Coffee

Coffee - my favorite beverage. I'm addicted. 

I like it black and fresh - simple. Often like this; hot water and instant coffee. 

 My collection of coffeemaking pots and cans. 

Midsummer garden

Midsummer - the freshest, greenest and lightest part of the year. I love it - the thought of the summery times still ahead. 

This is my garden now. 

I've mowed the lawn a couple of times and done some weeding, but mostly it's had to manage on it's own.

The terrace now. 

On the wall. 

A budding New Dawn.

Lieutenant's Heart - making it's way through the weed. 

Getting there

Looking around the living room I noticed it didn't look so bad - in fact quite presentable.

I'd had a little shining, but nothing much. It felt so big and airy.

So it has helped, these last couple of months with more focus on and work in the house.

Now I feel I can BREATHE in this room, in this house.

Every room in the house has a better feel.

I'm on my way - I'm getting there. 
It feels so good! 

One green - one clear

At the kitchen sink I have two soap dispensers - one for dishes and one for hands. 

Marked accordingly. 

Me like.

Children's books

My daughter has refused to part with any of her books ever, but now she agreed to a weed-out of out-dated books. 

We put them all out on the floor of her new room - it looked like a quilt. 

Just a few books were let go and most had to stay - that's all right, there was room enough in the book shelf. 

It's odd - children's books come in all sizes and shapes, not two alike.

A whole new world has opened up now that she can read herself. 

New desk

We inherited a stylish retro desk a while ago and so far it's been sitting in the garage awaiting a place in the house. Now that my daughter's got the bigger room we could finally move it inside. 

Love the clean lines in this piece of furniture

At first when we brought up the desk we just had to put it on the middle of the floor. Now that I've shifted the furniture around a bit and removed a cupboard from her room, the desk was finally in place. 

Computer and notebook ready at the desk

Favourite nick nacks in a little still life in the window sill. 

My daughter who had been away for the weekend was sooo pleased when she came home and saw her room like this.   

Switching rooms - continued

Wow, it's been a week since I last posted. The days speed ahead; we've been busy doing anything but working in the house.

It's been two weeks since we switched rooms and it's still not finished.


There are quite a few major tasks to do yet and this weekend when my daughter was away I did some of them:


For the past two weeks we've had our clothes in our old rooms - which was of course very inconvenient. Now I've switched our clothes to our new rooms and I also took the opportunity to weed out both my daughter's and my wardrobe. 

This is my new cupboard - very tidy, non? I wish I didn't have anything else that needed to go in there - but unfortunately I do!


I emptied, moved and filled up again yet another cupboard. Not as big and heavy as the last one but still hard work.

Season animals

Somehow the deer on display in the cubic shelves had a winterish feel to it. 

I wanted an impression more in touch with the season we're in now - hence in come the cow and the zebra. 

Then it remains to see if these four leggers can do the trick.

I've also changed the cup on the pile of books
- to give the display a less fuzzy impression.

It's funny, looking at pictures of the display made it much easier to see what kind of impression it gave.
The original display had a country-romanticy style,
which was not quite what I was looking for.
(Illustration from Feed your soul; free art project)

- Please, help me find my ear!

Late breakfast

We are enjoying a three day weekend and the luxury of a late and long breakfast. 

   

Breakfast is the best part of a day off - and the whole day ahead. 

Going through our plans for the day (which will be altered a zillion times).

Having a second cup (mug) of coffee after my daughter has left to play with friends.

A beautiful day

It's a beautiful day, not raining, not too much wind and when the sun is out, really very warm. My daughter wanted to go to the beach, planning to go for a swim.

 She packed bathing suit, diving mask and arm rings. 

I packed a big towel for her and a pair of socks and warm clothes!

The beach wasn't exactly crowded. 

Most of the few who were there kept warm by sitting by the fire or playing volley ball. 

Not many tried the water - but my tough little girl did! 

It was freezing though, and she was thankful for the warm clothes. 

We're waiting for warmer days, but still this was a beautiful day!

More black and white

Yesterday's post was very black and white. 

Here is some more. 

I love white. It brings such lightness and calm to a room. 

I love white with black - strong contrast. 

I love white and black with colors - playful impression.  

Cool guy

In our small kitchen we have a tall black board.

Suddenly this cool guy appeared on it

-then he was gone. 

Switching rooms

Our household consist of my daughter and me, and our little house has two bedrooms.
When we moved in four years ago I let my daughter have the minor room and kept the biggest for myself. Not because I wanted the space but because then my bedroom would also provide storage room for all the mess and clutter that didn't have anywhere else to go. 

Now that my daughter's almost seven, I see that she needs more space for herself and her friends.   

The fun part of this switch will be getting my daughter's room ready.
The difficult & challenging part will be getting my room in order.
Sorting, weeding, declutter, organizing...

I'm still moving furniture and things between our rooms

Today has been really hard work. I've moved a closet from one room to another - just me by myself. Didn't have the patience to wait for assistance. 

The closet was filled with stuff from top to bottom and I emptied the contents on the bed. Then put the closet on at rug and dragged it along.

 

At the doorway I had to lay it down on an angle to get it through. Not too difficult getting through the doorway from the big bedroom to the hallway, but it was really hard to get the closet from the hallway into the little bedroom and then in an upright position.

I managed it in the end - exhausted and a bit bruised and battered, but veeery pleased. 

Another corner of my daughter's new bedroom is ready for furnishings, the little table and paper rolls are just temporary.

Capitulation of a project - and the enthusiastic start of a new

My daughter's bed in place

For months I've had an ongoing project of redecorating my daughter's room that also involved elevating her bed to make room for a play nook / guest bed (or matress) underneath.

I had elevated the bed and it remained to be build a small ladder and a bed fence. The tasks seemed unmanagable and I wanted to quit long ago, but my daughter was determined that she wanted this and I promised to try agian. But motivtion was low and progression slow.

It was as I was putting up the lamps in her room that I realized I would never make this work. My carpenter skills are too meagre to do this myself and as this was supposed to be a low budget project I didn't want to hire a professional carpenter.

So then what to do?

My longterm plan has been for me and my daughter to switch rooms, and instead of waiting for another 4-5 years I suggested we do it now. The change of plans was received with joy and starry eyes. After five minutes of viewing the rooms we started moving our stuff.

Cleared a corner for a new bed

It's going to be quite a lot of work - how can one move all the stuff from one full room to another full room  and vice versa when also all the rest of the house is full! 
Anyhow I can see the end of this project.

Still a long way to go but at least we have moved the beds into their new rooms.