bathroom decorating..

when my children were growing up we all shared one bathroom and, like most families, we had matching towels..while we had designated hooks behind the bathroom door where they were hung up quite often the towels would get mixed up and so no-one knew whose towel belonged to whom..over time i started to buy individual towels, rather than sets, in each person's favourite colour and so the problem sorted itself out..

since then i have continued to prefer non matching sets of towels, hand towels, bathmats and face washers..and more and more i prefer to buy older style towels such as the australian brands of dickies, tara and supertex and occasionally i find good quality vintage english and japanese towels all of which i buy very cheaply from op shops..i then create different sets for my bathroom from my collection, according to my mood, each time i change the towels..

i still need to seal the polished concrete floor!

i've just washed my 'blue' set so it's on the line drying..and i have many other colour combinations from which to choose..

fatigue reprieve

for the last 10 years i have had periods of fatigue that come and go for no explicable reason..it's had a huge impact on my life..i had to withdraw from a university course where i had completed most of the course work and placements and i had started my thesis but fortunately i wasn't far into it..at the same time my 5 year research position contract expired..i had never planned to be a researcher..it was temporary employment until i graduated as a health psychologist..i then planned to work in health promotion as a counsellor..after being an unsuccessful applicant for a couple of other research positions i applied for i realised that it was a pointless pursuit given that my future career as a psychologist was not to be..

in a previous life i had been a registered nurse but my registration had lapsed so because i needed work i applied to do a 3 month nursing refresher course..ironically i did my refresher course at the hospital that i trained at that, after graduation, i had vowed to never work at again..after working in the renal unit for 12 months after completion of my refresher course i left to do agency work because, due to my fatigue, i needed to manage my own working hours..i managed to work as an agency nurse for 2 more years..in that time i worked in the busiest emergency departments in melbourne, in cardiac and trauma units and anywhere else i was sent..the problem was that i couldn't work more than 2 shifts and i couldn't survive on the resulting ration income despite having been extremely frugal..for example i used to walk to and from the hospital from where i parked my car to save on parking costs..that usually meant an 1-2 extra hours on top of an already exhausting day..and it also meant walking at 10pm at night because i only worked afternoon shifts..

the day came when i'd had enough so i put my house on the market and i applied for a bank loan to tide me over until it sold..buying a run down smaller house in a less salubrious suburb enabled me to retire..i finished most of the renovations a couple of years ago but there've been a few outstanding things that i've needed to complete but months of fatigue, where even minor exertion, has resulted in me spending days in the horizontal position..and i mean resting! but as luck would have it my daughter alexandra has needed a bit of extra income so she has been helping me with some cupboard and storage trunk painting..

in the last couple of days i've been feeling ok so i've finally finished the spare room..and i love it..in fact i love it so much i feel like moving in to it..i just hope that i'm not out of action now for the next week..

do you remember this cupboard?

i still need to remove the paint from the left side door glass

and add handles

it contains my cookbooks

the cup and saucer is a christmas gift from my daughter katerina..
she knows i love cross stitch

i first saw neapolitan cyclamen nestled in the arid rocky and hilly
 landscape behind the main town of hydra in greece when i was
 travelling with my mother and two family friends..i retrieved
 some of the corms, that she had brought back with her, after she
 died and i have them growing in a pot

alex painted this op shop trunk where i now store
blankets, extra pillows and the continental quilt
for the spare room (i decided against the red quilt cover..
i realised i don't like bright colours in bedrooms..
i've cut the softer floral backing back from the quilt
cover to make a new cover)

 it feels good to be back in blog land again x

christmas decorating..

'tea with hazel' style..

kitchen window sills

dining table

sitting room

kitchen bench 

the cook 

there's still time for making bread..

welcome

the sign says welcome in greek

to my house..

24 little bottles with a sweetly scented lily in each 

where there's bread in the larder

a sourdough loaf with sesame, linseed and sunflower seeds

and a new spare room

pure wool blanket ($4) and
ralph lauren quilt cover and pillow case ($5)
from op shop

with a view

spring and the camellia is in full bloom

and with an early australian hand carved

 children's chair next to the bed

it wasn't until i had stripped several layers of paint
off this chair that the carving was revealed

and a cupboard being prepared for the

spare room..

i'm using paint stripper to remove the wallpaper
 before i paint it!

which will be ready soon..

the wallpaper on the top came off easily and revealed
 this green finish which i'm leaving unpainted..

and a patchwork quilt for the bed

 i paper pieced hexagons of vintage embroidered fabric
 taken from doilies and table linen.. some was
embroidered by my great grand mother

which is nearly finished

each junction is being hand quilted with a little circle

and that i will show you when it's completed..

enamel

i love enamel cups..

and i have 78 of them..what do i do with them i hear you ask..well..sometimes they become window sill displays in colour order or mixed up..sometimes they have matching enamel teapots to keep them company..the unchipped ones i use to make pies or puddings or to serve sauces and salsas and they go on picnics and bushwalks for cups of tea..and the others make good vases for flowers..what do you collect? jane