Bummer.

I have a dilemma... I've been ignoring it since I moved in, but being a perfectionist, I'm having a hard time with the thought of revealing my house at this point.

My living room is 'comfortable' (aka I can't afford to buy new furniture at the moment so I'm making do with what I have). I have a vaulted ceiling and have canvas prints I quite like on the tall wall but I have no idea what to put on the smaller wall. My TV and entertainment center is in the corner - but the wall is over 15' long but only 8' high. I don't even know where to put anything!!

Morning all. EZ thank you so much for contacting Dave, I just hope he is going to be ok. I hope he can get back to us after he sees his doctor, it is a very worrying time.

Angela, glad your procedure went well and hope you will enjoy the benefits. Rest now and let your body heal, anything with anaesthetic causes more trauma to the body than we often realise.

How crazy is that artwork. Love to hear Mendi's opinion on it. That sort of thing is what bugs me about the whole art world, it is such a snobby pretentious thing. I wonder who painted it that they can justify that price tag. Actually LAdd sent me a photo of some colouring in the Little Bloke did - 4 years old and it is almost perfect. She said it took him hours to do he was just being so careful, quite unusual in a boy that age.

OMG, it is 13 deg here right now and I am freezing. Very overcast and looks like it is about to rain. I wish it would the garden is getting too dry. Maybe I will turn the sprinkers on - usually rains once I water ......... or hang washing out.

Anyway, I have a date with my sewing machine today and perfect weather for it. Catch you all later.

Area rug! No, I'm just kidding. When you have the $$$ a lighter, patterned area rug would look good. All you really need is some art work above the two chairs. For the party, create a giant birthday card or two, and tack it to the wall, and have your guests sign in with a little note!

Robin -- don't stress yourself out! People are coming to celebrate your birthday (and your co-worker's), they are not there to critique your interior design. They know it's a work in progress and I know they'll be impressed by what you've done so far. If we waited until everything was perfect (in our eyes), we'd never have anyone over!

At my housewarming, I had so many compliments and I hadn't hardly done a thing yet -- no paint, no drapes, no artwork, nothing... I keep thinking I should throw another party so everyone can see how it looks NOW!

So do what you think you have to do, and don't worry about the rest of it. Just have a good time!

After enough booze no one will notice anything, I promise.

Robin, you sound like me at the moment (another perfectionist) and I am giving myself waaaaaaaaaay too many panic attacks trying to achieve the impossible. I know I just can't do all the cleaning out I want to do so I'm now just boxing it all away but keeping it accessible so in the months to come I can work through box at a time without impacting on the rest of the house. Firstly, take a step back from everything, go through your list and cross off everything that is not 150% necessary. Basically you want the the house to present well, so tidying and cleaning is first, but take as many short cuts as possible, I'm sure no one is going to check under the bed. What has to be done in the bathroom that will take a full day? Stop trying to impress and be human. If the stairs don't get fixed put a sign on them "Warning - work in progress". Add a few other funny signs around things you won't get done but I'm sure everyone will be having too much fun to really notice.

Your wall is begging for some height isn't it. Eight feet ceilings are the norm here so it is no big deal for us. Why not for now just put some artwork there or buy some cheap photo frames and do a collage of photos. Check out on Houzz there are some great layout ideas. I also found one time from here an online site selling artwork that comprised a collage of up to 8 pictures. I'm looking at that idea for my lounge room to spread a photo further acrosss the wall - my wall is 15 ft also. I will see if I can find the website again.

When it comes to food - do you have a Costco near you. My LAdd did Thanksgiving for the family last year and got everything in Costco, a lot of things came pre-prepared or on platters. It was voted the best Thanksgiving ever and she has been nominated official family Thanksgiving hostess.

Found the website - http://www.outletsart.com

Tried to attach an example but it didn't work.

For food prep, I'm throwing together a few salads and maybe making some cookies or something. I told everyone to bring whatever they want to cook on the BBQ and a dessert so I'm just supplying some veggies and salads.

The current problem with the bathroom is its falling apart. I've barely touched it in the 1.5 years I've lived here. It has a very narrow walkway between the vanity and the wall - so narrow I'm a bit concerned we might land up having to do an extrication with some of my friends (EMS is not known for its athletically inclined folk). There's only 22" there... so I'm pulling the old one, throwing up some paint while its out then putting in a more narrow one. I'm banking on a day to do that.

I really like the idea of big birthday cards on the wall! I'll have to dig out the crayons!!

I just found CHOCOLATE in my mailbox! From two different sources! One, a gift from one of my clients as a thank you, the other a gift from my book keeper... what are the odds that a) i'd have not one but two nummie chocolate treats in my mailbox the same day and 2) that neither of them are melted messes?

Hooray!!! I love awesome surprises like that!!!

Well done, Robin, that sounds like an Aussie BBQ - BYO everything so everyone gets to enjoy.

That bathroom job sounds way too much - what if you find something nasty when you pull the vanity out. Leave well alone - who knows you might even prompt some of your friends to become more active and that can only be a good thing. Be more positive, next time your friends come they will see the totally new bathroom so they get to see the full before and after. I went to a house showing once and the vanity in the bathroom was so big you had to step into the bath to get to the loo - I kid you not. For a $1m house it was ridiculous.

Some large sheets of art paper on the walls sounds like fun and the more alcohol is consumed the funnier it will get. You will be blackmailing people for evermore.

Kimdee, that's so cool!

Roo, I gave you my best advice and you yelled at me :((

EZ - just spotted your beds - are they for real? Bags not doing the dusting. Reminds me of the $7,000+ baby cots Aja posted. Three bears are clever but the whole thing is way too pretentious for me.

I think Houzz is having a hiccup.

Which advice was that Bobbi - you are always telling me off.

Well, I thought I was giving you caring supportive advice. So never mind, I won't give you any at all anymore.

I just got a Mother's Day card from my 12 year old.

"To Mom
Even though we fight I still love you with all my heart.

And Houzz cut out my emoticons. Bah.

Awwwww!

Awwwww, don't be like that Bobbi, you do give good advice but I can't remember what I yelled at you about.

Robin, wait till your kids get older one of my dd's cards read "Mom, what can I say? You gave me life ................ so really you only have yourself to blame!

Talking MD - Bobbi that is so good DS telephoned you. Some good has come out of the going to the wedding .......... hopefully.

Omg. I just choked on my dinner!

She has my warped sense of humour.

Roo, you YELLED AT ME for giving you good advice :((

Robin, that's exactly why I never eat rice anymore! I always end up choking on it!!!

Bobbi - I don't know why, it takes a lot to make me yell and that is what worries me more.

Don't worry about it, I'm over it :))

My robovac is now is Sacrademento! Only 90 minutes from me! Woo hoo!

Tomorrow, Bobbi! I hope my stuff comes too! *fingers crossed*

Eztia -- that is one pricy bed!

For $70000 I sure hope it makes itself!!!

I would want it to sing me to sleep too.

Just heard from LAdd - they have had a fun afternoon, a bear came down from the mountains into their neighbourhood. DD had a helicopter circling her house, there were 3 others in the air searching too and police cars up and down her street. Miss 6 does early school classes and had just gotten home but was most disappointed as the school was in lock down till 4pm. The bear was finally caught and tranquillised in a backyard but not before it had frightened the three people swimming in the pool at the time. DD noted they managed to grab their drinks as they ran into the house - that is important!!!!

Have I ever mentioned how much I despise styrofoam? Why does everything come packed in it? I think it should be illegal. I had mountains of it from various things and I had to bust it all up and put it into garbage bags, and it's stuck all over my clothes and everything else. Awful stuff. But.... I finally got all the cardboard boxes and packaging gone from my garage and out for the recycle truck.

Join the club KD - I wonder if it ever breaks down. When my joeys were growing up they went through a phase where they put it in the oven and it went like playdough. I'm surprised my oven survived, they used to put chip and twisties packs in too and they shrivelled up to a fraction of their size.

I don't think it does break down, ever. It's horrible. We have an excellent refuse facility here, they actually dump all the garbage collected on to a huge floor and sort out all the stuff. I don't know what they do with the styrofoam, I hope it doesn't go into the landfill.

@Eztia - That must be "Goldilocks & the 3 Bears", because the bush nearby has been cut into 3 different size bears!! All of those beds are "too much" for me!!

@kinmdee and olldroo, the only good repurposing of styrofoam i've found is to use it in the bottom of very large container gardens to save on the cost of potting soil and keep them from being to heavy. i also turn plastic pots upside down and then pour styro peanuts around them. this only works in biggies as the styro will clot over time.

Another interesting use of styrofoam is making lightweight concrete. When I was in college, one of the annual engineering contests was the concrete canoe races. One of the techniques used was to substitute styrofoam beads for gravel in the concrete

In concrete, really! That's neat. I have used some of the scraps, as DIAspoton mentioned, to pack the pots of my 'faux' cedar trees on my upper deck, trying to get them to stop leaning over in the wind.

Have you seen the faux Styrofoam that dissolves in water? It's made from corn starch, and as long as it stays dry it's just as good.

Diaspoton, have used styrofoam this way too and I have often noticed when I buy plants the potting mix seems to have beads mixed in - maybe it helps keep the soil loose.

Linda - do you have Hebel blocks there? They are a lightweight aerated concrete block that works the same as a normal block without the weight.

Haven't seen the one that dissolves in water but I know it melts in the oven. Can't remember what the girls did with it now - only that they were under threat of extinction if they got any stuck in the oven.

I don't know if it keeps the soil looser, or if it's a cheap filler they use to save money!

Didn't realise the full effect of the bear story until I read my SIL's FB page today. Apparently after NewTown the school implemented a lockdown proceedure and put the kids through regular practices as well as organising a recorded phone message to go out to all parents. So they didn't frighten the little ones they told them it was in case a bear ever came down from the mountains and into the school. Although dd had just picked Miss 6 up from school, they still got the phone call. SIL was still shaking at the call "school here, the school is in lockdown". How sickening would that be!!!! DD sent me a video of 3 helicopters just hovering right above their house, which is very close to the school too and at that point they had no idea what was going on.

Good point Bobbi, but I do think it has merit.

@olldroo, the white beads in potting mix are a mineral called vermiculite. it helps keep the soil fluffy and happy. it's good mixed with peatmoss for soil less growing.
styrofoam does the opposite. it compacts but is lightweight and bulky and free if you're re-using packaging materials. it just helps to fill the lower portion of pots.

Linda - that use of styrofoam for light weight concrete, sounds like it could only work for something that wasn't under compression or load-bearing, or it would collapse, I'd imagine.

I'm chuckling to myself - if only I was in the US where Styrofoam gets delivered with EVERYTHING. I had to order 8 huge backs of Styrofoam peanuts (along with some gravel). I find they are super useful for drainage at the bottom of planting bamboo. I also had to be sure it wasn't one that dissolved in water (that would have ruined the purpose!)

AVS, had I known, I would have happily sent you five garbage bags full of it!

Antoinette - me too; here you have to recycle them, and because there are different types of peanuts now, the vendor who said they'd accept them, doesn't want to have to separate them!