Snow day!!!

  

Our first snow day!

On Monday we woke up to a blanket of white outside our windows... it was breathtaking.

It snows on Mount Roland every Winter and it has, on occasion, snowed in Sheffield, but only a light flutter for a few minutes that never settles.

So, when we received a letter from the school on Friday of snowfall down to 100m above sea level and there may be a possibility of the closure of the school on Monday, we had a little chuckle.

 I have never been so pleased to be wrong!

It turns out that it was the coldest day with the heaviest snowfall (a whole 2 inches!) recorded in over 25 years.

My lovely G, the kids, the dog and I wandered around the garden

 and neighbourhood in awe-struck amazement.

We met some friends at the park 

and made snowmen

and snow angels (even our pup had a go at making one!!)

and of course there where many a snowball thrown. Absolutely necessary.

Mr G came home early to make hot cocoa on the wood heater for when we returned.  Perfection.

It continued to snow steadily for most of the day until it cleared in the afternoon, just in time to take Miss E to gymnastics.

BEST DAY EVER!!!!

A plan of aesthetic action!

First things first, to clean and tidy the living room.

It is hard to imagine a nice space when you are surrounded by dust, dog hair and clutter. 

I spent all day yesterday tidying up and cleaning, here are the results... 

(our friends dog heard of our pooches photo shoot the other 

day so she decided to have one of her own... )

 from the dining room to the hallway:

 from the study to the front door:

I went to the local community thrift shop last week and made a substantial purchase of $24...

some second hand bed sheets and doona (duvet) covers:

 and some little knick knacks:

the knick knacks you can understand... but why old sheets? you may ask...

to make a rag rug of course!!!

I figured I won't be able to afford a decent floor rug in the loungeroom that would be big enough to fit the space properly, and I have always loved the look of braided rag rugs... see they are so pretty!

There are crocheted ones:

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braided ones:

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and woven ones:

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but I don't have a loom or a large crochet hook 

and I didn't want to spend hours sewing it all together, so I came across

a couple of tutorials on Pinterest here and here ... and this is how it looks so far:

While miss E was at gymnastics on Monday, 

I spent a whole $12 of my birthday money at Kmart...

So after a bit of fluffing about this is how the room looks now:

some close-ups of pretty things:

I must say I am quite proud of the results so far! 

It put a big smile on my face when I walked into the room this morning :)

the next projects on my list will be to make some new cushion covers (union flags, etc)

like these:

  

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recover the lamp shade:

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paint the ceiling light and wall sconces :

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I wonder if I can make them look like those glass floats?

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and white wash the hideous faux wood paneled walls:

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 For now though, I will focus on my rug :)

living room inspiration

 
 My first foray into the Polyvore world...

It would be easy to say I hate our rental house... it is so ugly. 

There is no storage, no nice architectural features, it is tired and old and still had the original (and very threadbare) carpet, wall treatments, curtains and light fittings from when the house was built in the 1960s... but without any sign of the cool retro style prevalent from that period... just U.G.L.Y. 

The spaces are awkward, there is no logic or cohesion in the space.

Ever since we moved in over four years ago, I have struggled to make it a welcoming and comfortable home.  Having an extremely limited budget has been a large factor, lack of inspiration has also been a big contributor. 

Hours upon hours of trawling the internet, especially my beloved <3 Pinterest, has helped me to recognise some common elements that I want to incorporate into my space.  

I decided to have a go at using Polyvore to create a mood board and it has turned out quite well, I think.  My style is not as polished as the board I have created, I am a make-do and mend kinda girl. But it will give me a guide to keep me on track.

I have a lot of the Items I need, but just need to pull it all together, to give it some flow.  

Some painting is required, some sewing and hot-gluing, too.  

But I think this may just be achievable!

Now for some before photos... (eek!)
(Disclaimer- I did not clean or tidy before taking these photos...Don't judge me!! lol)

This is what is first seen when you walk through the front door...

 pampered pooch:

looking forwards to the study/library area:

 dining area on the right:

This one is taken from the hallway towards the dining area...

 the front door is to the right:

And these ones are taken from the dining area...

from the study towards the front door:

a disappearing dog towards the hallway: