Monday 30 April 2012

Home is Where the Heart is - My Bedroom

I looooovvvveee nothing better than crawling into my bed and going to sleep. It's seriously one of the best things in the world. I think that my love for sleep has only deepened due to having a lack of it after the birth of my first baby, Ewan, nine months ago.

Tassie Myrtle timber bed.
I for some reason have always struggled to decorate my bedroom. Don't get me wrong, it's still a pretty nice bedroom but I just don't have that nack of making it look seriously cool. But then lets face it, it's a place to rest and store your clothes so it's harder to find great design in that!



It is also the room that I hide my one piece of seriously crap furniture. My chest of drawers is a cheap, Fantastic furniture type thing which I loathe but I simply don't have the money to buy what I desire, a solid timber tall boy. So alas, I keep the rubbish piece of furniture simply out of necessity and hope that one day it will get replaced but something much nicer.

Recycled timber mirror frame courtesy of Roge.
A ultra cool wall hanging made by Roge plus Orla Kiely shopping bag which I LOVE.
Fortunately for my bedroom, I have a very clever and imaginative husband who has made me some really cool things. My gorgeous mirror is made out of recycled timber and was a christmas present last year and this awesome hook is last years birthday present. It's made out of cheap wire coat hangers and then powder coated in black. I hang jewellery, scarves and bags from it. I think he stole the idea from a designer piece, but I'm sure mine is nicer.

Recycled timber photo frames. Nothing particular has been put in them, just some fun things I liked at the time and a ultrasound pic of Ewan when he was still in my belly!
The "art" above the bed is Ikea fabric which I have stretched over Chickenfeed canvasses (Chickenfeed is Tassie's version of the $2 shop). The bed linen is by a designer called Orla Kiely who I'm a HUGE fan of but it's hard to find her stuff in Australia. e-bay has some of her stuff if you're prepared to buy from the UK (which I have done before without any issues) and sometimes Myer carry a few of her designs.



This set of drawers is one of my most favourite Hobart "tip shop" purchases to date. It didn't look this good when we found it, the wood veneer was peeling quite badly but I sanded it back and put a new coat of polyurethane on it and hey presto, it's a really cool little piece of furniture. I stash all our photos and travel memorabilia in it.


The built in cupboards were a second hand find and a fraction of the cost of buying new wardrobes from the same specialist store.

Like my other rooms, there are some big ticket items in here (like the bed which is hand made) but most of it is op shop, second hand and tip shop buys. It doesn't cost a fortune to decorate in my opinion, it's just about placement in the room and only displaying the essential items. I put a lot of my nick nacks away into storage and then when I'm sick of the current lot on display, I rotate it with the stuff I have had tucked away.

Don't forget to check out my other previously blogged rooms. Kitchen and Lounge as well as Bathroom.

10 comments:

  1. I LOVE Roge's coat hanger wall art! Wonderful composition and what a great idea!! Gotta shake his hand on that one. :D

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    1. Hi! Long time no chat :)

      Yeah he is pretty creative which is not something which I think he used to be like, it's more in the last few years that he has embraced it. I don't think it cost much either, just a cheep pack of coat hangers with some powder coat. I think a spray pack of paint would be just as effective.

      It's quite a handy hanger, I can get heaps of stuff onto it although I tend not to otherwise I can't see it!

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    2. Been a bit busy lately and not much time for the internet, also had a stressful time with Hugh who had another bad bout of teething and decided to quit nursing at the same time, very sudden and unexpected (and coincided with him not eating anything! so I was a bit worried), it's very hard when they self-wean, very emotional, though other mothers tell me I'm lucky because it's harder the other way. I've adjusted but Hugh's appetite is still not what it was (or maybe it's the formula he's now drinking?). How's Ewan going?

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    3. Ewan is great. He was a terrible breast feeder (still is a bad feeder full stop) and I was still doing a lot of expressing and having to top up with a bit of formula at times right through our breastfeeding time. We ditched it after a couple months which made it a bit easier. I had a lot of trouble accepting that I couldn't breast feed right through to the recommended 6 months and felt like a failure but in hind sight, it was the best decision so I'm a bit more at peace with it now.

      Babies always go through hungry periods and times when they're fussy and won't eat much. Hugh will be fine and from what I can tell, he's nice and healthy so it won't damage him if he loses a bit of weight. Ewan has had weeks where he eats very little and what I do manage to get into him, he'll make himself vomit or cry the whole time! Then the week after he's fine again. My mothers group ladies have told me that they have all had similar experiences with their babies.

      Teething is a terrible time and Ewan is a bad teether so I can relate. I don't want to recommend drugging your baby but I have to say that was the only thing that got Ewan through his latest teething bout. I gave him baby paracetomol every 4 hours and baby ibuprofen every 4 hours (but administered 2 hours after the paracetomol. ie paracetomol at 10am ibuprofen at 12pm and then paracetomol at 2pm and so on). That's what the pharmacist told me to do any way and it worked!

      I know people who have used amber necklaces and homeopathic remedies but for me, that wasn't really the solution.

      Anyhoo, I hope Hugh gets through it soon and you can get back to a nice relaxed routine. Thanks goodness teething doesn't last forever eh!

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    4. (Sorry I only just read your reply today, I knew I'd written about this somewhere on your blog but couldn't find the post! That's what happens when you respond to several posts in a day I guess! Plus it's one of the things I like better about wordpress over blogger - being able to revisit conversations through notifications.)

      So Hugh's still a bit fussy with food, he's gone from trying pretty much anything I offer him to dropping most of it on the floor and refusing anything on a spoon except oatmeal, yoghurt or mango smoothie. One day he'll happily eat something and the next few times I offer it again it's like I'm trying to poison him! I think though that part of it is that he's now on formula and that really fills them up, though I've started decreasing it and topping it up with full-fat milk. I'm dithering though between weaning him off the formula and onto milk in the next few weeks, and waiting for the 1 year mark. I know plenty of people who don't wait till 12 months to do that, but you agonise don't you?

      Oh yeah I've had lots of experience with teething! Hugh started mildly teething at 3 months! We don't get paracetomol in North America, here the equivalent household drug of choice is acetaminophen, and the big name brand for it is Tylenol. I'd never heard of it until I was in Japan but since then of course it kept popping up! (No disprin here either.) It's basically pain relief, and it works. I've tried homeopathic ones too but they don't seem to do much for Hugh. One of the babies I look after has the amber necklace; his mum says it seems to help and I guess it doesn't hurt, but he can also be a bit of a whiny baby so he needs the help!

      So far Hugh has two bottom teeth and, since last week, a top tooth. I see another one next to it about to come through too.

      Hey, when do you go back to work? I was supposed to start tomorrow (28th) but I've extended my leave till September (in case my home business doesn't work out).

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  2. Hi Shan,

    I haven't even really thought about putting Ewan onto cows milk yet. I guess in my mind, he's still too young even though the reality is, he's only a matter of a month from being 1! OMG, where did that time go!?

    I'm back at work 2 days a week from 21st June. I'm not really looking forward to it but hey, it will be nice to have a few extra dollars again.

    Seriously though, I'm not sure how long I'll be there for any way because Roge and I are thinking of having another baby and getting that part of our lives over and done wit (the having babies period). I think Ewan would benefit from having a sibling close in age too. That is something I never had and missed.

    How is your business venture going?

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  3. I hadn't thought of having another baby so soon - my midwife told me I should wait at least, what was it, 2 years or something because of the c-section scar tissue? Does that sound about right? Though I suppose that is actually a short amount of time. I don't think we'll be able to have a second one (and Adam's still a bit traumatised by the first to contemplate it!) for quite a while because of saving to move back, then securing jobs and all.

    My business venture is going well, thank you! It's nice to be home with Hugh, even if it is exhausting at times. I'm okay as long as I can get to bed early and get some sleep, because I have to get up at 6:30. But it's much more fun than my office job, and I make more doing it too (well, by a bit).

    It's a bit of an adjustment isn't it, going back to work? Even for me! Maybe it'll be a nice change, going to work part-time and having conversations that are a bit more sophisticated than "Did you do a wee? Do you have a wet nappy?" ;) (Then again, Centrelink, maybe not...!)

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  4. oh and p.s., since I've been decreasing Hugh's formula and he's now down to 1/3 formula to 2/3 milk, I've found that his appetite and interest in food ha increased and he's more willing to try things again. Not like he used to before May, but so much better than a few weeks ago! From 9 months (UK gov't says 6) they're able to drink full-fat cow's milk, you just want to gradually introduce it so their systems can adjust and built the right enzymes. But I expect you knew that already. :)

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    1. I have to admit that I haven't even thought about giving him cows milk yet! In Australia they say after 12 months and I guess I'm still a bit in denial about him turning 1 next month!

      Funny however because the mothers from Mums group started talking about it this week too so I've been taking notes from you and them. I think however I need to start cutting back his milk drinks full stop. I've still been giving him 4 a day and I'm told that's probably too many. Will be good cost wise to go onto cows milk as formula is quite expensive here, $20 plus per tin.

      Glad Hugh is back to normal appetite wise. I figured it was just a phase :)

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    2. Oh and I've heard different stories about when to have a baby after a c-section. 18 moths, two years but then I've had a friend who smashed all her 3 children out one after the other without any issues so I figure, Ewan would be about 2 years when I was ready to "pop" the next one out so that should be long enough!

      I don't know that my work conversations are going to be particularly sophisticated since I work at Centrelink, Australia's welfare system! We get some "interesting" types come into the office! I do have some nice friends though and it will be nice to have a pay packet again.

      I'm pleased that your self employment seems to be working out. It's great you still get to hang with Hugh but earn some dollars at the same time. Child care is not my thing though, I only really love my own child, I'm not keen on others!

      Will you go back to your old job in September still or are you hoping to still do your own business or both?

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