grooming room leash storage

Posted on February 10, 2017 by zefiart

The grooming room is slowly taking shape. I’m moulding it into ‘my’ space.

And by ‘my’ space I mean I’m slowly filling it with things which I love, I made or which suit my needs.

Don’t know if you remember the tap coat rack I made a couple of months ago…

Well, I really liked it. And I needed somewhere to hang dog leads in the grooming room. Ideally somewhere near the door so I wouldn’t forget to hand people their leads as they leave with their dogs.

I’m notorious for forgetting. I still have some leads left over from last year…

Another thing I needed was a chalkboard on which to write dog names so I would know which lead belongs to which dog.

So I made this quick chalkboard, lead hanging thingy.

Ok, the spacing between the taps is off. No idea how I managed that as I actually did measure it all out before drilling holes… But I’m talented that way.

The chalkboard part is part of a box I’d pulled apart. I made a key storage out of one part, and I still had one door and a couple of box sides left.

I used the door for the chalkboard and one of the sides for the tap rack. I had a bit of the green paint I used on my meat safe towel cabinet left over…. it was almost dry but I managed to dry bush it onto the timber piece.

Do you get a sneaky feeling I like green? That antiquey greyish, bluish green?

Why on earth would you think that?

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my new towel cupboard (in my new grooming room)

Posted on February 7, 2017 by zefiart

Yes! I’m in the new grooming room!

Its not finished. Well, not entirely. But then again, is anything ever really finished?

Ok. So the grooming room is usable-finished. I began using it as soon as I got the vinyl down on the floor. Even before I had most of my stuff moved in there. Or the door finished. But I have a new cupboard for my towels!

I’m sorry I don’t have any before photos – cause when the urge to paint hits, well, its all I can do to put on painting clothes!

***** I found the before photos. Well, more like the ‘almost before’ photos. Here it is with legs and masking tape…

And here it is with the painting just finished.

I got this little meatsafe/cupboard from a tip shop a few years ago. It had no top or legs, and was a stained and varnished wood colour. But the metal screen was fine.

I used a piece of pine I had to make a top for it and searched my leg collection for some legs that would work with it. I wanted it tall enough to be out of ‘pee’ reach.

It IS a grooming room after all!

I had some old green paint from a room I painted long ago (it was a hideous colour, no idea what I was thinking!). I poured some of it into a plastic container, added a bit of light blue I’d made up for another project and voila: the perfect antique green!

Being the lazy sod I am, the only prep work I did was mask off the handle, hinges and metal screen.

Since I chose not to sand, I mixed some fine grout into the paint, making it a chalk-like paint and just slapped it on. It took 2 coats. Once dry I gave it a light sand to encourage a chippy look.

The new towel cupboard sits behind the inner door of the grooming room. Its not big enough really, but its pretty. I might one day make a base for it, another cupboard… Who knows? For now it holds clean towels and my cd player.

So here’s a pic of the other side of the new grooming room, in use! Erik lies on the table with the dryer on him. Such a good boy. He didn’t move while I changed cds and took the pic!

There’s a lot to do but I’m taking my time. The old grooming room wasn’t perfect by any stretch, but I got used to it – I worked in there for 7 years! It kind of grew around me. It’ll take a while for this room to grow around me too. I’ll need shelves and hooks for my tools. I’ll need pictures on the wall and hooks for leads…

I’ll need to put the window on the door! And a door handle!

Its a work in progress.

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mounted pug head

Posted on February 6, 2017 by zefiart

Thought I’d share a little project I’ve had sitting around for a while now. This is Pugsly. A mounted pug head.

The best kind of mounted pug head: a fake one.

This little guy is made from old newspapers, diluted PVA glue, air dry clay, old comics and an old cheese board as a mount.

Talk about recycling.

Doesn’t everyone need a wall mounted pug head? Especially one as cute as this little guy!

I’ve listed him for sale on a Facebook selling page but no nibbles so far. I’m keeping it a secret from him so he doesn’t feel rejected and unloved. You have no idea how much a depressed pug head can bring down the mood around the house.

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my new farm gate

Posted on January 4, 2017 by zefiart

Progress on the new grooming room is slow. I had one day where things kinda just flowed and things got done. I was up on ladders, using my arms and head to hold up sheets of MDF to the ceiling and using the nail gun to secure them there.

Then I ran out of MDF.

Turns out I’d measured correctly but remembered wrong. I needed 6 sheets (of the biggest size I could handle on my own) but remembered to buy 4.

Live and learn my friends.

So, having NOT finished the ceiling I couldn’t very well finish everything else. I had one and a half walls I could put ‘skirting boards’ and ‘cornices’ on.

I placed those words in quotation marks cause I’m not using either cornice or skirting boards for the job. I got plain pine boards cause it was the cheapest way to go. The end result is the same: I’m covering gaps where walls meet ceiling or walls.

Having done the bits I could do without finishing the ceiling, I looked around at what I could do next…

…and found the gate.

Ok. I didn’t find the gate. I found the gate was a job I could do which wasn’t affected by the unfinishedness of the ceiling.

I had planned to use pallet wood to make the gate, but I had 2 long pieces of old tassie oak flooring outside the grooming room, in the tiny yard, just waiting for a use. So I used them.

Firstly I had to measure the distance between the cement slabs the casita and the tiny shed (its an aviary) are sitting on, then the distance between the walls. I’d already attached an extra post to the one on the side of the casita which holds up the porch roof so I could swing the gate off it.

I cut my timber pieces the height I wanted – tall enough to stop a dog jumping over them.

Then I did what any sane, mathematically challenged person would do: I marked the measurments out on the floor and lay the timber down, spacing the boards by eye and laying the cross pieces over the top. Good enough for me.

I joined all the boards together using screws then reinforced those with nails.

I cut my Z pieces. I did two cause I couldn’t work out the angle to cut a single one on… I did say I was mathematically challenged! In order to save wastage I went with 45 degree angles and 2 Z pieces. It should work fine.

I hope.

Last I used some nice strong chicken wire over the back of the gate cause the gaps are big enough to allow dogs through. I had wanted a picket style gate with small gaps but I didn’t want to spend money on treated pine or fence pickets.

This is one heavy gate cause tassie oak is heavy stuff. I had to get some pretty strong hinges from Wayne’s collection of rusty items to hang them with.

I love my new rustic gate. It fits between the wall of the casita and the aviary and will stop dogs from escaping into the paddocks.

I’ll be putting a bolt onto the gate at #1, put a hole into the aviary wall for the bolt to slide into.

#2 shows where the end board is cut short to accommodate the height of the concrete slab. I found I had to reinforce that spot as the wire could have been bent by a particularly insistent dog bent on escape. (haha)

#3 is where a sliver of wood was removed to allow the gate to swing without hitting the concrete on the casita side.

All in all, a job well done.

I’ll finish this post with a gratuitous photo of a poodle: Romeo was overseeing my gate-building efforts. He approves.

update on the grooming room

Posted on December 29, 2016 by zefiart

Well the grooming room is still far from finished.

You can’t rush these things. It takes time to think, measure, plan, get your materials together, find the energy, the time. Have you ever noticed how much STUFF needs to be done when you plan to spend a day working on a project?

… Then one day the planets align and things start happening.

Yesterday was that day.

I’d already drawn a ‘map’ of the last wall, drew in the posts and noggins (that’s the brace type of horizontal studs, yeah, I didn’t know that either), numbered and measured the drawers I’m going to use, and, using Illustrator, did a jigsaw puzzle to figure out how to fit it all together. The map helped me figure out where I needed noggins to secure the drawers to the wall.

I went down to the casita, turned on the air compressor and began putting noggins between the posts where the map told me to.

I then pulled out all the sheets of masonite I had stacked against the wall in the workshop area. I knew I had used sheets but had no idea how many and what sizes.

Turns out I had 1 large sheet of 6mm, 3 smaller sheets of 6mm and 3 medium sized sheets of 3mm.

Naturally I began with the largest sheet, starting in one top corner. I measured, cut out a nick to make it fit properly, trimmed it down so I could join the sheets on a post, then measured it again and cut it again as I got it wrong first time. Thankfully I cut it too long, not too short. Phew.

The biggest sheet at the top far end is painted green with a bit of white over one section. That obviously came off a wall somewhere. The darker, smaller pieces came off the floor when we ripped up the vinyl in the kitchen. I was sure I had more of that stuff, but I don’t. Must have thrown it out cause most sheets cracked when pulling them up.

Whatever.

I used the 6mm stuff for the top of the wall since that’s where I’m going to put my drawers.

The bottom area won’t have things hung on it so I used the 3mm masonite there. That’s all painted yellow, also obviously second hand. I have no idea where these sheets came from as I didn’t remove them from anywhere. Another of the bonuses we got when we bought the farm. Like lots of old bricks, old timber and loads of rubbish.

I had to overlap the thinner sheets a bit cause I didn’t work that out well (ie the joins aren’t on posts. ooops.) so I used liquid nails and nailed them as best as I could. This wall will hold crates and dog beds so it should be fine. Unless a rhino head butts the wall we’ll be good.

It looks funny with all the patches of colour. When its all painted one colour it’ll look much better. I’m sure.

Next step is the ceiling. I’m going to cheat there. I do not want to sand back all the flaking paint and I definitely don’t want to try to fix the saggy or gappy bits. I’m going to get some thin MDF and just cover it.

Easy.

Famous last works.

Anyway, we’ll see.

Of course there’s still one more wall. The interior wall. I can finish the room and leave that wall as it is and still groom, with the old timber showing. In fact, that’s what I planned to do. But now I’m having second thoughts. I’m wondering whether I should do some kind of patchwork on it…. use old shutters… that’d be interesting!

Like this:

Or this (swoon):

But with all the hair flying around in a grooming room, I’m not sure that would be a good idea. Maybe I should use cupboard doors… less gaps.

Like this:

Or this (swoon):

I’ll have to see what bits I have and how much wall I can cover before I go buy anything new.

Oh, I also fixed the interior door. It wouldn’t close. Its got an exterior lockset and the latch wasn’t catching. Well, I fixed the sucker. I got the hammer and wacked it a few times till it worked. Ha.

I also learned how to fit a handle on a door so I can do the exterior door. Thank you YouTube.

So, basically, what I’m saying is that the room is coming along, but there’s still a lot to do:

1. line the ceiling

2. put in powerpoints and lights that work (electrician job)

3. paint all walls and exterior door

4. paint ceiling (once its done)

5. paint the floor

6. put a lock/handle on the exterior door

7. make a window for the top of the exterior door

8. make gates for both doors (to keep dogs from escaping)

9. put shelves in the drawers, paint the drawers, put poodle figurines in drawers, put glass or perspex on drawers, put drawers on the wall
10. make a canopy for over the door
11. make a gate for the little yard
12. sort out the ‘landscaping’ in the little yard

13. run screaming into the hills

Sheesh.

Whose idea was it to start this?

Its going to be great! I’ll keep telling myself that.

taps and coat rack

Posted on December 11, 2016 by zefiart

What’s on tap for today you ask?

Well, I tapped into my creative mind and came up with this recycled tap coat rack. You could say I tapped this old pine board into a coat rack.

Luckily I had all these things on tap in the workshop.

groan.

Ok, I’ll stop now.

I love these old garden taps with their patina showing and all. Some are our own old garden taps and some I picked up from here or there, as I do.

I painted the board with chalkboard black paint so you can label the taps for each member of the family if you should so desire.

Other than showing off my tap coat rack, I don’t have much else to say. You could say I’m all tapped out.

Turns out I had one more left.

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kids party cake stands and other things

Posted on October 1, 2016 by zefiart

Since I’m on a roll blog-wise (and I don’t want to let down my fans – heheh) I thought I’d share another work project which was HUGELY successful.

These kids party cake stands were made in my Thursday group. We spent time collecting, begging, ~~stealing~~ and borrowing old/broken toys from anywhere we could find them. I spent ages asking for things on FB and at work via our newsletter and noticeboards.

We also took a few trips to the tip shop to find some wooden or plastic platters and lamp bases to build them with.

The tall one that looks black in the photos is actually a very dark blue. It began life as a tall metal lamp base which was covered in toy animals using liquid nails, then sprayed what we thought was bright orange. Unfortunately the orange sucked big time, so we tried a couple of other colours, ending up with dark blue for the best coverage.

Warning: if you plan to do this at home, beware. Not all spray paint is created equal. And not all of it matches the lid colour…

For the top we used different flat items as bases – anything from old cds to small wooden dishes. These were glued to the light globe holder on the lamp base and provided a nice big surface to glue the platters to.

The top to this cake stand is a plastic lazy susan which spins.

The light blue one was made using a large ceramic lamp base, covered in random toys and topped with a large wooden platter.

Here it is in progress. In this instance we removed the globe holder bit entirely and glued a flat surface to the ceramic base directly.

This one is my all time favourite. Its made out of a pirate ship, tea pots and all kinds of ‘human’ and animal figures plus anything ‘fishy’ we could find.. Oh and the wheels off a toy truck.

Sorry about the bad photo but its the only one I have of the pirate ship in progress.

The red cake stand was made out of a small metal lamp base. The top was a flower shaped bit of wood we found which we sprayed gloss white (all the tops were sprayed gloss white to make them easy to clean). This one also went through a colour change.

You can see below how it started yellow but the yellow didn’t cover well enough. We found a brilliant red (I know it looks a bit pinky in the photos) which looked way better.

Here are the four drying in their first coats of paint. The smallest one with the bowl on top is more like a bowl for M&Ms or other lollies than a cake platter. Its made of a basically flat square base that a light globe fits onto without a shade. We used a snoopy body as the ‘stand’ and surrounded it with Peanuts characters in cars. The top is a wooden bowl I had lying around.

All five were entered as a group entitled Kids Party Collection at the Art From Trash exhibition this year. They sold instantly.

We also had a mirror decorated with toys all around it, that sold too, and we’re now working on another, larger, toy project.

Stay tuned.

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love the coffee and decor

Posted on September 26, 2016 by zefiart

Some mornings we actually have time to grab a latte before work. This place is one of our favourites. Its a coffee shop attached to a laundromat in North Hobart called Gioconda. The coffee is great, the food is great, and the decor is fantastic!

Get a load of this planter!

Pretty darn cool!

And then there’s the couch… its almost the same as the couch I almost bought. Love the industrial coffee table.

What about the pallet couch and the spool coffee table? How can you not love it?

Love the mix of styles – retro, deco, 60’s, rustic. Somehow it works.

I just had to share the pics cause I really do love this place. Next time you’re in the area why not drop in for coffee or to get some washing done.

Disclaimer: I am not being paid for this post but if I’m offered free coffee I won’t say no….

enamelware caddy

Posted on September 26, 2016 by zefiart

You know I have been busy lately. Not an excuse, just a fact. Somehow, among the many busy things I’ve been busy with, I’ve managed to do a few small projects.

Like this cute enamelware caddy.

So, what’s it made of you ask? Well, an enamel bowl, an enamel dish and a wooden salt grinder.

Yep. A salt grinder.

I sprayed the grinder black, drilled a hole into the bowl and there was a convenient hole in the top of the grinder to join them together. The bottom was glued onto the dish.

Its now a handy spot for keeping stuff. Whatever stuff you have that you have need of a spot to keep it in. A desk tidy to hold office stuff. A bathroom tidy to hold bathroom stuff. A kitchen tidy to hold kitchen stuff.

You’re limited only by your imagination (and the size of your stuff).

This is one of the items I’ll be selling at my garage sale on the Garage Sale Trail on October 22.

updating the oval chalkboard

Posted on September 25, 2016 by zefiart

I’ve been really busy lately. I’m getting ready for a couple of big events. One is the Garage Sale Trail on October 22.

I registered our garage sale on the Trail cause I have too much stuff and I really need to have a garage sale. I thought if I set a date I can’t back out of, I’ll actually do it.

Considering I was already interviewed for the local paper, I really can’t back out now.

The other big event is less public: I’m moving my grooming room into what is currently the storage room in the casita.

For the last few weeks I’ve been sorting through things every time I a few spare minutes. I began by moving things from the store room into the workshop area. This is so I have a blank canvas to work on – considering the room in question needs a ton or work… Holes in the walls patched, the timber on the ceiling needs loose paint scraped off, it needs repainting from top to bottom, a new door… You get the picture.

I’ve been stacking things in the workshop area – on top of eachother, in boxes, on top of the workbench… I started by sorting things by general use as I went and putting it in boxes: clothing, kitchen stuff, plumbing, lighting, miscellaneous… but that went by the wayside when I ran out of stacking room.

What I haven’t begun doing yet is price things. I figure I can do that later.

Later. Good word that.

Hours of work and I’ve barely scratched the surface. I plan to go through every room in the house and every shed, look at everything we have and decide whether it stays or goes.

I’m using the method of “if you haven’t used it in a year, get rid of it” but I’m doing it my way. I’m going through all my finds and projects ‘to do’ and thinking “I bought this over a year ago and haven’t made anything with it – its time someone else made something with it”.

Among the things I’m planning to sell are coffee tables – some I’ve done something with, others I haven’t touched. A couple of cabinets I’ve remade. Some of my recycled light fittings. A collection of things I planned to make wind chimes with, Chalkboards.

Speaking of chalkboards, here is a remake of a remake. It started as an oval frame in 3 pieces a friend gave me. I first tried to fix it and used it as my shopping board for a while.

I had to re-glue it cause I did a bad job first time round. Its still not perfect but I like it. There’s character in its imperfections.