Hi! Remember me? I used to blog occasionally here and then I upped and disappeared… Sorry about that! But I did vanish with good reason. We moved house and in amongst Zak starting at his new school (easiest school transfer ever – he knew most of his class from preschool), unpacking boxes and bags (and not unpacking others – the garage is still full), getting Steve sorted in his new job and stealing his new company car whenever the chance arises (a VW Passat with heated leather seats. Oh yeah), I have spent most of my time on the phone to various “service” companies. I can’t even begin to describe the frustration and anger I feel every time I am connected to one of these places – I say connected because I’m certainly not always talking to them. I’m usually on hold. And when I’m not on hold I am talking in that same tone I have when I tell my kids for the 25246346th time in one morning to GET DRESSED. Yesssss. That tone.
Anyway, as I type I STILL HAVE NO INTERNET*. Nope. I don’t – apparently it’s connected, but it’s not coming through to the house so Optus are sending me a technician to work things out. I feel sorry for these guys – they must cop soooo many cranky-pants faces and have their ears chewed off by frustrated and angry customers who take advantage of a real live Optus representative who can’t hang up on them.
And so I’ve been stealing what I can from a lovely neighbour who either doesn’t know about securing their internet access – or doesn’t care. Either way, Dee (I’ve even nicknamed their internet username!) has been a Godsend, allowing me to just meet a few deadlines and occasionally reply to emails. But they’re also incredibly annoying because they’re only on every now and then and always manage to shut down just as I’m midway through an email send. And that is why I haven’t even bothered attempting to blog – it’s too hit and miss and my frustration levels with technology are waaaay beyond the red marker at the best of times, so to have the Net crash mid post might result in me cancelling my blog altogether. And I don’t want to do that.

*Update: The internet was FINALLY connected yesterday – the phone line plug thingymebob was corroded. Then it took yet another call to Optus to fix my username and password that wasn’t broken to begin with. SO BLOODY ANNOYING.

A peek at Layla and Imogen’s new room – unstyled and undecorated. You can read more about it here.

But I’m back and I’m keen to get into this blogging thing properly again. I thought I’d kick things off by sharing a few things I’ve discovered recently I thought you needed to know about. And also some random Instagram snaps of the new house and things we’ve been up to, above. I’ve still a way to go before I actually have any room completed, but that is hardly an original thing for me to say, is it?! I also can’t recall if I’ve mentioned I’m now blogging for Kidspot’s Village Voices – my posts go live on Sundays and are usually about home life, decorating or being creative with little ones. You can find my posts here.

Things I’ve fallen for these past few weeks:

Dancing At Dusk collection
I’ve admired Kelly Smith’s beautiful illustrations for years and love her aesthetic. So when she teamed up with a friend Lauren Stevenson to create a homewares and fashion line, I knew it’d be good. And it is. Beautiful floor and regular-sized cushions, awesome patterned zip bags and sweet cards – I want them all. I particularly love the colours and style of the Tigerlily range – it involves chevron, so no real surprise there. They’re all so beautiful. Go check it out here. Buy one of her pretty fashion prints here and drool over all her work on her blog, Birdy & Me. Images via Birdy & Me and Dancing at Dusk.

Neon twine
I don’t know what I’d do with this right now, but I know I need it in my life. I am sure I can find something awesome to make with it. Oh wait. I literally thought of something as I typed that line… Watch this space. Twine in neon yellow, orange and pink, $10.95 each, Emerald + Ella. Image via Emerald + Ella

Rug sale
I’m a huge fan of the reversible, indoor/outdoor, recycled rugs by Brita Sweden. The patterns and colour options are definitely pleasing to my eye, so if they make yours light up too, you’d be happy to hear Life Interiors has 20% off the range until June 8. Enter the code RUGS20 at the checkout. Image via Life Interiors

bedSOK
Our new house is FREEZING at night. I love my floorboards but my Godfather – combined with highly-likely uninsulated walls and thin glass windows, it gets cold in here. So I spend a good chunk of my night covering up Zak who is the World’s Greatest Cover Kicker-Offer. So I’m looking into one of these guys by bedSOK – a sleeping-bag-style sheet that is an all-in-one connected sheet set: fitted sheet on the bottom and a flat sheet on top with child-friendly zippers on either side so they can stay warm and snug ALL night long. If they don’t like the thought of being zipped up at the beginning, you can wait until they’re asleep and do it yourself so they can toss and turn under the covers instead of all over them. Such a great idea. Also like that it encourages kids to make their own beds – they can simply zip up the sides in the morning. Available in flannelette and cotton in four spotty styles (more coming in Spring) in cot, single and king single sizes and include a pillowcase and cool drawstring bag to store in. Find out all here. Image by bedSOK.

AND THE WINNERS ARE (and another chance to win)
I’m so sorry this is so late, but the winners of the Bosch Quigo competition are:
- Megan Mallen, who recently bought a 50s beach shack and is keen to install some beadboard panelling in the hallway.
- Lynda, who’d use it for stenciling on the walls and lining up the patterns
- Shelley Jeffrey, who wants to create a calendar wall with a grid of little squares in magnetic and chalkboard paint to help keep her household organised.
- Rachel, who wants to create a geometric canvas art print and could use the tool to make the art and hang it.

Congrats guys, I hope you’re all able to share your respective projects you used the Quigo for on The Happy Home once you’re done! Looking forward to seeing the results! For those who haven’t seen the post or heard about the tool, check out this post featuring my wallpaper mosaic (pictured above) for more info.

For those who missed out and who are still keen to have the chance to win, Dani from Danimezza (my very first commenter EVER!) is also giving some away. She posted a nursery she created for a friend (above) and shows you the various projects she used the Quigo for. Check it out here – you have until June 6, 2012 to enter. Image by Danimezza

And there we go. I think we’re caught up (a little). I’ve got lots to do around here, lots of work to start and finish and a billion projects in my head I want to turn into a reality. I hope things are rosy in your world. Thanks for sticking around and visiting me and keeping me company on Facebook and Twitter while I was offline! x

Guys, there is wallpaper on my walls! This is new for me – I usually use wallpaper for all sorts of other things – furniture, books, frames. But on a wall? That’s new. It’s not actually pasted onto the wall though – I’m renting so that is a no-can-do. But armed with my trusty 3M picture strips, they’re attached nicely. And not in the traditional wallpaper way. When Bosch approached me to trial their Quigo Cross Line Laser levelling tool by creating a project with which to highlight its skill, I jumped at the chance. Unable to tile or install shelves or kitchen cabinetry or anything permanent (stupid renting), I instead came up with a wallpaper mosaic feature wall. And remembering how much I loved the collection by Ferm Living while at Life Instyle earlier this year, I grabbed some rolls of three of their styles and got to work to create this. And I love it. I’m a little sad I have to pull it all down in a few days, but the kitchen in our new place is green, so I think I might reinstall seeing as I haven’t gotten to enjoy it for very long!

First up, let me explain in person (scariness!) how the Quigo works. You know those annoying levels where you need 4 arms just to be able to hold the level level AND mark your spot or line up your material? Well this one is very clever and sits all by itself on a little accompanying clamp and projects a laser cross on the wall giving you perfectly straight vertical AND horizontal lines, leaving you – and your arms – free to do more important things like lining up your tiles as you glue them on the wall. Or sticking your painter’s tape on the wall for those perfectly neat stripes. Or matching up the corner of your wallpaper mosaic feature. Just like I did. Now, I had to edit this because I spent the first 2 minutes giggling like a moron. And then – because I do video editing at 2 in the morning – I managed to put the very end at the very start. So let’s ignore the “bye” – the first thing you hear. At 2am, most things are upside down and back-t0-front so this video fits right in… Um, also it wasn’t until I was nearly finished the first square that I realised I used the wrong one (I cut one a little wonkily) so GOOD ONE Belinda. And also – if you do, use the big poster strips – I started with the small ones but they need a bit more grip (wallpaper is quite heavy) so the big ones were perfect and required no extra pushing power.

So there I am, umming and ahhing. And here is how you do it yourself! Obviously, if you can actually wallpaper properly, you could do that. But this is a good way to live with it temporarily until you decide if you like it enough to make it permanent!

Toolkit:
Bosch Quigo, $79
Wallpaper – I used Ferm Living Harlequin in Dusty Green, $175 per roll, Mountain Friends, $145 per roll, and Spear in Grey, $145 per roll. Best to use wallpapers that are all the width so you have squares. Unless you want a real mosaic look with rectangles and squares and different sizes etc. Much harder to do though!
Command 3M poster strips in large
A measuring tape or ruler
Pencil

How to:

1. Measure the width of the wallpaper and times it by three (or the number of squares you’ll be using). Measure the width of your wall. Subtract the wallpaper measurement from the wall measurement and divide the answer by two. That is the distance from either side of the wall you need to measure in and mark for the start – and end – of your feature. Repeat this process for the height of the wall and mark again.

2. Line up your width and height measurements and mark at the top left corner – this is your starting point.

3. Cut your wallpaper into squares (using the width measurement to guide your height). Play around with the patterns on the floor until you’re happy and stick the 3M tabs on the corners of the back of each wallpaper “tile”.

4. Now you need to line up your Quigo. Follow the instructions that come with it, but basically you’ll need to find a flat surface to rest it on or use the movable clamp to clamp to something like the vertical edge of a bookshelf, a ladder, a lamp, chair, etc – this allows you to slide the clamp up and down until you get the perfect height. Turn it on and the laser will beam onto the wall (you might need to close the blinds slightly in really bright rooms). Play around with it slightly until the centre of the cross is on your pencil mark on the wall. This gives you your perfect straight lines!

5. Remove the backing tape from the 3M strips and line up your paper tile so the top and the edge are lined up along the red laser lines. Smooth onto place on the wall.

6. Move the Quigo over so the cross is on the other side of your first tile – the centre vertical line should be on the right-hand side edge of the tile. Now you can place your next tile in the right place, knowing your feature wall is perfectly centred, straight and looking perfecto! Repeat to the end, then move the Quigo down to the next row and continue until all done!

See? Pretty easy! I love this little tool – I know it will come in SO handy when we renovate next. Which hopefully will be soonish. We will be renting for 6 months but then once the lease is up, we’ll be looking to buy a little something to make our own again. And here are a few things I think it’ll be perfect for in the new place – and any place:

+ Kitchen installation – benchtops/making sure the wall cabinets are lined up perfectly
+ Hanging shelves – I am known to be crooked
+ Painting stripes or hanging wallpaper. I have a couple of rolls of the Harlequin and I’m not afraid to use it.
+ Hanging a picture wall or just ensuring pictures are actually hung straight!
+ Helping with architraves
+ Lining up door handles
+ Tiling

Seriously, when I think of all the lining up I do by eye because it’s usually just me doing it, I’m going to be using Mr Quigo a lot. Perfect for the DIYer, renovator and/or decorator!

A little close up of my candles – I grabbed the Navis Candlesticks from Ikea ($5.99 for 3 varying sizes!) and spraypainted them with White Knight Metal Tones Metal Guard Brass (from Bunnings). The paint cost twice as much as two sets of candles, but I don’t care. I love how they look. I’m so into gold and brass tones at the moment! And the kids adore having their dinner by candlelight and then blowing the candles out at the end. The black and gold bowl is a paper mache one I made. You can find a tutorial here.

AND NOW. We have a giveaway! If you’re anything like me and ask for tools for your birthday (one year I asked for a Jigsaw!), then you must enter! I have FOUR Quigo Decorator packs to give away (above), worth $150 each. The packs include the Quigo, four bottles of paint, a paint roller, 2 paintbrushes and painter’s tape. But of course you’re not limited to paint projects. I want you to think about it and tell me how you would use the Quigo in your home – maybe there is a project you’d love to try, or something builder-y that needs to be done you haven’t got around to yet. Or maybe you are super clever and can think of some unique ways the Quigo could be used! To enter, leave a comment with the words ENTER ME in capitals beforehand (that way you’re welcome to still leave a comment if you don’t wish to enter – or can’t). Then tell me how you’d use it in your home. My friends at Bosch and I will choose the winners who will have the chance to show off the result of their Quigo projects right here. Entries will close next Wednesday, May 16 at midnight, EST. You must be living in Australia to enter and can only enter once. Please be sure to remember to put ENTER ME in capitals in your entry somewhere so I can easily find you!

And that is that! I’m just so in love with that wallpaper, especially the Harlequin. The kids love the animals on the Mountain Friends and just quietly, I am cool and trendy because I used triangles which are a HUGE rage at the moment in interiors! So what do you think? And how could you use the Quigo?

{Images by Belinda Graham for The Happy Home. Quigo Decorator box image via Bosch}

Last night I introduced you to a new regular DIY post with a twist – two different bloggers on opposite sides of the world giving their own spin to the same (or similar) product/idea/project. And here it is! Audrey and I have revamped an Ikea Frosta stool in our own unique ways. I did something I NEVER do (yes, that was dripping in sarcasm) – I used chalkboard paint. But only because I wanted to use these cool magnetic textas I found in Kmart and they worked best on something dark and matte.

Makes the perfect bedside table

I debated repeating the four-dot pattern on the bottom of the legs as well, but thought it was maybe too much. So they’ve been left bare.

The pattern is not at all what I imagined – I imagined something flowy and pretty and was originally inspired by these painted baskets I pinned on Pinterest, but then I was worried I’d make it all uneven and weird so just kept playing with lines and dots and came up with this! I also think a really nice plain gold flower like this wallpaper would look really beautiful and a give it a softer look. Either way, the textas came up so nicely on the black paint and I’m really happy with the end result.

Need to change my bedhead fabric… Hmm, choices, choices…

Enough pics for you?! Ha! So what did Audrey do for our challenge? Well I’ve seen this preview, below, so I’ll be heading over to her blog, This Little Street, as soon as I’ve posted this to find out exactly what she’s done and how she’s done it – cross-stitched furniture? That’s pretty darn awesome! She’s posting her version at the same time, so go visit and check it out!

Cross-stitched furniture? YES! How awesome

The tools you need: Frosta Stool from Ikea, Faber Castell Metallics from Kmart, paintbrush, chalkboard paint. You’ll also need a ruler and if you want to be pedantic about getting the centre line perfect, a pencil too.

Now I started to do this as a tutorial but kind of did it late at night (as always) and stopped taking pictures after the first step. So I’ll show you the tools (above) so you can see the textas – they were from Kmart and cost $10 for six (there is also a purple and pink). As for a how-to, let’s just say there was a ruler involved and lots of freestyle dotting!! But to start off on the right foot, you need to get the centre lines perfect. So I marked the very middle of the top of the legs and ruled across the top mark to mark in a cross with a pencil, then went over it in the texta once I was sure it looked even. Then from there it was rule, dot, rule, dot – all by eye. A million different ways would look as good, I’d say!

So what do you think? I think they’re two pretty cool ways to dress up a very simple, very cheap stool – right? Sure beats the plain plywood, that’s for sure! So if you were part of the challenge, what would YOU have done? And if you have an idea for what we should do next, let me know! x

{Images of black stool by Belinda Graham for The Happy Home. Cross-stitched stool picture by This Little Street}

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A few months ago when I posted about my painted cork-tile pinboard, at the same time, on the other side of the world in New York, a woman I didn’t know posted a tutorial and images of her own painted cork-tile board. Audrey of This Little Street somehow discovered my version and emailed me about our funny coincidence. When I tweeted the line about “same time on the other side of the world”, the lightbulb moment struck Audrey: “We should come up with a project idea every now and then and go away and do our own versions of it and then reveal them at the same time on our blogs.” Challenge accepted! I thought it a great idea – so we’ve done just that and will reveal all tomorrow. I thought I’d post this now so you can see our first “accidental” project.

I used square cork tiles to create a changeable pattern – it’s hung on the wall with 3M velcro strips which can easily be removed and rehung with the painted stripes in 3 different ways: diamond, chevron or diagonal stripes. You can find the how-to and more images here.

Audrey was inspired by a Lauren Moffat dress (above) – she used rectangle cork tiles and painted horizontal and vertical stripes in bold colours and hung in three different strips on the wall above her desk. I adore her version and thought you might too! Go here for full details and come back tomorrow for another around-the-world DIY.

Don’t you think it’s pretty amazing that we managed to not only come up with similar projects but post them at the SAME TIME? So cool!

PS: Huge thanks to all your sweet comments about our move back to the Central Coast. Some might say we didn’t give it very long (a year) but to us, that was enough to know it’s not for us!

{Top and bottom images by Audrey from My Little Street; centre images by me}

These past few months I’ve been thinking a lot about what home means. Is it just where you ARE at that very moment? Is it where your family is? Is it in a space you created yourself? Is it where you feel most comfortable? Is it an area, rather than a physical building? I decided – very original, I know – that it is all of these things. Which is why I’ve never felt settled in Sydney. I guess, to use an incredibly familiar cliche, home really is where the heart is. And my heart isn’t here. I don’t feel I belong here. I like it, but I don’t love it. And neither do the kids – the novelty of the Harbour Bridge down the road, and Sydney itself has worn off. They ask when we’re going “home”.

Layla loves autumn. Girl got air!

I didn’t even really realise this completely until Steve said something a few months ago about “when we go back” – meaning when we go back to the coast. I was surprised – this was the first I’d heard anything about going back. As far as I was concerned, we were here for the long haul – not sure where in Sydney, but somewhere. But as we got talking we realised that as we kept crossing off places in Sydney that we either didn’t want to live or couldn’t afford to live in (and by afford to live I mean buying a house), there wasn’t much left. And we missed a lot from our previous life – not our house as such, but the space. The fresh air. The water. The ease. The lack of traffic. The support network. The slower pace. The lifestyle. It suddenly hit us – and when it did, it it REALLY hit us! Ding! We realised we aren’t as happy here as we were up there. Yes, a lot of it could do with having 5 people in a 2-bedroom apartment – even if it is a big apartment. But it’s not just the apartment.

I loved this little old petrol station in Speers Point. Clearly not in use for a LONG time – not only was there grass growing out of the pumps, the petrol was only 57.5 cents a litre!

I’m not cut out for life in a city. It’s too busy and loud and hard. Everything is harder here. And perhaps most importantly, we have no network here. My sister lives 10 minutes away but she has a 2-year-old and as of Thursday, a newborn baby. I can’t call on her to steal the kids away when I need a break! My parents are in Canberra and I really didn’t see them that much more while in Sydney than I did while on the coast. I wish they’d move closer, but they won’t be any time soon. And my friends are scattered all over the place, but still at least an hour away. But I know on the coast Steve’s family is within half an hour at all times. I have good friends who are minutes away who I know will be there for me if I need them. The kids my own kids have known since they were weeks old are around the corner… Aside from that, I felt comfortable there. I felt AT HOME there. And I didn’t realise how much so until I wasn’t calling it home anymore. So while you can make a house a home, and you can consider the space you share with your loved ones home, you can’t pack up and take with you all those exterior things you’re familiar with and comfortable with to surround yourself with in your new space. I know that over time you will no doubt replicate those things, or create and enjoy new ones, but when you know, you know… And we know: we want to go home. And we are!

A storm brewing – the view from our Nelson Bay hotel room. It was LOUD when it finally hit!

Sometimes, when you do things for the right reasons, you get rewarded. We moved to Sydney for Steve’s job – as a senior media advisor for a NSW minister, we knew it’d be demanding, stressful and pretty full-on. It was (well technically still is?!)! It’s not a job that he could commute from the coast to – so we moved. We don’t regret it for a second – it was an exciting challenge he’d wanted to try for years and it was great and has been an incredible career move, but the job doesn’t compensate for the sacrifices we made to move here. But moving back would likely mean giving up the nice salary that came with it – and we were prepared for a pay cut, a new career, another unknown – to be happy. We’re not the kind of people who are obsessed with work. Or who need to work, work, work to pay for the big house in the best suburb with all the trimmings that are meant to come with it. We don’t care about keeping up with everyone else. We’d prefer something a little more… us. So Steve applied for a job with his current employer’s blessing (score!) and we decided to go explore the Port Stephens area on a mini break when the phone call came: could he attend an interview at Lake Macquarie on Wednesday? Why yes! Of course – we were going up that way that day anyway. So slipping into his suit in the library carpark in the rain (that was an unforgettable moment!), he went and wowed them, got called back for a second interview 20 minutes after leaving the first (keen much?) and by the Friday he had a new job, more money, a company car and the start to another stage in our lives. How’s that for reward?

Steve thumping Layla at Terrigal Beach. haha Actually, this was an accident – I took the snap as Steve stood up and swung his arms to stretch. I got cranky cause I knew his arm was in the snap but it wasn’t until later I realised how perfectly placed his fist was. And yes, I often feel like thumping Layla!

So we’re on the move. Again! We’ll rent for a bit until we find the right place – we have our eye on a house but it’s not exactly on the market but we’ve started some discussion that might lead somewhere. Hopefully… So cross your fingers and toes for us, ok? Because it’s absolutely PERFECT for us. And I really, really, really, really want it. I can’t wait to get my hands on it and transform it. I am aching to spill paint everywhere and rip up carpets and agonise over what to do with the floorboards. I’m already choosing door styles and exterior colours and playing with the flooplan – you might have noticed from my activity on Pinterest! I shouldn’t get ahead of myself – but I don’t care. If it doesn’t happen, something else will come along. But for now I can dream, right?!

Even after only eating chocolate all day long on Easter Sunday, I set up a glow-in-the-dark Easter egg hunt that hunt for the kiddies. I’m nice like that. Glowstick bracelets scrunched up as best as I could and squashed into a plastic egg with a tiny Cadbury solid choc egg inside. Was good fun.

And you know what? This move is better for you too – because I’ve neglected the blog. I know I have. I’ve never been more useless with organisation, deadlines and, well, everything. But with my own place, another renovation, a happier, more stable, more organised (no wait, that will never happen!) me, it’ll all rub off on the blog. That’s the plan, anyway!

Layla took this pic of Zak, Immy and I on my phone. I’m impressed with her skills (it’s actually in focus and she didn’t cut off any heads!) Might get her a camera for her birthday.

So that’s our news. I’m excited – really excited. We all are. We know it’s best for all of us for now, and at the end of the day, that’s the most important thing, right?

{Images from my Instagram account}

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