Ella's Room

We spent Saturday cleaning Ella's room out of all the unwanted bits and pieces. It wasn't as big a job as Kate's as I'm always helping her with her room as it is the smallest room in the house.

Well it was, not anymore as after we finished decluttering, we moved her into the spare room.  She used to be in this room 5 years ago, but didn't like it, so hopefully this time she will.

We didn't finish until 10pm, and it still needs work (new curtains, few more pics up and shelves) but that will take time. We will paint down the track.

So this is what it looks like for now.

Her much loved puppy "Bouncy" she got for Christmas from Amie & family!

Actually the room looks quite bare at the moment, but I'm sure she will fill it up fast. It's nice to start a new year off with less. Less is more in my opinion.

As I've mentioned before in previous posts, Ella is still really young at heart (she's ten next month) and still likes to play with dolls and such. I'm enjoying her staying little for that much longer.

Her little grey rabbit "Hoppy" is her most loved soft-toy. It goes everywhere with her. It's been to NZ several times, Hong Kong and on many camping trips and overnights stays.

 I love this little stool I found at the OP shop last year.

Kate's Room Clean-Up

I'm slowly going through the house room by room and decluttering. I started yesterday with our room, and wasn't a big task as I keep on top of it most of the time.

Today we tackled Kates room. The last time I did it was when she was on school camp last September. But you wouldn't know that today. She collects so much junk!

It took us about 4 hours to complete. We went through every cupboard and drawer and tossed out so much.

During the clean-up. I didn't get a before one.

After

 

 

Her old desk broke, so we need to get her a new one soon! 

On the bookshelf

I gave the bookcase a bit of a clean-out today, donating books and toys to the Salvos that were no longer interesting or used. We still have plenty left, plus the girls have books in their rooms and we have a bookcase in the dining room.

We love Enid Blyton books. The girls' have read heaps of them (from home and the library) My favourite growing up were the Secret Seven books. I've found a few from OP shops over the years. Trixie Belden were another favourite.

This Mallory Towers was Amies set and will be passed onto Ruby once my girls have read them. The one with the yellow cover we searched for for ages, finally locating it in an antique shop in Oamaru on a last trip away with my parents and Amie in 1997.

Noel Streatfeild's Ballet Shoes was a favourite of mine growing up, so I was thrilled when I found a copy. The second one "Ballet shoes for Anna" I found in an OP shop.

Some favourite classics the girls love!

I love all the Astrid Lindgren books, Lotta ones were an all-time favourite. This green cover Winnie the Pooh was on our families bookcase growing up. I was happy when Mum gave it to me awhile ago to enjoy with my kids.

This collection all holds a special place in my heart for me. "Old hat New hat I remember bringing home from the town library ALL the time when Mum and I used to go on Monday nights. Dad would always say "not that book again!" Ha ha! The Coles Funny Picture Book is very old. It belonged to my oldest brother Warwick, and was given to him by our Granny. "Bread and Jam for Frances" is still regularly read by the kids. It's falling apart though, which I think just adds to the character.

These are some of Ella's absolute favourites. So much so, that she keeps them in her room and no one is allowed to touch them :) 

We also house small toys on the shelves, done up in categories in Systema containers. It makes it very easy for the kids to see where everything goes as they are labelled!

Handy Bag

I saw this handy little bag in a shop last week and thought that it would be - well handy! And I was right. It has had so much use since we bought it. We are often waiting at dancing (especially on Wednesdays when we are there for 3 hours) and we pack food and water bottles in a variety of bags or just chuck them in the car. Having one place to store them all (which fit nicely between the girls' in the back) saves containers getting lost under the seat. I can add some magazines to read to pass the time.

Busy Beavers

about half way through

the bookcase complete - still some empty containers

all that's left of the bigger inside toys

We've been having a BIG declutter at our house since mid-afternoon on Saturday.

We started with Ella's room, and then onto Kates (forgot to get photos) 

then yesterday started on the spare room which had became a dumping ground

All up it took around 18 hours and a couple of trips to the shops for storage containers

22 bags for the Salvos

11 bags of rubbish

and a car full to go to Amie's tomorrow of outgrown toys.

I am pleased the girls no longer want the dollhouse, pram, board games and puzzles for younger kids, a million Barbies and so on.

Everything fits into a container somewhere apart from the Cars/Caravans etc in the last photo.

What a lot of work, but a great feeling!

Storage

 I found these storage units at a furniture shop the other week. I had been looking for something for the laundry that wasn't too big that I could use for separating whites etc. We don't have alot of spare space, so it took awhile to find what I needed. The baskets are working so well. The top is for white that need washing. I do a load at the end of the week. The second one is for school uniforms to be washed. I wash the whole lot on Saturday mornings. The third basket is for clean socks. Both Kate & Ella's go in here. I got sick of working out which socks belong to which girls, they always ended up in the wrong room. Now they all go in together and they know which are theirs. Win-win. next are for everyday shoes they wear to school and around home. Their good shoes are in their wardrobes.

I also got a unit for Ella's room. She is in the smallest bedroom in the house (her choice as she likes where the window faces) and needed some more drawers. I got her one with 2 baskets and 3 drawers. I will get Kate one for her room too as it works so well.

Back to school #1

We have still not quite adjusted back to Perth time yet, the girls and I are still waking every day between 4am and 4:30am. The good thing is we get so much done before the heat of the day.

Today Kate (who is my cleaning and organizing gal and is currently re-organizing her wardrobe even though it doesn't need it) decided at 5am we should tidy/clean the plastic drawer in getting ready for school snacks and lunches.

I had bought them a few new containers for this year, and we bought new lunchboxes when we were in NZ. Quite a few of the containers had had it (I do wash them in the dishwasher and still get a few months out of them so no complaints) so we threw out those and added the new ones.

After, I got carried away and cleaned out 5 more kitchen drawers, the freezer, fridge and sorted through the recipe books.

All in all a productive day!

Spring Clean - Pantry

before

After getting home from swimming lessons yesterday I decided to leave the kids at home with Phil and head out to get some storage containers and tackle the huge mess that we call our pantry.
I was late getting started (about 8:30pm) so didn't get it all done until today, but wow, it looks so great now, I keep going to look at it!
I had a big toss out of expired food, wiped out all the shelves with white vinegar which deter moths and then soaked a few cotton balls with lavender essential oil and placed them in the back corner of each shelf.
I can now see what I'm getting low on, so hopefully will cut down wastage!
Next will be the fridge & freezer.

after

House Improvements

new pansies growing in a basket on the wall

by the front door, yay spring is coming!


A few months ago we had some roller shutters installed on the bedroom windows and the front of the lounge window. Not only is it great for the light control and keeping the warmth in, I have noticed it has cut down the amount of outside noise at night (traffic and noisy parties a few houses away) not to mention they are great for security.
I'm actually not dreading summer as much as I usually do, I know the shutters will help keep all that bright sunshine out.
I love them!

Ella's window by the front door
she moved from the spare room at the front of the house
to the smallest room in the house
and it works perfectly for her
she loves everything neat and tidy
and it's so easy to do in a small room

front of the house
need a new letterbox soon
this one is being held up by a pile of bricks :)

the view from the front
our bedroom is on the right
spare room on the left
we still have the gardens to do!

Kate's bedroom which opens onto the back yard,
this is actually the master bedroom but I chose one of the front bedrooms
as I like our bedroom to look out onto the street!