Restoring the Old Girl

It's hip to be square
My husband has just taken the children down to the park and I should be making use of the spare daylight hours to go for a very brisk walk (still trying to shake my reno kilos), however I've decided to do a quick post instead. Such devotion!
This week I've been trying to track down some sort of rug for the living room. In leiu of being able to afford a beautiful rug, I decided to try and get a 'carpet square', for want of a better term. I didn't want to spend too much on that either because it will be relatively temporary....famous last words, I know.
I managed to find a guy on Ebay who's selling cheap carpet out of a warehouse in Salisbury. For me, going to the southside is like going to another country, I know nothing about getting around over there.
After navigating my way over there like Captain Cook, I eventually picked out something which I wasn't made about, but I thought it would be ok. My husband went to pick it up this afternoon, but 'Frank' was nowhere to be seen. No one there seemed to be able to give us change, and so needless to say, the carpet is still at the warehouse in Salisbury.
I think that's a sign. I think I should just press on with the living room and forget about the rug for now?
The trip to the farside wasn't completely wasted. Whilst at Salisbury, I drove past another carpet shop and decided to drop in since I was right there. They had the find of the week.
Here's a hint: what's two words that conjure up the 70s immediately? That's, right. C-A-R-P-E-T  S-Q-U-A-R-E!! I picked up 372 of them at $1 each. That covers 93m2, enough to do our downstairs area. They are normally between $4 and $6 each, but ours are the last bits and pieces of various patterns no longer in stock.
Our new chequerboard floor is great for the children to play on, and it's excellent at controlling the dust. The floors upstairs are so much easier to keep clean now.
See the before and after below. I can see these being really handy for people who rent. And...there's more. When a tile gets stained or is showing it's age, you can just swap them around. I'm telling you these things are so out, they're in!
Now all we need is a pool table, a lava lamp and a bar.

My sister was tossing out this mirror so I grabbed it. It goes really well in the ensuite.

I don't think I've shown you the lights on the front and back verandahs yet. The ones below are hanging on the front verandah. I can't wait to see how they'll look once it's all painted and furnished.

The wall mounted version of the same style is on the back verandah near the concertina doors.

The painters put the first top coat on today. I ended up choosing a last minute ring-in, it's called Resene Alabaster and I feel happy with my choice. For the trims I literally closed my eyes and picked out two true greys on the Resene colour chart. I can't even remember what they're called. Fingers crossed for that one too! 

Inside I have been pottering around. I did this little arrangement thingy on the side board.

I put my wooden cotton reels and clothes pegs into a glass cannister, and Gwennie's old golf balls into another.

Below you can see an old Sadler teapot that my parents got when they were married in 1873. There's also a couple of beautiful blue Bohemia crystal glasses, that I found in the house. They get used regularly, they're not just dust collectors. The floral arrangement was given to me by one of the children after their afternoon walk with their father.

If Red Hill had an emblem or symbol I think it would be the Bush Turkey, also known as the Scrub Turkey or the Brush Turkey. Not one of Mother Nature's prettiest beasts.

This one was snapped at our front gate.