Olympic havoc

Loving the Olympic spirit in the city at the moment. So thought we'd fly the flag for our Aussie team... 

All together now...

"Aussie, Aussie, Aussie...

Oi, oi, oi!"

Hallway havoc

A big double height hallway = lots of light.

And lots of paint 

And lots of carpet

And lots of time!

After the bathroom was re-done, our builder got started on re-plastering our huge hallway. Then we waited, and waited, and waited for the plaster to dry. 

Then we put off painting it for quite a few weeks, cause every time we looked at it - we got scared!

Finally, all painted and (almost) done, here are a few pics. 

Left to right (top): before, yellowed walls; during, pink plaster walls; plaster drying. Left to right (bottom) where the cupboard once was; some wallpaper we found under the cupboard; and painting whilst hanging off a ladder!

After a lot of paint, a lot of carpet (and a burst water pipe before it was installed!), we have a bright white hallway, and a few accessories.

So, it's getting there. Still lots of space to be filled with artwork, I have ideas... watch this space!

Baking havoc

Steering away from renovations slightly, I thought I'd share my weekend of baking havoc. I designed the flyers for the local Hither Green Week and thought I'd quite like to have a stall in the local food, arts and craft fair which opened the week of festivities. I decided to undertake... with lots of help from my sister, D, selling things like cupcakes, brownies, lamingtons, injure-bread men (injured gingerbread men - proceeds went to GOSH) and pupcakes - puppy-friendly cupcakes! (proceeds to South East London RSPCA)

We both booked a Friday off work and spent 10 hours sifting, stirring, baking and icing a LOT of baked goods! And also, for fun, hyping up the lamingtons (an Aussie specialty) on Twitter which a few local residents were a little bit excited about!

Here are a few pics of the day, the flyer and also a link to my cooking blog "Surfing the Silver Spoon" which goes into a little more detail of the carrot cake we baked.

L-R: A few ingredients; icing the famous lamingtons; a lot of washing up; sparkly cupcakes; D taking biscuits out of the oven; lamingtons; injure-bread men; our stall; looking out at the fair; our resident bunny; and a satisfied customer!

 

 

Hither Green week flyer - had lots of fun designing it!

Dining room havoc - update

Just a little update - got a few bits of new furniture (gorgeous Eames-style chairs) which I think make the room look so much bigger. Also got a fab pendant light from M&S - they have the best range of homewares this season!

Now we just need to hang some pictures!

All set for Sunday lunch

Bedroom havoc

Came home from an amazing holiday visiting my gorgeous sister, her hubby and my brand new nephew, to find our bedroom looking all brand spanking new! Carpet had been installed whilst I was away and what a difference it makes! No more wearing shoes around the house and dodging the old carpet spikes (attractively covered over with cardboard and tape!)

But it was a long time coming... check the pics to see our progress.

Before the old cupboard was re-plastered

Hole to be patched up where our builder came through from the bathroom - oops!

Do I like the colour?

Nicely plastered... now let's wait a week for it to dry!

Colour going on... and some decoration along the way

L - the roller master

What we found when we ripped the carpet up - lovely

And after... with our gorgeous carpet installed

Pic to be hung - we can't bear to put holes in our freshly painted walls just yet

Tea chests for my bedside table

My side - Princess Sparkle the My Little Pony, and L's side - Han Solo 1977 original

So that's the latest... more to come shortly, as the hallway and lounge room are both almost done - just waiting on lighting and a few bits of furniture before I show it off to the world!

Bathroom havoc

Oh joy... two weeks stretched ahead of us... sans bathroom. But we'd have done anything to be rid of the mould, the awful layout and the biggest bath in the smallest room!

Day one and everything (but the loo) was ripped out and a huge pile of rubble lay on the floor... eek! But I think pictures will tell this story...

Before

Our bathroom - reduced to rubble

A new layout idea...

A hose to flush the loo... we're classy we are!

New loo and a bath...

... and some tiles...

... a heater AND a shower head!

After

My beautiful taps...

... and shower

So it took a little more than two weeks... due to a self-inflicted disaster in our lounge room that needed our builders attention - but more to come on that later. But it was worth every non-flushing-loo day. I'm in love with it all... well, apart from the floor tiles which I lost out on! But eh, can't win 'em all.

Garden havoc

We have a loooong, very skinny garden... it's pretty much not been touched for... uhh... goodness knows how long! It's overgrown, full of weeds, and we've now discovered, bulbs! And the shed is wonky and full of stuff that we 'acquired' when we moved in.

So one very frosty Saturday we had some green thumbed friends volunteer to come around and help us attack the gardening (but a certain baby sister had to be bribed with the promise of Champagne and Mulled wine!). We had such an amazing day, with bubbly, beer, ale and a hot meal at the end. Everyone was champions and we got so much done before it got dark (and started to snow!). Even the puppies helped with the digging!

Unfortunately though, due to adverse weather conditions an "after" photo is going to have to be posted once the snow melts!

We can't thank our green thumbed friends enough - the garden looks really amazing now! Very excited to see what sort of bulbs come through when spring springs!

Check out the progress here...

Before... overgrown, a lot of leaves and ivy taking over!

During... a proper working bee with a bucket full of beer and bubbly (no ice required!). The puppies helped dig too!

After... all covered in snow! I promise to add a proper "after" shot later on.

Door havoc

When we called in our locksmith to change the locks on the flat, he took one look at our back door and said "This is an internal door! I could kick this down in less than five seconds".

So we promptly got it replaced!

With a very plain, unpainted, wood, block-like door.

After a little too long leaving it untreated and rained on, I finally gave it an undercoat last week. Then decided it was far too boring being white... so raced out to the hardware store and bought a half litre tin of bright red.

Here's the results.

Block-o-door

Wonder what the neighbours will think...?!

Dining room havoc

After a month in the sun, and the most hideous jetlag ever we finally snapped ourselves back into our London life... well our new London life! L, the trouper, plugged, sanded, washed and prepped the walls whilst I swanned off to the beautitian and then met my friends gorgeous new bub! 

Result... an amazing transformation from smokey, yellow-y walls to bright white gorgeousness.

Check out the results here...

Before... cigarette stained walls...

During...

After!

And again... after

Obviously we need more furniture... and to gloss the doorways... and to knock out a wall... and I'd like some new chairs... and to stain the floors... and an electrician to fix that god awful lighting situation. But that's for another day... and another blog post. Stay tuned!