Why?

We have been living in this grumpy house for around five years. Renovating it bit by bit. Finally we see some light at the end of the renovating tunnel and the next year or two we will do nothing other than normal maintenance (which can be more than enough when I come to think of it!).

One of the last things we do in this round of renovating is to isolate and windproof the oldest part of our house. We thought there would be a small layer of isolation material so all we had to do was to add an extra layer.

Again our old house surprises us- there was nothing- NOTHING! I ask myself WHY?
People have been living in this house for over a 100 years and no one have thought of isolation? At all?
This part of the house has been an apartment, a bed room and is now our tv room. Did they like to freeze?
I have spent five FREEZING winters in front of the telly- I did not enjoy it!
We have so cold, damp and windful winters around here. I don`t get it. I`m probably stupid.

WHY?

Unisolated wall soon to be isolated :)

Homemade tortillas and grumpy house mould attack

Today 2 good things happened when I got home.

1) the mould growing in our apt to let is not dangerous and very common everywhere (puh!), it is just a question of my tenants to learn how to live in a grumpy old house. They better behave or grumpy house comes back with a new mould attack!!
(seriously?- my tenants are great and we have all been worried! better now :D )

2) I tried making tortillas and they were very good!
Here is the recipe- simple- try it!

2 cups flour
1,5 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoons salt
2 teaspoons oil ( I used sunflower)
3/4 cups warm water

Mix the dry, then blend in the wet, knead the dough for a couple of minutes, let it rest around 20 min.
With a rolling pin make round tortillas and fry them in a dry frying pan (no fat!) for about 30 sec on each side.
Very very good indeed!


Have a brilliant weekend! We will finally see some sunshine- YEY!

I don`t play around- I am a superduper housewife!!

Instead of our regular (ok- maybe not that regular..) sundaytrip we decided to stay at home today. This encouraged me to do some serious housewifing. So far I have baked and decorated two cakes, baked two different types of bread and a rustique meat soup is cooking on the stove (the kind that you have to cook for hours of course).
Soon I will sort out the laundry, change linens, make my grumpy kids happy ( in a very educational way) and read aloud a chapter of Harry Potter 3. Tonight I will relax with a smile on my face- looking my absolute best!

Old townhouse had a little surprise for us today as well- all of a sudden our balcony door was impossible to close, but Mr Grumpy fixed it straight away. He is, as me, on top of everything- it is our philosophy.

How good have you been today?

Style? what? which?

I find it difficult to stick to one style when decorating. There are so many nice things out there! I have tried shabby chic but got bored of it, I love the minimalistic nordic style but it is slightly too cold so I always end up filling spaces with those unecessary out of fashion ornaments ( I have an eye for that industrial look too when I think of it).

I do not think I am alone ending up with a mixed style. I am quite picky about what I like so sometimes people say my style is cool others just raise their eyebrows. I always end up mixing authentic and new retro stuff, old and new furniture, modern chic and kitch. Some might call it an eclectic or bohemian style, but it doesn`t really matter what you call it does it? If you like it and your home feels like just that- a home- well in my opinion you are successful. Let`s face it- overstyled homes are boring. (One should not be afraid of spilling that red wine late at night.)


This style tells me this is a home- not a showroom (ok- maybe it is a mixed showroom home...).
One day maybe I will be this good at mixing!

More eyecandy to be found here.  Happy (or frustrating) decorating!

Paint tip!

Use floor paint for skirtings, windows or other surfaces exposed for rough use. It is water based, easy to apply, have almost no smell and you still get that nice shiny result that looks good! We have used it to repaint our kitchen, windows and skirtings. Very happy with it so far- we will see if it stands the test of time. All paint manufacturers have a line of floor paint- we have used Beckers.
Happy painting!

Quaint house

Found this- I love reading about quaint houses tucked inbetween its neighbours:

http://www.ideastosteal.com

Ground rule

First things first- do not even think of living in an old house without being prepared for a lot of work! It needs your constant attention! Like a child unattended you never know what the next surprise will be. Funny enough surprises always cost a LOT of money. Well- time to go to bed. Good night!