful kitchen/family room. The plans have been agreed so hopefully I will be able to share that journey and pictures of progress with you soon.

In the meantime I decided that for once I would make us a priority instead of the kids - radical I know- and am starting in our bedroom! We have some pretty vibrant pine furniture - all of which needs a good coat of white eggshell to soften it down. I have also decided that working on my lap is not good for my long suffering back, so a desk is in order too. So off I set on a trip to one of my favourite places in the world - second hand furniture stores. I ended up at Steptoes - full of junk, or if you are like me, treasures that just need some TLC. I came out with a large chest ( I must admit this is not for me but for my little girls room , but too good to leave behind.) , a pine table - perfect for a desk for sewing and a laundry basket in gold ( !!!)

A pot of undercoat, a couple of pots of Farrow and Ball and some elbow grease and they all had a lovely new coat of fresh paint. The laundry basket is in Farrow and Balls plumbago grey and the pine furniture in Farrow and Ball's All White.In addition to the table, desk and laundry basket  I have managed so far to also paint the two bedside cabinets and am hoping to tackle the chest of drawers and wardrobe next week. However , here's how Ive done so far. I'm pretty pleased! I'll post some complete before and after photos of the bedroom when I'm completely finished!

Table washed, sanded and ready!

Table and Laundry basket undercoated and first coat done.

3 or 4 coats of paint later - done!

With all my bits and bobs!