House and Garden *July*

Another month has gone past and a few new things have happened in our house and garden.

The winter is still here, but we have had a few nice, warm days so there are still possibilities to do a bit of work in the garden.

Since last time - the IKEA shelf has arrived! Believe it or not! The hope of getting it transported over the ditch (from Australia) had almost gone, so the surprise was big when a delivery confirmation was received. Not the best customer service from the company. However, we are very happy with the shelf. It fits perfectly into our living room and it looks like it is made for the wall.
Here it is:

The long awaited shelf has arrived!

The books are not alphabetized or sorted after colour, but some are archived by writer.
I have collected books of some writers during the years and like to have them inside the same box. The ceramic figurine is from Scandinavian mythology about a girl called Åslaug from Spangereid who became the queen of Denmark. Long story and if you want to read more, have a look here.

A little sidetracked for a moment..... :)

The garden is in winter mood at the moment. There have been a bit of rain and wind lately and for "a garden enthusiast in sun only" the backyard has been a bit quiet. However, we have made a veggie garden ready for tomatoes, peppers, peas and mini carrots seeds...
I have planted some seeds in a container to see if they actually grow at this time of the year. Some of the seeds are supposed to be planted in the autumn and I am afraid we may be a bit late for it and may have to wait until spring now. So a bit of testing is necessary. The whole planting seeds during the winter thing is unbelievable for a Scandinavian, so that is another reason for testing - testing - testing.... :)

The veggie garden is ready. Bring it on!

The herbs have not come back.

Some few tulip bulbs were planted a while ago. One pot with green!!! tulips and one with soft pink tulips. They are supposed to blossom early and late spring and I don't remember which one is first, so just have to wait.

Three tulips on the way. Can you see them? Not the best picture, sorry.

....and here is the best one...
TAM-TAM-TAM-TAM (roll of drums through the blog).
My dear handyman has made 1 piece of jacket rack for our hallway and it looks really good!
The material is from a rimu plank (native tree) found underneath the house. It is the same material used for the flooring all over the house so it must be good (the house is old). The pegs are bought at Mitre10 and I think it looks a lot like the shelf we found at Design Denmark.

 

The plan is to make one more, this time with a shelf above, like this one. The dream is to also have a bench underneath where you can sit down and have a rest when the shoes don't fit after a long day in the sun in our backyard.
Underneath the bench I would like to have a couple of baskets for scarfs and hats or sunscreen and sunhats depending on what season it is.
One day you will probably see another picture from our hallway.

The new blinds were installed the other day. It looks really good and it was nice to have the old, dark and dominating blinds from the living room and kitchen removed. Curtains are booked and should be here in 3-4 weeks. All the bedrooms will then be equipped with cappuccino colored curtains with thermal lining for colder days.

See you in August :)

Have a good weekend from Torhild and the handyman