the big finish...nearly...

 we moved up to leeds and to this house almost 9 years ago to the day.

when we arrived the entire house looked like this...

painted in ghastly colours throughout and stencilled to within an inch of it's life.

finally and so not before time the last room to be obliterated of its tired decor was being tackled this week. 

for the last 3 1/2 years when we did the lounge at the front i have walked into the house swooning at my orla wallpaper only to be slammed in the face by peaking into the next room. yeugghhh!

but it has happened. 

it has all gone! 

i am now the proud owner of a stencil-less house!

it all started with matthew and his dad pulling up the b & b style carpet awaiting the floors to be sanded, followed by the arrival of magician john transforming the room entirely with a lick of paint...white paint...lots of it...oh and some grey.

(i'm thinking i need to pinch john's ladder - makes a nice addition don't you think? being yellow n all.)

so last night it was all done bar the one wall of wallpaper.

john made me wait a night. i can't quite believe he did that. and he really should know me better.

but i have been brave and patient awaiting for this morning to arrive and john to turn up and get his pasting brush out...

come on john, my patience is wearing thin now...

We are just 2 weeks away from one of the biggest events in our little family's life... Sam's Bar Mitzvah is scarily close. As a Jewish Mother, I knew 13 years ago that we would one day be here. But come on, 13 years is a long time. it shouldn't be here yet, should it?

Apparently it is. On the one hand I am excited beyond belief. Sam has worked incredibly hard over the last year to learn all he needs to learn and be ready for this big coming of age ceremony. And to be at a milestone that I have watched in awe of others doing their Bar Mitzvahs, is quite mind-blowing, let me tell you.

On the other hand I am completely overwhelmed by how much has to be done. Whilst Sam has been in charge of the religious side, someone round here has had to get going on the celebrations. I've never tackled anything quite so big...Friday night dinner for the immediate family...Saturday lunch for 50 extended family...a party for 70 close friends Saturday night... oh and the big shebang of 200 on Sunday night. Whilst I personally am not cooking, there is still plenty to do.

And as we well know, I am not going to be buying any decorations or hire someone else to do it for me. What's the point in being crafty if you can't get immerse yourself in something like this? (My sister-in-law did put me in my place when I suggested making Whoopie Pies for 70 on Saturday night)

Even though I have had 13 years to get ready for this, I am just beginning to get going on all the finer details. 2 weeks? Plenty of time! I've been collecting ideas over the last few months and having found this great little tutorial for paper lanterns from here via here, I started to give them a go.

How fab are they? And what a great use of my oodles of left over Orla wallpaper. I can see them in glass bowls on the table, strewn with ribbon over EVERYWHERE and laid in rows in other places. I have grand ideas for these little babies in all sorts of different designs.

The next 2 weeks is going to be pretty full on so I may disappear for a little while. If you don't see me around much, I may well be found under a pile of papers, lists, decorations...

We have made some progress in the house this week. Just about all the previous horrific coloured woodwork has been obliterated. This is no mean feat I can tell you. No more lilac in the bedroom. No more shades of green in the hallway. It's all gone!

I've needed to see some physical progress this week. Juggling work, builders, half term last week really took it's toll, so I am cheered up no end to have a glimpse of the vision we are looking to achieve.

And all the beautiful wallpaper has arrived too. That was quite a strenuous decision making process that has been going on for about 3 months. I don't know about you, but we've only ever decorated one room at a time before, so to split your energies into getting 3 rooms and the hall, stairs and landing as you want wasn't straight forward. Especially when the man of the house refuses to have anything floral.

We got there in the end though and we are both over the moon with what we have chosen and can't wait to have it up on the walls. Honestly, I feel like a kid whose birthdays have all come at once! I've been promised that the paper is going up in our room on Monday. Quite frankly the look I gave John, the decorator, really should have made him drop everything and put it up there and then. I'm not impressed.

I'm not sure if it does it justice just yet, but here's a little peak of the beautiful grey...and the oh so gorgeous white woodwork...

Have a lovely weekend and check back Monday to see those walls ;-)

Amendment: The aforementioned husband has taken umbridge with the accusation of not wanting anything floral. He would like it made perfectly clear that this was with reference to our bedroom only and with regards flowers. He doesn't mind anything that is an artistic interpretation of flowers, as in the ones we have chosen, but not flowers themselves.

Oh, and I need to mention how lucky I am to have a husband who has agreed to have the wallpapers we have chosen.

(This will teach me to leave my blog open where he can read it!)

We have big plans this year to put our own stamp on our house. We bought this house when we first moved back up from London over 5 years ago. And whilst we fell in love with it immediately we have lived with some interesting decor that we haven't quite managed to obliterate.

Until now.

Next month we are starting attacking with vengeance and I am having an amazing time putting into place all those items I have been drooling over for aeons.

First off the living room...after some persistence I have managed to persuade Matthew that we NEED this Orla wallpaper around the fireplace. Fortunately he's relented. I've given him first choice for the bedroom. Well that was easy. You have seen what we've been living with there. Anything will be an improvement. And it's not like I entertain in my bedroom!

Having got the wallpaper, the teal, grey with a touch of mustard theme was beginning to materialise. Next stop Etsy to finalise some fabrics that had been on my wish list for almost as long as the Orla wallpaper.

The first two are by Caitlin of Pippijoe. I just love her patterns and the richness of the colours she uses.

These next 3 are by Roisin and Arounna of Repeat. An equally talented pair that produce the most stunning handprinted fabrics.

These fabrics are now all on order and I'm now sitting very patiently waiting for them to arrive. Ok, so I'm not so patient. I'm beside myself with excitement and can not wait to get going on some cushions and possibly a quilt for my new room. It's going to be unrecognisable.