Bedroom makeover

So we have been in our new home around 4 months now.  It feels like much longer, as we are all so settled here, it feels like home.  We have fallen into habits and routines already, I have 'my seat' in the living room, the kitchen cupboards have been assigned, we have a night time 'lock up' routine.  Its like we have always lived here.

However as a visiter to our new house you could be forgiven for thinking we have been here only a few weeks, the walls are bare,the beautiful uncovered wooden floor remains untreated, the bathroom is brown and tragic, the back room has half ripped off wallpaper and the spare room has a few unpacked boxes lingering.  Well, Mr Visiter, shut up with your stupid judging, we've done plenty!  We spent days and days stripping off wallpaper and lining paper went up to create our blank canvas.  Boxes upon boxes have been unpacked and organised. Furniture from our old house has been arranged and rearranged in various rooms.  The bulk of the effort during this last 6 weeks or so of lovely weather has been in the front and back garden.  

But this is a house for life, the decorating and sorting can happen organically over time,  we made this move for Joel's benefit and so we have been spending plenty of time as a family enjoying the new lifestyle our new home and neighbourhood has to offer.  

Our pennies are being saved for one big job - the bathroom project.  We have a separate cubicle for the toilet and small bathroom next door, both decorated floor to ceiling with brown tiles that must be at least 40 years old.  So until we get this job done we are tackling low cost projects.    

Last month I focused on getting Joel's room sorted....

And this is where we started, like every other room in this house, with a steamer and a wall paper scraper and hours and hours of scraping and scraping layers and layers of stupid stubborn wallpaper. 

Once the lining paper went up I chose a neutral colour for the walls.  I am not a fan of busy character themed bedrooms for young children.  Joel's room is a small box room, we have plenty of room for play downstairs and so I wanted to keep his bedroom nice and calm for sleeping and relaxing.  I choose  a calm putty colour called 'Soft Pebble' from Homebase.  It's lovely and neutral so I am confident it could withstand a change in theme in the bedroom, plus it would nicely match a pair of curtains we already had that would fit the window in this bedroom. 

There is an alcove in the room with shelving which is great for toy storage.  I added some storage cubes from Ikea to sort toys.  Cost free as we already had them!  In our old flat these boxes were in the spare bedroom and so are bright and flowery.  I did have a minor dilemma considering weather they were too flowery for a boys bedroom and then realised I should catch myself on.   Joel has yet to express a dislike of flowers, and I have never heard of a baby boy falling into a down and out life as the result of a flower box in his bedroom. 

Perhaps I should have tidied the shelves before taking this photo but whats the point?  The reality is that toys are to be played with and so the shelves always are messy have a 'shabby chic' and 'well used' appearance. 

When Joel was born my Auntie Deborah sent a beautiful handmade quilt all the way from Canada.  Its just gorgeous with lovely autumnal colours of orange, mustard yellow and green.  

Isn't this a beautiful piece of work.  This quilt inspired me to sign up to a local quilting class.  I had hopes of turning Joel's old clothes into memory quilts but I only ever managed to get half way through a beginner christmas custion cover.  Quilting is an art and a skill, a skill I sadly don't naturally have nor do i ahve the attention span to develop it.  However attending that class made me appreciate this beautifukl little quilt even more, and the skill and time that went into it.  I decided to use this quilt as the basis of a woodland theme for Joel's bedroom.   

I took a wee notion and drew a tree freehand on her wall.  This was nerve wreaking - not because I was nervous about how it would turn out - I could always paint over it again but because my husband is a wee perfectionist and I was worried he would hate the wobbly edges.  I used a couple of tester pots of paint to do this.  Very low cost.

Taadaa!  Small but perfectly formed, no?  This is a bit bland for me so I enlisted my mum's crafty skills...

She crocheted some colourful owl bunting and a wee owl-y friend to perch on the tree to brighten the room up.  Isn't she terribly talented?  Crocheting - another skill I have never mastered. 

I then added some cheapy frames from B&M Bargains.  A pack of 3 for £2.  Wait, that makes it sound easy.  What actually happened was I bought the frames and then spent WEEKS of nagging the other half to put them up for me.  Apparently there some sort of alien super hammer required for the job that we didn't have.  So it was eventually Father-in-Law to the rescue.  So about 5 weeks later we got the frames up and photoes in the frames ordered from Photobox and Bob's your uncle! Or Mike with the special hammer is your Father-in-Law more like!  

Joel loves his family tree.  In the morning I lift him ontop of the chest of drawers on the changing mat to change his nappy and he likes to point at the faces and try to name them.  He points at the bird and tweets.  Then he pulls at the bunting and swats the frames to try and knock them off because he knows it drives me mad - wee monster.  

Well, what do you think?  Its no artsy fartsy interior design but its putting our wee stamp on our family home.  

Quest to become a Quilter!

I am just home from my first quilting class at Quilters Quest, Woodstock Road. 

I have to say I was very nervous about going, it all seemed like a great idea in July when I paid my deposit and signed up.  However the more I thought of it the more I realised that I possess none of the basic skills required to make a quilt.  I cannot sew or use a sewing machine, I lack patience, I have the attention span of a flea.  And when I arrived at the class, with my basic sewing kit hopefully tucked under my arm, I realised I have None of the essential equipment to begin quilting.  I have borrowed a sewing machine from my lovely sister in law but am yet to build up the confidence to open it, I have no blades and cutter, measuring ruler, mat or even useable material! 

My fears were confirmed, I was in well above my head.  

My friend Gemma and I were first to arrive which meant we had a chance to explore the treasure cave of beautiful patterned fabric.  We planned the quilts we would make, meanwhile realising we know nothing about fabric measures.  

Note that around five sections of this fabric is christmas themed!  YAY!

  

One by one the other member of the class began to arrive and it became clear to us that we were the only beginners as they all greeted each other warmly.  Everyone was very open and friendly and made us feel very welcome in she class.  

The class instructor, Varlerie quickly sussed out our skill level and advised us on what project would suit us best.  I had brought with me a wee bundle of Joel's baby clothes as my hope was to make a quilt out of them.  She discussed with me the challenges that my notion presented, and warned that the stretch of the soft fabric of his clothes would be tricky for a novice sewer like me.  So with her encouragement we decided that the best idea was to begin with a simple cushion pattern to learn all the basic skills and then decide if I could transfer these newly learnt skills to the baby quilt I wished to make.  

So we began by choosing our fabrics, anyone who knows me will know that I made a bee line to the christmas section (SQQUUUEEEEEE!!!)

It was difficult to choose which fabrics to use as there was so much choice!  I pulled a variety of different fabrics down and lined them up and finally decided on these three.

  

Once they were cut to the amount of fabric we needed we ironed the creases out.  This is important to ensure that when cutting the fabric to size out measurement weren't skewed by wrinkles and creases. Here is lovely Gemma demonstrating how to iron like a quilting pro.

  

Next it was time to cut the fabric to size.  We needed a measuring ruler and a fabric cutter.  I'm pretty sure those aren't official terms.  Valerie showed me how to use these tools to measure the required size the cut safely, always move the blade away from you! Making the first cut to the beautiful fabric I had just purchased was scary, I was terrified I was going to make a mistake.  However once I had taken the initial step it was satisfying to cut the fabric into perfect square's.

Like I said, I didn't have any of these equipment but the other girls in the class were generous with their stash and were happy to offer me the lend of what I needed.

Its all I managed in my first 2 hour class but it was a great sense of achievement!   AND WE GOT A CUP OF TEA!

Look at that lovely perfect cutting! 

I'm really looking forward to the class next week, I will be bringing the sewing machine with me to learn how to set it up and how to sew together my perfect cutting. 

 

I have a feeling the next week will be filled with obsessive internet hunting for good value equipment and unusual material.  

Any hints and tips and equipment recommendations are welcome!! 

Check out this place;

http://www.quiltersquest.co.uk

A treasure trove of fabric and a great bunch of welcoming girls.  Beginning to think that making a quilt might be achievable... 

Bucket List? Challenge Accepted!!

Moneysupermarket.com have challenged bloggers to consider their bucket list, a challenge I have accepted as beside from the incentive of a cash prize, theres nothing I like more than a good list!

Recently my life has changed more than I can ever imagine, with the arrival of my beautiful baby boy Joel time has become more precious and priorities have been reassessed.

I have never been the adventurous kind.  I have friends who wish to travel the world, jump from planes and have successful high powered careers.  Not for me.  I have crossed worldwide travel off my list.  My husband and I went to Hong kong and Thailand for our honeymoon, an experience I hold dear to my heart but also a experience where I discovered that my pale irish skin cannot cope with temperatures above 20 C and mosquitos enjoy my blood.  Thats a tick beside travel.  Beautiful memories.
I have been invited to join friends skydiving, but to be honest I am happier spending my money on going out for dinner with friends, going home to my castle (my cosy flat) and snuggling up next to my husband.  I am a home bird, happiest surrounded by my family.

One thing I always said to my other half is that i wanted to see Paris before we hand children.  I wanted to see the Eiffel Tower, eat pan au chocolat and spend hours in art galleries people watching and painting watching.

When we found out we were expecting a baby Phil quickly looked up flights to Paris, places to stay.  But we never went, we had to create a 'Baby Fund' and plan to make our impractical flat baby friendly with a little wall moving!

It has to be said I was sad that I never got my trip to Paris and when Joel arrived I began to count the things I hadn't made time to do.  I remember one night a friend posted on Facebook about her and her other half sitting in the car half way up the mountain with a flask of tea watching shooting stars with a view over Belfast.  It struck me that I rarely did anything impulsive like that, and now when would I have the opportunity with sleep routines to stick to and the military packing operation that accompanied any outing.

But now my priorities have changed, My bucket list consists of memories I wish to create for my family.  Moments to look back on to make the heart happy and actually many of those things don't cost a lot!

1. Family holidays.  I want this to happen every year, some of my happiest memories are with all my extended family crammed in a house in Donegal or in a caravan in Ballycastle.  Days spent at the beach come rain or shine and traipsing back to the house at the end of the day exhausted, buckets filled with stones, cheeks stinging from the sea wind, wolfing down fish and chips with salt and vinegar and staying up late playing board games with my granny and cousins, falling asleep where I was sat as I didn't want to miss any craic.  These are the kinds of memories I want for my son.
This is a tradition we started this year, when Joel was 5 months old and where he cut his first tooth.  The reason it is on my budget bucket list is because I am a lucky girl with a generous mum who treated us this year.  This is a tradition I will make a priority and I will save a little each month to make it happen.

2. Spend more time outside.  We live in a flat with no garden but I want Joel to have plenty of outside time, fresh air and experience nature, growing vegetables.  I have plenty of park space nearby and a community garden within walking distance, theres no excuse for not doing this.

2 1/2. Conquer my fear of wasps.

3.  Make new friends.  A silly statement to make at age 27?  I have a great circle of friends but have always been shy.  Being a new mum has forced me to get out and about and independent. Last week I bit the bullet and invited all the new mums on my street to a coffee date at my house.  I'm looking forward to it, and after all friendship doesn't cost a penny but isn't it the most valuable thing? (True but a very cheesy statement that made me cringe a little writing it..)

4. One day to teach Joel to ride a bike, to have that moment when I am running after him keeping him steady and then letting go, and watching him wobble off, alone.

5. Learn to crochet.  I have a Christmas project in mind..

6. Learn how to use a sewing machine and how to quilt.  Sewing machine borrowed from sister in law, and signed up to a quilting class beginning 9th September!

7. Star gaze at the top of the mountain.

I have started to make steps to ticking off my bucket list, when you have a baby you realise you don't have a minute to spare and so I have no learnt to act upon my list rather than leave it to later.  And crocheting?  Well, I'll just have to find that elusive extra hour in the day.


And now for the extravagant list, well it still contains my Parisian wish.  This extravagant wish is on the back burner behind childcare costs, mortgage payments, car and petrol costs.

1. Go to Paris.  But this time the wish is different.  It includes a petit enfant Joel and perhaps a trip to Euro Disney.  


So Ruth, Aisling and Claire, I challenge you to complete your bucket list, budget and extravagant.