Playroom Organisation.

If you saw my playroom at the moment you wouldn't call it organised but it's something I'm working on, it's a pity my children aren't working on it with me. So what am I going to tell you that you haven't already seen on Pinterest or other blogs. NOTHING. Today I just wanted to share with you what I'm planning on doing in our multi-functional playroom. What I've achieved since I started this project sixteen months ago and how I'm hoping to have it finished before school finishes in December of this year.

Our playroom needs to be multi-functional. At the moment it's nothing more than a dumping ground and an area that the children haven't used since we moved in two years ago. This room needs to work as a play area, homework area, reading area and a chill out zone for all the kids, especially if they want their friends over for a play. Sixteen months ago I had a desk installed to create a homework area that eventually they'll all use once everyone starts school and that's were it I stopped. This year with three children at school the desk isn't being used as it's filled with things from their bedrooms that I uncovered when I decluttered their bedrooms. I've needed to get in there and get the area organised otherwise the kids will be graduating and it'll still look terrible. We're half way through Term 2 and I'd like to have it up and running before Term 3 starts, otherwise it'll be another sixteen months and I'll have four children searching for places to do their homework.

The first thing I decided to work on was creating a storage system and a reading area that would work for our toys and an area for the kids to sit and read. Our playroom is a good size, making it idea for various areas within the zone. The storage system I set up was fairly easy to create, however if I was buying everything new it was have cost us $310.00 and for many families that could be too much money. I was lucky that I already owned two of the Ikea Billy bookcases from our previous house so there were only a few additional items I to buy (minus chalkboard paint) to create our toy storage area.

Our curtains and rug have a heap of different colours in them, the kids love the rug's brightness so I decided to use some of the colours to help make the area fun, playful and timeless. I got rid of the toys that the kids no longer played with, those that were broken and any others that didn't fit within the criteria. I found some MDF coasters and fabric storage boxes at my local hardware store so that I could create labels for each cube.

The labels were a simple process of drilling a hole into each coaster, painting each side of the coaster with my chalk paint. Each coaster got one coat of paint and this took a while as I had to wait for one side to dry completely so that I could paint the other side. Once the paint was completely dry (I let them cure for 2 days) I then used my chalk to write on each label. I then cut lengths of black sheer ribbon and narrow white ribbon and threaded them through the holes I'd drilled earlier. To attach each label to the storage box I just tired the ribbon around the handle a few times and then I tied a bow or knot depending on the ribbons colour.

So the entire make over of this area cost me $130 which wasn't too bad but if I wanted to reduce the cost a bit I could have used less boxes or waited for them to go on sale. I paid $5 for each box but later found out that when the hardware store has too much stock they go on sale for $3.60 each so I could have saved myself a bit of money. 

Overall, for a minimal amount of effort I'm really happy how things came together in this section of the room. The kids can now find toys they want and they we know which books are there for reading which saves Daddy from reading the same story every night. I'm now hoping that within the next 6 months I can find a chair for the kids to sit and read on, some art for the wall and a few cushions to make it comfortable when reading. 

Megan

Stress Free Lunch Box Planning

Last week I dropped three of my four children off to start of the new school year. To say that I have to be better organised this year than I was last year is an understatement. Each one of them has sports, library, music and swimming on different days so keeping on top of their timetables is essential for a stress free morning. Now knowing who's doing what each day has helped but organising their lunches everyday is time consuming and somewhat difficult at times. My younger sister told me about a great Lunch Box Planner that she had being using and she'd found it saved her time and stress in the morning getting ready.

While she explained the concept to me I realised that she was using a 'menu plan' which is a concept the two of us have been using for years. As of yet I haven't had the time to organise myself but starting Monday I plan on having a very similar set up so that our mornings are less stressful, better organised and this should then allow me to eat my breakfast at the table instead of on the way to the car.

The first thing she did was purchase a PDF file from The Organised Housewife and she then got it printed. To save time on printing it out each week my sister put it inside a picture frame and this allows her to write on the glass using a fine non permanent white board marker, once the week is over she wipes it off with a tissue and then starts again. It's that easy and the best part is that when she bakes she know how many muffins, biscuits etc she needs to make and it saves her time as these items can be frozen to allow them to be fresh when the kids eat them.

Pictures provided to me for use in this post

Now according to my sister, her children are going to have Mini Hot Dogs and a peach for lunch tomorrow at school. The best thing about her plan is that she can make her own bread rolls the day before so that they're fresh for the children. The planner allows my sister to cater to her children's eating requirements (also great for children with allergies). If she gets sick, her husband can see what the kids are having for the day and the planner also allows her to have everything on hand when she needs it.

Pictures provided to me for use in this post

The PDF file also provides other templates that you can choose from. There's one that has the fruit up before the morning tea picture and this plan would help me plan out the fruit that the kids would take to school each day. That PDF file would come in handy for me as two of my children have fruit snacks at the beginning of the day and I know that taking an apple everyday becomes boring after a while.

So this weekend I plan on sitting down and planning out what we're all eating for the week and what the children will be taking to school. I'll also know what biscuits I need to make and I can have these frozen ahead of time. The other great thing about doing this all together is if I'm doing sandwiches I'll be able to prepare them over the weekend, freeze them and pull them out on the morning they're needed.

Now I'm off to get new lunch box idea's from Pinterest, no one is going to want to have sandwiches 5 days a week like we've been doing. So do you plan what your kids are eating for the week or do you just wing it? I know that this is going to save me money when it comes to planning my grocery list for the week and it'll allow me to get into the kitchen some more instead of buying packet biscuits.

Megan

Playroom Inspiration

We've lived in our not so new house for two years now and I'm presently looking to create a kid's area for the children to play in, create in and study in. With four children ranging in ages between nine and two it can be some what difficult to make the space work for everyone all the time. I knew straight up that I wanted the room to be multifunctional while also making it a fun and happy place to play in. So the first thing I did was search Pinterest to great some ideas of what makes a great playroom.

If you click on my Pinterest board you'll notice that colour, reading and homework area play a large roll when I've chosen the pins I've picked. In this post I thought I'd share my favourite playroom finds and the idea behind what I was thinking when I pinned each picture.

Love the colours and the amount of storage for toys.

Love the coloured canvas storage cubes and the little reading
nook between the bookcases.

A great bench seat that would be ideal for a reading nook.

Cushions for a reading nook to encourage
the kids to read.

Love the book cover letter to promote reading.

Long desk for all four children to sit at when
everyone is at school.

Love. Love. Love the colours in this room. It's so what I want for our
space because it would make you smile.

Love this rug and would love to great
something similar to it.

As you can see I have picked images that have a heap of storage within the room as well as lots of colour. If I had to describe my design criteria for the kids playroom I'd say that it might look like a 'Rainbow has thrown up in the room'. I'm wanting the colours to work within in the room without competing so I'm hoping that I'll e ale to pull this off when it all comes together.

In the coming weeks I'll share a few things that I've achieved so far within the room. I've got plans to paint a recently purchased bench seat using a new Australian made chalk paint that was released by a local business called Canterbury Blue Shabby Chic Furniture. The paint is called Chalk EZ2 Paint it's really easy to use and I'll go into more details when I get my seat finished.

I can't wait to share the things I've completed with you and I'm hoping that I get everything finished. I've now found the few things that I spent months searching for and I just need to find the time once school goes back to get this project FINISHED. Don't hold you're breath projects in this house seem to take forever to get completed. Wish me luck I'm sure I'll get there ha ha.

 Megan

14 days, 56 bags

Life in the One Plus One Equals Six house has been difficult in recent months, this has impacted on our day to day life. Recently I lost my grandmother which came as a shock, I'd always thought she'd be around and because of this I hadn't talked with her for a number of years. I had the opportunity to travel back home to New Zealand with my sister to say goodbye to her and to pay my respects. I'm so glad I did because she was a remarkable woman and during my time there I got to hear family and friends talk about her with such love.

When I returned home I decided it was time to get my life in order and to turn this house into a home. During the last eighteen months I've participated half heartedly in various decluttering tasks so that I could clear out all the excess items that we no longer needed to be carrying around with us. On 6th January I signed up with my sister to participate in a 52 week declutter challenge. Lets be honest I only did one of the challenges, every week I read what my sister had done while sitting down looking at all the stuff that was building up around me. It wasn't until I read a post by Corrie from Retro Mummy about how she was collecting 40 bags in 40 days to prepare for her families upcoming move that I got the motivation that I needed.

When we sold our house three years ago I was pregnant and not in the mood to pack up the house let alone declutter. So I packed everything we owned into boxes and we stored them away. Fast forward three years and we still have all the things from the previous house PLUS the things we've accumulated since moving in two years ago. When I started my 14 day challenge I knew that I'd need to create three different piles as the bags were going to different places. Pile 1 was rubbish which went to the dump, Pile 2 was for the local thrift shop and Pile 3 was for the 'reuse shop' at our local dump.

After 14 days 24 bags went to the dump, 26 bags were given to the 'Save the Children' thrift store and a total of 6 bags went to the Reuse Shop at the dump. The house is lighter and less cluttered but I still have a few more areas to finish off so I'm sure I could add to these numbers.

I'm pleased to say that with removing all these bags out of the house we've been able to create more space within the house. In the coming weeks I'm going to share with you some before and after pictures of the kids rooms and hopefully I'll be able to start decorating the kids bedrooms rooms.

So far I'm pleased with the effort that we put into decluttering the house. The children are also pleased with their rooms and they're putting in the effort of keeping it clean. So far the children have made their beds each day and the girls are putting all their clothes away each night. I'd call this a success and I wish I'd pulled my finger out and decluttered the house earlier.

Megan

Thrifty Finds

As you know it was my birthday on Tuesday, so this year I decided I'd go and do something I wanted to do for a change instead of rushing home after school drop off. First off I went to Muffin Break which is my all time favourite coffee shop and I collected my free coffee (which I up sized) and my birthday muffin. Like all good mums I gave the muffin to the kids to share because hey I'm doing weight watchers and who needs to use all those points before lunch! We then headed off to a thrift shop I'd seen years ago but never visited.

In Australia we've had a few issues with our thrift (aka Op shops) stores so I was hoping that this store was large, not over priced and they had things I wanted to buy. In the past I've always gone with Mr Opoes because he helps control the children and this means the kids are better behaved. So today I set out a few ground rules with my four and two year old just so we got a good look around without them touching or breaking things. In the past I've always found Lifeline to be a little over priced and today was the same. Some of the items were the same price as the brand new equivalent and pieces in the furniture section were a bit on the pricey side considering they're second hand.

Now when I started I didn't really have a list of all the things I wanted, all I knew was that I wanted a novel so that I could turn the pages into flowers for a craft project I'd been thinking about and maybe a ramekin dish that was bigger than the ones I already own. As you can see I didn't want much as my expectations were low especially when I knew it was a Lifeline store so I was only expecting to spend ten dollars.After walking around for about forty minutes I was ready to pay for my items and that's when I found a coffee table with the most beautiful lines and I knew straight away it was coming home with me. I didn't even care about the price, it was love at first sight. Sorry Mr Opoes I've another man in my life and he's got curves, DIY potential and he was cheap ha ha.

I've only had the items for a couple of days but I've got plans for every item so I thought I'd share a picture of each item, a brief description of what I want to create with each item and how much I paid for them. I paid a total of fifty-two dollars and fifty cents for everything which I'm really happy about.

Each of these items were very cheap and they'll get used within the next month or so. A is a book that I'll be using to create paper flowers with and it cost me two dollars. B is the two ramekin dishes that I had on my list. The taller dish is just perfect for Caelan when I make cheese soufflés, it cost fifty cents and the smaller dish is a heap bigger so that'll come in handy when I'm making a soufflés for Mr Opoes dinner and it cost two dollars. C is a single pillowcase that Viveca fell in love with and I thought that it would be perfect to use to make a skirt with. She loved the flower with the smiley face and it only cost me a dollar and fifty cents.

The picture on the left is a wooden tray box that has six cubes and I'm thinking of either painting the inside of it or putting scrapbooking paper in there so that the children's pet rocks can be put on display. I'm not sure if I'd hang it on the wall or put it on the desk yet but at four dollars I was really happy with it. The item on the right is a pillow and at two dollars and fifty cents I'm really excited to find a cover or make one so that it can go into any of the bedrooms. I'm thinking I might use it in my room.

This is a brass bowl that I saw from a distance and when I picked it up I was happy with its weight and the fact that it wasn't dented. At two dollars and fifty cents it was the bargain of the century. I'm going to clean it up a little on the inside and then spray paint it silver, it'll then go into the study to fill in some of the vacant space in the bookcase. I'm looking forward to completing this small project.

I'm going to paint the coffee table so that it can go into our lounge room. I'm in the process of picking things for the lounge room so I'm going to have to wait a while before I decide what colour to paint it. My first thought was white but I'm thinking of picking one of the colours from my entry. It might work better as the gallery wall can be seen from the lounge room. I may have to live with the table as it is for a while as I don't want to get it wrong and then have to redo it. I paid thirty dollars for it and it was the cheapest coffee table they had in the store. I'm really happy I saw this on my way to the checkout, so much so that I did a happy dance when I paid for it.

The last thing I found is for Caelan and as soon as I saw it I knew he'd love it. It wasn't until I got it home that I realised that Star Wars storm troopers had been mixed up with Batman and Robin. When I gave it to Caelan that was the first thing he saw but after a bit of thought he decided that he loves it. One thing he's asked me to do is to change the colour of the background but I'm going to use it when we get around to decorating his bedroom especially when he wants a space, Star Wars inspired bedroom. The artwork cost me seven dollars and fifty cents and I'm now kicking myself that I didn't buy the other Star Wars inspired piece. I'm thinking of framing it as the edges are a little rough.

I'm thinking that I might need to frequent thrift shops more often because I was really happy with what I found today and if I play my cards right I'll be able to find things at a good price and then I'll finally be able to decorate this house sooner than later. So what do you think of my treasures? I'd love to hear about things you've found or even see pictures so if you've got something on your blog or Facebook page leave me a link and I'll check it out. If you just want to share the picture with me contact me via my Facebook page (One Plus One Equals Six) as I'd love to see what you've found.

Megan

Man Cave

Like most men my husband would love a space he could call his own and that's why I decided to turn our study into a man cave. For Christmas we put a shed up in the backyard, in order to free up some space in the garage. Now my husband isn't a shed type of guy so we needed an area in which he could hide away and do what ever men do in their caves. So with only one room left, the study will become his office when he works from home and thus it'll also be known as his man cave.

Like many couples if you present a space to them and asked them how they'd decorate it their responses would probably be quiet different. That's what it's like in our house. Mr Opoes likes a modern, minimalistic look with clean lines and I like wooden things, vintage items while also liking some modern pieces. I know you're thinking that we really don't have much to work with because we like different things but when we moved into our house we decided that we would like to decorate the house in a classic, vintage style with items that aren't cheaply made so that they will last us longer or so they'll last the children's treatment of them.

When we were building our house we designed the study to have two functions, one was to be a study and the other was to act as a guest room. After living here for nearly two years we've never had a guest sleep in the study. So when I was planning how I wanted the room to function I've made room for a blow up mattress to fit, still allowing the room to serve two purposes. This foresight meant we were able to add a built in wardrobe, thus allowing us to divide up the space between my husband's study and a guest room.

Last year I purchased a beautiful barn style door that I wanted to use as a table top for a desk and after explaining my concept to my husband he seemed pleased with the idea. Using the door will allow me to create a unique feature within the study as the door is  fifty years old so it'll be a vintage item with somewhat of a classic style. I'm looking forward to seeing what the door has to offer once it's stripped back and I'm hoping that we'll have a unique desk top for the room. The additional benefit is Mr Opoes will have a place to rest his laptop on while he works instead of sitting in the middle of the house, in the kids area.

Other decorating ideas include creating a gallery wall that you see when you come through the door. Directly opposite I'm creating a storage space so my husband doesn't have to leave the room to find a file while he's working. After talking to some of my blog friends on Facebook I also decided to hang three pictures above the storage space as they're sentiment to my husband and I, but I'll share those with you when the room is all finished. When I did the gallery wall in our front entrance my husband helped me hung all 33 picture frames and it was during this time that I learnt he liked the concept behind a gallery wall.

With this in mind I wanted to create something slightly different so that it would have more of a masculine feel about it. When I talked to my friend Mel over at Mellywood's Mansion she gave me the idea of creating a monochromatic gallery wall as she thought this would be something my husband would enjoy. This idea was perfect as I'd wanted to cover a corkboard within fabric, plus I had a few embroidery hoops that would be ideal for showcasing pieces of fabric to create the monochromatic look I was after. Not long after this Christian (another blogging friend) posted a picture on Facebook showing what Jamie from Raising up Rubies did with an embroidery hoop and I was hocked.

Now if I'd shown this picture to my husband he would have laughed but I had just the right shirt to go in my embroidery hoop and it would work perfectly with the monochromatic theme. The shirt I had in mind defines my husband so it was a no brainier that it would be perfect for my gallery wall. The other good thing was I could use the wooden hoops frames and this would save me having to paint them. After spending time ironing the shirt, sewing it down in places and hiding all the extra material in the back I was left with this.

I was really happy with the way it turned out and because of the size of the hoop I found it was easier to use cotton to hide the extra fabric instead of using glue to hide it away. I was really happy with they look that the various hoops created especially when I paired it with a few square canvas's, the rectangular corkboard and photo frame. When I presented the finished wall to Mr Opoes on his birthday he really liked it and ultimately that's all I was trying to achieve.

I am really happy with the look of this wall and I think that even though its monochromatic and masculine I really like it and I can't wait to get the entire room finished so that I can continue blogging in there when Mr Opoes isn't working from home. I'm hoping to find a way to use the kid's pet rocks in the room so maybe I'll find a space for them in the future. So what do you think I'd love to hear your thoughts on my little wall. Should I use the rocks on the wall? Tell me what you would do.

Megan

Rock Art falls for love.

Over the summer holidays I've been slowly working on doing up the study so that Mr Opoes has a quiet space to work in while he's working from home. Part of brief I set myself was to create a masculine, functional and usable space that we'd both comfortable using day or night. I also wanted to add some sentimental items into the room without over doing it. One idea I had was to create a functional gallery wall so that I could incorporate something personal on the wall without it been too obvious. I also wanted to have the option of changing out some art work so that I could change the feel in the the room whenever I felt like it.

As the room reveal will be somewhat of a surprise I tried to source all the items quickly and quietly so Mr Opoes didn't get any ideas about what I was doing. Before I'd even started collecting things to place on the wall I knew I wanted to use the kids pet rocks that they created last year, I liked that when you walked into the room you would't expect to see them hanging on the wall and they would also add a little bit of colour to the monochromatic gallery wall I'm doing.

So I got to work putting it together. I purchased a black shadow box from Ikea, I used some scrapbooking cardstock I already had, grabbed some craft glue and I purchased some stick on magnets. After positioning the kid's rocks in order from eldest to youngest I made the discovery that the piece of glass needed to be removed from the frame as Mackenna's rock was too high to sit behind the glass. Now this was the first problem I encounted BUT I continued on as I knew this was going to look great.

I just loved how they looked and admittedly I wasn't looking forward to dusting them all the time so I thought a quick spray of hair spray could help me out in the long run. I proceeded to stick and glue the magnet's into place on the back of the rock's so that they would eventually stick to the cardstock.

The next step involved placing the magnets to the back of the cardstock and to do this I had marked off where I'd need to place the magnets prior to sticking the rock to the front of the cardstock. This was where my second mistake took place as I only used one magnet on the back of the cardstock for each rock. I should have used a piece of tin, spray painted it white and then attached the magnets as this would have allowed them to stay magnetised.

Now I've got a picture. The first time I had an issue with the finished piece but I stopped taking photo's after that because my rocks just would stay attached to the cardstock or the magnets. In the end I attempted to complete the art piece a dozen times before I called it a day. The picture below looks innocent enough but I ended up having the rocks fall off the cardstock onto the floor time and time again. I only stopped when the cardstock ripped and I'd have to cut another piece.

So in the end I cleaned up all the mess I'd made with the magnets and glitter. I cut another piece of cardstock and I glued an MDF word onto the cardstock. This piece of art took me five minutes, didn't require a heap of planning or things and I must say it looks good. The only negative is that my children's pet rocks will have to go somewhere else. I've got a heap of area to decorate in this house so I'm sure that next time I'll purchase a piece of tin from the hardware store and I'll have them hanging on a wall sometime soon.

What do you think? Did I do the right thing or should I have used the rocks. I'll show you the finished wall later this week as I have to get a picture developed and will hang a few more things before the wall is finished but so far it's looking masculine and I'm loving it.

Megan

Simple way to add COLOUR

When we built our house last year we purposely kept the colour palette simple, this would allow us to insert our own personality into the house. I've spent hours looking on Pinterest, looking through decorating magazines and talking it over with Mr Opoes we decided that COLOUR was a great way to add style, fun and our personality into our home. We're happy we stuck with a simple palette, it will allow us to change the décor easily and inexpensively with a few additional items.

 

One feature that we've made permanent in the kitchen was the three orange pendant lights which I've talked about here and here. I knew at the beginning of the building process that I wanted pendant lights but I wanted something different from what all the shops were selling on mass. With each shop I visited the sales assistant would try to sell me a red pendant light and none of them were what I wanted. I'm glad I stuck to my guns as it would have made it very difficult to choose another colour to pair up with red. The other week I shared with you the pantry storage containers that I transformed to hold all my Tupperware. Each basket has a section of it sprayed hot pink and this is the colour that we've chose to use in our living room and kitchen.

 

So the other weekend I decided that I would add a small amount of colour to the kitchen area using the same pink colour that I'd used on the baskets. Sitting off to the side of my gas oven I have a small bamboo utensil holder and it looks pretty sad sitting there. So I used some painters tape and I taped off the area I wanted to colour block.  I gave it a spray of primer just in case the spray paint didn't cover the bamboo fully. When the undercoat was dry I then gave it a light spray of pink before following it up with another coat of the pink. I allowed these two coats to dry before deciding whether or not I needed to do another coat. I was happy with the two coats so I removed the painters tape and I added three felt feet to the bottom of the container as a little bit of paint had stuck to the bottom and I didn't want to have hot pink paint all over my Ceasarstone bench top.

 

 

I am really happy with how it turned out and I'm really happy that I took the time to do this little project as it's added a little bit of colour to the stove area without overpowering it. I've also added a small hand crafted wooden bowl in the same space to hold the keys and even though the woods are different they just seem to work well together. Now I have a few other ideas of how to add a bit more pink into the  space but I'll have to save for a while before I'm able to add anymore things to the space.

 

Megan

DIY Heaven

I've been thinking about creating a chalkboard menu planner for a few months now and after visiting Pinterest I knew it was something I wanted to in stall in our kitchen. Originally I fell in love with these two chalkboards and they were the inspiration behind wanting to have a chalkboard in the kitchen.

both projects can be found here and here

Originally my plan was to purchase 7 MDF clipboards, plaint them up with blackboard paint, label them with days of the week and then hang them on the wall beside the pantry. Once hung I'd be able to write down what we'd be eating each week. After searching on-line I discovered that I couldn't get a clipboard under $3 a piece so I went around town trying to find a cheap clipboard. I found some good ones at Officeworks but at $3.48 each it was going to cost me just over $24 and that was before I purchased anything else to finish off the project.

I really liked the clip on these boards but I didn't like them enough to pay what they were asking. So after weeks of looking and finding clipboards that were more expensive I'd started to give up on my dream. Then last weekend we went off to Bunnings to look for a garden fence as we need to place a few on the sides of the house to keep the children in the backyard. About an hour later I walked out of Bunnings with a few vegetable seedlings, some decorative trim, liquid nails and a 1200 by 900 piece of MDF. I'd gotten the idea of creating my own framed blackboard and that's all it took.

 

Later that afternoon I sent Mr Opoes off to his fathers place so that he could cut the trim with 45° angles. The only power tool we currently own is an electric drill so I was happy that my father in-law was able to help us out with this project. I'm now looking forward to getting this project underway this weekend as I'd love to have it hanging on my wall by the end of the month. My to-do list is growing everyday as I'm getting some really interesting ideas BUT they might have to wait a while as I have to save the money first to fund the project.

 

So what are your plans for the weekend? I'm hoping to get a few projects started, do a bit of cooking and to spend time playing with the children. Fingers crossed I get something crossed off my list this weekend :)

 

Megan

How to design a furniture layout that's perfect for any space.

 

Over the years I've learnt that it can be very costly and frustrating choosing furniture. You get it home only to discover that it's too big or small for the space that you're working within. Our previous house was a great starter home but with a growing family the room sizes were on the small size, thus making it easy to clutter up a room with the wrong pieces of furniture.

I learnt very quickly with our first home that it was important to get it right the first time because it could be a long and difficult process if you got it wrong. We had a neighbour across the street who's house was a mirror image of ours and when I visited her I'd always look at how she'd arranged her furniture so that I could try it out at our place. I remember that she never had a lounge suite in the front formal room which we were using as a living and craft room. It was all because she couldn't find the right lounge suite to fit into the long narrow space. It took her five attempts before she got something that worked but she never really loved how it looked in the space and I think that was because she just settled. It had become too tiring bringing lounges in and out of her house only to discover that they were so wrong in that space. With this in mind that's why I use my method when needing to purchase furniture for any room in our house.

I've been looking to purchase some new furniture for our dining room and living room ever since we moved into our house sixteen months ago. During this time I've been putting money aside, especially as I've wanted to purchase good quality items due to the short life of our previous items. There are a number of steps I use during the process to choose furniture for a particular room. I've found that they work really well for me and I hope they might help you next time you're looking to purchase furniture for a particular room. These are the steps I followed when I recently purchased our new lounge and dining table. You can also use this process when purchasing rugs or art.

1. When I'm interested in purchasing furniture I like to spend time looking at the furniture, sitting on it, touching it, watching how the children use it and generally making sure that it was something we'd need and use. I also make sure I get the measurements for each piece either from the store or online.

2. I take lots of photographs of each piece when I'm in store so that I can show them to Mr Opoes to get his thoughts and opinions. If the items are online I'll show them to Mr Opoes and again we'll talk. This process allows me to get a feel for what he wants and I'll even take him to the store so that he gets a feel for each piece and he can eliminate something because it's wrong for his frame, height etc.

3. When we get home I take out my painters tape and I start measuring up the space it'll occupy. This is particularly helpful if I'm purchasing a dining table, 2 seater lounge, 3 seater lounge, king single bed, single bed and the list goes on. The best part about taping out the size of the furniture is it stops you from making a big mistake when you're in the store. If you're interested in two different sized dining tables its best to tape them out with different coloured painters tape.

4. If other pieces of furniture need to move then move them to get a feel for how the pieces will work within the room. We're a family of six so originally I wanted to purchase two 3 seaters but with each measuring 2.52 metre (8 feet 3⁷⁄₃₂ inches) long I just couldn't make it work within the space. During the process of placing the tape on the floor you can step back and see what will fit and what doesn't fit.

5. Then it's back to the furniture store or online to place your order. This whole process would have usually taken me two days to complete but with it being school holidays I had to work around the kid's activities and their pain threshold for furniture shopping. 

As you can see from my photographs I chose the one day that it was overcast and wet to take my money shots. It's a pity I didn't hear the weather forecast the night before as it would have helped with the photos I took. Now to delete the sixty photos I still want people to think I'm a professional photographer ha ha. Now we should receive our new furniture by the first week of November so I'm hoping that all this preparation pays off especially as the lounge is getting made in the fabric I chose.

When it arrives I'll share progress photos minus the overcast weather so you can see how the room looked before and after. I'd love to hear how you go about choosing furniture for rooms that you're decorating. Tomorrow I'm going to share with you how I'm thinking of organising my Tupperware and other plastics in my pantry as the children are stealing it and hiding playing with it.

Megan

Framing the Entry... the reveal

Drum roll please...... As promised yesterday I want to share with you my very first gallery wall and it definitely won't be my last. I've loved gallery walls since they become popular in the blogging world, so much so that while we were building our house I went out and purchased a heap of picture frames so that I could get started immediately after moving in. Well that was fourteen plus months ago and this wall wasn't even on my radar back then. So today as promised I'm going to show you the completed gallery wall but first I want to give you a break down of how I'm going on my to-do list and to give you some idea of what I've spent so far on my Entry makeover.

I thought that this project would have been done and dusted within three weeks maybe a bit longer if the electrician was booked up BUT I miss judged the amount of work involved and my ability to get it done. I'm still looking into the electrical work as pricing will play a major role work but I also need to think outside of this particular room so that I don't have to call them back later to do more electrical work as this will be expensive on the hip pocket. Maybe now that I've finished the gallery wall I can tick off some of the smaller tasks....

• create a gallery wall
• find a table, bench, stand for added storage
• tint glass on door and side panel
• repaint the hall table
• add a pop of colour to the front door
• change the large chandelier with something more practical for the space and the ceiling height
• find something to go on the wall above the hall table
• dress the hall table
• maybe a rug or something for the floor
• add vintage suitcases

Now for the budget. We set $800 for this project which may seem quite large but while we were building our house Mr Opoes and I decided that we'd include a beautiful feature light in the entry and with dreams like that a big price tag is sure to follow. During construction I fell in love with a heap of beautiful lights I liked but they all came from America and this could have meant that I'd be faced with issues relating to voltage (we have different requirements) and with the light meeting Australia's Safety Standards so I had to look else where. So here is the breakdown of what I've spent or need to spend:

• picture frames $60
• paint, primer and spray paint $70
• 3M Command Strips $58
• butchers paper $0
• painters tape $0
• black ink pen $0
• paint chips $0
• brand new light $375
• electrician - could be up to $200
• hall table plus new paint $119
• window treatment $24.98
• TOTAL: $906.98

As you can see I'm already over budget, it's possible that my guessimation is way under budget which means I'd need more funds to install the light. I've decided that I'll take the time to save the additional money needed so that we can have the light installed but in order to put some funds back into the kitty I'm going to try and sell the chandelier on-line. I'm hoping that if I price it correctly I should be able to sell it pretty quickly.

So without delaying the reveal any further I now have the pictures you've all been waiting for (sounds dramatic doesn't it). I hope that you like the colourful gallery wall that I've created as much as I do and I'm looking forward to completing the entire entry within the next month or so.

So tell me what you think? I'd love to hear what your opinion is of my gallery wall. I love it and the pop's of colour give the room some character which is exactly what I wanted to achieve when I started this project. I'm hoping in the next week or two to get the tint onto the glass panels on the door and on the panel beside the door. I'll have to organise with Mr Opoes to take the children out for a few hours so that I can spend the time doing the job correctly. Fingers crossed I get everything done within the time limit I've set myself.

Megan

Framing the Entry Part 2



So last week I showed you some of the inspiration I'd collected on my Pinterest board as to how I'd like to decorate our entry. As you could see I wanted to create a colourful, empty gallery wall using six coloured frames to complement the silver/chrome light fixture and black hall table that will feature in the room. So I started collecting paint chips from my local hardware store so that I could figure out which colours complemented a beautiful orange paint that I'd found. I settled on purple, pink, yellow, silver and teal to go with my lovely bold orange. However, when Mr Opoes visited the hardware store to purchase 5 sample pots I needed Mackenna and Viveca picked up a few paint chips of their own and one of them caught my eye, so I swapped out the teal and replaced it with my new favourite colour.
 

1. Ballistic (Wattyl) 2.Perfect Purple (Wattyl)
3. Pale Daffodil (Dulux) 4.Perfectly Pink (Wattyl)
5.PlastiKote Metallic Pewter 4403  6. Silk Sari (Wattyl)

Now the next step I took was a little different from all the tutorials I'd read so without giving you a long winded description of what I did I thought I'd just show you in pictures. I've also attached a simple explanation so that you can understand what I'm trying to show you. Some pictures won't be that great because one of the kids took the photograph for me as I was busy and couldn't do two things at once.


Depending on the number of frames you're hanging I'd plan the layout before attaching
to the wall. I taped off the space I wanted to work within on the floor.

Next I lay butchers paper down on the tiled floor within the taped off area as this was the space I'd be working with once it was on the wall. Having the paper down gave me the opportunity to visualise how it would look up on the wall plus I also make any changes I might need. With a black felt pen I traced around the frame and then I removed each of the backing pieces from the frames.
 

1. Trace around the frame with black pen. 2. Remove the glass, paper and chipboard.3. Using pliers remove
the little metal pins that hold the picture in. Place back on the butchers paper.

In total I had thirty one photo frames and six paint colours which I had to group together without it looking too planned or busy. While talking to my sister she suggested that I gather up a heap of paint sample and throw them up into the air. I loved this idea and so I decided that wherever the paint chip landed would determine the frames colour. However, if more than one colour sample landed on the same frame I'd previously decided that the sample facing up would be the colour chosen. I also wrote each colour under each drawn frame.

1. Mr Opoes throwing paint chips in the air. 2. Paint chips on each frame.

1. I cut each paper frame out 2. Paper template taped to the wall.



Finally it was time to place all the frames up on the wall. I purchases a heap of 3M Picture Hanging Strips (Velcro type) in different width and sizes so that I could place each frame up on the wall. Mr Opoes helped me when it came to placement as I needed to know whether or not the frames were straight. Once everything was straight and in the correct position I then pressed each frame down for a minute. As I didn't follow the directions correctly I used strips that would hold more than the actual weight of the frame.

 

Now if you're still reading congratulates. I will share the pictures of our finished wall tomorrow as I am experiencing problems with my camera so I'm going to have to use my phone tomorrow to take more pictures. Tomorrow I'll also talk about what other things I need to complete in order to call this project FINISHED.

Have you ever started a project only to discover that it's taken longer to finish than what you anticipated? This project has taken me so long I gave it two weeks and I've already gone past that by an additional four weeks and counting.

 

Megan