Category Archives: decorating

office makeover

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In case you’re wondering where I’ve disappeared to for the last week or so, few posts… I’ve been on my knees working on the office makeover.

I’ve often mentioned how much I hate the salmon carpet throughout our house. And how much I specifically hated the office carpet cause the dogs (NOT my dogs! Mine are toilet trained.) used it as an indoor toilet.

A bit of background for those of you who don’t know our story: when Wayne and I got together he brought 2 dogs into the relationship: Mischa, a purebred staffie, and Barney, her illegitimate spoodle cross son. Neither of them had ever been indoor dogs. They were escape artists and were penned when Wayne was at work and at night, and rarely allowed into the house. When we moved in here we kept them in the dog run when we were at work and they slept in the garage at night. I soon moved them into the entry way and allowed them in the rest of the house when we were here. When Mischa died I felt sorry for Barney so he’s been a couch dog since. While in the house and out of our sight, they would often use the office carpet as their private restroom.

As a result the carpet in there was disgusting. I’d started removing it before we started the kitchen makeover and when there was another ‘accident’ in there (cause I forgot to close the door) I’d just cut out and throw away the piece of carpet. Why bother trying to clean it up?

So, over the week I had off and Wayne was away, I started the office makeover. First step was to remove the old carpet and underlay (which I re-use as a weed barrier).

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Then I sanded the floor the same way I did the kitchen. First I went over it with the belt sander, then with the orbital sander and finer grit.

The floorboards now run from the kitchen, through the small hallway to the office.

After sanding both the office and hallway, I gave the office floor 3 coats of polyurethane. The hallway will have to wait. I ran out of time.

Next I I removed the shelving from the wall. I should really had done that sooner (like before sanding!) but the living room was already squeeze through room only. Once the floor was polished I took eveyrthing off the shelves, piled it into the middle of the room on a dropsheet. I now have to clean it all!
I painted the office walls the same colour as the kitchen, 3/4 strength Dulux China White. It looks so much brighter in there now. I had grown to dislike the blue which I thought was grey when I picked it. I also did the skirting boards, window and door frames in Dulux Antique White USA.

 
I still have to work out the window covering situation… I was considering painting the old blind but it doesn’t fit on the inside of the window frame, and its a bit worse for wear. I’ll work out what I want there eventually.
I have put a few things in the office, but can’t finish things till I work out the shelves. I’ve painted them and have to decide how to configure them. Now that I’m making films I’m thinking of putting my small flat screen in there as a second monitor. That means working out how to best place the shelves and screw them into the brackets before I can start replacing things to clear the floor.
I’ve put Wayne’s antique map on a different wall and placed my desk under the shelves. The plan is to minimise the crap stuff I put in the office. And try to work on ONE project at a time (says the woman who can’t see the coffee table or living room floor cause of office stuff and fabric to make costumes for a film!). 
The plan is to put an armchair in this corner and only have the sewing machine on a small table with wheels, the computer on the desk, and only the things I use most often in the office. And a rug.
And not jam pack the office with a million things to ‘get to when I can’.
Yeah, yeah, famous last words. However, I must point out that the kitchen is still neat and tidy and hasn’t begun to accumulate junk on surfaces. I love it so much I even wipe and put away anything I have to wash by hand immediately!

Here is a preview of another project I’ll post about when I get a chance… they key box!

And, as a bonus, you get to see part of the pile in the middle of the floor.
I hope to be able to get more done on the office this weekend but back to work means doing things in dribs and drabs. I’ll keep you updated.
z

a new chalkboard for the new kitchen

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One of my friends said this corner of the kitchen looked wierd, with the little shelf and the mixers. Well, this corner is still the same as its always been since we bought the house. Only difference is its now a different colour.

And this narrow strip of wall always held a calendar.

Not even a really nice calendar most of the time.

When planning the new kitchen in my mind, I always thought a new chalkboard would look nice there… for our shopping list.

We already have a long narrow shopping list chalkboard near the fridge, but I have something else planned for that spot. Plus, I wanted a much more elaborate frame for the kitchen and this one fit the bill.

It had been painted a bright red before I got it and I thought that would make a nice contrast to the greeny/aqua colour I painted it. I used milk paint for the first coat and acrylic for the second. No idea why. It just seemed like a good idea at the time. It gave it a roughed up look which is fine by me. I added a little ‘age’ (or grime) with some burnt umber artist acrylic to make the details stand out a bit more.

Compared to our long shopping list chalkboard, this is pretty small. Maybe we’ll save money with smaller shopping lists… More likely we’ll just write smaller.

I used a drawer pull as a chalk holder. Old trick, yeah. But I had 10 of these pulls. I bought them for the kitchen drawers and when they arrived they were too small. Alright for my delicate girlie fingers, but not for Wayne’s manly ones.

In other words, I had spare drawer pulls, I may as well use them, right?

This is the only creative, house-related thing I managed to do all this weekend.

Though I did bake again! I made a pasta flora. Its a greek jam tart.

I also made another spanakopita cause I’m addicted. Sorry, no photos of that, but here’s a photo of the baclava I made last weekend.

Yum.

z

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Beyond The Picket Fence

then and now – the kitchen

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While its still fresh in all our memories, here are some then and now photos of the kitchen.
This is what the kitchen looked like when we viewed the house for the first time – with the old owner’s stuff in it:
And here it is now:
This the side with the window/pass/whatever you call it into the living room on the day we moved in:
Here’s the same wall now:
Here’s the basic layout the day we moved in: 2 windows in awkward places due to the upper cabinets, stove in the middle of the front wall, sink to the left.
This is the layout now: big window in the middle of the room, sink under window, stove the left, no upper cabinets. 
I took a set of photos showing walls so I can sketch on and work out where to put my shelves. I’m thinking 3-4 on either side wall, all same length on the left and staggered from shortest to longest on the right. I’m thinking the top shelf will run across over the window as well…
I’m thinking tassie oak shelves, matching the benchtop in colour and finish.
The entrance to the house is through the mudroom, the pantry and the kitchen. (Don’t ask!) The door to the kitchen and another door leading to the rest of the house create a funny corner with two doors. This is how it looked the day we moved in:
This is how it looks now:
Naturally, I made small changes to the kitchen along the way to make it more me… which basically means cramming it full of collectible old bits and pieces… I hated the top heavy upper cabinets so I removed the doors on one set to create open shelves.
Here is the same area with the open shelves:
Here is the same corner now.
The plan is to put some kind of pot rack on the wall next to the door…
We had a large built in pantry in the back corner of the kitchen. Very handy admittedly, but when I moved the pantry to the old entry, I decided I wanted something prettier there… Here it is with the ill-considered and badly executed, huge fail chalkboard pantry doors:
Now my antique kitchen dresser pretties up that corner. With its extra support legs which need staining to match! Its old and was sagging in the middle so it needed some strengthening. 
When designing the new kitchen I looked over all the gadgets I owned and decided I didn’t need half of them. I’m streamlining. I still need to sort where to put some of them, but I’ll get there. I haven’t even started on the pantry yet…
The kitchen bench then – always full of stuff:

The bench now:
I love it being clean and uncluttered. We used to drop everything on the corner as we came in the door. I’ve outlawed that now. We have a phone station for phones, I’m making a key rack, and I’m thinking about how and where to create a drop zone for other stuff. 
For Wayne mainly.
I’m over his constant search for his wallet, glasses, keys, etc.
So, here’s what we did to achieve this transformation:
Removed 2 inconvenient windows.
Put in a new window in the middle of the front wall.
Bought a new stove, rangehood, dishwasher and sink.
Had new cabinets custom made.
Had a solid timber benchtop made (which I finished)
Moved the hot water cylinder to another spot.
Moved the electric power meter to another spot.
Put in new wiring for the new stove and rangehood.
Lifted lino and masonite and I refinished the original timber floor.
Fixed the uneven original timber floor.
Moved the sink/plumbing to another spot.
Lined 3 of the walls with pine.
Painted all the woodwork Dulux Antique White USA.
Painted the whole kitchen a Dulux China White 3/4 strength.
Mounted an old tempered glass door behind the stove as splashback.
Painted the doors a minty greeny aqua colour I made up.
Did I miss anything? The months of mess. The months of having nothing to cook on… waiting for tradesmen… the frustration when things didn’t work out or we discovered unpleasant surprises when doing something we considered a ‘quick job’…
So there you have it.
Then:
Now:
To celebrate, today I’ve spent HOURS cooking up a storm to try out the new fan forced large oven which promises to cook 3 dishes at once evenly. I made lasagne, spanakopita (greek spinach pie) and baclava.
I’ll let you know how they go.
z

roadside salvage drawer to phone station

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One of the problems in our kitchen is that the telephone jack and a power point (where we plug in the phone and one phone charger) were kind of ‘in your face’ in that they were to the right of the ‘servery’ into the living room, but not lined up vertically or horizontally. Hard to hide in other words.

Here’s a photo of the ‘pre’ kitchen and you can see how I dealt with it before. An old drawer, with a hole cut out to expose the phone jack, held the phone, a framed print of a rabbit (cause why not?) and some of my 50’s collectibles.

Of course the powerpoint was lower and to the left, so that remained exposed along with the accompanying ugly cords.

When we were doing the kitchen and Handyman was lining walls with pine, I asked him to move the power point and phone jack so that they were closer and neater.

I wanted to create a ‘charging station’. A place to keep and charge our mobile phones and landline. And hide the mess of cords and plugs.

I have a ton of stuff in my workshop and the shed, including a stack of drawers I picked up off the roadside one day. I evaluated them and thought one of the drawers would be perfect. It had an unusual shape – it was long, one section had 4 holes, and a dip in the sides. No idea what a drawer like that would be for.

Here it is after a coat of milk paint.

I took off the handle on top, filled the holes. then did a few coats Lichen milk paint to stop the paint flaking off too much in some spots.

I had to somehow hide the holes in the back… We buy our timber from a local guy who mills his own wood and cuts his own boards. Last time I was at his place I picked up a few of the trimmings he’d cut off the ends of his boards when dressing them. They were the same width but irregular thicknesses so I sorted through and picked the bits which were more of less closest in thickness.

I cut them to size, sanded the weathered layer off and glued them to the back of the drawer.

I really need to go back and get more of them. They’re great!

This was the plan: the top shelf would hold the landline phone station. The bottom section would have a shelf added up the top to hold our mobiles. Below would be a door to hide the power points, cables and chargers.

I made the shelf out of an offcut of pine since I planned to paint it and it didn’t have to match. I put a ‘lip’ on the shelf in tassie oak, matching it to lining and so mobiles won’t fall off. I drilled 3 holes in the bottom shelf (one for the landline cables, one for each of our mobiles) and one hole in the original shelf for the landline cables.

Now I needed a powerboard, giving us enough power points for 2 mobiles and a cordless phone.

Since the idea was to hide the mess behind a door, I cut a hole in the drawer… badly. Necessitating the addition of trim to neaten it up. eh. That part will be hidden most of the time. 

The worse problem was that when it was finished, I screwed it to wal, plugged everything in, then discovered that the mobile chargers were too fat for the door to close properly!

Sigh…

I had to cut out the entire bottom back of the drawer to give them a bit more room.

Goodbye trim.

I’m such a professional!

Anyway… next came the exciting part. The door.

A barn door with Zs at the back.

I always wanted to make a door with Zs at the back.

I bought the smallest T hinges I could find and a silver handle I kinda liked. But I didn’t want them looking new, so I painted them. Tons. So they’d look like they’d been used for years on many different cabinets.

I also got a magnetic catch as a closer since I planned to swing the door downwards, like an oven door.

Here’s what it looked like when it was finished.

And here it is in the kitchen, ugly cords hidden, Mickey, Mini, Wilma and Barney back in their spots. Plus a rusty wire flower Wayne made me.

Here are some details…

(Btw, I used bread bag clips to keep the charger cables from falling down behind the door.)

Lastly, inside I decided to try one of the cord organising tips from Pinterest… I got a hand paper towel roll, decorated it and discovered the plug wouldn’t go through the middle. I had to slice it open to slot the cord into it, hence the jute string holding it together.

The only things I had to buy were the hinges and power board. Overall its a success I think!

z

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at last…. kitchen reveal part 1

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Welcome to my new kitchen.

Its finally finished and usable. I cooked dinner yesterday for the first time in 6 months… amazing!

So how about a quick tour?

First, the new, improved, bigger window centered in the middle of the wall. With the sink below it. I can now see out of the kitchen without cricking my neck and banging my head on cupboard corners.

I ended up going with an outdoor blind for the window covering, mainly cause I couldn’t make up my mind with so many choices, and cause I just liked the grey and white stripes.

I will be putting shelves up to hold everyday items and display items and cause I just love open shelves. Till then, I’ve put the kettle and hot drink stuff in one of my old made over wooden trays to stop them from spreading all over the benchtop.

This close up also shows the tassie oak benchtop we had made especially.

I love it!! I spent a couple of days sanding and varnishing it to get it just perfect and it was worth it.

The opposite wall from the window has had the pantry cupboard removed and now holds one of my antique kitchen dressers. This one had to have some minor work done to it as it was sagging in the middle (had to put a support in the middle under the top and add a couple of legs in the middle underneath).

A 60s step stool just fits in that corner and comes in handy for reaching things in the pantry and the colour just happens to work well with the colour I chose to paint the doors.

Some old tins act as display and storage for small stuff.

The door to the right leads to the entry area where the fridge, microwave and pantry live. The door on the left leads to the hallway and the rest of the house. These doors are almost always open, but I wanted to bring a bit of colour into the room.

The kitchen is all white – Dulux Antique White USA on the woodwork and on the cabinets. Dulux China White 3/4 strength on the walls… a slightly creamier white. The minty green I used on the doors is a colour I mixed up myself and had the guys at the paint store match for me.

I had mentioned experimenting with milk paint (the jury is still out on that) and my favourite colour in that was one called Lichen. My minty green is very similar to that but a bit greener. I wanted to match that antique green you see so often on old things.

I’m actually very pleased with the colour. First I tried the caramel colour I got a sample of thinking I’d match the stove but in a darker tone.

Yuck.

That failed.

Which is when I went to green. I love it. The result is a kitchen thats fresh and clean looking.

As a backsplash for the stove I got an old glass door from the tip shop and mounted it to the wall with clips. That was my economical contribution to the kitchen. Backsplash – $5. Clips – $14.95.

Ok. Ok. You have to excuse the un-colour-coordinated towel. I was in such a hurry to get things in working order! Why not notice the good stuff, like the old billy (which id used to make tea over an open fire) holds my wooden spoons…
and an old galvanised box holds oils and vinegar close to hand. With felt bits underneath so it doesn’t scratch the bench.
Actually, these were meant to live in my planned mobile kitchen cart but I don’t think I have room for it.
On the right of the kitchen is this big window into the living room… a handy thing really, as you’re not disconnected from the rest of the house when you’re cooking, you can watch tv and it allows heat from the woodheater to circulate through to the kitchen.
The ledge comes in handy to display bowls which also hold fruit. Now if we can stop ourselves from piling crap up there we’ll be right!

To the right of the ‘window’ are the phone jack and a power point. I’ve always had a drawer as shelf thing there to hold the phone but this time I went all out and made a proper cabinet out of an old drawer for our phones. I’ll be sharing this in another post later on. Stay tuned.

I have since placed a greek rag rug given to me by an aunt in Greece in front of the sink to add some warmth. Coincidentally it has some of the bluey green in it! (Your mom Mina, tell her I love it!)

My old mixer and blender are back in their spot on the tiny shelf between the doors and my old clock is back on the wall. This was an electric clock I bought on ebay many years ago and which came from Tasmania. Its back again, now battery operated!

So there you have it.
I really need some sleep. I’ve been working 14 hour days lately just to get the house back in order, back to being clean and tidy.
Later!
z

false alarm – kitchen update

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Ok, I’m curious how the women out there in blogdom can do these great reveals where they show ‘after’ photos featuring perfect rooms all set up with the right curtains, the right cushions, the right furniture, the right artfuly placed ‘random’ items.

Even when my kitchen is finished, it won’t be finished enough for that perfect ‘after’ photo.

For one thing, I plan to put up shelves and I don’t want to put them up till I live in it a while and decide where I want what…

For another, I won’t have the perfect dishes for a while, and I won’t have the kitchen dresser painted for who knows how long…

I guess you won’t so much get a ‘finished’ photo but periodic ‘after’ photos every time I add to or change something… cause I’m nothing if not in a constant state of updating, rearranging and changing things.

Meanwhile, yes, you heard right.

The kitchen isn’t finished yet.

It would have been finished but for the sink…

See, when Handyman was doing the plumbing, moving pipes from the old sink position to the new one (back when we had a hole in the floor), he calculated that the sink would be centered in the window and put the pipe there. But when he put the sink in the bench and showed it to me, the sink looked too far to the left.

Visually, the sink looks centered when its further to the right, cause the eye sees the bowls as the center.

So, Handyman moved the sink to where the boss (me) wanted it and now he has to find a joiner of some sort to connect the offset pipes.

Here are some photos I took this morning.

You can see the rangehood and glass splashback, the stove, the dishwasher with its protective film still on it, the sink with our two taps..

Same wall but you can see the cornice that needs painting and the handprints on the rangehood stainless steel cover.

This is the window into the living room. Note the decorative corner bits. Love them.

Now I have a dilemma. What type of window covering do I put on the window? A roller blind? Curtains? Lace? Doily curtains? Modern? Shabby? I have no idea. Well, I have an idea but I’m not sure. Any thoughts from my silent readers?

The window faces east so summer afternoons are hot hot hot. And on winter evenings I need a window covering that will keep the heat in. The rest of the time I want the window open to the view.

I await your thoughts.

z

only the tail to go – kitchen update

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There’s a saying in Greece which says “You’ve eaten the donkey, only the tail to go”.

My cousin Zefi reminded me of it on FB today and I had to laugh.

Its true. The kitchen is almost done. Sure, there’s still a lot to do, but its really almost finished.

Handyman will be back tomorrow with a few plumbing bits we need and he’ll finish connecting the sink and dishwasher and the kitchen, from his point of view, will be finished!

Of course, as you know, my job is just beginning.

You’ll remember that, cause I’ve been tediously itemising my To Do list with monotonous regularity.

Still, I’m kinda excited…

If I don’t sleep for the next three days and get all the painting, cleaning, polyurethaning, organising and moving done by Thursday… I might be able to make Wayne a home cooked meal and surprise him when he gets home from work.

Yeah. Don’t hold your breath.

Still.

Its a nice dream.

Not long now!

z

i made a door – and kitchen update

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I’ve always wanted to make a door…

I finally made one.

Isn’t it beautiful?

Ok… so its only 11in high.

Its still a beautiful door!

Its part of something I’ve been working on for the new kitchen… Hopefully it’ll be ready to share soon.

Meanwhile… the kitchen progresses.

Today the cornices were all finished. Some of the corner trims went up. The hole for the sink was cut. The bench edges were rounded. The bench was glued together.

Tomorrow Handyman says he’ll finish.

I really really really hope so.

Cause even after he finishes the kitchen won’t be ready to use.

I figure it’ll be next weekend before we can actually use the kitchen.

What with getting home late Mon-Wed, I won’t have time to get much done till Thursday. Not that I won’t plan to.

I always have the best intentions. I plan to get my entire To Do list done in 2 days. I plan to.

I never actually do.

Things always take longer than I plan they will and I’m tireder than I plan to be.

What is it about plans, mice and men…?

Well, either way, its getting closer… I can almost taste my own home cooking… I really miss pasta. And home made soup!

Soon!

z

when will it all end?

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I’m itchy… itching to get things moving in the kitchen.

I want it finished yesterday.

I want to move furniture in there and put things away and get organised, everything in its place, a place for everything and all that stuff.

I want to cook!

(I don’t often say that.)

Handyman is putting up cornice as we speak. The plinth is up. The rangehood is almost finished.

The benchtop is still not glued together. The cornice needs undercoating and painting. The edging and trims need putting in and painting. The sink needs putting in. So does the dishwasher. The plumbing needs to be connected.

The benchtop will need 3 more coats of polyurethane.

THEN I’ll be able to use the kitchen.

It seems like its still so far away. So much for “it’ll be finished this week”… a sick Handyman doesn’t help.

Meanwhile my patience is running really low on the mess in the house. There are things everywhere and I can’t bring myself to care enough to move them, put them away or anything. Not till I can start putting things where they belong… like in the kitchen.

To make matters worse I went to get a cracker snack pack from the pantry yesterday and found mouse poop in the box and some of the packs had been chewed through and crackers eaten.

YEEECH.

I want to clean EVERYTHING. Then put it all in mouse proof plastic containers. Or glass.

wahhhhhhhhhhhhhhh.

Winter is really here. We started rugging the horses overnight this week and yesterday was the first time we left rugs on during the day.

It rained pretty heavily overnight and everything on the front porch got wet. When its windy and wet the rain comes in at an angle onto the porch.

I think I need to get some of those plastic roller blinds…

The garden is still looking good, most things are still flowering and looking pretty and I’m enjoying it while it lasts. I’m eager to see how it comes through winter and what grows in spring.

The potato vine is climbing up the wire trellis I put up for it and I predict it’ll provide a nice spot to sit in summer. Providing we aren’t pestered by so many wasps again. We had so many this year. I’m finding wasp carcasses everywhere at the moment.

I’m still working on a couple of things for the kitchen, possibly. I’m liking one of the projects I did with the milk paint but I’m still not sold on the others. We’ll see…

I better go out and do something before I go stir crazy.

z

hiccup – kitchen update among other things

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 This is what the kitchen looks like right now.

Its what it looked like yesterday afternoon.

Handyman was sick today.

Today wasn’t a great day for me either. I began to doubt that everything will be finished by the end of the week. I was not happy.

Meanwhile, I spent quite a lot of time in the workshop… I started a few projects and continued work on a few things I started ages ago then left languishing. I’ll have photos soon… unless they’re total failures… in which case I should share them anyway so you can see how badly I can stuff up at times.

I’ve been experimenting with some milk paint I bought recently. I’ve never used it before and I’m still not sure if I like it…

Either that or I’m just doing it all wrong…

Eh. Its all about learning and experiencing new things.

Learning from our stuff ups.

And finding ways to fix them or get rid of them.

z