Surrounding Me

Dear Friend....
Oh what to do!!!
How do you make 70 timber laminate walls "trendy"
Is it possible?
Am I asking to much?


It seems to be everywhere I look...
Surrounding me like a ikea store...
Not knowing which way is the right and getting lost at every turn...

I need some help!!!
Has anyone seem a pic of a room or house that has this in it and it worked...
Or do I just hold out and paint, paint, paint!!!

The lounge room has now had 3 coats of paint and the Hmmmm
and the stained yellow colour still seems to be coming through...
I think at some point I may have to add a tint of colour...
But not right now as I am painting the kitchen which I do think is coming up a bit better than the lounge room...
But don't you just love the wall thingy....
It is attached and I wasn't really into ripping it off the walls
It could have been a tad out from the wall...
But I can live with weird stuff so it's OK...
I am thinking some nice prints in the little nooks
and some crocheted do hickeys...

We are ripping up the carpet soon...
Don't you just Love the swirls of brown and orange....
And it's rubber backed as well and glued to the old floor boards....
Oh the shame...
Now that's going to take a bit of work....
I think that's a husband job!!!

And last pic is of the louvred windows...
There is quiet a few in the house and while
not good for keeping out the cold they are gorgeous....in my book...
very very cute...
But a pain to clean...and I do have quite a few to still get to...

So dear friend I was going to ask...
How was your holiday...
Did Santa come...do you have a cold snap...
Well believe it or not we did...
Ever since Christmas Day it has been raining and really really chilly..
I have been extra careful not to slip thou...
But today while moving a couch over I did manage to pull something in my back...
and next minute I was on the floor...
I would now like to apologize to all in my family who have suffered with
back pain and I have been a bit
Hmmmm ignorant to say the least...
So sorry...I now know what it is like and I don't like it one bit...
So I have lots of "deep heat" rubbed on it and all I can say
is it better be gone by tomorrow...
I just have too much to do...
So till next installment...
Wherever you are Dear Friend
Take care...
Regards Michelle...

Loving The Vintage...

River Cottage...

Dear Friend...
Yes it has all started...
Only one day after I got the keys, I have enlisted all to help me get started...
Little Miss loves painting...

I did say I was ripping of all the old 70's timber panelling
but that was until some disappointment set in....
The walls behind it were crumbling beyond repair...
Really bad even for me...Who is very big on the whole
"It will be alright,We just need to slap some paint on"...
Oh well maybe down the track I can put up some plasterboard...
Now I have a few more pics...
The laundry a bit tidier than the last photo...
The well...
Yes you did hear right!!!
We have a well...
Mind you covering it up properly was the first job before anything
It is really deep and all hand laid...
How amazing...
But my stress levels can not cope very well with the idea
of very deep holes and kids safety...
So it is now all covered and I feel much better about it...
And now for the stove...
Oh I really can't wait for winter...
To have this going and a huge pot of stew boiling away...

Now I do know it all looks a bit scary just now...
Lots of work and really not enough
kids free time to do it...
But that is life and things like that will never change...
So I just let them try and help out as much as possible
and make them feel like it is all a great adventure...
I do worry that I really took on more than I can manage...
and hope that it is all for the best...
Do you feel like that too some days, dear friend...
I am sure you do...
So for now you will be finding me up a ladder most days...
But know that I am still thinking of you and hope your
Christmas Holidays are full of happiness and maybe a few new adventures just like me...

Loving The Vintage...

Sorting out

Dear Friend...
I know I have gone and left you and had you wondering where and what I have been up to...
But as like me I am sure your week has been filled up with all the same things...
Christmas is the time of year when everything seems to snow ball...
There has been Christmas concerts...carol singing and driving around in circles looking at all the pretty Christmas lights...
Well I will admit to secretly loving looking at the fairy lights...
and now for me lots of sorting out and packing and even having a garage sale...
Yes I did decide that I have way too much crap to take with me...
and had to cut the amount of it down...
But only the really crappy stuff, not the oh I might just need that in the next 5 years or so
so that will cut the amount of boxes to be moved to about 50...lol...
But I did manage to unearth a few treasures in all that sorting...


The picture enclosed are of a couple of paintings by "Mary gold"
I am finding it had to research as there doesn't seem to be a lot written about the artist...
Apparently they are around 1920-1930...They are watercolours and most of the time they do have names...
But I really don't know what mine are called...
But they are delightful and very pretty and I do think they will look rather nice in the new house...
Only 5 more sleeps till I get to take over and I am starting to feel the excitement building...
and hoping that this new chapter in my life will be fulled with lots of happiness and joy...
And if there is a right time for this to happen it should be at Christmas because Christmas is just such a wonderful time of year full of love and giving...
and that's just what the new house needs...to be filled with happy kids, great friends and lots of cheer...
Till next letter stay safe my dear friend and will write soon with lots of lovely photo's of my new
"River Cottage"...
Michelle...

Loving The Vintage...

Roma and Leah

Dear Friend...

My what a whirl wind of a week...
We had yet another dust storm yesterday and I do start to worry about the state of our little planet when weather changes so dramatically....
How is the climate were you are...Are you warm and summery or cool and wintry...
Since blogging I find these things now amuse me more than they every did before...
Seeing pictures and chatting to friends who live so far away bring these things to light I suppose...

My mind has been busy with so many happy thoughts this week as well...
Seeing the new painting by Leah of my sweet pretty Roma, has brightened me no end...
I know you love caravans and vintage as much as me so I realize your heart would be in a flutter too..
So here is a beautiful photo just cause I knew you would want to see it as much as me...

(Click on image to visit the lovely Leah at flickr)Photo courtesy of Leah...
Or Here to see her Etsy shop...
Leah has a amazing style about here painting...
I think you will agree...For me her work reminds me of true
Brady Bunch Architecture...
The look of that era, the clean lines of architectural drawing but the thought that something
more lies within...The perfect house yet is it the perfect family?
I could delve deeper into thought but I will not as I really would like to see what you think?
Of course it is ovious that I am insane about caravans so that does help loving here work...
But after checking through Leah's etsy shop I did spy some very cool pool scenes...
I think I am liking them more and more...
Maybe something to do with my new found splashing abilities...Yes giggle...giggle....

Now I have, as you know been a tad crocheted out...If that is possible...
But as you realize dear friend when has that ever stopped me...
so yes I did find time to set to work on a few Christmas gifts...
Here is a photo enclosed of what will be finding it's way here...
I really kick myself for not starting my Christmas gift organizing sooner...
But every year I do the same thing....
Leave it all to the last minute...
You would think I would learn but no...Slow in that department...
Now other exciting news is the new cottage will be all settled a week before Christmas...
That gives me a week to get it stripped and painting...
I think I will be just visiting on Christmas day as I can not see me moving furniture and family in as well...
But I did find out some interesting things about the cottage...
That it is 155 years old...How sweet...
And that it was originally a school principals residence and class room
way back then...and even later on a parsonage for a Methodist priest...
Intriguing...
and the original side gate is still there entwined with ivy and the like...
Fancy that....

Now as much as I want to write some more I have to dash...
But as always there is more I need to fill you in on...Like the other project!!!
so I will write very soon and share more...
Till then Dear Friend...take care...
Michelle...

Loving The Vintage...