Spring Has Sprung!

Posted on September 13, 2013 by natalietrew

Spring has surely sprung and this year it sprung quite early!!! I just LOVE this time of year. Spring is my favourite season of all time (apart from summer of course). The beautiful clear skies, longer days, sunshine and flowers that bring lots and lots of colour! It’s the time of the year where we can pack away our jackets and scarves and start to show the world our skin again. It’s the time of year where we come out of hibernation and get ready for the festive season!!

Well I’m almost ready to think about Christmas! It’s VERY early for me to say that, but because we have been spoilt with spring spilling over into winter, I started on my ‘spring to do list’ early! (Apart of me wants to see the back end of this horrid year too). Since the beginning of August I’ve been cleaning, sorting and redecorating each section of my house. Where I would normally be only just starting my ‘spring cleaning’, I have almost finished! It’s funny how once the temperature rises, after have a few months of the cold, our bodies go into cleaning overdrive – well mine does anyway lol!

So far I’ve…
*Cleaned the windows and normally would clean the blinds but this year we installed new ones on all the windows.
*Cleaned the oven
*Cleaned the fridge and freezer
*Cleaned the microwave
*Scrubbed my kitchen cupboards, particularly the kick boards.
*Tidied up areas of the house (inside and outside) that were accumulating piles of nothing so that everything now has a place!

All I have left now is…
*Clean the walls
*Sort the kids clothes ready for the new season.
*And my husband needs to gurney out the front and back of the house!

My nice organised clean fridge and freezer and sparking clean oven!!
It’s a great feeling when your house has had a once over!!!

I love spring fashion! The weather allows us to wear a mix of our winter and summer wardrobe and it’s the time of year where you can wear all your brights and bring out your flowers to accessorise. My favourite two colours at the moment are yellow and coral…I can’t get enough of them. Whether it be clothes or accessories they are the first two colours I go for! These two colours certainly brighten up my day!

Aside from my spring cleaning frenzy and my love of spring fashion, spring allows us to spend our days outside soaking up the beautiful weather together, while creating more wonderful memories. And what better way to have the kids home for the school holidays!! We have so many fun things planned that include play dates at playgrounds, the local pool and the beach!

Taken on our first trip down at Wynnum this season…so many outings to look forward to!!

I’m hoping now we’ve venture into a new season things will start to feel happier for our family. We sure had a terrible winter with my beautiful nana passing away on June 1st. Now the flowers are blooming and there are more butterflies than ever, we can find some comfort in knowing Nana will be around everywhere!

Fluro and floral…yep it’s spring time!!!

Keep an eye out later in the week for my post on ‘A Freshen Up’…a look inside my home at my new decorating pieces!

A Freshen Up…

Posted on August 23, 2013 by natalietrew

Earlier in the week, I posted a blog called Spring has Sprung which listed many reasons why I love this time of year! One thing that I mentioned that I always do at this time of year is give my house a really good clean and along with that always comes some resorting and decorating! It’s the time of year where I like to give my home a freshen up!

We’ve lived in our house now for over a decade. It’s gone from a dark brick and yellow roof to a latte colour render and burgundy roof. We’ve converted our single garage into a lounge room, painted several feature walls, completed renovations on the kitchen, bathroom and pergola and added our touch to the front and back gardens. I’ve changed the decor more times than I can count lol, yet we still call our home, the place we call our castle, a work in progress!

We have discussed and even looked at the prospect of moving, but we always settle on staying in the place we have created so many memories in. It’s our first home. We brought all our babies home to this house. Kane asked me to marry him in our home and now the kids feel safe and secure in the place they call home! There are so many positives to staying here. We live in a cul-de-sac that the kids play on all the time. We live on a 900 square metre block and we have awesome neighbours. Most importantly we are surrounded by my beautiful family who help us out when we need it!

We have lots of vision for our house that involves a pool and room extensions. Plus if we stay where we are, I won’t have to rush back to work anymore than my two days a week and we will always be able to afford going away on holidays….the positives at the moment definitely out way the push to move!

So far this spring, I’ve gone through every room in the house, given it a good clean and sort and added some kind of new decor. I’ve changed some colour schemes and it’s amazing how one new decorating piece can brighten up a room. You would think that after living in the same dwelling for 10 years it would be in good order…the answer to that would be no lol! After this clean up and kull, I feel our house is the most organised it’s ever been. I’m evolving over time and so is our home…another 10 years and it should be exactly how we want it lol!

This is what I’ve created…
Kitchen

Our kitchen isn’t the largest in the world, but I’ve made it as practical as I can and love my red decor which matches with the red splash in my bench tops.

Our dining room table is where photos of my beautiful nana sit:)

This year’s handprints needed revamping to the whole display just to fit them in. Next year I’ll have to think of something!

Bathroom

I love my light and airy bathroom. I’ve gone with a hot pink and chocolate-brown decor which matches in well with my bedroom as it’s a two-way bathroom!

Our bedroom

After redecorating our bedroom last year, I finally gave in and have gone with a black, white and hot pink decor to match my canvases. I was a bit unsure about the black, but now I LOVE it!

Lounge room

I’ve kept my red and chocolate-brown decor in this room. My plan for the future in this room is a new corner lounge and carpet. We are just waiting for Mia to grow a little older:)

Toy room

My latest furniture purchase is our new desk from Ikea. It fits so nicely in the kid’s toy room and they love it!! I can’t believe it’s been a year since I gave the toy room a complete face lift!!

Out the back

Our dog ruined the bottom of our screen enclosure and took over the outdoor lounge setting. Thanks to Sunset Signs, we now have new coverings (to keep the dog out) with a beautiful ocean print and new pillows for the lounge. It’s the cleanest our pergola has been in months…lucky we love you Sonny!!!

Out the front

New pots and plants that I pottered using plants from our own garden. Thank you to my daddy who taught me all my gardening tricks!

Our new blinds

After 10 years our blinds we looking a bit sad and faded, so we replaced all the living areas and bedrooms with the wide timber blinds and the bathroom, toilet and kitchen areas with roman blinds. Thank you to my wonderful husband for installing them:)

That is what I’ve been working on over the past couple of months! So much achieved, yet I still have a list as long as my arm lol! My next big project over the christmas holidays is doing a major overhaul to the kid’s bedrooms (hence why I didn’t show any photos). The girls will be going in together and having an ‘owl’ theme and Bailey wants an ‘NRL’ theme. Another big project for this house and has been an ongoing room for years is my laundry – I will finish it even if it kills me lol!!!!

So watch this space for my latest projects in our very own castle!

10 Week Challenge!

Posted on October 11, 2012 by natalietrew

Another blog about cleaning! I know. It’s not for everyone and you maybe thinking blah blah blah, but the reality of it is no matter how clean we think we are, there are parts of our homes that get so dirty it’s scary to think we breathe in the filth that manifests upon our windows, blinds and the like! Next time you do your house work, look closely at your windows, the tracks of them, the oven, your screen door and walls!!! And don’t get me started on the outside!!! And now is as good as time as any as we are fast approaching the festive season!

I hadn’t done a proper house clean since just before the school holidays started. I couldn’t bring myself to look at my home for another second until my house work was complete! For me my ‘house work’ consists of dusting, vacuuming, mopping, cleaning the toilet, bathroom, kitchen thoroughly, wiping down windows, mirrors and sweeping outside front and back! I like to do it once a week and I never leave it go more than a fortnight.

While cleaning away yesterday I started seeing things that needed extra attention. I started my ‘spring cleaning’ a couple of weeks ago and you know about my ‘to do list’ before Christmas, I figured if I worked on one of the jobs off my list each house work day, one – I’d only be spending one day a week cleaning, two – 10 weeks is a realistic time to get it all done and three – it means I have 4 other days in the week to enjoy my lovely family!

Yesterday I cleaned beside my fridge (I keep my recycle bags there and it was all dusty, I vacuumed the kids timber blinds and started sorting out my pergola! I pottered around from 6.30 in the morning until 12.30 when the kids and I had lunch! Obviously going for my 5.30 run paved the way for me to have lots of energy! I did enjoy my hour of sitting down though:) I could go around every inch of my home and add to my already to do list what needs to be cleaned and organised, but the list would end up so long and daunting that I know it wouldn’t all get done. The things on my list MUST be done over the next 10 weeks, other stuff is a complete bonus!

So from this week, I am setting myself a 10 week challenge to get our house to an organised clean state, just in time for Christmas! I encourage my readers to try and do the same:)

Rules:
1. Make a list of what you definitely want done in the next 10 weeks.

2. Set aside one day a week to do jobs from the list…for me it will be my house work day so I’m only dedicating one day to cleaning!

3. Do things as you see it! If you see something that looks like it needs attention and you have a spare 5-10 minutes just do it!

4. Once you’ve organised a cupboard or area, make sure it stays that way by consistently putting things back in its place (setting some rules for your loved ones may have to come into play here lol).

5. Be brutal and realistic! When sorting through stuff ask yourself how long since I used you? If it’s been more than a year than you don’t need it!

6. If you have children get them involved especially when it comes to their toys and bedroom!

7. Get your husband involved to. Mine is in charge of the Gurney!!!

8. Don’t stress if you miss a week, do extra the following week.

9. As you ‘spring clean’ write the job you did down which will help you create a ‘spring cleaning’ list that you can repeat each year!

10. When you’re finished be proud of the home you’ve created!

Good luck and keep me posted!

I’ll check back in 10 weeks time so I can catch you up with how it panned out for me!

Two Becomes One!

Posted on October 7, 2012 by natalietrew

Well the school holidays have come to an end and what a busy one it was. Between being on my own for the majority of it and trying to keep three kids under 6 entertained at a level where all their interests were catered for, proved to be quite manageable but meant my ‘to do list’ wasn’t completely done!

I am happy to say that quite a bit was done and things that weren’t even on the list were achieved as well. It’s funny how we reach spring and suddenly we go into damage control and have this sudden urge for everything to be clean enough to eat food off. I guess the cycle is have fun in the summer, hibernate in the winter and then clean madly before the festive and fun season arrives again! And that is what I did! I cleaned windows, walls, my oven, sorted through our clothes and tackled the tupperware cupboard! I only have two rooms in the house left to organise, a bit of work outside and then finally after 10 years of living in our home I will feel the most organised I’ve been in this house!

Some people would be shocked that my house would be unorganised….yes I admit that I have a neat freak disorder lol, but there is a huge difference between being neat and organised!!! I guess somewhere between moving in all those years ago and having three kids, things built up and up to the point where I couldn’t stand it any longer! And I finally have taught myself to be brutal! I hoard too much stuff but as I’m getting older, I’m evolving and realising exactly what I want and being able to differentiate between needing and wanting is a must skill to have in an organised home!

Now that I will have one child back in school five days a week, it leaves me with my two girls and 10 weeks of three days a week to get my butt into gear!!! My original ‘to do list’ had jobs added to it that I wanted to get done by Christmas, so I decided to create a new ‘to do list’ – therefore two lists became one – which I am determined to go like a crazy lady to get it all done by the end of the year!

To Do List…..

Posted on September 20, 2012 by natalietrew

There is something grand about this time of year:) Winter is fading and summer is approaching. The birds are out in fine form and the flowers are blooming. But best of all the school holidays are about to start. For me the spring school holidays are my favourite. Between Christmas, Easter and Sienna’s birthday all involved with the other school holidays, it leaves September holidays to chill, potter and give the house a good spring clean!

I sat down today to write my ‘to do list’ for the holidays. I’m a list kind of gal and can not function without one. Not only does it leave my mind feeling scattered without one, I simply forget to do things if it’s not written down somewhere!

After writing my list the feeling of loving these holidays to chill out was overcome with disappointment, but I’m not going to let this list consume my holidays! I plan on doing something from my list each day and will not stress if at the end of the holidays things are left uncrossed! They will simply be done as soon as I’m able to get to it! This list is a ‘to do list’ for the September school holidays, but the things included on the list are things I want done before the festive season begins.

Running a household is a full-time job in itself. I admire full-time working mums as working two days a week I find it hard to fit in doing those odd jobs that need to be done, but are often pushed aside so the necessities are done!

It’s been a while since I wrote a list of jobs to be done around the house, but it’s time to get serious and finish things off that need to be cleaned out and sorted! We’ve been in our house for 10 years at the end of the year and I’m determined to have it to a point where we can sit back and be proud of what we have achieved!

I’m happy to say I have started doing one of the jobs from my list today:) I’ll keep you posted at the end of the holidays how successful I was!

Who else is a list kind of gal or guy?

My Party of 5

Category Archives: Housewife

Spring Has Sprung!

A Freshen Up…

10 Week Challenge!

Two Becomes One!

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