Projects for 2011

I have sooo many things to do but I thought "stuff it", it can wait til next year.  I have been busy getting some bargains here and there and also re-arranging rooms at home, so I've come up with a few revamp projects.  Here are some of the things I have to revamp early in the new year (including some I could use your advice on)...

This is a storage bench that my lovely Aunty gave me.  I had it sitting against a wall in the hallway under some photo frames, and in which I kept all my photo albums in.  I was thinking of painting it either black or white and putting a fabric on the lid. 

This is a bench seat my husband picked up off a job site as the owner didn't want it.  BARGAIN!!!  I've got it in Jariah's "beach" room at the moment, but I don't think I'll leave it there.  I would like to put it somewhere nice outside but I fear the weather might ruin it.

These are three chairs I plan to fix up.  I scored these on ebay - $2.35 for the whole lot.

Check out this table I bought on ebay last night for $15.00.  I can't wait to play with this one!

Now THIS is the big one and where I definitely require my husband's painting skills.  As some of you may remember I bought this 9 piece Queen Anne dining suite on ebay for $60 about a month ago, not a thing wrong with it apart from the vulgar brown and yellow striped fabric.  I have been holding out to do it until next year to paint it white, but I could just not face that fabric for a second longer.  It was doing my head in.  So I've recovered it in some fabric I got from Spotlight.  The fabric had alternating colours on the reverse side and I couldn't decide which one to go with.  So I decided to do the black with green print on the carvers chairs and green with black print on all the others.  Here is the before and after.  Being the mum of a four and five year old who get their grubby hands on everything, I had to go with a darker material.  The photos don't really do it justice as it reflects of the fabric too much.

I have a couple of other little things to do but the above are my priority at the moment.  Please feel free to throw any ideas my way.  Hopefully I'll have some 'after' photos for you very soon.

I also plan to revamp/refurnish the girls' dollhouse a bit (see The Dollhouse).  What was I thinking when I expected that a four year old would look after these things?  But the whole point was to not spend a fortune on Barbie/doll furniture knowning full well it would just be thrashed anyway.  I have been saving a lot of old small boxes etc for this purpose so who knows what I can come up with? 

I will sign off here.  To all of you who are frantically running around preparing for Christmas, remember not to stress and take a breather - it's only one day.  To those of you who are doing nothing - you lucky buggers!  And for those of you who have your work/office Christmas party coming up, don't get too shitfaced!  Remember you're still at work.  It's not very becoming to be sick on your boss' shoes.  NOT that I've done this, but I know of a girl at work who has!

Megs x



A little more about me

A recent post from my fellow blogger friend Jane at Life on Planet Baby has inspired me to write this.  In it she talks about her diagnosis of Post Natal Depression and the day to day struggles she has had to face.  Jane also explains what this illness is and how it affects mothers and their life.

I have been living with Cyclothymia and Borderline Personality Disorder for a number of years now (ref: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cyclothymia) and in early 2008 I was admitted to a psychiatric hospital for five weeks to undergo treatment.  The term "Bipolar" came up numerous times.  I had no idea what Bipolar was until it was explained to me (and of course I Googled it).  This was a very stressful time for my family, especially since I had to be away from my two little girls for so long.  I suffered from hallucinations, paranoia, I had conversations with God where he was giving me the lottery numbers (I didn't win by the way :( ), intense anger to the point of being enraged, guilt, shame and the ups and downs and "mixed" episodes (this is when one is full of energy and has no way to release it, yet has very depressive and dark thoughts = dangerous).  Unfortunately all this happened at work one day.  Needless to say the next morning I went to the doc then straight into hospital. 

To cut a long story short, I was on lithium for about a year and a half.  I am now at the point where I am not taking anything and life seems pretty great to me.  I still have my days where I have to try and deal with my anger and depression, but they are not as frequent as they were.  We later ascertained that it was actually anti-depressants that caused the "bipolarity".  Kind of like when you see a person with a mental illness that has been brought about by recreational drugs like marijuana, alcohol and all the others that are out there at the moment.

Let me explain what Cyclothymia is.  It is basically Bipolar/Manic Depression, but people with Cyclothymia don't suffer the symptoms all the time.  It can appear when one goes through a traumatic or stressful time, or it can just be seasonal.  Some refer to it as "Bipolar Lite"!   Mine appears to be seasonal.  It usually comes about when the hot weather starts.  I have medication to help with this should I ever need it.  And of course Christmas is quite a stressful time for me so that seems to exacerbate it.  Life seems to be easier during the winter months.

People wouldn't think this to look at me and are often surprised when I finally reveal it.  I have never felt embarrassed by this illness (although I've had embarrassing moments when I've been in my "highs").  To live with it in isolation and silence suggests you live with it in shame.  It is an illness like any other, i.e. diabetes etc.  We do what we have to to get through it.  What I don't like is when people who are diagnosed with this start living up to their "label".   It's not a fashion accessory.  It's very real and thousands of people die from it every year.

I am a hundred times better now.  I have become very aware of myself and have the ability to sometimes talk myself out of my sickness, whether it just be "Megan, go lie down in the quiet" or "go outside for a walk and get some fresh air".  It's called Cognitive Behavioural Thinking - and it works a lot of the time.  But sometimes the illness just beats you down.  I now only work part time and I have come to accept the level that I can live at, which obviously means avoiding stress.

I realise that I have revealed a lot of myself here (and not at all pleasant), but I think its good to be aware of what so many people are going through and at no fault of their own.  You can't tell someone to "snap out of it".  It doesn't work that way.  If anything, that just makes the ill person feel a hundred times more guilty for being sick. 

A few months ago an old high school friend, and fellow blogger, suggested that I start my own blog after seeing all the revamps and house renovations on my Facebook page.  I have to say a huge THANK YOU to my friend Sonia at Raine and Sage.  This has been one of the best things that has happened to me.  I feel this has been a big kick up the bum to get on with things and get creative. I love reading like minded bloggers' posts and seeing what they're up to. You all give me so much inspiration.  I feel like I have an identity and I don't just sit at home being a babysitter anymore.  This is the best (and cheapest) therapy ever!

I know this has been a long rant but I thank you for reading (if you managed to reach the end)!  It's something I felt I needed to share, certainly not for sympathy, but to help people understand that everyone has a backstory and shouldn't be judged at face value.

I will leave it there now my friends.  I hope you all have a very Merry Christmas filled with laughter, food, family and great friends!  Stay safe.

Retro Wardrobe Makeover

Afton's room was on the small side and there was no way we could fit a wardrobe in.  So I moved her into the bigger room (previously a spare room) and searched on ebay for a wardrobe I could revamp for her.  I found this on ebay and got it for $50.  Not really a bargain as I bought some fabric and new knobs for it.  Here are the before and after photos.

I found this fabric at Spotlight and thought it was perfect.  And not too PINK!  Mum helped stick the fabric on the panels with some double sided tape which she picked up at Kmart.  Here is how we did it and some more after shots.

You may have noticed the fabric on the left hand side is upside down. DOH!!   I'm going to turn it around tomorrow - when I'm not so buggered!

Jariah's Beach Bedroom

I have upgraded Jariah to a king single bed which I bought on ebay.  When my husband went to collect it, the lady threw in a bedside table which had certainly seen better days.  But we were very appreciative nonetheless!  I did take "before" photos.  I went to save them to disc from my old computer but it has just died :(  I'm hoping it can be fixed, at least briefly, so I can save all my photos!  I also have a before photo of the mirror (something I've had for about 15 years but just sat unused).  If I can retrieve them I will post them here later. 

Anyhoo, here are some photos of the re-vamped bedside table and bed.  Jariah loves her new beach bedroom.

I gave the bed and table two undercoats, topcoated with enamel and sanded the edges back.  Check  out these gorgeous knobs I got from Stepney Salvage.  I purchased the striped rug at Kmart for $5 and Tony picked up the little bottled ships at the Salvos for next to nothing.  Initially I didn't think they were girly enough, but they seem to make an effect.  I'm just happy she doesn't like pink much - I'm sick of seeing it.  Afton's room is saturated in that colour at the moment.
Now I'm going to try and revive my computer so I can get my photos!

Mini makeover

I've been very busy this week picking up bargains here and there and also prepping my other stuff for painting.

Last Sunday morning I dragged myself out of bed at six am and drove all the way to the other side of town to check out the Trash n Treasure markets.  First and last time.  I really don't like the atmosphere and some of the people are quite rude.  I felt very out of place because I didn't have one of those trolley bag thingies and I can count on two hands the amount of times my feet were run over by these things.  BUT I did manage to get myself a very good bargain.  See what I got for $2...

Ugly ain't it?  When I asked the girl how much it was she looked very unsure (I think she was left to her own devices for a moment - a WEAK moment!  Mwooouuahahahah...).  When she told me it was $2.00 I handed her the coin and got my butt outta that hellish place.  So after some love here's how it has turned out:

I have been looking at it all afternoon and thinking that maybe I should have painted the legs black instead of white.  Hmmmmm...

We also had Jariah's school Christmas concert last night.  Here is a photo of her practising her look for the stage:

It's a pity she played with her glow stick throughout the entire performance.

It has been a busy week.  Now I'm ready to hop on a plane to Melbourne tomorrow with the girls to see my stepkiddies and have a babyshower for my stepdaughter.  Can't wait! 

I hope you all have a fantastic weekend :)