Organising the Nursery

Now that I know I have a little girl on the way I think I am going to start organising the nursery. Even though things are up in the air with Mat and I, I hate feeling unorganised and so I will get things ready to ease my stress levels.

As you can see the room is currently a huge dirty mess. I have got a large task ahead of me indeed. So these are my before photos and hopefully over the coming weeks I will be posting the progress shots and the final room.


Unfortunately because I am renting I won't be able to paint the walls so I am stuck with the purple walls. Lucky I am having a girl I guess!

Okay so this is my list of things to do...

Cleaning

• Scrub the walls
• Clean the window and window sill
• Clean the inside of the built-in wardrobe
• Clean the mirrored doors of the wardrobe
• Clean over all of baby girl's furniture - bassinet, change table, pram, bouncinet, large play equipment and baby bath
• Wash the baby clothes

Purchases

• Change mat covers
• Mobile for change table
• Little table/set of drawers
• Lamp
  
• Monitor
• Storage organisers for the wardrobe for baby girl's clothes/linen/etc
• Rug
  

I am not sure what kind of art work I want to hang on the walls yet. But I might just have to get crafty and make some wall art.

Any other ideas on how to make this little nursery more nice and cosy?

Getting Organised

I used to think my craft desk looked cool, but I suddenly realised that it just looked plain messy. I had little cane baskets for all my pencils, paint brushes, lino tools, etc, and while it is useful to have everything at arm's reach it just doesn't look very nice and neat. So while at Ikea with my mum, her friend Kristina and little miss Z I was eying off a a little set of stationery drawers for my desk. Since my mum is the bestest mum in the whole wide world she decided to spoil me and buy them for me - thanks mum!

So the next day I decided to tackle the assembly of my little stationery station. I got all the bits out and made sure everything was there first...


So far so good - I was a happy little Ikea lover...


Look don't the pieces look pretty all stacked up together...


So it was all fun and games up until I tried assembling the thing. I might have said a few choice words that shall never be repeated again. I may have thrown some pieces around the room. I might of cried. It might of taken me four breaks from the thing to calm down. I may have bent a few nails...


Lets just say that the happy Ikea gal quickly turned into an angry and frustrated Ikea gal..


But I got there in the end...


And now my stationery is so nice and neat...


I even have a little drawer for my collection of scissors...


And doesn't the cotton look pretty...


So it was worth it in the end, but next time I will wait until Mat gets home and he can handle the assembly.

Alicia + hammer = Disaster.

She has arrived...

That's right - my KitchenAid is here :). I'm going to give her a whirl tomorrow and I can't wait! I am going to bake some chocolate cupcakes and then make my first ever batch of chocolate swiss meringue buttercream - I hope it goes well. I'm still considering name options for the KitchenAid, Ivonne popped in my head, but I'm not sure about that - I think I'll decide after I give her a spin tomorrow afternoon.

In other news Mat and I have been discussing potential a potential cupcake business - I have some research to do!!

One thing to check off of my kitchen wish list...

That's right people - I am getting a KitchenAid! I have longed for one for some time now. I think the novelty of using hand beaters for all my baking adventures has definitely worn off. I was going to squirrel away a little bit of money each week to save up for my mixer, but my ever so lovely husband told me that we could afford one right now! So I went online and ordered my very own KitchenAid. I chose the colour Ice since my future dream kitchen is going to be turquoise and red themed. It will be quite lovely when it becomes a reality, but that will be some time away.

I can't wait until it arrives it is going to make baking so much more enjoyable - and I will finally be able to make some swiss meringue butter cream. I'll have to give her a name once she joins the household too - there is something to think about!

Kitchen wish list

Every time I make anything in the kitchen I am reminded of all the things that I would love to have but can't afford. Unfortunately our kitchen leaves a lot to be desired, it has next to no storage space, a single basin sink, an oven that can't hold a steady temperature and an exhaust fan that barely works. It does tend to make baking and cooking a tad bit difficult - but I still soldier on week after week. In the long run when I am no longer a stay at home mum and we have two incomes again we will renovate the kitchen and make it into a wonderful place for me to cook and bake to my hearts content. In the meantime I am starting to make my wish list for my future kitchen and here are the first four items....

1. A new oven - with a gas cooktop and electric oven such as this one from smeg.

2. A cute apron from Jessie Steele to do all of my baking in.

3. A whole heap of storage jars for all of my baking/cooking ingredients from ikea.

4. A KitchenAid - need I say more?

Busy busy busy

I feel guilty for not putting up a post for so long - but it has been rather busy around the house lately. First of all my mum came over last Saturday and put in a mammoth effort to finish the curtains for the nursery, here is how they turned out...

Quite cute if I don't say so myself! The next day I had a good friend (Vivi) and her partner (Caesar) over for lunch. I made a yummy lasagne with salad and crusty bread, and then for dessert an orange and poppy seed syrup cake. It was great to catch up over a nice lunch and have a good conversation. Then later that day we had some surprise guests - Mat's parents came to stay after their long caravan trip in the Northern Territory and Western Australia. And this is pretty much the reason that I haven't posted for so long - my mother and father in law stayed for the week so I didn't get much of a chance to pop on to the net.

This week has gone flying past as Mat and I have been quite busy, not only have we had the parents over, but we also had our antenatal class on Tuesday, went out for drinks and dinner on Wednesday and then Friday I had an annual leave day to get my hair cut and give a talk at my mum's school on being pregnant. I also bought some supplies for lino printing from an art and craft shop - so now I have to think of what I want to print and give it a go!!

Luckily there isn't too much planned for the weekend so I can get some relax time in. In fact I think the only thing I do have planned is to finally meet one of my online friends in person for lunch today - so I better get a move on and get ready!

Setting Up The Nursery

This week Mat (my husband) and I have made leaps and bounds in our nursery decorating progress. We managed to finish the paint job and I am quite happy with how it all turned out. It is warm, clean and neutral - just perfect for future babies as well. We also finally got around to constructing our cot and change table. I love the white finish, for such a tiny room I think it is necessary to brighten up the room a bit. So it is all starting to come together, and all of sudden it feels like we really are having a baby girl in 3 months time!

Here you can see the new paint job, change table and rocking chair. One day we will change that awful carpet.

And here is the cot - soooo cute!!