Our House
As a child I loved loved LOVED playing in my Wendy house. It was in very bad shape – a big hole in the roof and a door that wouldn’t close and a sand floor. The asbestos (wheeze) walls which had never been painted, made the inside very dark but I didn’t care, I had my dishcloth and my dolls and I played house with my one old wire chair. It was my own private space where nobody would disturb me (this may have had something to do with the massive spider population with which I shared the place) and quite honestly, as the fourth child, if I was busy playing and out of everyone’s hair, everyone was pretty happy. Seriously I had an awesome and imaginative childhood.
Whenever we go to friends or to a play area that has a little house my 2 chicks are drawn like moths to a flame and I end up having to drag them out kicking and screaming when it’s time to go home. So when a friend of mine, Yvonne said she had a little house that her kids had finished playing with, I jumped at the opportunity to bring the little house home.
It was a surprise for the girls, so when they saw it for the first time, set up in the corner of the garden, they went berserk with excitement! Both of them started emitting high-pitched sounds (that only neighborhood dogs could hear) and they ran around in circles in the garden, too excited to go near it.
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| BEFORE |
Now Yvonne is probably the kindest and most generous person that I have ever had the good fortune to meet, so she also sent along the entire contents of the house, which included a princess kitchen (with all the bells and whistles), a dressing table with a heart-shaped mirror, table, chairs, ironing boards, toaster, kettle, cutlery and crockery etc the list just goes on, the girls can almost start a catering company with all they have in there. She also sent along beautiful material for curtains and fun stickers for the walls.
Some of the items that they had received for inside the house were a bit dusty and needed a wipe so I thought this was the perfect opportunity to teach the girls to clean their own stuff before arranging it as they saw fit. They were only too happy to jump in and help, especially when the bucket of warm soapy water arrived, fun fun fun. I didn’t help at all, I just wiped the remaining water off because their idea of wipe the item vs. bath the item, are very similar. I arrived with refreshments (after 5 minutes of cleaning) and Tomato, panting from the massive exertion of cleaning for 5 minutes, wipes her brow with her arm and says “Mommy, I feel just like Cinderella!” I’m assuming this is Cinderella before the invite to the Ball, but she was just thrilled to be able to relate to her favorite character that she didn’t mind cleaning at all. Bacon lost a bit of interest and just wanted to get into the house but Tomato finished off and before long was ready to move the furniture in.
I gave them a few minutes to decide where the furniture should go and then I helped move it in for them and then left again while they packed their shelves and the lighter stuff into the house. When they were settled in I was invited for tea. There was a big cordoned off space in the one corner. In response to my puzzled expression, Tomato matter-of-factly pointed out that this was, of course, the naughty corner for her sister. No house is complete without a naughty corner apparently. Anyway my tea was a bit muddy and leafy but all-in-all it was a good cuppa made with love by Tomato and Bacon.
Well the house was in good nick but needed a little bit of freshening up so Dad set off with the girls to Builder’s Warehouse. Even though he only needed to replace a few rotting planks on the patio (yes they even have a patio) they came back with everything bar the kitchen sink (and that was only because they already have one from Aunty Yvonne) and paint swatches (pink and purple – duh!) Excitement was running high.
The renovation plan read as follows:
Objective: Restore Fairy Cottage for new owners
1. Remove and replace rotting wood on patio floor – Dad
2. Sand and adjust door to close properly – Dad
3. Install new door latches and hooks:
a. to hook open – Dad
b. to hook closed – Dad
c. to hang pretty things on outside – Dad
d. to hang pretty things on inside – Dad
4. Install ceiling board with Think Pink Aerolite (I kid you not!) – Dad
5. Fit wall-to-wall carpeting (with 2 loose triangle carpets as requested by owners) – Dad
6. Installation of solar powered baby Chinese hanging lanterns inside and outside to gain maximum evening use – Dad
7. Sand and paint exterior in pastel pink with lavender detail – Cosmos (painter extraordinaire)
8. Decorate interior with bunnies and flowers – owners
9. Custom made curtains with matching tie backs, scatter cushions and aprons – Meema
Well I am pleased to say that all the items have been completed and the owners moved into their Fairy Cottage on Sunday. They managed to sleep in the house until 12am when they needed to be moved back to the main house.
I would have given anything to have had a Wendy house like this – this is truly every little girl’s dream 🙂
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| AFTER |
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| HAPPY OWNER |
