Easter at home

We had a fantastic Easter this year at home finishing off (or starting...) a few projects around the house and having a very social holiday seeing lots of friends. We had a great party over at Louise and Charles' place on Friday night - a dress up party. Those of you that are facebook friends of mine can see the album there, Joel's outfit was a big hit! Then on Sunday we had 12 friends over for a big roast lamb for lunch. Everyone pitched in and brought something along which made things really easy for us, lunch for 12 wasn't so daunting when we only had to worry about the main course! It was a fantastic day which turned into a very fun evening, the last guests left around 2am!

Around the house we've now finished our living room renovation and actually completed the skirting boards in our bedroom which have been missing since December 08! The living room looks fantastic, very modern and fresh. I'm toying with the idea of a wallpaper feature wall, any suggestions? I also got out into the garden for the first time this spring and planted some flowers in the multitude of pots that I'm a little bit obsessed with and can't stop buying! It's wonderful to have everything thawed out now and some longer days, sunshine and even temperatures over 10 degrees occasionally.

Enjoy the pics from our Easter Sunday lunch, as always double click to see the pics in full size.

renovation madness & The Christmas Table

It seems that most people have spent the past weekend doing Christmas shopping, putting up the christmas tree, filling the fridge and pantry with food and going to christmas parties. But such fun-filled relaxation (yes, even christmas shopping sounds relaxing to me right now) is a far off memory for Joel and I.

We’ve been working solidly day and night for over a week to get our bedroom finished in record time. Finally, tonight, we will finish!!!! And we couldn’t be happier! We have a fabulous new bedroom with taupe/latte coloured walls and a dark aubergine coloured feature wall. It is looking fantastic and we can’t wait to move back in! Gone is the circa 1979 dim wooden light fitting, and in it’s place halogen downlights, I’m certain I’m going to rediscover all kinds of clothes in by cupboard simply by being able to see them now!

Poor little Cooba has been so neglected that after we finally downed-tools last night at about 9.30pm dead on our feet we just had to take him for a walk. He certainly enjoyed the break from boarder patrol in our back yard which he had been doing for the past week!

Over a week ago just after Joel returned from offshore we both had our ‘Julebord’ (literally translated Christmas Table) Christmas parties. Unfortunately they were on the same night otherwise I could have gone to Joel’s as partners are invited. Our department were doing part of the entertainment. Here is a pic of everyone in the ‘green room’ getting ready for our performance (I’m not in this one as I was taking the photo).

It was a version of ‘Yellow Submarine’ with different lyrics. After our show I caught a cab to Joel’s party and joined him for an hour or so. It was a fun night, although we were home before midnight and up early the next morning installing plaster board...! Such a glamorous life we lead. I will post some pics of our finished bedroom very soon.

Hope your christmas preparations are going well!

Emma.

The walls are coming down!

We have begun our 3rd major home improvement project (after the deck/garden and guest bedroom) which is to our main bedroom a facelift. We plan to install new downights, put up plaster board for the walls and ceiling (gyprock in oz, gipsplater in norway) and make a feature wall. We will also install some more insulation to keep us cozier in winter.

We have started by emptying the bedroom and moving into the guest room temporarily. We have a deadline of Mid December before our guests arrive and need to kick us out of their room.

There is turning back now as we have ripped down the ceiling and walls. Here are some pics of our progress from today.

We also found it quite interesting to peel back the layers and identify the fashions of the time with the wallpapers that were laid on since 1953 when the house was built. They say that fashion is cyclical but we can't honestly see how any of these wallpaper designs will ever come back into fashion.

Anyway - we can't type much - stuff to do.

Hooroo.