All things new

Far out! Did I ever attack those hills! Heck! The day after my last post I was overtaken with the sudden urge to rip out the carpet in the girls bedroom. Actually it is now the 'kids' bedroom since we moved Hudson in there around Christmas time. So its pretty crowded in there. Yep. Here's a pic if you doubted me on that score. (and I took this picture when the room was pretty tidy!)

You can't tell from the photo but underneath that bright Ikea rug, is some carpet that has been there since the house was built. It is brown with some sort of rose pattern on it. It was pretty threadbare in many parts of the room. The parts that weren't threadbare felt like some kind of fuzz, reminiscent of the rough green side of sponges. You know the ones I mean. Mmmm love the feel of that underfoot in the morning. NOT. It looked hideous, felt hideous and I dare say didn't smell too good either but we try to avoid close contact. Usually pretty easy to do since it is covered in clothing, paper, shoes, bags and, did I already mention paper? Anyway, back to ripping it up :). When I woke up that morning I hadn't planned on ripping up the carpet. Even in light of what I wrote the night before about 'attacking the hills'- when it comes to housework. It just seized me, the force of the idea, the 'rightness' of it. This was the day.(it probably did help that that morning was I awoke with three nights disruption free in my favor, boy what a few good nights sleep can accomplish!) All I needed was the little nod of approval from the landlord (AKA mum), and I was in there, alongside Dad, moving out the furniture and ripping up that stuff!! Man did it feel good, though we nearly choked on the dust!

(Shane helped out a bit in his lunch break, such fun was it to rip up carpet and nails, no that is not him wetting his pants with the excitment, that stain on the ground was caused by...Let's not investigate! But Mum was able to lessen the look of it with some bleach water- go Mum!)

In went I with the vacuum (speaking of which, anyone want to buy us a new one to welcome us into the 21st century?!) to clear away the dusty remains and the nail pull  and hammer to get rid of any dangerous sharpies. Did some cleaning of walls and made plans for paint purchasing. I was caught up in a whirlwind of inspiration and motivation, perhaps precipitated by many nights of Pinterest, all that inspiration had to go somewhere. Like a volcano I finally erupted. All my pent-up decor frustrations and desires rushed out all at once and I could hardly work fast enough in pursuit of my vision. I could do this. I could have a room worthy of re-pinning!

Conveniently Charlotte's art class that afternoon was located a few hundred metres from Mitre10, and providentially- Shane still had a Mitre10 gift card for $50 that was begging to be used. Talk about destiny! With Esther in tow we trotted down to the hardware store and bee-lined it to the paint section. Esther was taken with the paint cards as I perused the aisles of paint pots and mis-tints.

'Do you need some help?' A burly bearded clerk asked. Oh yes I do.
I needed blue paint for the bunk bed, green paint for the toddler bed, grey for the walls, and white or cream for the edges and door, oh and don't forget the yellow for the floor. I found a passable cream colour in the mis-tints at half price that Mr. Helpful said was suitable. He also aided my choice of grey by pointing out the white based paint is cheaper. Ok, done. And I managed to find desirable colours for the beds in the sample pots. And the floor? Well I think he thought I was a bit crazy for wanting to paint the floor and I allowed myself to be talked out of it when he explained how much paint, that is tough enough to be walked on, costs. Ok, maybe I was getting a bit carried away...

I had foolishly hoped I would get all the painting done that evening. Well, of course I did not, but I made a lot of headway in my enthusiastic DIY rush. 3/4 of the bunk and toddler bed got painted as well as half of the bedroom. The rest could wait til morning.

Playgroup Friday morning meant I couldn't get stuck in til after lunch when Zipporah had gone down for her nap. Never mind, I wouldn't have been able to paint with miss Zealous around anyway. Hudson happily played in the living room while I got back at it. This time with Mum's help with the painting. She caught the vision and became my unlikely com-padre. Fresh wind in my sails (not that it had ever really abated) we the rest of the painting done. I even got some relunctant assistance out of Arien who painted the door and the wooden, corner thingies that go along the edge of the floor. Yay.

That evening the final job, of staining the floor. Mum didn't want my help with this and did it all for me. Thanks Mum! We had to shift the bunk bed around the room as we painted different parts as we certainly didn't want to take it a part to get it out of the room. This is probably another good reason I didn't paint the floor. It didn't matter too much if the floor was walked on straight after the stain. Went to bed taht night knowing re-assembly could take place in the morning! (excitement building!)

And here are some pictures of the final product! Who doesn't love a good before and after?!! This was such a satisfying makeover. This room has really gone from being a black spot in the house to being probably my favourite space. Such a good feeling. I am really feeling like I CAN get on top of things. Not just get by, but really make spaces beautiful to be in. Still a long way to go, but this really is a big encouragement to me and the kids LOVE it!

I am so thrilled about how it all came together! It's such a beautiful space to be in now. I even continued 'attacking the hills' that evening as I went through the piles of stuff that were on the girls desk and floor. Put heaps in the bin and sorted and put away the rest and it feels really good. Nothing like taking on those mountains and conquering to know that it really is possible. Thanks for the help Mum, Dad, Shane and Arien. Total cost of the paint etc was $170 (and $50 was on our gift card)pretty good bang for your buck I reckon.  :) :)