If you want to see more of Melanie's dwelling, go here http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/Aussiemum/
She lives in Australia. She has gotten most of her things from yard sales and does the best she can on a very limited income.
3 comments:
Anonymous
said...
I viewed the rest of Melanie's home, and it is lovely!! Melanie, I tried to leave you a comment, but wasn't able to... I wanted to tell you that the way you arranged everything in your home was very inspiring to me!! I plan to spend this Saturday rearranging things to see if I can make them more welcoming without spending any money. Thanks for sharing pictures of your home!!
I thought i'd take this opportunity to send you a heartfelt thankyou concerning your latest entry. the Article re Melanie's home and decorating on a budget was fantastic. Over the years, some of the loveliest things I've had have been gifts or cast-offs by others - or even items saved from the scrap metal merchant minutes before his truck arrived at the pile in question!!
When my husband and I married, it was a case of roll two households into one - no mean feat considering we had two of everything virtually and the home I was going to lacked space to say the least. Well, this offered me the opportunity to shed some lovely but no longer necessary articles (giving a sturdy and solid timber dining table, chairs and side table to an older couple very much in need. This has been the way its gone with me over the years, giving items away and receiving others (Pay it forward)...
Now, much of the furniture in our home is a mix and match of my husband's and my own (with virtually nothing matching. We are also stuck with the interior design, floorings, window-dressings and home design of the previous owners into which we've worked in (redecorating would be far too expensive and, due to the actual floorplan, it would more or less be a wasted effort. For his part, my husband inherited a good portion of his furnishings from the home of his late mother (who he lived with and cared for up to the day of her passing). Though to some this may look higgledy-piggledy, with those special touches - paintings and photos on the walls from both households, doilies, ornaments and a lovely royal Albert dinner set taking up most of the dresser (his mother's wedding present from the 30's) our home has developed an atmosphere of its own. I've inherited silverware from my grandparents and a beautiful Norritaki dinner set from my mother that is still packed two years after marrying as we've not the room (the royal Albert also suits our colour schemes of deep browns, creams and sandstone-honeys far better. He's funny about tablecloths, preferring the wood of the dining table (though it is somewhat damaged and marked) I use a bright floral placemat as a centrepiece mat upon which is the fruitbowl and salt & pepper grinders...modest yes, but when the bowl's full of brightly coloured apples, mandarins, oranges, passionfruit and the occasional quince, ruby grapefruit or tiny golden roughie pineapple its pretty indeed.
if you like, I may ask my husband to take a few shots that you can run on Home Living helper to show that one can make do with what one finds oneself with. Would we like to either decorate or move to a slightly larger house in the country? yes. Will it happen? Only if it's gods will - so the secret is finding contentment in what one has. I may not have a beautiful garden I can stroll through in the afternoon, but I can sit out and admire my potted herbs and the transformation that turned my husband's back yard from something out of the Adams family into a lovely, contemporary, water-conscious creation (even if he does insist on his bit of jungle hiding the lovely plants in the front yard wherein we've a mixture of agapanthus, another flowering shrub, a couple of hedging shrubs cut to size and my vegetable garden (all surrounded with either blond or red cedar wood chips (they are a little dull and will be topped up in Spring.
A simple white metal-worked table and two chairs with its humble potted white cyclamen creates another simple pleasure (and the cyclamen has a lovely if somewhat faint) perfume. You should be standing here in Spring when the two marayas, the star jasmine and the lemon tree are flowering (then there's the camellia and next door's Frangipanni - it can be quite wonderful. We're having good rain at present so hopefully our carrots, beetroot, Swede and silverbeat should come up nicely (the beetroot are the only seeds that have thus far taken, though sometimes they'll take weeks - one can never trust the timeframes on the packets.
Well, I'd better say 'see you soon' now as I've a cake to bake. I trust all is well with you, your family and your grandchildren.
We always like to see other people's houses. It is such a special treat! Many women feel very isolated when they stay home, because so many of the neighbors are gone all day. I feel sorry for this generation because they don't have the memories I do of interacting in each other's homes when most women were homemakers. (It really brings tears to my eyes)
3 comments:
I viewed the rest of Melanie's home, and it is lovely!! Melanie, I tried to leave you a comment, but wasn't able to... I wanted to tell you that the way you arranged everything in your home was very inspiring to me!! I plan to spend this Saturday rearranging things to see if I can make them more welcoming without spending any money. Thanks for sharing pictures of your home!!
Dearest Lady Lydia,
I thought i'd take this opportunity to send you a heartfelt thankyou concerning your latest entry. the Article re Melanie's home and decorating on a budget was fantastic. Over the years, some of the loveliest things I've had have been gifts or cast-offs by others - or even items saved from the scrap metal merchant minutes before his truck arrived at the pile in question!!
When my husband and I married, it was a case of roll two households into one - no mean feat considering we had two of everything virtually and the home I was going to lacked space to say the least. Well, this offered me the opportunity to shed some lovely but no longer necessary articles (giving a sturdy and solid timber dining table, chairs and side table to an older couple very much in need. This has been the way its gone with me over the years, giving items away and receiving others (Pay it forward)...
Now, much of the furniture in our home is a mix and match of my husband's and my own (with virtually nothing matching. We are also stuck with the interior design, floorings, window-dressings and home design of the previous owners into which we've worked in (redecorating would be far too expensive and, due to the actual floorplan, it would more or less be a wasted effort. For his part, my husband inherited a good portion of his furnishings from the home of his late mother (who he lived with and cared for up to the day of her passing). Though to some this may look higgledy-piggledy, with those special touches - paintings and photos on the walls from both households, doilies, ornaments and a lovely royal Albert dinner set taking up most of the dresser (his mother's wedding present from the 30's) our home has developed an atmosphere of its own. I've inherited silverware from my grandparents and a beautiful Norritaki dinner set from my mother that is still packed two years after marrying as we've not the room (the royal Albert also suits our colour schemes of deep browns, creams and sandstone-honeys far better. He's funny about tablecloths, preferring the wood of the dining table (though it is somewhat damaged and marked) I use a bright floral placemat as a centrepiece mat upon which is the fruitbowl and salt & pepper grinders...modest yes, but when the bowl's full of brightly coloured apples, mandarins, oranges, passionfruit and the occasional quince, ruby grapefruit or tiny golden roughie pineapple its pretty indeed.
if you like, I may ask my husband to take a few shots that you can run on Home Living helper to show that one can make do with what one finds oneself with. Would we like to either decorate or move to a slightly larger house in the country? yes. Will it happen? Only if it's gods will - so the secret is finding contentment in what one has. I may not have a beautiful garden I can stroll through in the afternoon, but I can sit out and admire my potted herbs and the transformation that turned my husband's back yard from something out of the Adams family into a lovely, contemporary, water-conscious creation (even if he does insist on his bit of jungle hiding the lovely plants in the front yard wherein we've a mixture of agapanthus, another flowering shrub, a couple of hedging shrubs cut to size and my vegetable garden (all surrounded with either blond or red cedar wood chips (they are a little dull and will be topped up in Spring.
A simple white metal-worked table and two chairs with its humble potted white cyclamen creates another simple pleasure (and the cyclamen has a lovely if somewhat faint) perfume. You should be standing here in Spring when the two marayas, the star jasmine and the lemon tree are flowering (then there's the camellia and next door's Frangipanni - it can be quite wonderful. We're having good rain at present so hopefully our carrots, beetroot, Swede and silverbeat should come up nicely (the beetroot are the only seeds that have thus far taken, though sometimes they'll take weeks - one can never trust the timeframes on the packets.
Well, I'd better say 'see you soon' now as I've a cake to bake. I trust all is well with you, your family and your grandchildren.
Keep up the good work.
Blessings,
Mrs. E.
Australia
We always like to see other people's houses. It is such a special treat! Many women feel very isolated when they stay home, because so many of the neighbors are gone all day. I feel sorry for this generation because they don't have the memories I do of interacting in each other's homes when most women were homemakers. (It really brings tears to my eyes)
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