1) Show us your house as it is, right now

For more 12 in 2012 posts click here.

So here it is, my house in its mostly natural state.

 I'm standing at the far end of my house looking down the hallway to the other end of it here.  So the first thing to say about my house is that it is small, just over 100sqm.  It was built in 1959 and is an ex state house.  For any New Zealand readers, that's actually all I need to say.  You will all have a pretty accurate mental picture of my house.  For those of you not New Zealanders, successive NZ governments built houses for NZers to rent, and those of the 1950s and 1960s are both prolific, and pretty much the same: weatherboard exterior - check, small size - check, native timber used throughout - check, lamentable shortage of storage space and general space for modern appliances etc - check.  However, we also have something of the holy grail of state houses from this era.  Our living areas face NORTH! I know, and not only that, but we have huge windows in the living room as well.

Check out the size of these things.  Also in the interests of full disclosure, yes the net curtains used to go to the bottom of the window, but they have started to disintegrate and we haven't bothered to get new ones yet (if we ever do).

So lets take a closer look at some parts of my house.

My kitchen table.  Its not normally quite so messy, but this is pretty close.  Currently home to my overlocker, a half finished nappy, two jars of pears, a fruit bowl, assorted drawings and pencils, a box of screws and DH's headphones up on the far right of the table.  This is one of those areas of my house that I really like to be tidy, but which seldom is.  Now whenever you see a shot of something on said table, you can imagine all the other stuff I shoved out of the way to take the photo.

My kitchen floor.  Why am I showing you a really dirty floor? Well yesterday it was not only swept, but mopped as well.  And now it looks like a family of squirrels has been living on it for a month.  Mopping this floor is the most disheartening thing I do, in a matter of minutes it looks like I haven't done anything.

The toy corner of the living room.  Despite appearances this can be tidied into the suitcase relatively easily, and it can't be immediately seen when you walk in the room.

Our toilet.  DH re gibbed and plastered half of the toilet, but we need to replace the toilet and redo the piping before he can do the other side.  Apparently at some ill defined point in the future, he and his father will do the plumbing themselves, and then we will have a proper wall again.

That's my house as it is right now.  Despite having lots of storage issues, I really do like it.  But if you thought I was a neat person, hopefully I've set you a little straighter.  My house gets messier than this, and tidier as well.  Every time you think, wow how does she find the time for that, remember my kitchen table, or the overflowing toys.  My house is far from perfect (and so is my life for that matter).