Folding Space

When we first built our house we splurged on a lot of architectural things that could not easily be improved in the future and decided we'd do the rest later on 'down the track' when we can afford it. Well 7 years have passed since we moved in and it's finally 'down the track' so we're finally making small improvements. yay!

The laundry room was the first victim. As a mother of 2 (plus Mr. It) you can imagine I do a lot of laundry. I usually fold up the clothes in the lounge room or at the dining table, which was a little annoying, especially when Master 1 tries to 'help' and undoes all my good folding work. 

So this is my laundry before & my beagle Roxy at the door:

See what I mean? Where am I suppose to fold in here?!

So after shopping around with some cabinet makers I had one whip this up for me:

Who knew an extra cupboard and a bench would bring so much joy!!!

That little red riding hood basket with the red blanket... it's full of odd socks! No idea how there are so many odd socks in our house.

and that's Bogart our Samoyed at the door saying "hi". 

It's not complete but it's usable for now, oh so much more usable!

The next project is shelves and some pretty canisters for the bench, but that's a whole other post. 

Natalie

Wordless Wednesday

Gardening with Daddy

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The many faces of the Lounge Room

Well as my name may suggest... I move stuff around. A lot.

I'm a serial furniture mover-arounder. I can't help it. 

So when we built our first home and moved in almost 7 years ago, it was like heaven. I used to move around my bedroom when I lived at home and I fully blame my mother as she would move around all the other rooms in the house. 

So today I'm showing you the many faces of my Lounge Room. It's the main hub of the house, we sit here for almost all the TV watching, gatherings, etc.

This was my lounge room when we first moved into our house. I can't believe I'm uploading this for people to see. We moved in Christmas 2004, hence the few Christmas decorations.
That TV was brand spanking new, we were so proud of it. It now it in our bedroom and we never use it.

We had concrete floors and there was concrete dust everywhere.

Then our floorboards started, they took about 4 months... 4 P-A-I-N-F-U-L months

 and then the floors where done.

Then I started to re-arrange the furniture.

Please note this is about 4 years after the above picture)

Then I got sick of the maroon wall... That's Mr. It painting the undercoat

Time for the topcoat

Then I got sick of the cut outs (on the left).. so my Uncle boxed them in for me and gave Adam a lesson in plastering and framing at the same time. 

 Cut outs painted... and this is our lounge room today, with Days of Our Lives playing in the background

and my new dream lounge... I needed something to define the room.

Yes this is what my lounge looks like... that's a baby jump toy thingy.

and that's the coffee table that Mr. It pulls nice and close every night so he can put his drink down... hence the strange placement.

So there you have it. I didn't take pictures of the 100 times I moved the room around or of my cream leather lounge I bought for this room (now moved to another room), my friends could only tell you how many times they probably came over and rolled their eyes and thought "not again".

It almost feels like we had to renovate an entire room in a new house to get this room right.

I'm happy with the lounge (for now) and love 97% of it and that couch seriously weights way to much to move, it took 2 men to bring it in and "place" it. Just what I need... unmoveable furniture.

Natalie

Wordless Wednesday

What could be more entertaining then a washing machine and a 1 year old?

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Lemon, Orange & Vodka Sorbet

After all the Masterchef hype I think I own almost all the little instruments they use on the show.

This year I've added a Food Processor and a Ice Cream maker to the collection.

My new Cuisinart Ice Cream maker in Retro Green

My first attempt with the ice cream maker was a Lemon, Orange and Vodka Sorbet, I didn't have enough Lemons to make Lemon Sorbet so I improvised. 

The finished result :o)

This is what you will need:

3 lemons

2 medium oranges

1 cup water

1 cup white sugar

zest of 1 lemon

30ml vodka

Method I used:

Add the water and sugar to a saucepan and bring the the boil, reduce to a gentle simmer until all the sugar is melted. Remove from the heat and put in the fridge. This is a basic syrup and can be prepared ahead of time. It needs to be completely cooled before it's used in the ice cream maker so put in the fridge for around 2+ hours.

Juice the lemons and oranges, you'll need around 375ml of juice, plus the zest from 1 lemon. Let it sit for a while, then strain just before you add it to your sugary syrup, add 30ml of Vodka to your mixture.

Once everything is cool add it to your ice cream maker and churn for 25-30mins.

Add to a small container with a lid and put in the freezer or you can put the ice cream maker bucket straight into the freezer.

It needs around 5-8 hours to freeze.

and the last step........Eat it all up once the kids are in bed! 

Home made ice cream doesn't contain preservatives or gums that keeps store bought ice creams fresh. Eat your ice cream or sorbets within the week... if they last that long.

Natalie

Feathered Friends

'Mr. It' came home one day and had a brilliant idea .. "Lets get chickens". 
To me this wasn't so brilliant beacuse (and don't laugh) I'm a little frightened of chickens.
Our backyard was fairly empty and we have dogs.. So I really had no idea where these chickens were going to live. 'Mr. It' had another idea.
So he set about building it all & spent copious amounts of time researching chickens.
We bought a coop for them to roost in at night and it had nesting boxes for them to give us fresh eggs in.


Our chicken area consists of a small area for the chickens to run around in (free range) plus a coop for them to roost in at night/ lay eggs in, etc.

'Mr. It' at work

Finished product - Veggie patch & chicken area

Our chickens

We have Isa Brown Chickens, they are the result of crossing Rhode Island Reds and Rhode Island Whites. They are a hybrid chicken, very popular due to their high production and large eggs.

We bought our chickens at 20 weeks old, which is the 'point of lay', however we didn't see any eggs for a good 2 months. 

We didn't name our chickens, they're all just called "Chicken" or "Girls" - If you've read Marley and Me you'd understand why you don't name chickens. 

My neighbour (I love her to bits) named her chickens something to the like of "Holly, Polly, Molly & something else". She's got a great heart & a great sense of humour. 

Miss 3 feeding the chickens

The coop - where the chickens roost & lay their eggs. 

See the little nesting boxes to the left.

We have a special grain feeder in the coop area and we did have a water bucket that was suspended off the ground, but believe it or not the chickens would still manage to get hay and other misc stuff into the water. We found (by fluke) water buckets work really well, but you have to keep them nice and full & clean them out still. 

Easy access to the fresh eggs

Fun!

The hay turns a little yucky after a few weeks, it's then used in the veggie patch as mulch. Our chickens are happy to eat any scraps we have to offer... or weeds! 

I'm also glad to say... I'm no longer afraid of chickens ;)

Natalie

Wordless Wednesday

The beach looks so good, I can't wait for my swimsuit.

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