Lazy Days

We stumbled across our house when we decided to move in together and were looking for a rental.  After a disappointing inspection at a property a few streets away we drove past our little cutie and literally screeched to a halt when we saw the hand painted "For Rent" sign in the front yard. 

 

The previous owner drove over to meet us straight away and gave us the grand tour, which took about two minutes. When I say "little cutie", I mean I've seen Jimmy Choo shoe boxes that are comparable in size.  

We share a love for 20th century "stuff" and Lazy Days encompasses the architecture and lifestyle of the 1950's.  A little three bedder with a shed for all the man stuff (previously used to store a light craft aeroplane!), a short stroll to the beach, great backyard with mandatory old cement laundry tubs in random spot to scale and clean fish, old timer neighbours who have been around as long as the house and can share many entertaining stories, no storage, a bathroom that would make even the bravest claustrophobic, carpet and tile flooring, cream walls inside and out and a no frills kitchen.

It was the perfect nest, small but manageable for the domestically challenged house keeper that I am (ahem, iron burn on carpet in above picture happened within about two minutes of moving in).

Within three months of moving in the previous owner informed us that he planned to sell the house.  Gutted.  It was the peak of the property boom bubble, the idealistic time before the GFC, and neither of us had much intention of buying a house so soon.  We ummed and ahhhed, tossed and turned, and finally decided to take the leap (my husband would say "take the plunge").  We had to negotiate while holidaying on Norfolk Island over Christmas, our return being delayed by an extra week due to bad weather preventing planes from landing.  

Fast forward a few years and we have:

Travelled to interesting places...

 Cycling into Angkor, Cambodia.  We cycled about 800km throughout Vietnam and Cambodia over two weeks.

I worked for Parks on Christmas Island for a few months.  It was one of the happiest and most exciting times of my life.

We travelled around Borneo, Malaysia for a month.  I was five and half months pregnant with Elsie and ate so much curry.  Maybe this is why our daughter is such a spicy character?

Got hitched...

A very fun day with lots of special moments, shared with the ones we love.

Added to our brood...

Meet Fritz and Minnie.  Naughty but highly entertaining faithful hounds.

Several times...

The motley crew ~ Jake, Elsie and Patrick.

And getting back on track to what this blog is all about (Lazy Days), we've done a few home improvements...

When I was pregnant I had major nesting fever.  I pulled up carpet, removed shower screens, swapped rooms around, painted and generally caused much annoyance to Steve.

We didn't find out the gender while pregnant, so the nursery was very bland to begin with.  As our kids personalities have revealed themselves, the decore of their rooms has changed.

 I knew ripping up the carpet was a good idea ;-)

 When Pat was cooking, we had to come up with a way to accommodate us all.  We had amazing plans drawn up by Steve's brother (he is an architect, not just a random little scribble) for a major renovation that would have kept the original facade and been unbelievably fantastic but then we got quotes and were quickly plummeted back to reality. 

After more carpet removal, we had a wall constructed in the large master bedroom and a window installed.  The small space is perfect for a nursery, gets beautiful breezes and morning sun.  Luckily babies have little concern for their surroundings, as I still haven't finished painting or "decorating".

 

That is all for now.  I never realised what a fanatical happy snapper I am until I was inspired to start a blog to keep track of our abode.  Now you know the past...just wait til you see what we have in store for the future!