3 weeks ago i planted some seeds (Snapdragons, actually) and i pretty much gave up on them sprouting, as i haven’t seen any action in the flower beds… until yesterday when i was watering, i saw a few tiny little leaves peeking thru!
OMG! So much of excitement… i hope it’s actually the Snapdragons and not some arb weeds :/

the lavender is finally starting to look more “bushy”… this stuff normally grows like weeds – but not in this garden… has taken ages to get to a point where it looks more like a plant and less like a seedling!

and my good old faithful “purple daisies” … or “Felicias” as Jenty told me, on my flickr account!

and, yay, there are so many buds on one of my rose trees… (the other rose trees/bushes look like they are no longer alive tho

Hopefully the little seeds will grow, grow, grow and start flowering soon! I am all about instant gratification!!

So, we’ve been in this house for almost a year! When we moved in, I decided i wanted to do something big and bright on the lounge wall and also on one of the bedroom walls (the ceilings are about 1m higher than normal height – so the walls are BIG!)… i blogged about the canvasses in the lounge over here.

so, it was just the bedroom left… I decided what i wanted and went to buy paint, ages ago… and started…
BEFORE: cream high walls.

i chose the 2 shades of blue, and painted a little swatch as soon as i arrived back from the paintshop (this was in mid-june!)

Eventually i had some free time and painted the wall… it was actually really fun – APART from climbing up and sitting on the ladder to paint the top third of the wall… i hate ladders! lol

(hehe – excuse the dodgy track pants!)

here is the wall all painted i loved it and couldnt stop looking at it!

Remember the post i did, asking your help to choose 3 canvasses from our shoot with Jeanette? Well, I eventually chose 3 – after MUCH deliberation and opinions… and i hung them up on my gorgeous blue wall:

BUT this was not the final product! I wanted a pattern on the wall, but was dreading drawing it on! spent ages putting it off, and sketching on paper and planning it all… and one day, just grabbed a pencil and went at it!

the drawing stayed on the wall for about 3 weeks before i eventually painted it!! (this only happened in the end of August!!).

This time, i used a table to stand on, rather than the ladder – and it was much less scary and way more comfy!

I even painted little “love birds” on the one branch…

Popped the canvasses back up -

Pushed the bed back into place…

(it took me SO long to do this whole thing, and i realised the linen is the same in the before and after photos… but i promise, i did change it inbetween June and August … i promise! lol!!)

..

Isn’t it just gorgeous? totally love it!

My bedroom is now officially my favourite room in the house!

oh, and the blue make a stunning background for photos, don’t you think??

Such a busy weekend!

Saturday morning we did some DIY
We had bought curtain tie back thingy’s for all the rooms and we needed to put them up.
Lounge:

Lounge Curtain Tie Back

My Office & Spare room are the same:

Office & Spare Room Curtain Tie Back

Main Bedroom:

Main Bedroom Curtain Tie Back

We had also bought 2 chandeliers to put in the lounge/dining room area, coz the lights were crappy!!

The ceiling before:

Before...

And with such high ceilings, we really needed something dangly. Peter_vs went off to Fourways to buy me a present and I assembled one of the chandeliers. It was tricky! I did as much as i could without getting into the electrical stuff.

gotta build the chandelier!

Getting there!

So pretty!

Peter got home and finished up the chandelier and connected it and it WORKED!! it looks FABULOUS too!! Now we must do the other one!

Totally LOVE IT!

AFTER:

After... I really love it!

The in-laws came through for “lunch” at 4pm (but arrived an hour late at 5pm!!!) I was soooooooooo hungry! We had a braai and they brought us presents! yay presents!!
They had brought bathroom mats and a full set of towels for BOTH bathrooms! Peter wants a black and red bathroom…

Red & Black bathroom for boys...

I want a pink and silver bathroom. Shame, MIL was told pink and silver and she got confused by the “silver” part! What i want is a pink bathroom, with silver accessories (candles, dustbin, soap bottle thingy etc) … so she bought me a bunch of light grey stuff too! Haha! Not what I would’ve chosen, but it’s not too bad The mats are nice and squishy!!

Pink & Silver Girls' Bathroom

AND then…. they gave us a big HEAVY HEAVY HEAVY box. NO idea what it was. Opened it up… it’s a *BEAUTIFUL* 56 piece cutlery set by Robert Welch! Absolutely STUNNING! They feel so luxurious and extravagant! Definately not something I would EVER buy myself because of the price – I’d rather buy lots of cheaper stuff than one exopensive quality item. Wow – they are beautiful!
We scored BIG TIME!!

Beautiful Glossy Box - and so heavy!!

WOW! Totally Gorgeous (see my reflection - hahaha!)

BEE-YOO-DI-FULL!!

Sunday was Peter and my… um, I hate using this word – our anniversary. It sounds lame to me. Only married people and dead people have anniversaries. Anyway… He believes in the word and in celebrating it – more presents – I can’t say no!
He had told me during the week that he bought me something I’ve always wanted. I was very excited and a bit nervous that the present wouldn’t live up to my expectations, even though i had NO clue what it was. Even when I saw the wrapped present I was clueless.
It was a book by JK Rowling called Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them. It’s a book referred to in the Harry Potter Series! It was imported all the way from England Nogal! Very cool. Also, a bottle of perfume yay me!!

My Love Present!

The we went off to breakfast and to The Cupcake Boutique in Lonehill (I have been DYING to go there!) There stuff is so gorgeous! Taste-wise… they look better than they taste. They are yummy, yes, but not to die for, if you know what I mean.

Nom Nom

Oh, I forgot to mention, the whole weekend I had a cold Feeling very sorry for myself. So we got home, and Peter put me in my PJ’s, gave me medicine and tucked me up with my shoo-shoo-blanky and a teddy and I had a 2 hour nap I love being looked after! <3

It was really exhausting – even if it doesn’t sound like much.

I sure cleaned up in the present department!!

So… now that we have settled (and the maid has tidied up!) I can post some pics of our new house

We moved in on 1 October 2009… and the transfers etc went through about a week later… so, Peter and I are officially home owners

It’s a 3 bedroomed, 2 bathroomed unit in a complex of 21 units, in Kyalami Hills. Sectional title with a garden around 3 sides and an undercover patio.

our house

The ceilings are really high – which makes the house echo, and also makes it very airy and it feels more spacious. Not sure how cold it’ll be in winter though.

High Ceiling

ABOVE PIC: we have bought new light fittings – more dangly ones … will post pics when we’ve put them up. Also, that wall on the right needs a BIG painting or something (i have a plan for the wall – never fear!)

As you come in the front door (into the dining area) there are 3 windows that we don’t know what to do with… they currently have cheap ‘n nasty blinds… I don’t want curtains, they are too blowy in the wind… maybe blinds? but what kind…?? any suggestions? My Sister, @LaceMutt said she had some ideas – but hasn’t told me yet … so suggestions are welcome

windows

KITCHEN…

Theres a HUGE pantry cupboard… Not quite big enough to swing a cat – but you could DEFINATELY twirl a kitten

pantry

There’s a wall between the main section of kitchen and the scullery area … which we want to knock down – to make the kitchen feel bigger, and make it lighter – the window is in the scullery section and the wall blocks the light to the main section… so we’ll see how that goes.

See the wall on the left?? The scullery is behind there – we want to knock it down and put a counter there. The front door is on the right of the pic – it leads to a little entrance hall and into the double garage.

Down the passage to the kitchen

The scullery area which will be joined up to the main part of the kitchen (hopefully!)

scullery

Ok, so – ummm… this is the bast bath in the world, and it’s in MY BATHROOM! WOO HOO!! it’s just the right length and the angle is just right and its nice and big!

best bath

The main bedroom (see where the alarm eye thingy is?? THAT is where normal ceilings stop)

Main room

My Office (picture is a bit dodgy – sorry!… and I need proper office chairs)

office

Spare Room – not sure what we gonna do with this one! Probably a spare bedroom for our guests (HAHAHA!)

spareRoom

The garden is pretty established (5 lollipop hibiscus trees… 2 big palms, one medium palm, 2 cycad type palm things, a bunch of delicious monsters and some other greenery). The beagles are happy

garden by the patio

harry in the garden

Then there’s the undercover patio – for braais, drinks, sun downers, al fresco breakfasts and a resting spot for beagles! Great view of the palm trees and stuff

patio

so… yay us!

I’ll post pictures as time goes on – with updates on the kitchen wall… the new dangly lights… garden developments and more!

There are MUCH more pics on Facebook…