garage storage

We are really lucky to have a big garage, but it was one big mess. We had one set of shelves we bought from Bunnings, but they weren't organised, and everything else was on the floor. At times it was tricky to get the car in there, or get out of, and around the car. For awhile we actually gave up trying. I wish I was kidding. It totally stressed me out-even though it's a boy zone primarily, I hated knowing what it was like!

Well, that's all changed. L has DIYed three storage solutions that have made such a difference! We aren't quite done yet, and have some more big plans for down here (not these ones!) that I'll tell you about in the next post.

First was a surfboard rack. L got a length of wood, screwed some dowel into it, and covered the dowel with pipe insulation. There are eyelet hooks to link the jockey strap through.

A massive improvement on this... 

Where our camping and beach stuff
used to live

Next was some wall hooks for tools. Again, he screwed a long piece of wood into the wall (so the hook placement could be where we wanted, rather than in the studs). The hooks are from Bunnings. 

Next we will be put a work bench next to the door (where the lawnmower is) with a peg board on the wall behind for tools. We will probably look on Gumtree for some kitchen benches, so we can have cupboards underneath, or L might DIY something. 

I'll give you our shameful befores, so you can really see the difference. This was at it's worst, when we were midway through building our side fence. Sorry for the crappy iphone pictures. There was no car getting in there. 

But now-shelves! Made entirely by L, with my help to hold things steady. 

It has meant we can get almost everything up off the floor. They aren't properly organised yet, I want some more storage boxes so that everything has a place, and all the paint tools are together, all the sanding stuff is together etc. But we will get there. Not only do the shelves have all our DIY type stuff up there, they also contain our camping gear, our fold up chairs, L's fishing stuff, beach stuff-like cricket sets and umbrellas. 

Don't mind the empty paint tin drying out-the car still fit, and the tin has now
 been disposed of

It's made such a difference!

little jobs

School holidays-I love you! I have spent the first week exercising, eating well, catching up on sleep, reading and TV shows (ohmygod-Mad Men!!!). I've also been checking off a heap of little wedding jobs, and decluttering and reorganising like a mad woman!

Our hall table arrived! Initially we freaked out, and thought it was too big, but a little styling and getting used to it fixed that. This is only temporary styling-we are going to hang a big mirror on the wall to reflect more light in to the lounge room. It has lots of my favourite things-a small bone box from Turkey, filled with all of our random overseas coins. Two of our travel photo books-one from our year living in London, and one from our Turkey and Egypt trips. My favourite, limited edition Versailles Glasshouse candle. I use it sparingly! I also thought it was a nice place from some inspirational and happy quotes I picked up from Kikki K. I've had words with L that it is to stay pretty, and not be a dump ground. Hopefully it being nice now will mean that it can stay that way. 

It's such beautiful wood-Tasmanian Blackwood

You can see how narrow our hallway is

Our bookcase in the dining room was overflowing, so I pulled it out and started again. I'm not sure if I like the colour-coding or not. But it looks less like books shoved in. I find it hard to make a bookcase look nice with lots of books-and I am a reader, and a book lover-no ipad reading for me! Bad blogger didn't get a before-but here is a cropped shot from a few months ago-add in about 20 more books piled in there.

This photo is about a year old-that's our stove before it was installed!

And now

My vent for the week is at gumtree. I've been looking for some wooden bedside tables. We have gone without for a year, and I am sick of reading with a headlamp at night. I figure I'll get something cheap, paint them, and when we get around to getting good ones I will just re-purpose them to the spare room. I found some good ones the other day, good price. I texted the seller asking questions-INCLUDING are they wood, or a veneer over chipboard. The reply came-wood. I drove for 25 minutes to go pick them up, and while the front was wood, the sides were bulging chipboard, that was dropping flakes everywhere) covered with a laminate veneer. So I drove another half an hour back, minus the bedsides. FRUSTRATING. Vent over.

I have linen press and bathroom storage to go and deal with!

We also sent off our invitations! I love them! Here they are-a good friend made them for us, and we had them printed. They are printed on a linen paper, apart from the post card, which needed a heavier cardstock. 

Are you decluttering? I find winter is good for it-you stay home, and want to feel nice in your home!

sunroom quick fix

My mum and darling 2 and a half year old nephew are visiting at the moment. He's so much fun, I just love him!! But between the two of them and school finishing our painting has stalled a bit. Hopefully we will put a second coat on tomorrow while he sleeps. Going to the beach, reading books and playing together is much more fun!!

A before before shot-from about 6 months ago

How it used to look

I love our sunroom. It is one of my favourite rooms. It's bright and cheerful. We've turned it into a study, with a side of yoga and golf room. But through summer it was too hot-windows on three sides, including a whole wall on the east turned it into a bit of a sauna, so we didn't use it. It had started collecting junk, and I find junk attracts junk. My dressing table can be clear for weeks, but once something is dumped there, more and more keeps getting added. The worse the sunroom got, the less I wanted to be in there, so the dump and runs continued!

Terrible

Even worse....

It's still not perfect, and the bookcase needs a bit more prettying up but our house is a bit baby proofed at the moment, and it was such a mess in there that I couldn't even comprehend what to do before! The ironing board usually lives in the spare room cupboard, but was in the study while mum and my nephew are using the room. Same with L's wetsuit.

That is the big pile of filing on the top of the bookcase

I started with the foot high pile of filing that had to be done. I sorted into 4 piles-bin, house, L, and me. And then further sorted and filed in the woven filing basket from Officeworks. 
Next was putting things back where they belonged. Then I reorganised the piles of magazines. I think I need to go through them and pull out any pages I want to keep out and bin the rest. Until then I have sorted them into like piles, which looks so much neater!

So much better

I hardly threw anything away-it's just organised now!

I can actually work here now!

The back corner is still a bit of a pile. I brought a whole heap of school work home to cut, laminate and velcro, so the blue tidy tray is a short term thing (at least I have put it all together now, not scattered on every surface available!!). I was also given a huge pile of bridal magazines-like literally about 40! I think I'll just donate them-our decisions are pretty much made. I think I might donate our dvd player too. We haven't had it plugged in for a year, and haven't missed it.

Ignore the awful putting mat. It's a definite upgrade from the lounge room or hallway where L used to want it to live! I cleared a few of the storage things off the desk, and moved them to the bookcase. It's a bit less crowded now, with more room for me to spread out. Much nicer in there.

A diary, to do list and a weekly planner... overkill?? :)

The curtains in the doorway lead to our bedroom, and were a temporary measure to cut out the light at 4 in the morning. We will put some blockout blinds up eventually!! Some of the windows also need to be fixed-reputtied and sanded and repainted. It's a massive job though, and we will eventually paint the VJs. The couch is actually a hand-me-down from mum's, with a calico cover-it's a foldout for when we need the extra space. The cushions used to be in the lounge room. 

I ended up going back in and prettying it up a bit with a few things I had around the house

All up it took about 90 minutes, and looks so much better! Have you had rooms get away from you? What clean ups have you done lately?