4 Tips to Give Furniture a Rustic Look (or, that time I painted a table)

It's been since forever that I last did a guest post in this space, but a little while ago I was contacted by Chris Stanbridge who writes for Cristophe Living about doing this post on giving furniture a rustic look. And at first, I didn't think that would be such a great fit for my blog, but then the little voice in the back of my head whispered 'wait... you have a table that needs painting...' and I figured that this might be just the kick up the backside I needed to make it happen. And it was, and it did. Here's Chris' article to help you if you want to try it!

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4 Tips to Give Furniture a Rustic Look 
Vintage furniture is back, so it is time to visit your grand parents' attic to find a few hidden gems. Many of you might have pieces of furniture that need a little touch in order to look perfect. Here are four tips that can help you in the process.

1. Distressing
You would initially have to start with distressing your furniture. This means you would have to scrape off any old paint that is currently on the piece. You can either use an electric sander or sandpaper to wipe off the paint. You might be required to use a chemical cleaner if the paint is applied quite thickly. Once you are done with the cleaning part, dry the furniture using a rag to remove any dirt that is left.

My table didn't need much extra distressing.

2. Painting
The next step is to paint the furniture in a manner such that an anti dilutive look is achieved. Do remember that rustic furniture does not have heavy coats of paint and therefore you must dilute the paint. You can choose any kind of paint such as oil based paints or water based paints. Apply the paint by using a rag or brush although a rag results in better effects. Once the first layer is applied allow it to dry off and then apply the second layer. You can add more layers if you want to but do remember that rustic furniture is all about less paint and have a more worn out look. In case you have applied more paint than you want, you can use a sandpaper to wipe off the excess paint. You can also apply opaque colour paint directly and then wipe it off the cloth immediately after applying. This way any excess paint would be removed immediately and you would need to spend less effort and time.

3. Drying
Although this might seem quite obvious, this is nevertheless an important step. If you do not allow the paint to dry off and move to the next step, all your effort would not be realised as the furniture would fail to achieve the desired look. You need to make sure that the furniture item is allowed to dry off in a ventilated area, away from people or pets who might ruin the paint job. 

4. Sealing
Once the paint has dried off, you would now need to seal it with satin polyurethane that would act as a sealant and protect the furniture. However, do not apply the sealer with a rag but rather with a brush to ensure smooth application.

A rustic white table - do you think?

The simple process of whitewashing can allow you to bring a rustic charm to the interior of your room. The process is quite simple and does not require a person to master any specific technique and therefore is a must do it yourself project.

Chris is an experienced interior designer and craftsman. Chris regularly writes for Christophe Living. Over the last 4 years, Chris has written numerous articles and is an active forum contributor.

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I'm not sure that my painted table achieved quite the 'vintage' look, and to be honest it was probably more rustic before I painted it (it is made from recycled timber, electricity poles I think). But, for the purpose that I wanted it is great. Having it white brightens up the dull light in the lounge room, and it has given me the white background I have been wanting just for taking photos on (without building a separate photo board). So I'm happy. I'm now looking at those bedside tables desperately in need of some updating... I would also add that I am totally not a DIY person (I'm like a fish out of water in the inside part of any hardware store, I'm more at home in the plants section). But it was very satisfying to do this little job and if I can do it, anyone can do it.

Snippets

Sometimes I look around here, this place, and feel overwhelmed with all that needs to be done. The first phase of excitement and possibility of moving into a new house, a house that needs work, is wearing off. The reality of slowly chipping away at things, bit by bit, as time allows, and the bank balance allows, as our energy levels allow, this reality, is harder. We knew it would be, of course. 

The exterior of the house still needs a good wash. There is a build up of years of dust on the outside. The reality is, come summer and harvest time, the grain trucks are going to kick up so much more dust, you almost wonder whether it's worth it. I wonder if I will be able to put washing on the line. But the afternoon light is so beautiful all the same.

The prayer flags we hung already look as weathered and faded as this old house. Quite fitting, really. They've slotted in well. Perhaps we have also slotted in well.

The door. From the first time I saw the turquoise door, I loved it. Someone who lived here previously must have loved it too. Maybe one day a repaint, and sooner than that, a good wash. But the colour remains the same.

The brick paving. There ground is so uneven under this paving, you could step in a pothole and sprain an ankle (not that you can see it here). The past few weeks, my pet project has been weeding and sweeping and cleaning this paving area. This shows some cleared, and some not yet done (and not the worst, by any stretch). With little pockets of time, it slowly happens.

Our home is certainly rustic, I think that is how you would describe it. I like rustic. There is such a realness to it, and it is homely. It's not glamorous, it's not something you would see in the pages of Country Style Magazine, and honestly, I would never want it to be. 

Snippets of Here

Some snaps taken during our afternoon outside adventures. You know, for a very long time, I considered changing the name of this blog, as I felt it no longer represented where I was in life. And now, I find myself living in a place where the name is more fitting than ever. Anyway. I think you will be able to see from these images that we definitely have our work cut out for us, here in this place.

This little old house needs a good wash and a tidy up. We're in the process of doing so many things, sometimes it feels like we're getting absolutely nowhere. But we are, just very slowly. We pulled up a couple of terribly overgrown bushes growing near the white posts here, but with chickens roaming around every day (we still need to build a permanent enclosed chook run), their favourite place to have a dust bath is right where we pulled up bushes. Hello, dust and dirt kicked up, repeatedly. I've given up trying to sweep it, for now. Note the giant mound of plant, also in need of some chopping, and the great big olive tree behind William. That one stays.

Honeysuckle flowers blooming. Pretty bright blooms, but the bush itself may have limited days left… We shall see. At the very least it will get a hefty chop back. There is too much vegetation growing close to the house, one of our many jobs is to clear it all out so the place can breathe a bit.

The orchid. Currently there are five varieties of apple tree growing here. We'll plant more fruit trees, but it won't be until next season now. It will be good to watch it over the growing season and see how it all comes together. To the right is an old cubby house, but it's a bit too rustic for our liking and will be pulled down.

The vegie garden area. Completely overgrown, but there are four vegie garden beds buried here, with reasonable soil in them too. Also the wood pile in the old water tank and some rustic compost bays alongside. And a drum. There are a bunch of old drums about the place (three to be exact). The paddock sits beyond the tree line here; the trees sort of make up a rough house block.

Just some open space. Not quite sure what this might end up being/doing, and I actually quite like just having open space just for the sake of it.

William checking for eggs. This boy amazes me with how he has taken to looking after the chickens. His chickens, really. He collects the eggs every day, and carefully carries them inside so we can put them in the fridge. In the afternoon, he always remembers to get the chook bucket full of scraps (uneaten toddler food, mostly). He fills up the nesting box with straw, and attempts to fill their water. And feeds them handful after handful of layer pellets. Then chases them around with arms outstretched, trying to catch them. So sweet to watch it all unfold.

Snippets of here. So much work to be done, but we knew that when we decided to take it on. It's a nice place to be. We've been here for four weeks now but it feels a bit like we've always been here.

Midweek Musings… On Houses and Property

Thoughts about houses and property and the property market in general are never that far from my mind to be honest. I have always loved to peruse the real estate section of any paper, and my husband who loves to do the same. So we certainly have our thoughts and discussions and opinions on lots of things property-related.

An ancient mulberry tree in the paddock at our new home. It still fruits, apparently.

We have just moved into what you could call our dream home. It is about 76 years young, has approximately 20 million little holes to be filled (literally, you could see daylight through some of them), has a few floorboards that need replacing in places, has an outside laundry, has a room that needs re-doing due to termite damage (the original bathroom, that we will convert to an inside laundry), has repainting to be done throughout the entire house (some as a matter of need, some because we aren't into the colour scheme in place). It has beautifully narrow doorways into the older rooms - doorways were so narrow 70-odd years ago, why are they so much wider now? It has uneven floors, uneven doorways, uneven bench tops. And to us, it is just perfect. 

I wrote this post a little while ago about what I wanted in a simple home. Looking back, I can tick a lot of the boxes for the home I described. Not all, but most. That was always going to be the case with a wish list. This little house, it is both spacious and small at the same time. We have consolidated and decluttered our possessions so much already, and now we realise we need to do even more. And I think that is wonderful. We will truly keep in our home only those things we need, or love, or need and love. And it is a home with character. Clearly not everyone's cup of tea, as it's been sitting empty for the better part of a year. And I guess it's not much to look at from the outside. Just an old white weatherboard, in need of a wash and some TLC.

Thing is though, one of the things we wanted but never really believed we could get, was a couple of acres within the boundary of a small town. Rural, but still with a community. Some land, but still walking distance to the main road and a few shops. Walking distance to the monthly market. And it only recently dawned on us, that that is precisely what we have got. We never thought we would be able to get it, not because it doesn't exist, but because it doesn't exist at a price we could afford to pay. And yet somehow this little property sat and just waited for us to find it. It almost sold, it fell through, and then it sat, and sat, and sat. We had briefly looked at it online, but originally dismissed it as it only had two bedrooms, (we wanted three). But compromise gets made somewhere, and for us it was there. And I truly believe that this little house was just for us.

And the price we paid for our humble little place? Being fully open here on the blog, we paid (or more correctly, the bank helped us to pay) $160,000. For a little old house, with character and charm and in need of a few repairs (but with good solid bones), on three acres of land, within a nice small town in Central Victoria. A nice town, close enough to Bendigo and with NBN access. A town that we have visited regularly for a few years now, but had never really considered calling home, but a town that I am thrilled to be in, and to raise a family in. And I look at what we have, at this space to share together as a family, for our little one to grow, and learn and explore. And I wonder why - why why why? Why do people flock to overcrowded cities, with ridiculously high property prices - really, really ridiculously high property prices? Why do people lock themselves into huge mortgages that require two incomes just to make ends meet? And to be squeezed in like sardines to boot? Don't get me wrong, I think city living is actually a pretty sustainable way to live, when you can home a lot of people in apartments utilising upward space, and really negate the need for a car when all amenities are close by. I think that is a really good option. The part I don't get so much is the suburban sprawl, particularly the new estate builds. Where the house takes up almost the entire block, with barely any space for a garden at all. Where houses are just big, bigger, biggest. We drive past such houses being built and I wonder how on earth they are going to heat the place. And really, it's not about the money. Sure, you can have all the money in the world to heat a massive house, but just because you can, does that mean you should?

In any case, I am grateful to be just here. I am grateful for the opportunities this little place provides for us, to make a beautiful home, to grow much food, to hopefully get some equine friends to keep the grass down, and to build our family life. I am so happy, just to be here. We have all the time to do what needs doing, and in the mean time, we're busy building family memories to share. And it didn't cost us an arm and a leg, or the earth for that matter.

Dreaming of Smaller

We've finally reached a decisive point in our little part of the world, that we're going to move again, and soon. You know when you um and ah about a decision for so long, then finally something happens that gives a clear way forward? That. 

We have thought and thought on this house that we live in, and looked into buying it and staying put right here. But it just didn't seem to be coming together for us - it seemed to be against the flow. Still though, the option remained on the table, and we were almost back at the point of well, perhaps we should just push forward and buy, and the universe handed us a decisive 'NO'. And so we listened. And now we are house hunting!

Anyway, with all of our decluttering and heading down the path of minimalist living (in so far as you can with a young child, dogs, cats, chooks and bikes), I have realised a few things about the place I want to call home. And I realise that I am once again left of centre here in middle Australia. Here is a little list of the things I would really love in our future home.

* A simple bathroom.

Simple, simple, simple. Basic. I don't want fancy tiles, I don't want stone this or stone that, I don't want fancy bits that require lots of cleaning or where mould can build up. I don't want a huge space. I do want the toilet in a separate room and I do want there to be a bath. But simple and basic and small is fine with me.

* One main room for living.

Ideally with a kitchen at one end, room for a solid kitchen table where memories will be created and wonderful meals shared. At the other end, some lounge chairs, a bookshelf or two (for our much-reduced collection of books), somewhere to stash my yarns and some toys. Room for little beds for animals to sleep in.

* A small main bedroom.

Small. The bigger the room, the more tempted we are to fill it with stuff, the more stuff we have, the messier the room becomes. When I have nowhere to throw clothes in a hurry (like onto a chair, or a cot, or whatever else fills the space), I am forced to put clothes away. And I like that. And really, I want room for our double sized bed and not much else, save for little side drawers and a smallish closet.

* Two little bedrooms.

For our little one, and hopefully one day another little one.

* A main wood heater. 

I know they're not the most environmentally friendly heating around, but what is? Gas isn't. Split system certainly isn't. Wood heating creates the nicest warmth, and we have to work for our heat by collecting and splitting our wood (we have 'designated' wood collecting areas in the part of the world).

* And the rest...

Lots and lots and lots of natural light, north facing windows in the living area, good thermal mass, insulated floors and walls, timber floors. Space in the garden to grow some trees, vegies, keep a couple of chooks and have room for a little person to run around and get very dirty.

Small, simple, basic. Just a place to call home, small and easy to clean, easy to keep an eye on a toddler while I'm in the kitchen. Oh, and I guess I would love a little nook to sit with macbook and write, and somewhere where I can create and not have to pack everything away all the time… but I won't be greedy. Small and simple really is key here. Am I asking too much?

I was reading a copy of Better Homes and Gardens magazine recently (Mum kept if for me as it came with bonus cake icing bits, a piping bag and stuff, score!). Anyway I don't really read stuff like this, but I've been a little intrigued, mainly with looking at the 'how' rather than the 'what' (this graphic design course I'm doing is responsible for that..). But I did note with interest an advertising feature for completely over-the-top bathrooms, great stone monolith types, all very stylish and everything, but really. Is this what your average home needs? Is this what people aspire to? Is this why there is so much debt? Is this what keeps our economy 'strong'? Spending money on unnecessary things, things that take up so much space, things that may be stylish now, but in 10 years will be outdated? Blah. 

Left of centre, once again. Give me small and simple and plain any day.

How about you? What does your dream home look like? Or are you living in it?

Simple Living: Staying Home More

When it comes to this idea of living a simpler life, we all have our different ways of implementing it. One of the biggest things for us in this house, is just simply staying home more, rather than going out. I will admit that in my earlier years, I could not fathom just 'staying home'. I felt like had to go out, do something, be something. I don't really know why, but I do know that it led to an empty feeling, whenever the high of my activities wore off, and I had to go home at the end of the day.

And now I love nothing more than not having to go anywhere, all day. For days on end preferably! The added reason now is that I want my son to have time and space to explore his home, which can only truly happen when we are at home. I used to think I had to take him out and about to entertain him, show him the world and give him experiences. I've pretty much had a 180 turnaround on that, thankfully. Now I'm guarded about our outings, and unless it's absolutely necessary or truly not-to-be-missed, we probably won't go. 

It's not the case that we just stay home and get bored and do nothing. Far from it. We stay home, and nurture ourselves and our home here. We tend to the garden, and the washing, and bake cakes and muffins and tea. We make all our meals from scratch, and cooking time is important to us. When I'm working in the kitchen, I pull my son's high chair from it's place at the table, and bring it to where had can sit at the same height as our island bench, where he can help and watch and play and eat raisins as I chop and beat and mix. I hold him to watch as we stir the pot cooking in the stove, and we check how things are going in the oven.

Waking up in the morning, knowing that we don't have to leave the house all day, save for taking the dogs for a stroll, is a wonderful feeling. Our day is divided into stages, with rhythms and routines and anchors of meal times and sleep times. There is always time for play. Sometimes there is time for another cup of tea, but not often. There is time to sit and read a story. There is time to fold the nappies and store them in their place at the change table, ready for next use. I feel that in being home more, we are truly making our house into our home. Even when I feel restless here, the show must go on and the connection to home deepens and grows.

Plus we are less scattered, we are more centred, we use less petrol, we spend less money, we have more time together, we eat better, we eat more slowly. We have fewer trips to the supermarket, we make do with what we have on hand. I am thankful for finding this path, from the girl who couldn't sit still to the mother who welcomes slow days at home. I was very much reminded to 'stay home more' back in January when I took an e-course with the warm and beautiful Lisa of Celebrate the Rhythm of Life. A timely reminder that what we really need in our days, is to be found within the home, not without. 

Are you a stay at home type? I'm not just talking about parenting, even when I was in the world of the working week, I had a difficult time staying home on the weekend. How times have changed for me.

The cake pictured above is a lemon tea cake, the recipe can be found here. William helped me make the whole thing, but wasn't too interested in eating it. I guess it was too lemony for him. All the more for me.

Restless… at heart?

We've been in our little house back in town for 5 months now. We came here with no fixed idea of how long to stay, other than 'long enough to sort ourselves out for where we really want to be'. A little vague, really.

I feel restless. I dream of being somewhere where we want to stay, plant our feet, put down roots and raise our child. Both my husband and I were moved around a lot as children, and we both want more of a stable family home for our son. And yet it seems that in searching for that, we might be doing exactly what we don't want to do - move around a lot.

Part of it stems from the desire to be 'home'. To nest. To paint all the walls white, to decorate just as we please, to plant trees and know that we'll be here in 10 years time to marvel at how they've grown. Not that we'll probably notice, as you don't notice so much when you see it every day. A simple home, warm and welcoming, with some nice land around it to plant the trees and grow our vegetables, and keep our chickens. 

We live in a lovely home. Honestly, right here is wonderful for right now, mostly. And the things that aren't wonderful, well, I keep thoughts about that in check for the most part and focus on the good things, which far outweigh the drawbacks in any case. I just can't help this restless feeling within me. And I wonder, will we ever find the place where I say 'right, this is home' and where I'll not feel restless any more, or is the restlessness such a part of me that it will always nag at me, wherever I am?

We live in a part of the world that has hot, dry summers and mild, wet winters. I quite like the winters, but I'm having more difficulty with the summers than I used to. I start to dream of living close to the beach, where there are less extremes of temperature and more rain. I've never lived near the beach. Is it just a flight of fancy to want this? Or should I heed these feelings and look for the sea change?

We've just had a few days away near the beach. I know that has a lot to do with driving these feelings, about living near the beach in particular, but the restlessness was already there. I think a few days away from daily life can sometimes bring more clarity. Returning home, I can feel the complacency setting in, and sighing as I just get on with being happy here. But I can't help but dream of somewhere different.

Do you ever feel restless? 

Reverse Shopping

We were planning on going to the local farmers market recently, and I was asking my husband if there was anything he wanted to get there. His reply was something along the lines of 'we need to get rid of stuff, not buy more stuff'. What a wise man! He then went on to say that we need to do 'reverse shopping'. Otherwise known as decluttering, I think. To be fair, the only thing I wanted to find at the markets was seedlings for the new vegie garden. But anyway, he does have a good point. 

Having recently moved house, I cannot believe how much 'stuff' we have. I thought we had done quite a bit of decluttering already this year, but apparently nowhere near enough. Actually looking at it now, I think we've been scratching at the surface. All the stuff that is easy to get rid of is gone - the stuff we really didn't like, things long ago received as gifts but never used, the books I really didn't want on our bookshelf. The clothes that were easy to get rid of for whatever reason.

Open all hours for reverse shopping. You just don't get paid for it.

But still so much stuff! Clothes, clothes and more clothes. Clothes that I haven't worn for years, but that I just hang on to in case I one day want to wear them again. Clothes from my days in corporate dress [a while ago now], summery dresses that suited me a few years ago but that I just wouldn't/won't wear now, and twenty million pairs of jeans [out of which none actually fit well]. Bike clothes that I needed for 6am rides during a Canberra winter... which I absolutely do not need now.

As for the books, well, the new house has a room with floor to ceiling built-in bookshelves, so my only problem there is not enough books. Best not talk too much about that in this post.

Then the is the shed. Currently it is overflowing with an excess of 'stuff'; our combined bits and pieces that we have collected over the years. Two washing machines [mine and his, this house comes with one]. A television. His sound system thing. My gym equipment stuff. We both seem to have a bit of trouble parting with these things that are a reflection of our former lives. Apart from the washing machines, it's just pure laziness that they're still here.

Oh and a car. Whereas we needed two cars in our old location, now we have one that doesn't get used at all and one that barely gets used. So we need to get rid of one of those too. It feels like a mountain to be climbed, getting rid of all the excess stuff. We've already taken a few loads to the salvation army bin, and we have a bag sitting in the hallway that is getting added to daily for the next load to go. It is a slow process but it does feel good, seeing things disappear.

I just hope that from this we learn to be more discerning about what we buy in the future. I can already tell you that I will only buy quality jeans that I'll still love in 5 years, rather than cheap trendy options. I will think much more carefully before buying any new clothes, and I'll be trying to use a 'one in, one out' policy. So that if I'm going to buy something new [to me], I'm going to get rid of something old. Be that to the rag bag or the salvos bin.

And as for the bathroom, well, I've come to realise that most of the stuff floating around in that room was/is completely unnecessary, so most of it is going in the bin. Funny how we get sold the idea that we need so many different little lotions and potions, creams and washes. I just want this house to hold the essentials that we need, and nothing more. No clutter, nothing taking up space that doesn't need to be here. Creating a free flow of energy in our space.

So anyway, reverse shopping. The only part missing is where we get money for getting rid of all our excess stuff [well, the smaller stuff anyway]. It would be interesting to add up roughly how much money I had spent on all this stuff that is now going, but I think I would be horrified. I'm happy to put that down to the cost of learning a lesson about having too much stuff.

We never made it to the farmers market either. Baby went to sleep, and one thing I do know is, don't wake a sleeping baby. 

Finding Beauty

These freesias grow in cracks in the concrete, alongside weeds. This is the only place we find them on the property. Perhaps in days gone by there were more, maybe in the days before there was concrete. I often wonder what this house has seen. Many, many things, no doubt. Many people, many families. Some staying a long time, others not so long. I guess we fall into the not-so-long category. Maybe one day we'll come back. Or maybe we never will. As beautiful as this old house is, it is not the best fit for us right now. We have made our mark here, like most others before us. 

This afternoon, wandering in the garden, William and I chatted to Wilma over the wire fence. I couldn't bring myself to tell her we're leaving. Weak? Yes. I can't help but feel a little bit like we're letting people down by leaving. We brought life, we brought [relative] youth; we brought a baby who the people in this town have been so wonderfully welcoming of. I don't really like goodbyes. So we'll tell people that we may come back, one day when it suits us better, and leave it at that. I will miss my little house on the dusty country road. 

But I am looking forward to our new life, in a bigger town. Where we can truly live our values in a way that we can't do here. And in a week we'll be there, and gone from here. So I'm enjoying watching the freesias bloom, and the oak tree about to burst into life again, and the sage that I planted about to flower. Making the most of here, finding beauty everywhere.

Moving

We're moving.

Yep, moving. In about 3 weeks time, our beautiful little house on our half acre block, with the beautiful old trees and the garden we've been lovingly pouring our hearts and souls into, will no longer be our home. We're going back, but hopefully forward. Back to my old home, in my old town. Where I met Charles and where we played and had fun and pottered and grew vegetables in a small backyard, with neighbours over very close fences.

We have been considering this decision for so, so long. I think the minute we knew I was pregnant we thought we would need to move. It's no place to be having a family, miles from services such as doctors and hospitals. But we stayed. Then when we were deciding on where to actually have the baby, we were adamant that we would have to move, to find the birthing outcome that we wanted. But we stayed, and found a suitable option in the nearest town. We have considered moving to be close to a Steiner school/playgroup, but when we looked closely, we realised Steiner was not for us. So we stayed. We decided to move to Brisbane, for warm weather and study options and good mountain bike trails. But we stayed put [turns out we like the cold more than we thought].

And then in one day, after so very many months to being indecisive, we decided. We need to move. And so we're moving.

It's one of those decisions that is both painful and uplifting at the same time. We have invested so much in this home, not just financially, but with our labour and our sweat and all our hard work. We're only just scratching the surface of what we wanted to achieve here. But things have changed. Whereas once we had full days to work in the garden, now we have full days of caring for a baby, of washing nappies and clothes, of just barely keeping on top of life. Precious hours get spent running to get jobs done in the garden, but we're only just keeping up, and we're not getting ahead. And we're not spending those hours with our baby boy. We have decided to reduce the time spent on maintaining this property, and move to a smaller place, with a smaller vegie garden, and a lovely patch of lawn that is perfect for a toddler.

There are so many positives in this move for us. We're going to a bigger town, but it's still a town. We can walk into town, rather than driving for half an hour to a town from our current home. We can walk to the library, and to playgroups, and to the shops, and to a pretty lake, and to parks for when William is old enough to play on the equipment. We can go out to dinner again, at the nicely re-done old pub, and the Indian place, or get take away from the noodle bar. We can walk to the cafe where we had our first date, and enjoy lunch there, our little family. There are mountain bike trails, and other mountain bikers, and there is a lovely gentle place where we can teach William how to ride a mountain bike [he will be a mountain biker, trust me..]. There is that pilates class I used to go, and a farmers market close by, and a doting grandmother 10 minutes away.

So yeah, we've conceded that at this point in our lives, moving back into town life is the way forward. It isn't forever. Our plan has always been, and still is, to buy a large enough block of land to keep some horses, and have an extensive vegetable garden, and fruit trees, and build a sustainable strawbale house to suit our lifestyle. But for now, we're making life as easy as we can for ourselves, and focusing on baby raising. And small vegetable gardening. And living as naturally and sustainably as we can. We're pretty sure we'll be able to take those chickens with us. Except for George... I don't think he can come. So there's plenty of loose ends to be tidied up, but the decision has finally been made. We're moving. And I won't be living on a dusty country road any more. Do you think I need to change my blog title? 

Orange pants. It was definitely an orange pants kind of day.

A Year in My Vegie Garden

I was looking back at a bunch of photos from the past year over the weekend, and reflecting on just how much has changed. I thought I'd share some images from my little vegie garden with you. It's been slightly over a year since I first put a shovel on the ground to start building this garden [late July 2012 I started work, around the time we found out we were expecting a baby!]. So this entire garden was built during my pregnancy, and there were definitely times when a lot happened [when I had the energy for it] and other blocks of time when nothing happened, as I was nauseous and exhausted. I guess in looking back, the ongoing commitment to improving this garden has been the key for me. Sometimes I can't get out there for a month, or more, but I just keep going back when I can and doing what I can. Which is exactly how it goes these days. 

The start. Westringias just about to be planted along the fence.

Spring. Lots of digging done.

Spring. Lots more digging still to be done.

It's also interesting to look back on the different seasons. We've lived here for almost 18 months now, so we're still learning about the microclimates we've got here. And what it's like when there's lots of rain, and what it's like when there's none. Last winter was cold and grey and drizzly, but looking back there really wasn't a lot of rainfall. This winter has seen much more rain, and many more sunny days. The ground is quite boggy in places. It's such a stark contrast to the summer we had, which was the driest in this area for about 40 years, according to some of the local farmers. Which is nice to know, because if that was a normal summer, I'd be wanting to sell up and move I think. It was characterised by hot days, drying winds and water tanks running out of water. Hand watering the garden, losing plants and watching cracks open up in the ground. And a baby belly.

Early summer. Looking good.

January. Hot and dry.

January. Did I mention it was dry?

I'm enjoying watching the seasons here. I've been somewhat of a gypsy for my adult life, not staying in one place too long. I've always planted out a vegie garden, but moved on again before a full year rolls around. It's very exciting for me going into my second spring/summer in this garden - it's something I've never done before! Finally I'll get to reap the rewards of last year's work to improve soils, grow hedging plants and use knowledge gained of what worked and what didn't. And when to have potatoes in, and tomatoes, and where the best place to plant beans might be [protected from the hot summer wind which I'm sure will return]. And this time around there is an amazing little person to help me [as well as the amazing big person who is the biggest help in the world]. It truly is a wonderful feeling to watch our garden slowly take shape and become what we have dreamed it to be.

Autumn. Just days before baby William arrived.

Winter. After 4 months of being new parents.

I'm looking forward to the arrival of spring, still a few weeks off here. I'm very excited about bringing this little garden back up to scratch and enjoying an abundant vegie garden once more.  

Decluttering - When You Can't Let Go

I love this whole decluttering thing. It's everywhere, isn't it? The whole 'life is better when you have less stuff' philosophy. And I really do love it, it feels great to clear a space, rid myself of things I no longer want or need. I've done massive amounts of decluttering in the past 12 months or so. One of my big weaknesses is paperwork. I have a tendency to hang on to paper that has 'important stuff' on it. Like payslips from my first job. 18 years ago. Yes, they're gone now, but I refuse to get rid of the associated tax returns. I am keeping them, every last one that I've done, and that is final.

But on to another little problem I have - books! I just can't seem to bring myself to get rid of them. Well, not entirely true, I did sell a bunch of Bryce Courtney books at our community garage sale back in March. It was a little bit hard but I did it. I mean, I've read them, they were good and all, but life is busy and am I ever likely to read them again? No, not really. And then there are the text books. Big, heavy, probably well outdated, text books. You know I have 3 statistics text books on the shelf? Seriously, I have about zero need for them. But I can't let go! 

I guess I have a case of serious emotional attachment to them. It seems they are something of a shrine to a former life, a former career, a course of study that I put myself through when I didn't know what the heck else to do with myself. Perhaps just having them there makes me feel smart. Like I need a reminder, or so other people will think I'm smart. Scary, but possibly true? Or what if I get rid of them, and then suddenly have a burning need to look something up, something that I could only possibly find in Global Business Today? Which is no doubt too old to be relevant anyway!

I would love to lighten the load further, have less clutter and less stuff in my life, and create more space in this nice and not huge home of ours. I suspect it would feel very liberating to let all these books go too. Like I'm not tied in to that part of my life. And allow myself to really move on from that time. I wonder what it is I'm holding on to, exactly. Perhaps I want my son to grow up surrounded by books. But even so, surely it would be better to have books that he's likely to read? But what if he wants to read about economics, and all those books were gone?

I guess he would have to find his own books, on his own path. I guess I should just be brave and let them go, and make space for new books. I think I just need to do it. If you've made it this far in reading this post, well done and thank you for allowing me this brain dump. And if you're after a statistics text book by any chance, do let me know. Seriously.

That New Kitchen

I mentioned briefly a little while ago that we were getting a new kitchen put in our house. Well it has well and truly been done [much to our great satisfaction] and I've been wanting to do a post about it ever since. I've been waiting for an opportunity to get a good photograph of it [you know, all shiny and sparkling clean and looking more like a showroom than a home, that kind of good photo]. But alas, the stars have not aligned in my favour and I don't think the showroom-perfect-kitchen gods are going to shine down on me any time soon. So I'm not waiting any longer. Besides, with these two in it, it's a perfect kitchen photo, in my book.

We knew as soon as we moved in that we wanted to change the kitchen in this house. It was dated, but the real problem was how very dark it was. There was not enough natural light coming in, the floor was dark, the pine cupboards did nothing to improve the situation and the bench top was a dark pink colour. We opened up more of the outside area to let more natural light in, which helped. And we painted the bench top white, which also helped. But it was still dark, and the stove was on it's last legs, and there was no pantry, and then when we found out I was pregnant, Charles was adamant that we needed a dishwasher. Ok we didn't need it, but it would be nice to have.

On it's way out.

In the end we decided to invest in a new kitchen, and make this house into something we truly loved. I guess for us it was also a commitment to staying here, as we had questioned many times whether this really was where we wanted to be. A dark and unappealing kitchen was working against this place. We also did our sums and worked out how much we were prepared to spend on a kitchen, as a percentage of the property value [our research suggested 4-6% of property value would be reasonable] and that significantly changed how the new kitchen would take shape. In the end it was the perfect amount - anything more extravagant than what we did would have been out of place in this little old house of ours.

A work in progress.

So this is what we did. White laminate bench tops, matching white cupboards [too much white?], a black kickboard, a pantry, a new gas stove and oven, and a dishwasher. Oh and a light olive-ish splashback, to add some colour without losing the light. And we absolutely love it. It has created such a light-filled space in what was such a dark area. The best part is, it has changed how the slate floor looks. The old pine kitchen brought out the brown in the slate tiles, whereas the black kickboard really brings out the grey, and the splashback brings out a greenish colour that we hadn't even realised was there. It is such a magnificent treat, having a new kitchen. We love being in this space. We just need to change the blinds and the lighting and we'll call it done.

Done [almost anyway].

And here's the perfectly imperfect kitchen photo. It really is the heart of the home and I love being able to share it with these two. We also wanted to get rid of the old kitchen in the most sustainable way we could [since it was still a perfectly functional kitchen], so we put an ad for it in the local paper, free but collect at your expense, and it was gone the next day. Waste not want not.