We have just arrived home from one of the most relaxing weeks ever.  It's been a rather intense and busy year, especially the last few months, and we just desperately needed some time away together as a family to rest, relax and recoup.

Growing up, I have such warm memories of family camping trips up to Cape Reinga (Tapotupotu) and also in later years staying at a classic kiwi bach at Pataua.  I am so thankful to my Dad & Mum for those fabulous memories of exploring beaches, the ocean, eating seafood and of course a whole lot of surfing.  Once we became parents ourselves, with 4 children camping seemed a bit overwhelming, and a super tight budget meant the bach experience was out of our reach. I often felt rather sad that I could never give our children some of the experiences that I grew up having.

All that changed in recent years with my amazing Uncle & Aunt's beach house.  This place is set in a local beach in our area and is surrounded by so many places to explore.  They have generously allowed our family to stay there numerous times and the memories made have been so precious.

This last week had one goal - relax.  It took us a day or two to unwind (the flu and a head cold for Symon & I didn't help), but by the end of our week we were all declaring it the most restful week away ever.  We read, did puzzles, explored local beaches and walks, played board games, watched DVD's and most importantly spent time with each other.

The views were amazing...

The people we hung out with were the best...

We explored...

And made new friends...

It's taken a while, but we've finally completed our dining room reno, and I'm so excited to share some of the photos with you!!

Our dining room is the heart of our home.  This room is the first room many people enter into when they come into our home (not many people use our front door!) and the room where most of the family sits to eat, play, socialise and read.  Off this room is our kitchen, master bedroom and toilet/bathroom, hallway to the rest of the house as well as one of our lounges... so with that in mind, this place can get rather busy!

This room is one of the very original rooms of our old bungalow.  When we first looked at this house to buy it, this room was listed as a third lounge, and used as a thoroughfare room into the kitchen area and other rooms (see photo from previous owner's house listing below).  

We immediately started using the space as a dining room with a large, old 8 seater wooden table we found on Trademe!  Even with our reno complete, we've decided to keep this old table in it's 'old' state, as we want life to happen in this space, without people fussing over marking or scratching the table.  Maybe one day we will restore it, but for now we love it just as it is, marks and all.

Although the walls in this space were dark wood and this room hardly had any natural light, we knew once the kitchen wall had been pulled down, and the walls lightened, that this space would be beautiful.  We thought long and hard over the decision to paint these beautiful wooden walls, especially knowing that the owners before the last ones had worked hard to bring back the wood to it's original state - but we decided in the end that we just had to go with our hearts and lighten up the space by painting it, and now that it's finished, we love it!!  It joins our new kitchen area and makes the two spaces which once felt quite separate finally feel like one big space.

A few before and afters (I apologise in advance for all the photos - with 4 angles in this room I wanted to include each view):

Before...

We absolutely love our wooden and brick fireplace surround.  The fireplace is a wetback, connected to our hot water cylinder in the cupboard to the left.

Other angles of the room:

Before...

I just love my Beswick ducks!  These used to hang on my Great Grandma's wall and I remember exactly where they were.  My Nana lovingly gifted them to me last Christmas (thank you so much June Nan!).

To see more/all of our renovations, click here.