Extreme Makeover: Plumstead!

We have been living in our house for 8 years now. When we moved here it was an old house that needed EVERYTHING done. We moved from a small house into what seemed an enormous one and shortly afterwards Grant ended up in a wheelchair and was boarded. So, far from gutting the house and doing everything at once (hahaha), we have done things in small, tiny, bits. In fact the things we did at the beginning need to be done again and we haven't reached the end of the list yet!! But I suppose that's the plight of a homeowner.

Anyway, when we moved in, the room that is the lounge/family room was uninhabitable because the previous owner had kept chickens and they had been given the freedom of the lounge. SO the carpet was ripped up and it became the storeroom. When Grant needed a place to work from home we made a start on getting the lounge "livable".

Long story short, it was a process/project that was never finished and went from bad to worse and with all the drama in between it has just never been completed.

However, one gets to a time in your marriage when suddenly everything needs to be replaced! You hear people say that but believe me, it's true!

Our dishwasher recently packed up, not an essential item but when you're used to having it it is very much missed, our fridge works but could be replaced for many reasons, our TV which Grant bought before we got married is dying a slow death, sometimes it works sometimes it doesn't, sometimes you have sound, sometimes you don't and our mattress was dead! It took quite a while of me waking up with an aching body to realize it had died. And this picture speaks for itself:

So, in search of a new bed and a TV we discovered that most shops have these package deals nowadays and we found one that allowed us to "negotiate" our own package, so we ended with a bed, a TV, a TV unit and 2 new couches!

It felt like Christmas had arrived early!!

It was all due to arrive on Friday afternoon, but the Scotch guarding on the fabric was still wet so the delivery was scheduled for 7:30pm! On a Friday night!! Well, everything besides the TV arrived at around 8:00pm, the TV's box had been damaged so the manager drove to another store to get a different one and arrived at 9:30!!

It was very exciting, Abigail will be happy if she never has to leave home again!

The bed was sorted out first since we had nowhere to sleep otherwise!

All tucked up and cosy! This bed is so high!! Our old bed stood on bricks because for Grant's previous back situation it had to be higher than normal, but this bed is higher than that bed even without bricks!!

Now here is the story of the bedside table. It's always been a bit of an after thought, I had a rickety table: and Grant had... a box!Don't ask! I don't know. Anyway, they HAD to go.

I went off to Mr. Price and found some butler tray tables for R129.00 and thought that was a bargain, also I liked the idea that they have sides so things can't fall off. MUCH better, but hey, anything beats a box!!!

Then it was time to get the lounge sort of sorted out.

We still need a few picture frames, a rug a coffee table and a few other bits and pieces but it is wonderful to have a functional lounge. Everything was MUCH bigger than it seemed in the shop and I'm not sure if we'll ever have to go to a cinema again!! When there's a 12 and a half year gap between television purchases the technology is somewhat different!

And new things come in boxes and boxes make great toys!! Niave and Marley had a great time in this box - so remind me why we have so many toys that cost money?!!