Emma's nursery

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I finally got around to hanging the remainder of the Royal Doulton Bunnikins plates in Emma's room last week. It's only taken me a year to do it! We didn't have the time or the resources to redecorate this room before Emma moved into it, so we had to work with what was there when we moved in to the house. Luckily it was quite neutral, so despite my underlying desire to paint everything pink and put roses everywhere, I felt I could live with what was there. I decided on a Bunnikins theme because the colours work very well with the wallpaper border that was already there, but they also contain pink tones that I could pull out. Plus, what can be cuter than little rabbits in jackets and dresses in a baby's room?

In addition to the plates, the canopy over Emma's cot has lots of little Bunnikins-style rabbits all over it and there are several toy bunnies around the room. The drawers under the cot are full of toys. Emma already knows where to go to get to her things! I can't bear to put the Moses basket away, so it houses two of Emma's stuffed rabbits. It also contains Emma on occasion when she climbs in to play in it!

There are still a few things I would like to do to this room to finish it off, but I think it makes a rather sweet little nursery for my littlest Podling. I have to say I have found the laminate floor tremendously convenient with Emma's recent illness too!

 Three of the Bunnikins plates that hang above Emma's cot (you can click on the photo to make it bigger). I plan to fill in the tear in the wallpaper border by copying the pattern with felt pens. From a distance it shouldn't be too visible.

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 Emma's Sarah Louise bibs were too pretty to hide in a drawer, so I have them out on display. The bear is wearing one of Emma's newborn dresses.

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Baby girl's clothes are so pretty! I have several of Emma's prettiest newborn dresses on display around the nursery. It seems such a shame to hide them away now that she has outgrown them.

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It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas...

Tom and Lily decorated the Christmas tree on Sunday afternoon, shortly before Lily came down with a nasty fever. I haven't actually rearranged any of the ornaments as I think they did a really good job this year. I put on the lights, the ribbon and the angel and Mark and I put a few decorations on the higher branches to balance the tree out a bit, but they did the rest and had a lovely time doing it. I took a gamble and put the tree in the lounge, but thankfully Emma isn't as obsessed with it as I thought she might be. She already knows she's not supposed to take the baubles off the tree and tries to get away with merely tickling them when she thinks no one is looking! So far no breakages!

Emma loved exploring the box of baubles.
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The Great Switcheroo

The current room arrangement

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I have big plans in store for our house, involving swapping over the music room and playroom. This is no small undertaking. The playroom is, without a doubt, the most 'stuff heavy' room in the house and we have some very large and very heavy furniture in both rooms. It is something I have been thinking about for a while now and I have come to the definite conclusion that it is the best way to proceed. The music room is much bigger than the current playroom and can easily be shut off at the end of the day if I don't want to look at a room full of toys. It will also make it much easier to keep Emma away from all the tiny (read 'chokeable') toys that Tom and Lily love without having to restrict their play. Plus, the carpet in the music room is the original one we inherited when we moved in. It is at least a decade old, faded and threadbare in places and I really hate it. In short, it is certainly not something I'm going to be too worried about the Podlings messing up!
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The current arrangement was the best one when we moved in as Tom was only two and Lily only a year old at the time. However, now that they are older it will be much nicer to have a proper lounge in the main part of the home, rather than the playroom. Lily is quite excited about the change and is currently asking daily if we can change the rooms over. She gets that from me! Having decided to make the change I now want it all done yesterday! I am not exactly known for my patience in these matters and it is quite possible that I am currently driving my husband nuts. Due to the aforementioned heavy furniture, we can't make the change until we can rope in some help, so I have to try to be patient. Not something I'm good at! I can see how much easier my life will be with the rooms in the alternate arrangement, so I'm chomping at the bit. Hopefully we can get it done soon and my long-suffering husband can get some peace again!
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Deck the Halls - Kitchen, lounge and hallway

We bought this pretty wooden decoration at a German Christmas market a few years ago. This is the first year we have actually had it on show as we have only just changed the German plug for a British one! The other end of the window sill has a couple of candles and some more pine cones.

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This is the final installment of my festive tour. I thought I'd better post it now as I'm going to be pretty busy from here on in. We are off to Mark's parents' for Christmas, so I have ironing, packing, present wrapping and house cleaning to keep me occupied until we leave tomorrow afternoon. I can't wait for Christmas...I'm worse than the children! I particularly enjoy Christmas Eve as it is just so magical with the Podlings. I love Christmas!

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Festive touches in the kitchen include a mini Poinsettia, a basket of satsumas and some artificial greenery. My tins contain some festive goodies.
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This pretty Lilliput Lane cottage on the bookcase in the hall was a gift from Mark a few years ago. It has a light inside and glows with a warm, homely light. So cosy!
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Mark bought this small fibre optic tree on his way home from work one evening. It graces the corner of the lounge and looks lovely at night with it's soothing multicoloured glow.
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A detail of the garland on the mantelpiece in the lounge
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Deck the Halls - The Christmas Tree

The tree looks stunning this year and the photo really doesn't do it justice. Why is it so hard to get a decent picture of a Christmas tree? Incidentally, I'm a new convert to wired ribbon on Christmas trees. I just love the way it looks!

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I thought I'd better get around to taking some pictures of the Christmas tree before it dies. The trunk of this specimen is so thick that we had to hammer our tree stand on to it, which means that there isn't even the tiniest gap in which to get water into this poor thing. Thankfully it only has to last until Christmas eve, as we will be visiting family after that. We'll be buying a new Christmas tree stand next year though as there is no way on Earth we are ever going to get it off this tree again!

I think the tree is beautiful this year, though it kills me to have coloured fairy lights on it. I much prefer the rather more tasteful white fairy lights (the yellow coloured ones, not the bright white LED ones), but we put the coloured ones on because the Podlings love them. Tom and Lily decorated the tree with a little assistance. I rearranged the ornaments slightly after they had finished, hung the ones on the higher branches and put on the ribbon, but I haven't changed it drastically from the way they decorated it. There will be time enough for white fairy lights and tastefully decorated trees when the children are grown and I will miss their childish clusterings of ornaments on the lower branches of the tree.
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Emma's first ornament. Tom and Lily both had Gisela Graham ornaments for their first Christmas, so I chose one for Emma's first ornament too. Lily's got damaged last year, so I plan to pick another one of these up for her as a replacement 'First Christmas' ornament.

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We started a tradition when Tom was a baby of buying the Podlings one Christmas ornament every year. They really enjoy hanging their special ornaments each year and when they move out and have a home of their own they will each have a collection of ornaments ready to go on their first Christmas tree. When they were babies, we chose ornaments for them, but we now let them choose their own. The outing to choose these special ornaments has become one of the family traditions that I really look forward to each Christmas. Allowing them to choose their own ornaments has resulted in some interesting selections though. Tom chose a huge monstrosity a couple of years ago that I now hide at the back of the Christmas tree every year!

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This year I treated myself to a special ornament. This tiny glass robin reminded me of the story my mum used to tell of Father Christmas's robin. Every time we saw a robin in the garden she would tell my sister and me that it was watching us and would fly and tell Father Christmas whether we were being good or naughty. Those beady black eyes kept me in check for many a year!
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I love this glass owl that Lily chose as her special ornament last year. I shall be loathe to part with it when, many years hence, Lily takes her ornaments with her to her own home.

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Deck the Halls - Dining room edition

Our festive dining room. Yes, I need to clean the hand prints off the wall. It will get done eventually, but I have two young children and a baby and therefore very little time...please don't judge me! On a completely unrelated subject, I officially hate the radiator on that wall and would love to get a cabinet to cover it at some point.

The dining room is looking wonderfully festive with the two beautiful quilted advent calenders that my mum made the Podlings adorning the wall. Tom is particularly keen to come down and discover his treat each morning. My mum is in the process of gathering the fabric to make an advent calender for Emma for next Christmas. They take an incredible amount of work, so she's getting a head start.

The embroidered tablecloth was a gift from Mark's parents from one of their trips to Cyprus. We also have matching napkins, but unlike the rest of the world we take the tablecloth off when we eat as I don't want the Podlings to ruin it!
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I gave up trying to get a decent picture of the light fitting, but I have decorated it with red and gold baubles and artificial candy canes. It looks great.
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In the centre of the table is a glass vase filled with red and gold baubles of various finishes. I can't claim the credit for this idea, but I can't for the life of me remember were I originally saw it. I think it's really effective though.
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A detail of the tablecloth, showing one of the cute, if slightly evil-looking Santas that decorate the edge.

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I haven't decorated the sideboard, so I haven't bothered to picture it, but I plan to get a potted poinsettia to put on it.

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So there you have our festive dining room. The photos don't really do it justice as it looks much better in real life. Incidentally, I feel the need to apologise for the quality of some of my photos lately. My camera isn't consistently giving me the picture quality I know it is capable of and I can't work out why. It's probably Podling related!

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Deck the Halls - Playroom edition

I have just about finished decorating the house for Christmas, so I thought I'd share some pictures of my festive home, starting with our playroom/ family room. Although we call it the playroom and it is where the children have most of their toys, the whole family uses this room a lot. I just find the term 'family room' somewhat cumbersome. I wanted to do something in this room that we'd all enjoy, but I have focused my efforts on the fireplace and mantelpiece.
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Firstly, I draped some artificial greenery around the mirror and hung up the stockings. I'd like to get the Podlings personalised stockings at some point, but for now Tom and Lily are using the stockings that my sister and I had when we were children. Emma will use our 'baby' stocking this year as it is her first Christmas.

I'm rather pleased with my Christmas mantelpiece. Nobody did Christmas quite like the Victorians and since Charles Dickens is my favourite author, it seemed appropriate to put my copies of his Christmas stories on display. In the centre is the wooden candle arch we bought in Germany a few years ago when we were visiting some of the fabulous Christmas markets over there. I've also put out a dish of chocolates and a dish of toffees, since Christmas always allows us a chance to indulge a little!

The copy of 'The night before Christmas' on the mantelpiece is the one my mum read to my sister and me every Christmas eve, so it is rather special. She would read it to us at the dining room table whilst we drank hot chocolate and ate shortbread. Looking at it brings back happy memories and it pleases me to have it on display. I love the illustrations in this copy, but although I will read the poem to the Podlings this year, for now I am using a book that has brighter illustrations to keep them more engaged. I'll save the Arthur Rackham illustrated version until they are a little older.

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That's pretty much all I've done in the playroom, but I hope to share my other Christmas decorations with you later in the week. I may have trouble getting access to a computer this week, but we're in the process of sorting that out.

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A Very Grand Thing

Some of my old Winnie the Pooh toys on Tom's chest of drawers. They don't look twenty years old do they!

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Okay, so I spoke too soon about Tom not liking change. Tom saw the new pictures in Lily's room and decided he wanted something done to his room too. First of all, he requested that I put pictures of his "school family" (his friends) on his wall. Once I explained that I couldn't very well go around snapping photos of children I don't know, he settled on a Winnie the Pooh theme. Unfortunately, he prefers the soulless Disney version to the charming E.H Shepard illustrations, but that did at least make it easy to achieve. I was also fond of Winnie the Pooh as a girl and I still have all my stuffed toys from that time. He now has a charming Winnie the Pooh room and I have so far spent nothing. I will buy some frames so I can put some pictures on his walls and I may or may not treat him to cheap duvet cover, but for now I hope he likes the new look. Despite the change being at his urging, I fully expect him to come home from school and ask me to change everything back the way it was. I thought I would share some photos of how the room looks now, just in case it is business as usual again tonight!
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We took the Podlings to the Disney Store as a treat a couple of weeks ago. They were allowed to choose one toy and Tom chose this cushion. He also has a large stuffed Tigger on his bed that was given to him as a baby.
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Winnie the Pooh is now hitching a ride with the cats in Tom's hot air balloon mobile
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I managed to sneak some E.H Shepard illustrations high up on Tom's biplane shelf! His original bedroom theme was transport, so he has a cars and trucks duvet cover, aeroplane and hot air balloon mobiles, this shelf and toy cars and trucks everywhere. In our old house he had transport motifs on his walls too, but we never got around to doing the same thing in this house.

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Pottering about

Clockwise from top left: Peter Rabbit, Jemima Puddleduck, Benjamin Bunny and Hunca Munca

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We've finally made a start on sorting out the spare room in an attempt to turn it into Emma's bedroom by Christmas. As I will be acquiring bits and pieces to decorate Emma's room, I wanted to do a few things in Lily's room too so she doesn't feel left out (Tom resists change in all its forms and doesn't like me to change his bedroom). Lily told me recently that she wanted pictures of animals in her room, so I have decided to 'Potterise' her bedroom with some Beatrix Potter pictures and accessories. I love the works of Beatrix Potter and the colours she used in her illustrations match Lily's pastel pink room beautifully.
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I bought these square pine frames from Hobbycraft a few weeks ago. To make the set of pictures, I simply browsed the Internet until I found some Beatrix Potter pictures of suitable resolution, printed them off and put them in the frames. If you get too close, you can see they were digital images, but they are good enough for our purposes. The advantage of doing it this way is that if Lily wants different pictures on her walls in six months time, I haven't wasted any money on prints. I'll simply print off something different and put them in the frames instead.
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What Lily sees when she's sat in bed.

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I hung the pictures while Lily was at playgroup this morning in order to surprise her when she got home. I told her I had done something nice in her bedroom and when she saw the pictures she exclaimed "I can't aleeve (believe) my eyes!". I plan to get a few more Beatrix Potter things to carry the theme further. I will get most of it on eBay as I don't think it is a good idea to spend too much on children's rooms since they change their minds about what they like so often. I absolutely love decorating the children's rooms though, so sometimes I have a hard job reining myself in!

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By any other name

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I love to use homemade objects when decorating the Podling's bedrooms. It keeps the cost of decorating low, shows them I love them and teaches them that we can make things ourselves and don't have to buy everything in shops. Last night I made these name plaques to hang above the children's beds. Unfortunately, they didn't photograph very well because of the glass-fronted frames, but they have turned out really nicely. I simply printed their names onto coloured cardstock and glued them to some attractive scrapbook paper. I added a few embellishments, put them in frames and they were finished. Simple, cheap and attractive.

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A view with a room

One of the reasons we were able to buy our house is that it was sorely in need of some decorative attention. Although we were able to tackle a few of the rooms before we moved in, the master bedroom has remained in a pretty poor state for the last two years. The lady who lived here before us was a little cavalier in her approach to decorating and abandoned her attempt to paint the bedroom halfway through. It was truly horrible! As someone who is affected by her surroundings, I have to say that the bedroom was not somewhere I looked forward to relaxing in at the end of the day.

I was thrilled when Mark offered to have the bedroom decorated for my birthday present this year, but despaired of it getting it done before the baby arrived when our decorator kept letting us down. He finally came round last week and finished the job on Friday and to say I am over the moon with the result is an understatement. I'm looking forward to putting the finishing touches to the room at some point (throw pillows, pictures, etc.), but the bedroom is finally somewhere I feel I can relax and unwind in. Probably a good thing given that I will soon be spending a lot of my nocturnal hours sat up in bed nursing a baby!

Just waiting for baby!

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Baby bunting

I finished making this bunting for Lily's room several weeks ago, but I've only just got around to posting about it! It was very simply made by blanket stitching felt shapes together, stuffing them and sewing a button and felt 'flower' in the middle. I then stitched the shapes onto a length of thin pink rope and hung the whole thing above Lily's cot. I have plans to do something similar for Tom's room using different shapes and brighter colours. Any future Podlings can probably expect to find a line of little white and yellow ducklings adorning the wall above their cots. The possibilities are endless and the bunting is so simple and fun to make. I love working with felt!

A close-up of one of the hearts

The bunting in situ. Keep 'em in a cot as long as possible I say!

Note the rather splendid quilt that my mum made for Lily. I will share a proper picture of it sometime, it really is amazing.

I also made this rose wreath to decorate the wall above Lily's dresser

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As an aside, I tend not to go into too much detail about how I make things on here as there are plenty of websites and blogs out there who are much better at this sort of thing than me. However, if anyone ever wants more information about how I have made something, or would like a recipe I have used, please feel free to leave a comment or email me.