There's no escape...

Even when we're not talking about the house, we're playing house!

I hope everyone had a great Christmas!  We are recovering by teaching the kids how to play Monopoly.  Good times!!

Welcome to our new followers, hopefully there'll be lots for you to enjoy over the coming months.


I don't think there'll be much to report over the next few days, so the little blog might be neglected.  I do, however, have a couple of leads on sofas, so you never know.

Looking forward

When you are building, or when you have built before, what are the things that you really look forward to?

Is it a particular item/fitting/fixture in the new house?  Is it just about getting out of your dodgy rental?

I am really looking forward to:

Flick Mixers

  

Phoenix Argo

Window furnishings that ARE NOT vertical blinds

here

here

My big oven

here

Relatively simple things, really, that we've previously taken for granted and obviously don't have in the dodgy rental.  (Hanging around waiting for yet another tradie to fix yet another problem here.  Just glad I'm not paying!)

Are you counting down the sleeps until the big guy visits yet?  I've been partying too hard and am feeling it today.  Last day of work before a week off, thank goodness.

Have a great Thursday!

The spirit!

Around here, we're getting into the Christmas spirit!

I'm doing my best to teach our little ones that not everyone is as fortunate at them at Christmas time, but it is a bit tricky when they still believe in Santa.  Why wouldn't Santa get everyone the same kinds of gifts?  I managed to dodge that bullet, so we wrapped up a gift and delivered it to the Kmart Wishing Tree (have been meaning to do this for yeeears).

We decided the gift would be perfect for a five year old girl and stuck our gift tag on.  The lady at Kmart was so genuinely grateful and encouraging of the children, so we took a quick photo to mark the beginning of this new tradition in our house.

The boy wasn't interested, and the girls got a little bit of reindeer treatment!

Tonight, we're celebrating a special baby's first Christmas.  One more working day and then I can really get excited!

Masters Home Improvement

I keep thinking today is Saturday, as we all spent the day together as a family today.  That doesn't often happen on a Friday, does it?

So, what does a family like ours do when we have a free day together?  We head out to check out Masters Home Improvement, of course!

Goodness gracious me.  This place (we went to Morayfield, a decent drive from home, but so worth it) was amazeballs and a half.  It was air-conditioned for starters - probably too cold, truth be told.

I found the flooring for the new house.  I've moved away from the bamboo that I was lusting after, and towards an engineered timber floor.  I found more carpet than I knew what to do with, thus haven't made a choice yet.  There was paint galore.  We sourced the timber to build the new sofa table (plans still to come).

I found an artwork, which has inspired a whole new look for our big girl's bedroom.  I bought the cheapest Christmas decorations I've ever seen in my life.

They even had the fridge we're planning to buy, that we hadn't actually seen in the flesh yet.  Let me tell you, that fridge is a winner.

Anyhoo, this is not a sponsored post, but I just needed to share with you the awesomeness that was Masters!  Do yourself a favour, as Molly would say (get well soon, Molly).

Have a great weekend, everyone!

Shipping Update

I just had to check in and share this exciting news with you!

Firstly, I placed my Christmas order with Nordstrom this evening.  Sure to their word, shipping was only $19.95.  Fantastic!

Then, I thought, why don't I just check out West Elm and see if they've been reading this blog.  What do you know?  They must be reading.  They are currently offering half.price.shipping.

Just for fun, I looked at Williams-Sonoma, who also own(?) Pottery Barn, and they've cut their international shipping fees also.

All of these companies use Fifty One, so maybe someone there is reading along.

Moral of the story: Never underestimate the power of the blog!!!

(Yep, I know they don't read the blog.  But we put it out there, and our shipping wishes have come true).

Christmas Wishes...

So, I think my feelings on shipping costs are pretty clear...  Yes?

Well, today for some random reason I decided what I wanted for Christmas.  I knew where I could get it, (Santa, duh!) but didn't want to fork out for postage.  However, I looked anyway.  Woo to the hoo, Nordstrom are offering $19.95 shipping to Australia until 24 November.

I thought I'd better check with Husband before ordering, and he said yes.  Double woo hoo!

Now I'm sure you're wondering what will be wrapped up under the tree for me when I wake on Christmas morning...

Here

Here

As you can see, it isn't all about the house...  But really it is!  Now we just need our friends at West Elm to jump on board the cheap shipping train!  Should we start lobbying???

Hope you've had a wonderful weekend!

Paperwork Schmaperwork

Our plans were sent off to the Certifier yesterday.  Then, I had a call saying that our Council has added a new approval form that needs to be completed!

The Builder was very quick to tell me there was no cost involved, but it was just another annoying piece of paper getting in the way of our approval.

Anyhoo, I completed it straight away (so glad I work from home) and sent it off.  Hopefully certification and council approval won't take too long and we'll see a stamp like this quick sticks.

Here

I'm sure they want to get all their work done quickly at this time of the year, so that it isn't sitting waiting on their desks for them when they return from Christmas shutdown (that's positive thinking right there).

I'm going to be asking for your advice and assistance over the next week or so, so steel yourselves in anticipation...

I hope you have a happy Friday!