Perspective // On Lofts and Life

I was feeling a little overwhelmed at the start of last week. Questions about our building work hanging over me. Stage One is pretty much completed now... we're waiting on our carpet and a radiator, but aside from that, our brand new bedroom and bathroom in the loft are good to go. Stage Two has looked a little problematic before its even started, and while the busyness of the day keeps me from dwelling on it too much, at night, the worries simmer up. When your mind is full of taps and tiles and details, and whether the whole thing will even get off the ground at 2am, all perspective seems to go out the window.

Perspective. My old friend.

Because for me, that word will always bring back flashing images of hospital cots, and oxygen tubes and heart echoes. For me, that word perspective will always be shaped like a nine week old baby fighting for her life.

Three years ago, when our baby girl was diagnosed with Kawasaki Disease, fever raging, splotchy red and arteries dilated to four times their normal size, I wondered if I would ever again get stressed by silly things like house extensions.

And in that moment. The penny drops. The realisation hits. God opens my eyes and reminds me of all the goodness and blessing and mercy and grace I experience every day in every moment.

I am so thankful... so very, very thankful, that the biggest things I have to stress about right now are whether our house extension will start this month or next, whether the tiles piled high in our garden should be kept or sold, whether the pipe for the taps will actually physically fit down the back of our sink unit. These things feel like niggling intruders... questions I need to answer, but don't want to deal with. And yet...

I have so much to be thankful for... and yet here I sit, knee deep in worries and questions that I can't actually do anything about anyway!

Perspective. A reason to rejoice. To be thankful. To remember what really matters.

And give my worries and cares to the one who cares for me...

Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving,

present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding,

will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus

- Philippians 4:6-7 -

Project Playhouse: The Big Reveal!

After a week and a half of building, hammering, painting, nailing and sewing, our playhouse is finally finished! I was working to a deadline... Heidi's first birthday... and so have spent much of the last week painting, come rain or shine (thankfully more shine than rain!) in every available moment (nap time could find me charging down the garden full pelt to squeeze as much into my hour-and-a-half child-free slot as possible!) Yesterday morning, while the early morning dew was still wet on the grass, two little girls were carried into the cold of the garden in their PJs, coats and hats to find a little playhouse, all ready for them.

I barely saw Ava for the next 5 hours!

Two thrilled little girls made this labour of love utterly worth it. Both sets of Grandparents and all Uncles and Aunts chipped in to make this a beautiful little home for two little ladies and their dollies.

So here you have it... the big reveal!

Make yourselves at home; and the girls might even make you a hot cup of tea and a slice of cake!

Welcome to our Hytte!

Ready to keep it spick and span!

Little birds overlook the dining table...

... while Mitch has a snooze!

Cooking up a storm!

Cup of tea, anyone?

What's on the menu today?

Girly catch up over coffee

and lots... and lots... of giggles!

All in all, two happy girls who are thrilled with their little home!

Here's to many happy spring and summer hours spent inside!

BIG thanks to all contributors (you know who you are!!)

- Playhouse = Mad Dash Log Cabin from Garden Buildings Direct -
- Play Kitchen, Table and Chairs, Dolls Bed, Frames, Artififial Flower Pot = IKEA -
- Blinds and Tablecloth = Homemade - 

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If you enjoy the blog, we'd love you to support us and cast your nominations for the "MAD (Mum and Dad) Blog Awards our way!

We're currently up for "Best Baby Blog" and "Best Family Fun" but you can nominate for any category you feel we fit into... Thanks to all of you who have already nominated! :D
Nominations close March 14th.

Project Playhouse: The Building Phase...

Project Playhouse in underway!

We've gone for a joint birthday present for the girls this year - a little playhouse that they will hopefully use all summer long. I was feeling very inspired by some of my fave German and Norwegian bloggers and thus the idea was born.

And on Saturday, it started to become a reality!

SO exciting!

Me, my Dad, and a tonne of tools

:D

We finished the house around 7pm... it was pitch black and we were working with a little pocket torch, and I couldn't get any photos because it was so dark... this week's aim is to paint it and decorate the inside ready for Heidi's birthday on Tuesday.

I have a sneaking suspicion the two little  girls in our household won't be the only girls enjoying our little Hutte!! I have to admit... I'm pretty excited myself...!

Clearly still a child at heart!

* * *

If you enjoy the blog, we'd love you to support us and cast your nominations for the "MAD (Mum and Dad) Blog Awards our way!

We're currently up for "Best Baby Blog" and "Best Family Fun" but you can nominate for any category you feel we fit into... Thanks to all of you who have already nominated! :D
Nominations close March 14th.

Project Playhouse... The Inspiration...

It's time!!

I am SO excited about this new little project. At the beginning of March, Heidi turns one, and this year we have a joint birthday present planned for our girls... One that will hopefully provide them with years of fun! Our fabulous family have teamed together to make this dream a reality and create a pretty little playhouse for our girlies to play in...

For a long time I have dreamt of a piece of Scandinavia in our garden, and inspired by the lovely Doris from "Mama's Kram" and Silje from "Silje Sin" this idea was planted in my mind (incidentally - they are my two FAVOURITE homes and interiors blogs without a shadow of a doubt!) This dream has been brewing pretty much since Ava was born, and I'm SO excited its finally going to become a reality.

(Photos courtesy of Mama's Kram- left - and Silje Sin - right)

So watch this space... the playhouse arrives on Friday, my Dad and I will build it, and then the transformation begins!

I'll be filling you in as we go along!

EEEEEK!!!!!!!!!

Larder Makeover: The Big Reveal

Ok... So its only taken 3 years of daydreaming, months of planning, weeks of Pinterest scouring, 2 trips to IKEA and a trip to B and Q, but finally... It's done! And I'm SUPER-pleased with my newly organised larder makeover. Remember how it looked before??

Yuck!!!

Drumroll please!

Ta-da!

I have dreamed about one of those gorgeously organised Pottery Barn style larders for years and we picked this one up at our local antique shop three years ago. It's been perfectly pretty on the outside, and perfectly practical on the inside (in that its done its job in storing our food) but I guess I could see some hidden potential in the depths of its shelves that needed to be unearthed.

So I drew myself a plan on a bit of scrappy paper, measured up and decided that it was time to use the space a bit better. A little explanation... I've actually managed to get MORE in the larder than I had before, even though it looks like there's less!

So here's a little guided tour!

The doors: This was the bit I've been day-dreaming about for years! Down the left hand door, I painted the upper panel in blackboard paint. My plan is to put the meal plan up there every week. I also hung up an onion basket I bought for a bargainous price in Norway this summer. Down the right hand door I screwed up 4 IKEA spice racks and have packed them full of tea, coffee, spices and condiments!

My next step was to sort out the top shelf - the larder had brackets for a shelf (so there obviously used to be one) so all I needed to do was measure it up and buy a piece of wood to create the top shelf. However, I'm not particularly tall, so I decided to build a half shelf to make my baking items easier to reach. The shelf is half the depth of the rest of the larder, but just perfect for storing all my baking goods...

Yes, I know, I need to re-label. These labels have been on for about 2 years and they need an update, but hey - there's only so much a girl can do!

 Boxes that are easy to pull out and store all those half-full bags and packets and bottles!

You just can't beat good old IKEA for storage solutions - I'm loving these plastic 365+ cereal containers. And the jars...

And I finally have somewhere to keep my washing powder and my recycling! Again, IKEA came up trumps!

So there you have it! My new and re-furbished larder. Let's just hope it stays that way!

Someone else rather likes it too...

Busy, busy,busy...

It's been a busy few days, and we're about to embark on a busy weekend...

Here's a little sneak preview of what I've been up to...

Yes, it's a scrappy piece of paper... But it's a scrappy piece of paper that is slowly becoming reality! I'll be revealing my new and improved budget larder makeover next week! Right now, it looks like a bomb has gone off inside it... But hey... It'll be worth it in the end!

Happy weekend everyone!

Project Larder Makeover: The Plan...

Time to get cracking!

Project Larder Makeover: A new project...

I always wanted one of those gorgeous larders... you know, one that looks like this...

Photo courtesy of www.anangelatmytable.com

or this...

Photo courtesy of Pinterest

or this...

Photo courtesy of www.anangelatmytable.com

Our kitchen is pretty small, and so our larder houses literally all our food. Before we had children, it looked fairly beautiful on the inside. It was neat and tidy and there was plenty of space. It is a lovely antique larder, and when its closed, I just love it...

But I tell you something, a family of four means a lot more food around, and these days, I'm not loving the inside so much. It pretty much looks like this...

What a blessing to have a full larder... but it is utter CHAOS!!

So here's the deal... my plan is to turn this crazy, overflowing cupboard into a classy, organized larder, resembling one of the above!

Watch. This. Space.

Any suggestions?? I'm open to ideas and inspiration! Just leave a comment below!

Project Ava's Room: It's finished!!!

This weekend, we finally made the big move! Ava has moved from her little nursery into her own big girl bedroom. We were delayed by one night because the poor thing has been suffering with an ear infection, and we didn't want to rock the boat until that had settled down, but she's now spent two nights in her new room and seems to be settling well (the first night she cried a bit when we put her to bed, but nothing the second night - phew!)

We managed to come in under budget by being a bit creative and doing some of the little touches ourselves... the tree mural came in free because I used paint we already had, and wallpaper samples for the leaves. The lampshade (left) was a cheap white lampshade from Homebase that I've had for years that I glue-gunned buttons onto, the notice board was a homemade affair (check out my shop here if you're interested in buying one!)

The chest of drawers - IKEA - £100
Storage boxes and shelves (that I haven't put up yet) - IKEA - £22
Blind (B and Q) - £15
GRAND TOTAL - £137

So here we go... the big "reveal" moment! There are still a few finishing touches I need to do - hang up her notice board, put a shelf up and put a few nails in the wall for hanging things, but for the most part its done and I'm really pleased with the result... she seems to be enjoying it too!

Ava loves her "Baum" (tree) and still says "Oh wow!" every time she walks into the room!!

Bigging up the woodland theme!

I made the teddy just before Ava was born, and it matches perfectly with the colour scheme...  the lamp was a button and glue gun jobby and the notice board was a Homemade Huette design!

Simple and fresh - I'm so glad we went for that green when we decorated 2 years ago!

Cosy and girly 

Love these classics - can't wait to read them to my girly!

So there you have it... as you can see - someone is enjoying her new room...

Enjoying her toys...

...and sleeping well too! After a 2 and a half hour nap, we went in, opened her blinds and curtains and chatted in her room before finally singing to wake her!! Seems she's dreaming sweetly under her tree!

All with a lovely view of the snow we've been enjoying!

... now just to sort out the nursery for Bubba 2 (thankfully just a simple deep clean and tidy up job!)

Phew!