Pink Handles--done! :-)

Before This is our kitchen when we first moved in. (above)I added a lot of decorative touches since then.
I love pink glass handles, or any glass handles for that matter. Haha So, about a year ago, Ben started replacing the boring stainless steel handles with some pink glass ones I brought back from America last time we visited. He intended to finish them sooner, but we ended up living with them half done since then. Just the other day the job was completed! I'm so happy with the result. :-)

We do have one of the old handles left. Ha I paid for and didn't receive an

extra, in case of breakages, and of course one of the handles broke during the

installation. We are going to the USA this Saturday(excitement), so I

will find a replacement while I am there. :-)

The finished effect!

I am linking to Sarah's "Before and After Party" http://thriftydecorchick.blogspot.com/2010/08/before-and-after-party-clock-turned.html

And to Debbie's "Before and After Party, too. :-) http://debbie-debbiedoos.blogspot.com/2010/08/ok-we-need-shrink-before-and-afer-party.html

Hope Chest ~before and after~

I was almost 18 when my parents bought this hope chest for me as a graduation gift. At that time, I liked unstained, unpainted wood (not sure why)so I never did anything to the wood except add a very light coat of clear sealer. I've been wanting to paint or stain the hope chest for a while now. I decided to paint it- white, of course. ;-) Actually, I would have preferred a more off white color, but I can always add another coat of paint easily. This is nice for now.

We had some pure white paint left from other projects, so I just did 2 coats of that over 2 days during Teddy's afternoon naps. Each coat only took me about 15 minutes, so it wasn't bad at all.

I plan to add some handles to the front later on, since it is made to look like there are 2 big drawers.

I am linking to a "before and after party" with Sarah, the Thrifty Decor Chick. :-)http://thriftydecorchick.blogspot.com/2010/07/before-and-after-party-craigslist-love.html

A Few Christmas/Winter Touches In Our House :-)

As the weather gets colder in June/July, I start to feel "Christmasy". Haha Last year, we had Christmas in June, but when December came around, we ended up going all out again. This year I don't feel having Christmas twice. But I just couldn't help myself. I had to at least put on some Christmas CDs and I put out just a few Christmas decor items that mostly seem more Wintry. Nothing too extreme. ;-) I added last year's Christmas wreath to our TV cabinet. It looks like chunks of ice or snow, all glittery.

A tiny white tree

Snowflake tea light and white berry candle wreath.

This quilt will help keep Teddy and I warm in the evenings. Leather chairs get cold!

Winter gets boring if you don't do something to break up the monotony, I think. This should help. ;-)

Modern Apartment Tour

Earlier this week, we went up to Brisbane, Queensland for a church conference. I thought you might like to see our apartment in the apartment complex/motel we stayed in for 2 nights. It is a very modern style that is popular here in Australia, which I thought might interest my American readers. ;-) It's not at all my style, but it was a nice, new, clean place to stay. Teddy loved the cushy rug. :-)

Open plan kitchen, living and dining.

Closeup of the kitchen.

Outdoor dining on the huge balcony.

Another outdoor living space.

The bathroom.

Master Bedroom- the bed was very comfy. :-)

The boys' bedroom

So, what do you think? Could you live somewhere like this? Although it is far too stark for my liking, I think I could make it livable with the addition of some pretty rugs, pillows, pictures, quilts, etc. And of course a good dose of pink. Haha


I will leave you with some cuteness- our friend Sarah, and the cutest little Teddy bear ever. ;-)

Chandelier Installation

About 6 years ago, we bought a very special chandelier at my favorite shop (which has since moved out of town). We bought it for the kitchen in our old house, and paid much more for it than I would ever pay for a chandelier of it's size now. Haha Anyway, we ended up selling that house before the chandelier was ever installed, and then we rented a house (now referred to by Ben as The Bat Cave, because it was so dark and moldy. ha) for over a year while we searched for a new house to buy. We have lived in our current home for 3 years, and still hadn't put the chandelier up! Finally, I decided that I would like it be in our master bedroom, since the existing center light fitting would make the installation much easier than in the living areas of the house, which only have down lights. So, for my birthday a couple weeks ago, Ben installed our lovely chandelier and a ceiling rose I brought back from our last trip to Idaho. As you can see, Ben came up with an ingenious contraption for holding the ceiling rose in place while the "liquid nails" was drying. I have to admit, I was a little frightened the books would end up falling on our heads. Haha

I love having something beautiful hanging above our bed now. :-)

Tour of Our Home

Welcome! I am so excited to be taking the readers of Poppies At Play http://poppiesatplay.blogspot.com/ on a tour of our home! We bought our "cottage down under" 3 years ago, and have taken it from a very plain modern look to a much more romantic look, mostly using paint and many decorative touches. Nothing structural. We have also added quite a few trees and flowering plants to the front and back yards. In fact, we named our house "Daphne-Rose Cottage" in honour of the many rose and Daphne bushes. :-)It is late Autumn now in Australia, so the yard is not at it's most exciting. Hence, no photos of the yard today.


Let's start with the formal living room. This is one of the rooms in our house where we have used dark colors and wood. It has a very cozy feel. :-) I hung curtains at the entry to the living room from our sewing, reading and play room.

This fireplace mantle is one of the few antiques in our home. I just love it's shabby ornateness, even though we don't have a fireplace. Haha

In the kitchen and dining/family room, I have used my favorite color scheme- white, cream and pale pink. :-)These rooms are very "shabby romantic".
Ben is working on changing all of the handles to the pink glass ones. :-)
I made most of the quilts and pillows, etc. in our family room.

Our white dining table was a special Christmas gift last year.

Ben drove a 5 hour round trip to pick it up for me. :-)


My sister painted the beautiful picture above our TV cabinet.

We have used a lot of dark wood in our master bedroom. When we bought our bed 6 years ago, I liked it, but Ben loved it!

I'm a fan of using "fairy" lights around the house at all times of year. ;-)

I love our very feminine, pink guest room. ;-) We actually decorated it while I was early in my pregnancy with Teddy, and if he had been a girl, we planned that the baby would have this room.

The main bathroom is adjoined to the guest room.

The boys' Peter Rabbit themed bedroom is one of my favorite rooms in our house! Partly because I love our babies so much, and loved feathering their little nest, and partly because it just feels so relaxing in there.

My friend, Melissa, made this lovely collage for me. :-)

Well, I hope you enjoyed the tour, and that you will all come back to visit me again. :-)