Beach Decorating....

Happy Monday all.....

 How was your week end? Wet, sunny?

We had a week end of full on rain which my garden was very thankful for, but made doing any gardening out of the question.

The wet weather did have me thinking about being at the beach and missing my long sunny walks along the beach....QLD does have the best beaches in the world after all.

 Now I know there is a lot of beach inspired blogs out there, and now I'm seeing why? 
I miss the casualness being on the beach brings(no shoes, no makeup hahah) so  I thought I would do a little bit of beachy casual decorating here to The Old Dairy.

 I gathered some (I do mean some I have a thing for drift wood)of our rocks, shells, driftwood etc that we have gathered and added a little beach to the family room.

A sweet little shell box, some driftwood and of course a  bottle of coloured sand from Rainbow Beach.

I grouped them all together with my oars and my favorite cane lamp on the chest at the back door and now every time I walk out the back door I have a smile and remember all the goods times at the Beach.



 I hope you all enjoyed my little beach themed corner...

Later in the week I will show a rather big project we worked on over the week end. Below is a little peek.

Blessings

Mandy

Nearly Home...

Hi All

We are still on holidays, for today any way.

Tomorrow we head home :(

What a great time we have had though, we have  collected colored rocks from Carnarvon. Saw

some great country out there on our walks.

 We even went to one of the few drive-ins left while in Charters Towers. 2 movies for $8.50

 

We saw more great country while out there, Below is a photo of the Burdikin Dam. We stayed there over Easter...

From there it was on to Magnetic Island.

Boy was the trip rough on the ferry over there.

 Once over there we stayed with my Aunty and Uncle, ooohhh a nice bed for the night. If you ever go over there you must stay at there B&B...

 So we have gone from rocks to shells...

I have so much more to share with you.

I have missed my blogging and while the boys go of fishing I am going to catch up..

Blessings

Mandy

HAPPY EASTER

Greetings from Grace the cutest Easter Bunny you will ever see.

I hope you all have a safe and wonderful Easter break with Family and Friends.

HAPPY EASTER EVERY ONE.

Carnarvon Gorge....

Hi All....

We have had a wonderful few days camping at Carnarvon Gorge.

It is 40kms in off the main road, and worth every creek crossing and scary road to go and see. Remembering that this time 2 weeks ago Queensland was in flood and all this area was flooded, you can imagine the state of the roads.

Coming in I new it would be spectacular, look at the palms growing along the side of the road.



 CG is a National park with about 30kms of walking tracks following creeks like this (above) Our first walk was to Baloon Cave which had  amazing Aboriginal art work like the hand and axe prints below. The paintings where made by chewing the red ochre rock then placing your object on the rock and spraying the mixture with your mouth ....This was only a 3km walk

Next is was a walk 5kms to  Mickey Creek and Warrambah Gorge. Below is the entrance to Warrambah Gorge.

 There was moss every where which made walking tricky....Cassie has a few action shots of me on my bum hahaha. Below is Cassie climbing here way to the end of the gorge.

 Robbie showing us how it is done, I'm sure he took us on the hardest route...

 Time to walk on to the next place. The grass as you can see is high in most of the walks.

 Below we found this cleft in the rock with the Morton Bay fig growing to the side. It was so cool once we walked into here a natural air con after the heat of walking.

 There was so many walks to do and discover, but you can only do so many with little ones. Will sat under this tree yawning and it was hard to get him going again.

At the end of the day we walked into the Rock pool and all had a well deserved swim.

Below I have a map for my overseas readers  of Queensland, if you click on the picture you can see where we have been and where we are going.

Yesterday we left Carnarvon at 8am and drove through to Charters Towers, it was a long trip but the kids were so good. We had a few stops along the way at Emerald  and Belyando crossing where we had a late lunch. We arrived in the Towers about 5.30pm tired but happy to see David and Karen.

We are here for about a week before we head home along the coast road.

On The Road...

Hi All, the road has began we at Roma and I have to say,

We had the longest trip to  Roma EVER...

We went via Moonie...There is a roadhouse there with a pub, clothing shop, caravan park and servo. Also a lot of stuffed bore heads the main reson for going this way as the boys wanted to check it out.



 We arrived in Roma at 4p.m after leaving home at 9 am.Then it was time to set up camp.

Do you like my little pop top van. We are camping in the back yard at Jess and Lock's and I have to tell you at the moment there is about 20 dogs barking all around. So sleeping is out of the question, so I thought I'd blog why I have a chance.  How do you live in town I can not stand the traffic or dogs...

 But it is all worth it to have spent time with my darling little Grace. She is sitting up on her own now, and is so adorable and smiling all the time. I love being a grandma so much but I am going to miss her when I leave.

Tomorrow we head to Carnarvan Gorge for 2 days. I am looking forward to this as there is lots of walking tracks and wildlife to see. I don't think there will be Internet reception out there so I won't be blogging until I get to Charters Towers.

Now I am of to see what you are up too, as the dogs are still barking....

Good night.

Mandy

Just change the accessories...

Hi all..

While sitting outside  in the sun this morning having a cuppa

 I was thinking about how quick and easy it is to change a look of a room with accessories.

Coming into the cooler weather I want to winterize my home with out spending money.

How you ask?

 

Take my bedroom and  bathroom.

 When I first renovated and built the new bedroom and bathroom  I went with a pretty pink theme..I love pink and my old room was already decorated this way. I just used the curtains and accessories I already had.

 

I hadn't yet painted my bedroom though, yet it was still decorated with a pretty country theme. I change furniture from one room to another, pinch some mirrors from other rooms. Just walk around the house and see what you can use. 

 

If you really want to make a huge difference PAINT...if you DIY it it's not going to cost a lot of money and look at the difference it made to my bedroom. I sometimes don't believe it is the same room.

In my bed room I used all the same furniture I just changed the color scheme. I have always loved the look of black and white so decided to try it in my room and ensuite. The curtains I already had, I got new lamp shades, photo frames, cushions and a throw for the bed.

A new room with out spending lots of money.



For the ensuite I used the same curtains and I did buy a candelabra for this room. A few changes and we have a whole different look with nothing more then a lick of paint to the bedroom and changing of the accessories.

I have always changed the look of my rooms at the change of seasons. If you click in the side bar on the differant rooms like lounge room you can also see there how I changed the look with no more than changing accessories.

So while I am away on holidays for 3 weeks I will be thinking about the changes I am going to make when I get home. Pull the floor rugs out, change the pillow cases, add some throws to chairs..

Of course I will be adding lots to my Pinterest of all my ideas. What do you do to change the look of rooms???

Tomorrow we are off on a road trip for 3 weeks, Yep heading up to David and Karen's and coming home SLOWLY down the coast.. So join me over the next 3 weeks as we travel...

Blessings

Mandy

Hello All...

and a big thank you to those that replied to me about painting my kitchen cabinets.

My first being from my daughter via a text which read...(Do not I repeat do not paint the kitchen cabinets white)hmmmm looks like I will be leaving them as is. Keeping them clean was a major concern and hearing how some of you have trouble I think the wood will be staying...

sewing nook to the left of door way.

and yet here I am acquiring more wooden pieces. I have always wanted a set of small drawers in my bedroom for all of my accessories(slight obsession here I blame my Mother for it)I mean a drawer for each colored bangles, earrings, necklaces, scarves etc , I great idea for storing them all. I picked this beauty up from a shop in Gatton..I always imagined an old chippy  one but hey I could let the boys at it and that would fix the problem...

Any ways (is that a word) until I get to paint it white to go in my bedroom I thought I would bring it inside....well it is heavy and this is as far as it got, just inside the back door. I'm sorry the photo doesn't do it justice above.

Guess what.....I love this piece here, I won't be painting it at all not with 20 drawers any way. As yet I don't know what I will store in it I'm thinking as it is near my sewing nook it will be good for craft stuff.

I guess this means I'm still looking for one for my bedroom.

I am off to craft this morning at the local hall, I didn't get there at all last year and really lost touch with a lot of the ladies so I  have made a decission.. Spend more time with people whose company I enjoy. What I mean is, time for me is the last thing I do, including being with people I love and whose company I enjoy..The last few years family and friends have all taken a back seat to work, things are going to change. Yes I have to run a business and put food on the table and pay bills, but I also need a life.

 Balance.

This is what it's all about balancing out time with friends, family and work.

Enjoy your day

Mandy