Still Unpacking & A Tour!!

Hellooooo!! Yes, I'm still here and still a bit quiet on the blogging front because there's still a WHOLE LOT of these ...

... waiting for attention ... SIGH!!! Apparently the unpacking fairies are running way behind in their schedule to visit us. Oh dear! I may still be unpacking boxes at Christmas time ... NEXT year!!

Since this photo was taken in my sewing room, you can guess that there's been no stitching or sewing happening, so I don't have any photos of stitchy stuff to share. BUT ... I thought (since quite a few of you have asked so nicely!!) that I would share a few pics of our new house with you. Now, considering most of the rooms still look like versions of the above pic, I'll share the real estate photos that first helped us fall in love with "Edward House". These were borrowed from the Elders real estate site ... I think they've now been taken down ... cos the house is SOLD! :0) 

WARNING!! There are a LOT of photos to follow, so you might want to grab a cuppa ... and maybe a bickie to tide you over. Brace yourself, Chookyblue, for one of my mammoth posts! :0)

Our new home started it's life in 1890 and was in a rural area on a large historic property about an hour and a half west of Toowoomba. It was moved to it's current spot three years ago and has been extensively renovated and remodelled to make it a fabulous, roomy place to live. Here we go ... and we're walking ...! :0)

Welcome to "Edward House". Our front path.

Approaching the lovely wide verandah ...

... where you can sit and relax a while. This sweet wicker set belonged to the previous owners and I'm on the lookout for something similar. In the meantime I have a flea-market-find table there with a couple of director's chairs ... not quite as picturesque, but they do the job. :0)

Step inside the front door and walk down the hall. I love the arch ... it's very similar to the one in our previous cottage, though a bit wider.

Here's the main bedroom and that walk-through to the right leads to ...

... the ensuite. We've never had an ensuite before, but we're finding it very handy when we have guests ...although ... it does mean there are now TWO bathrooms and toilets for me to clean ... GROAN!! One of my least favourite jobs! :0) You'll notice a lot of doors in odd places as we tour through ... the folks we bought the house from reconfigured most of the rooms from the inside (like a lot of farm houses, it was a bit 'rabbit-warreny'!) but they've kept all the original door and window placements.

Next is the guest room ... I'm loving the size of the two main bedrooms ... my collected treasures, vintage finds and antiques are all shown off much better. :0)

Then we come to the sitting room ... doesn't that sound flash?! :0) With the open fire place, it will be a cosy spot for my stitching friends and I to hang out ... although, there's no furniture in there as yet, just more boxes. :0) And LOOK!! I am now the proud owner of a chandelier!! Tall people will need to remember to duck, but my Beloved Geek Boy and I are both shorties, so we won't be ending up with concussion from passing through this room! :0) Do you see the double doors to the left there? They lead to ...

... a sun-room/sleep out/library/nanny-napping-nook. :0) We've put an old single cast iron bed in this room (the one I showed you in the office of our cottage in a previous post) and GB has already ascertained that it's the perfect spot for a nanny-nap! :0) And the sleep out leads into ...

... the sewing room. That lovely stained glass door is the one that connects the sewing room to the sleep out. The sewing room is a smidge bigger than my last sewing room, but with no built-in cupboard (ugly as it was, it was handy!) so I'm working on more storage solutions for my creative space. Stay tuned! :0)

From the sewing room, you walk past the laundry (which has a LINEN CUPBOARD! WOO! HOO! I'm very excited about that as you can tell!! :0) ) into the walk-through office. You can see to the right of the picture that the office is also entered from the sitting room. Our office desk isn't as grand as the one pictured, but it does the job ... though GB has been told he has to keep his desk tidy, since you have to pass through the office to reach the main living area. What do you think my chances are of holding him to that?!?! :0) Passing through the office, we go into ...

... the kitchen/dining/lounge room ... which for the sake of brevity and not twisting our tongues into knots, we refer to as the 'back room' or 'living area' ... since this is indeed where we predominantly 'live'. :0) Those two sets of French doors let in lots of lovely sunlight in the morning (will have to be a bit careful of fading of any fabrics in this area) ...

... giving the room a warm, open feel. And the best part is (besides the combustion heater snuggled in the fireplace!!) ...

... those French doors lead out onto a nice sized back deck, making for the perfect entertaining space ... and yes ... there are already more 'house-warming' events being planned to test-drive this space! :0)

The kitchen looks fabulous, though I have discovered it isn't the most practical in some respects ... and like GB and his office desk, I'll be challenged to keep the kitchen a bit neater because it's open for all to see ... no hiding cooking clutter behind handy dividing walls! :0)

And finally, the view we have as we wave you goodbye after a lovely, relaxing visit! :0)

So ... those were the photos that started us on the road to falling in love with this house. You can see why we think all the rush, stress, work, headaches and pain of the last few months was worthwhile. :0) I promise that as we get rooms set up, furniture arranged to my liking (don't ask GB how many times he's heard the words ... 'maybe it would look better over there'.!!! Tee! Hee! Hee!) and my pretties hung, displayed and arranged, I'll share some more pics as we make the house our own. I'm struggling with the very neutral colour scheme at the moment, being a colour freak as I am. As much as I love all those lovely photos of serene, French-inspired, shabby-chic all-white houses ... apparently I'm too much of a colour freak to be able to live with neutrals for too long! :0)

In the meantime, I'm in the middle of a much-anticipated week off work, so I think I shall go and play Polly to put the kettle on for a cup of tea while I take a little hop around blogland to see what everyone else is up to. OH!! OPAMers ... thank you to everyone who emailed their finishes to Sweet Peg and me. We've been experiencing some internet issues since the move (rural area, so slower, less-reliable internet coverage ... GRRRR! Telstra!!) so I haven't managed to email you all to say thank you and well done ... so consider yourselves now congratulated and thanked! :0) My Sweet partner-in-crime has done the prize draw, so if you haven't yet caught up with the news, you'd better pop over to visit her. Thanks Sweet Peg for holding down the OPAM fort while I'm in the midst of moving-madness!! :0)

I hear the kettle calling my name, so shall sign off for now ... I'll be back after the weekend to share the fun of our annual Stitchers Dream Day Out which is on this weekend ... WOO! HOO!! :0) My Bestest-Buddy-Since-We-Were-Nine Lynette is climbing the hill to join me for a sleep-over play-date and my quirky-clever-clogs blogging buddy Toni will be joining us for the day on Sunday, too, along with the Fabulous Fiona and my dancing buddy Lynda. I hear there are a few other bloggy gals coming to play too ... let me know you're coming, gals ... and if you see me swanning around chatting (cos I've been told that I seem to do more chatting than stitching at this event!! Tee! Hee! Hee!) , make sure you grab me to say "G'day!" :0) Til next time ...

BEAR HUGS!

CHEERS!

KRIS