Author Archives: zefiart

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About zefiart

Blogger, DIY-er, poodle lover, graphic designer, dog groomer, recycler, artist, wonder woman in my spare time.

a special find

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I found the most gorgeous step ladder EVER.

I was picking up Wayne at work when I noticed this beauty in the middle of the training room.

You know me. I have an eye for special things. And this is special.

I had to have it. Turns out it belonged to a good friend of mine so I made an offer and this gorgeous stepladder is now living at my place.

Its in great condition considering its very old. There’s some staining on the timber and the middle step has broken off. Nothing a bit of sanding and gluing can’t fix.

(You don’t want to know what I paid for it, but I think it was worth it.)
I already have a spot planned for this baby. I’m going to put it in the entry/pantry.
This is the plan:
The entry to our house is a tiny little area which holds the fridge and the pantry cupboard I moved from the living room. (Minus its doors as the space is too cramped for doors.) Eventually I’d like to build a custom pantry which will go over the fridge to maximise storage space. 
This is what I’d like to build (from DIY Showoff).
The main problem, however, is that any pantry will be high and I can’t easily reach things on the top shelves.
This is where the step ladder comes in.
With a custom built pantry cupboard I’ll have a spot for the ladder to sit, keeping it handy for when I need to step up and get something from a top shelf…
…With the added benefit of looking pretty and being one of the first things I’ll see when I enter the house.
The custom pantry is a long way away, especially since I’m told that making it out of galvanised pipe will 
cost me an arm and a leg, so there’s no rush to fix this beauty up, but I’m sure glad I have it!
z

goodbye to some dear friends

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I have some dear friends who’ve been there for me through thick and thin, through the good times and the bad… I’m really quite attached to them.
I’m talking about my Blundstone boots.
Tasmanian made, all Australian, tough and comfortable. 
I love them. They’re the first boots I bought after moving to Tasmania in 2003. They’re 10 years old now.
All in all that’s a pretty good run for boots… They’ve been failing for a while now and I’ve been planning to throw them out every time we go to the tip, but somehow I can never bring myself to take that final step.
Sometimes you just have to face facts and admit that its time to let go.

When I had my first litter of standard poodle puppies they chewed off a pull tab so its been hard to get one of the boots on for years.

Then last year something in the vamp seemed to collapse and make them uncomfortable to wear, but I persevered and we got past that hickup.

They have scuff marks from kicking weeds, scratches from having things dropped on them, dints where I used them to prop up doors when screwing in hinges. They have at least 3 different colour paint splotches on them from when I wore them while painting my house in Fentonbury first, then here later…

When the soles gave way I knew it was time to say goodbye.

*sniff*

To make matters worse, the boots I bought for riding are starting to smile. And they’re only about 3 years old and nowhere near as comfortable for all day wear as the blunnies…

On the upside, I can now buy myself a new pair of Blundstones…

🙂

z

getting there slowly – kitchen update

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Not much has actually happened in the kitchen yet, so the title of this post is misleading. However things are going to be happening. Soon, I hope.
This is where things are at.
Handyman has been over and worked on the end of the porch till he ran out of wood. That’s semi enclosed for now and already making a difference when its really hot, and today when the wind picked up and it rained horizontally.
Yesterday evening we sat on the bench at the end of the garden and looked back at the house and I’m loving how its looking. I love the enclosed end of the porch and the way the retaining wall frames the house.
Just squint a little and picture the painting finished… perhaps with some decorative corners on the posts…
Meanwhile the electrician has put in the new meter box and the gooseneck thingy where the power comes into the house. We’re waiting on the electricity company to come move the power before we can put the new window in the kitchen and finish lining the walls.
All the power points have been moved and we now have a power point outside for those times when you need power outdoors. Power has been pulled to where it’ll be needed for the new stove, dishwasher and rangehood.
My kitchen maker has been to confirm measurements and will be placing the order on Tuesday (Monday is a public holiday here) and thinks the new kitchen will be ready to install in 3 weeks.
That means that the week before we need to rip out the old kitchen bench and cabinets, lift the lino and masonite on the floor and hopefully find floorboards in decent condition. If so, I’ll need to give them a sand in preparation for the new cabinets to go in. If not we’ll be putting the masonite back and organising vinyl for the new floor.
I really hope we have nice floorboards.
Soon as I get the precise measurements for the new benchtop I can give them to Handyman so he can start making it. Then it can go in soon as the cabinets are in place.
I’ll have to organise delivery of the stove, rangehood and dishwasher so the kitchen can be put together at the same time. I think… The timing of this still kind of stumps me.
I know I need to organise a plumber gasfitter to come get everything ready for the stove and sink before they’re put in place, then come back to connect them up…
Ditto with the electrician when he puts in the bits he needs to wire in.
Remind me never to do something like this again…
Meanwhile I found this little beauty at the tip shop while looking for something else. I think it might be the perfect mobile island bench for the new kitchen. All it needs is new handles, a bit of TLC, a shelf and castors. Oh, and a new top to match the benchtop Handyman is making.
On another note, the garden is going well. I’m waiting for 3 of the 4 of these plants-who’s-name-I-have-forgotten to bloom so I can decide if and where I’ll put them in the garden. I love the pink but I don’t want red.
Wierd, but I don’t remember planting these seeds… Remember, I never wanted yellow flowers in my garden and now I have plenty of yellow flowers.
Oh well. The garden is a work in progress. I can always dig up, pull out and move things I don’t like.
Yesterday I planted a ton more seeds in pots so hopefully they’ll start sprouting soon and I can add them to the garden. There are already a few things which are ready to be put in. Its just a matter of deciding where they should go and put them in.
I’ll have a pretty garden yet!
z

barbed wire hearts

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Its been a long time since I shared any creative projects.
I’ve been busy OK?
Anyway, here are a few (bad) pics I took of some barbed wire hearts I made not too long ago.
I found some barbed wire at one of the tip shops and collected it to make some hearts. Once the basic heart shapes were made (thanks Wayne, you’re a wire genius and not afraid of barbs), I used finer wire to decorate the hearts.
First I made a spider web. I used some craft glue blobs to create a dew-drop look on the web.

Another is a bit more random in curls and webs.

Last is an extra curly one with pink wire highlights.

One of these days I’ll get creative again. Meanwhile I’ll be better off diverting my creative energy to clean out the guest room. And the office. And paint the railing on the porch.

Strangely enough I’m actually looking forward to actually doing all that. I just can’t seem to find the time!

z

the holes in the wall – kitchen update

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The kitchen renovation has stalled. I already mentioned this before but haven’t given an update of where we’re at.

Handyman has been here and has been working but he’s been diverted cause we realized that the power points had to be moved before he could finish pine lining the wall. I mean, he could only work on the 2 walls as it was as we’re waiting on the power company to move the power so he can put in the new window before he can pine line the front wall…

Its all about doing things in order.

Usually I realize I’m getting ahead of myself after I’ve already made plans for something, then I have to stop it to backtrack and get something else done first.

And when I say “I” I mean Handyman. I plan, he has to do.

So for over a week now this is what our kitchen wall looks like.

A bit more rustic than I’d like.

Meanwhile, we’ve kept Handyman busy. He’s put the ceiling and insulation in the mud room (I should take pics huh?) And he’s started enclosing the end of the porch as per Wayne’s instructions.

See, when it rains here the rain comes in at an angle and almost everything on the porch gets wet. If its wet and windy simultaneously everything on the porch gets wet. So having part of it enclosed, especially near the door, will provide a bit of protection from the weather. We won’t have to worry about soggy boots this winter.

The windows removed from the kitchen are going into this new enclosed area.

So far only one side has been done. Eventually I’ll be painting this all the same colour as the house so it won’t look this dark.

This could be the right place for my plastic chandelier… though its too long to hang there unless you’re only as tall as Chipmunk.

I wonder if Chipmunk would like a chandelier in his little stable shed? He’s a special boy, he deserves a special home, right?

z

redlands – dream garden

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There’s a place just outside New Norfolk which I’ve always wanted to visit, and last weekend Wayne and I finally found the time to go and have a look around. Its called Redlands and used to be a huge farm with lots of outbuildings like its own blacksmith, bakery, distillery, etc.

It still has a distillery where they make their own whiskey and schnapps. Good stuff. Oh, and the bakery is also a going concern now – its not open for visitors but it bakes artisan bread which is sold through some local shops.

You know I’m a sucker for old signs.

And old buildings. The distillery shop is inside what looks like it may have once been a dairy, wonderful stone floors and thick stone walls. Unfortunately the photos I took inside suck.

This is part of the distillery.

Then of course there are tons of old buildings, some in better conditions that others. I’m not sure if they’re in use or not.

This is the old oast house.

This is the workers’ quarters. Amazing. There’s talk they want to restore these rooms as tourist accommodation. 

I love it all. Especially the garden. Its the kind of garden I dream of… the kind of garden I would have loved to grow up with. Its the kind of garden fairies flit around in and leprechauns live in.

There are trees with branches which hang down to the ground, creating ideal secret hiding places… love the sitting area comprised of tree stumps under these birches.

The ducks enjoy a bit of shade on a hot day.

No garden is complete without a cubby house!

And the flowers! Huge trees with hydrangeas growing happily underneath them.

Stone wall fences and more hydrangeas… old fashioned and new varieties. Beautiful. And much happier than mine in the shade of the big trees.

If I had this canopy over my garden I’d spend more time sitting in the garden reading or just relaxing.

I love Redlands. Our garden will never look like that. But hopefully I’ll soon have a garden full of pretty flowers and interesting corners. And an area to sit and relax in the shade.
z

dancer is home!

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Our girlie is back!

Dancer’s been away for a long time… we took her to be broken in to saddle before I went to Greece last year, then, for one reason or another, her return was put off again and again.

Over the last few months I’ve been going down to visit her and having a few rides to get used to her (and her used to me and my clumsy ways). But now our girlie is back home, finally.

She’s looking gorgeous. She’s such a sweet-natured girl. But she’s green. And I’m not the best rider in the world. I mean, I never was the best rider in the world, but I had balance and I could stick to a horse back then.

Makes sense that after many many years of not riding, many many additional kilos, compounded with middle age, that I’d get myself a green horse to ride. I got myself a pair of sticky-bum jodhpurs but I’d need superglue-bum jodhpurs to stay on if Dancer jumps sideways suddenly…

Anyway, Jenny has done a wonderful job in schooling her. If you have a horse you need broken I highly recommend her. Dancer is responsive to a light touch, a shift of weight and a squeeze of the thighs. Suits me perfectly in one way as I’ve always had soft hands. Doesn’t suit me at all (yet) in another as my balance is still off… I’m still riding like the sack of potatoes my first riding teacher used to accuse us of being.

That will improve with time and more riding.

I hope.

Gotta go.

I have a horse to ride!

z

the tshirts which almost ended us

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I forgot to mention another thing I did do over the last month or so while I’ve been feeling unproductive…

I did the T-shirts for the work camp.

I’ll go to my grave insisting that Wayne asked me if I wanted to design the T-shirts.

He’ll insist to his grave that he asked me to make the T-shirts.

I would never have agreed to hand draw 38 T-shirts! Even if I had agreed to hand-draw 38 images there’s no way on earth I’d have agreed to hand write anything. My hand-lettering sucks.

Big time.

That’s why I use a computer!

The idea was that there’d be 6 teams (which soon became 7), each team would have a different colour T and a different native animal as their name. The animals had already been chosen. I designed 7 different logos for the teams. (Excuse the pics, the colours are all off.)

The camp staff needed their own Ts representing all the teams. That was another 5 T-shirts. (This is supposed to be a white T!)

Anyway, the fronts were done easily enough. Despite a lot of hard work and a lot of swearing. I suggested we use iron-on transfers for the backs since there was no way I’d get the type done otherwise.

Took me 3 solid days of drawing and ironing but the Ts came out great.

I did mess up one… or three… Ok, only one drawing was really stuffed up (though a few of the goannas looked like they’d been run over by a truck) cause I started really big and found that there was no way I could make the images that large and hope to use the fabric pens to do it.

I stuffed up a couple of the iron-ons as well. Some didn’t peel off properly cause the iron wasn’t hot enough, others got cooked a bit cause the iron was too hot.

Ugh.

Apparently the T-shirts were a hit on the camp.

z

what i have and haven’t done

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Despite all rumours to the contrary, I haven’t been abducted by aliens, I’m not in some out of the way hospital with amnesia and I’m not lying dead in a ditch.

Although, when I look around the house right now I’m seriously tempted to run off and join the circus…

I’ve just been… busy.

The kitchen is… not quite happening… I’ll have an update on that soon.

The living room looks like the dogs are running the household. They’ve trained me to do the washing but they’re really useless at folding and putting clothes away. Eh. That’s ok. The baskets of clean clothes fill in the spaces in the living room which would otherwise look bare and boring.

The guest room… well, let me put it this way: I went in there to find something the other day and got pinned under a stack of boxes. If the dogs hadn’t found me I think Wayne would have wondered why I’d left him till the smell gave it away.

The office looks like my brain exploded.

Yeah. Really. Every project, every little thing I’ve kept cause ‘it’ll come in handy one day’ or ‘I have plans for’ is on the floor. Every available surface is covered in ‘things to finish’, ‘things to sort’ and ‘things to put away when I find a place for them’. When you walk in there you have to shuffle so you don’t step on anything sharp.

I went in there the other day to clean up so I can find the paperwork I know I need to do, but I was so overwhelmed by the site, I gave up. I just didn’t know where to start.

I think I need to move.

How do people manage?

I mean it, how do people manage to do everything that needs to be done? I know I’ve asked this before, but no one is giving away their secrets.

I’m only working 3.5 days. And I groom dogs which is really another job, but its at home so it almost isn’t like having a ‘real job’. You’d think I’d have tons of time to DO things, right? Well, I thought I’d have tons of time to do things.

But I don’t.

Sometimes I know its cause I’m just too tired or worn out by the heat (have I mentioned I hate the heat?) to lift a finger. Not to even fold washing.

I had such big plans for this summer. I was going to finish painting the house – then found I had a great excuse to put it off… after all, I can’t paint till the new kitchen window goes in, right? I was going to paint the rails on the porch… At least I managed to wash an section of them today so I can (hopefully) start painting there this weekend so the potato vine can start climbing instead of grovelling. I planned to ride more. Or ride SOME. I planned to make stuff for the next market. ha. I planned to do up a couple of old pieces of furniture…

I guess I should consider the few things that I have done and not beat myself up about it. I’ve started a kitchen renovation. I’ve patched up the bathroom to make it more user friendly without actually remodelling it. I put in garden beds (by organising someone else to do the work) and grew a lot of my own plants from seeds. I (we) got the driveway and dam fixed. I (we) raised ducklings. And got geese. And a miniature horse. I got Dancer broken to saddle and have started riding her.

So I’ve done tons.

Why do I feel like I haven’t done anything?

z

wally and mini me

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Never say never, right?

We always used to let horses in the front yard. We had no garden in our front yard.

I now have a garden which I’m loving. I’ve really gotten into watching plants grow and flowers bloom.

I said “we are never letting horses in the yard again.”

Here is Chipmunk.

In the front yard.

Dancing dangerously close to the garden bed…

Chipmunk has been coming into the yard every day. Twice a day if we’re home.

So far he’s only eaten my blue fescue. That poor plant. It was just beginning to come back from the last time it was cropped by a horse.

He’s nibbled on my pink cordyline. He sniffed around the alyssum and got yelled at.

And he’s walked through two of the garden beds.

He has no respect!

Chipmunk and Wally have really hit it off. Wally seems totally taken by the little guy and I think he quite likes Wally as well.

So far they’ve only been allowed to spend time getting to know eachother over the fence. We’re not ready to let such a tiny horse in with such big ones.

The really interesting thing is that Wally is Chipmunk’s protector as well.

Cas hates Chipmunk. I saw her coming at him, ears back and teeth bared. Wally got between her and Chipmunk, threatening her with bites and kicks. It really is amazing to watch. I’m really surprised too. I really didn’t think Wally would take to the little guy. Its beautiful to see them together.

z