lounge room progress...

Hi girls!  rather than waiting for a before and after of my lounge room ('cause that may take a while )I thought I'd let you in on the progress as we are going along...

                                   below, this is the entry from the hallway. I still need to paint the french doors..

We have done half the flooring so far in this room. Last Saturday we went searching for something to put underneath the fireplace.

I ended up getting travertine, which is a sort of limestone I was told. I loved it as soon as I saw it. I love the creamy white colouring and the rough finish texture.. The fireplace sits directly across from the french doors so it's the first thing you see when you walk in. At the moment I am trying to decide what to do with it as it won't be a real working fireplace. I can't decide whether to just buy a vintage insert so it looks real but totally unusable or be more practical and get one of those electric 'look like a real fire' inserts, that when turned on will give the look I want and the heat! What would you do?? 

This is looking towards the back of the room .. these french doors lead into the backyard..

and here we are looking towards the front..you can see the steps and part of my garden..

I will be doing alot of changes to my family room very soon as well. This room will be designed mainly for my teenage kids... to keep them happy (with a big tv) and comfy (with a new lounge). It will be totally different to what I have now, not so shabby but with a more relaxed french country theme. Well, that's the plan anyway.. how it will tie in with the rest of my home...?   I wouldn't have a clue.

take care, Maryann

hallway stand make-over...

Hi girls, just some pics I took of my latest make-over..

I was given this hallway stand from my sister-in-law.. she chops and changes furniture like underwear..

                                                                         Before.. I added the applique up top..

                                                                          After..
a bit of white paint and whalaa! I decided to leave the hooks and handle black..

As you can see the flooring is done in the hallway and I am so happy! It still needs a little trim round the skirting board but that will be done last when it's all finished.  Ofcourse more furniture needs to go in there but thought I'd show you my progress so far..  bye for now,

take care, Maryann

Yes! we have flooring... and peonies too!

Hi girls, well we were determined to come back with something last Saturday and we did. We finally found timber flooring that pretty much blends in with our old stuff. It is a little darker than I'd liked but I knew trying to find a perfect match was going to be impossible.  We even started it on Sunday and have been doing a little every night after Fred get's home from work.. I have to hand it him, my Fred's a work horse and a jack of all trades.. ofcourse, I'm his handy assistant, picking out the timber and handing it to him! Each piece is glued and then nailed down.

This is the hallway from where we started.. which joins on to our family room..

It is finally coming together but there are quite a few things I need to paint now like the french doors leading into the lounge and also some furniture that I keep putting off.  So hopefully I will have some nicer pics for you in the future!

My peonies arrived too.. wasn't sure what to expect.. I bought them from a website here in Australia, in Victoria actually called   Misty Downs..  they have a lovely range of peonies and an unbelievable amount of gorgeous roses!! They were so nice and sent me a free dahlia too.

I my haste to plant them yesterday I forgot to take pics but if you can imagine a twig about 6" long with a few pink buds at one end.. that's pretty much all they were, hiding in all that packaging. I am so looking forward to seeing them grow come spring.

bye for now, take care, Maryann

Lisa's party pics..

Hi girls, this Saturday Fred and I are going to look for the flooring for our extension and I am determined this time to come back with something!  I can't believe it's been a year already since we finished our extension and I still haven't done the floor. (We are walking on chipboard at the moment). 

To cut a long story short I have had a lot of trouble trying to match something to my existing flooring as it has been discontinued and no one stocks it anymore. So unless I can find something pretty close I will be going for carpet. I still have enough timber to do my hallway but not my lounge room and bedroom, so it will only be these 2 rooms that will be carpeted. I think it's time to get this thing done as I'm really over not having my house in order. Anyway, I'll let you know how I go.

I have been seeing some gorgeous pics from you girls out there in the USA of your peonies growing in your garden! I just love them and had never heard or seen them before so after a little searching on the net I found a website here in Australia that sells them. I ordered 6 of them ( 'cause of course 2 wouldn't do) and should get them any day now. I'm curious too see what they will look like!!

It's winter here now and I'm trying not to complain too much about the cold. Thank God for camellias, they really brighten the garden up in winter...

and I've been putting them on my kitchen windowsill..

and finally here are some pics I promised of Lisa's 'country and western' 18th...

                                            These are her 2 cousins..

Lisa and me ..my hair looks like a fuzz ball.. we had it outside in a large tent and it started drizzling that night!

Lisa's cousins.. brother and sister together..

Lisa and Fred...he looks like a drunk cowboy in this pic.. but Fred doesn't drink, this is how he always looks... lol!

Me again, with 2 of my 'workers' .. um, I mean nieces.....don't they look gorgeous!

I had to put this one in again.. the cake..

Lisa fell in love with her cousin's cow outfit and kept pinching it from him!

So I will leave you with that, hope you have all been well, take care, Maryann

Lisa's cake, Autumn and a bit of bling..

Hi girls, if you read my previous post you'll know that I was going to make Lisa's 18th birthday cake. Just scroll down if you want to see my inspiration photos.

About half way through I was beginning to regret my decision as I had to make 3 round cakes, which were sliced in half and sandwiched together with a chocolate fudge icing and then all 3 iced together to make a tower. I then cut out the whole thing into a dome shape and cut out a centre hole to insert tinkerbell (which was wrapped in cling wrap).  Phew.. just thinking about it is making me tired again. Oh well, I had to finish what I started and here is my finished version....

Her skirt was all made from a sugar paste that you can buy premade from the supermarket and it's just like using plasticine! 

I even used it to make the flowers which was a first for me as normally I would use a different sugar paste so the flowers hold there shape better. I have to say though it turned out better than I expected and either way it was going to do!

I will post pics of her party once I get them from my nephew as he took all the photos and his camera was taken by mistake, so once he gets it back I can post some for you. All I can say is I had a lot of fun dressing up and alot of people got right into it too!!

Well, we are well and truly into Autumn here in Aussie land. It's gets pretty cold at night now (especially where I live) and we have been using the fireplace for a couple of weeks now. Nearly all the leaves have fallen from the trees...

and thank goodness for that as I don't think I can take Fred's whinging about how messy it all looks for much longer!! lol! Personally I don't mind all the leaves on the ground.. it's just part of the season but he likes the yard to look neat.

 Before I go thought I'd show you what I found a couple of weeks ago... I think it will look great in my hallway once it's up... which may take a while as it didn't have any connecting parts, so Fred will have to conjure something up!

Ok have to go... hope you've all been well, take care, Maryann

where the bloody hell ar'ya?..and ballerina and bows cushions..

Ok, I'll be honest..maybe I shouldn't.. but I think I will.

I've been avoiding.. my blog...leaving comments..cleaning my house...the gardening. I've been feeling pretty 'blah' lately.. if you know what I mean. (now she decides to feel blah, say my new followers!) I seem to have lost my mojo for everything these last few weeks.. and I don't know why. But I think I am on the mend now so thank goodness for that!

I did manage to make these cushions for the most wonderful and very patient  lady named Linda from the USA. She described what she wanted and here they are....

The ends of the bows were gathered up a little to give a swag effect.

and here are some smaller cushions to compliment the larger one..

as you can see she loves ballerina's...and yes.. they are for her. I can't believe they are going all the way to the USA to grace her bedroom and as you can see she just adores pink!!

At the moment I am trying to organise Lisa's 18th birthday party which is on the 30th. She is having a country & western theme. She has the cutest little cowgirl outfit.. and as for me I was going to be Calamity Jane, but it just wasn't me.. I looked like I was in my pj's! So we decided in the end that I would dress up as a 'madam'!!!!!!

My dress is purple and black with a matching feathery thingy as a shawl,(forget what it's called) black lace gloves and a feather in my hair! Yep, I sure must have been crazy at the time, and am tempted to ring up and cancel the outfit but Lisa reckons I look 'awesome'.... and...and... all her friends' parents dress up.... so I HAVE to.... even if I am going to look like a slut. Yes, don't worry I'll post some pics and degrade myself.

Anyhoo... believe it or not she wants a tinkerbell cake.. something along the lines of this...

In a previous life (or so it feels that way) I used to make cakes as a hobby and even took out 2nd prize at an Easter Show once.. but that was about 14 yrs ago so I'm not sure if I've still 'got it'.

Ok.. I think I'll go now.. atleast you all know I'm still alive and kicking.

take care, Maryann