in the trenches

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It was a disaster waiting to happen. I mean, we knew it was coming… we just stuck our heads in the sand and hoped that if we pretended everything was fine, that it would be fine.

When we first moved in over a year ago now, we had a problem with the plumbing. The shower started to back up, the sink wouldn’t empty and we got smelly as we waited to the plumber to come fix the problem.

It turned out the pipes under our house were all 1/2 the size they needed to be to carry away grey water from the house. We found a nice plumber who came and replaced all the pipes under the house for us and said he’d be back to replace the rest when we dug them up in the yard to the sullage pit.

Obviously, we didn’t do that. We thought ‘if it ain’t broke’ and carried on like ostriches till the water started to back up again. Last week I timidly said ‘Wayne, if I tell you something, will you promise not to yell?’ Of course he yelled. Words I can’t repeat for fear of being sensored.

But the fact is, we knew it was coming.

So, poor Wayne spent 2 days outside digging up our entire yard. This time, for once, he didn’t accidentally hit a water pipe – he was actually looking for water pipes!


What he hit this time was the phone line.

I wouldn’t have minded, but imagine all the calls from New Delhi telling me I won a cruise to Atlantis if I just buy $50,000 of aluminium siding I missed!

Wayne tried to tell me it was my fault. He said it was all the long distance phone calls I made which stretched the line and wore it out.

This afternoon it looked like WWI in our front yard, trenches everywhere. We had 2 Telstra trucks here as men crawled over the yard trying to find the fault in the line.

Its fixed now, so thats a relief. I would have missed the call from a nice man trying to sell me a new mobile phone otherwise.

z

just one more armchair…

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You know what they say? The best laid plans and all that?

Well, I had a plan for today. I was going to get up late, have a leisurely breakfast while I checked mail, had a 2nd cup of coffee, then moseyed on down to pay for 1/2 a lamb (the pre-chopped up bits for the freezer kind) on the way to meeting Merrill and picking up furniture to take up to Fentonbury to my house.

I got as far as the sleep in and the breakfast. From there the plan was derailed in a major way.

Merrill called to say Kuta (her dog) was sick and could I go help get him in the car and go to the vet with her for moral support. Kuta is an old boy with health issues, so every time something goes wrong we instantly go into ‘this could be it’ mode. Luckily for Kuta, today wasn’t the day. It was just the day for Merrill’s wallet, since dogs always get sick on weekends and public holidays.

But he’s fine, some antibiotics and maybe some minor surgery if the pills don’t do the job.

By then I was already running 2 hours late. Not that I had a timeline, but I did just want to get things done. We dropped off Kuta, I went home to get the trailer and returned to pick up Merrill to help with the furniture moving. And almost amputated her thumb with the handbrake. Don’t ask me how … one minute I was parking and cranking up the break, the next Merrill is screaming and I’m like ‘WHA????’

Thankfully, no permanent damage was done. We were able to load a couch, a cast iron single bed, a mattress and 3 armchairs onto the trailer. Not only that, we made it to Fentonbury with the load intact – looking rather like something from the Beverly Hillbillies, we had that sucker piled up so high.

I love my tie down straps!

Once there, we set about unloading, somehow harder than loading up considering we were already tired by then. Luckily one of my neighbours helped. Made the world of difference.

I love the way the house looks. Its so comfortable and cosy and welcoming now. Once the heater is replaced and we can have warm fires it’ll be wonderful.

We didn’t need a fire today though – the weather was glorious and it was so lovely being there… the fresh air, the peace and quiet, the trees. Ahhh.

There’s still a few things to take up, some small bits and pieces to do, and of course a bit of cleaning still left to do. But the feel of the place is right again.

We mainly worked on the living room and kitchen, only touching onto 2 of the bedrooms and dining room. The living room looks great though I somehow managed to lose the power cable to the tv. The coffee table is still in the casita – I haven’t finished it yet – but I rather like the living room without it…

We created a cute little sitting area between the living room and kitchen which I love. I’ve used an old cabinet I had a go at revamping a while ago. More on that soon.

The dining room is only partly finished, but its feeling right.

I’ll have more photos when things are all in place. I’ll have to go put my wrist on ice, but I feel good!

Meanwhile, just thought I’d share: I LOVE my new Facebook! Man! Now I finally get it! Now I understand why people like it! I’m finally actually reading news from my close friends!

Better go. Another big day looms tomorrow – Montana has her stitches out, a date with the bank regarding the extra money I have to now fork out once a week, dogs to groom, and, well… STUFF to do!

z

streamlining

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Its only Saturday night and the weekend already seems too short.

This morning Wayne, Merrill and I made a trip up to Fentonbury in two cars and a trailer loaded up with furniture and ‘stuff’. Tomorrow we’ll be going up again with more stuff. Its exhausting.

On the positive side, things are coming along nicely. Soon there’ll be enough stuff in the house to live there! The new/refurbished wood heater is going in this week sometime so once thats done it’ll be like home again.

Its been really fun furnishing the house with less. You know how you accumulate way more than you need and homes end up looking cluttered? Well this has been an opportunity to furnish a house and only pick and choose what I want to take up and put in the house. I’m really enjoying it.

I’ll be taking more photos to share soon as the house is looking decent. Right now there are boxes all over and unmade beds and the benchtops are full of things that need putting away. Not to mention the yard which needs a major cleaning up.

However, once the new photos are taken I’ll share them on here and update the real estate listing as well. The trees and bushes have grown immensely since I moved out over a year ago so I’d like to show what it looks like now. It was so beautiful, so peaceful, the yard so lush… I was giving in to the ol’ regrets… The ‘I wish we hadn’t bought elsewhere and stayed there’ regrets.

But what’s done is done. We love it here. And I lived in Fentonbury for 8 years – it took a long time to get it to where it is now. We’ve only been here a year. Imagine how great this place will be in 8 years!

Wayne is watching football and I’m on the computer trying to tidy things up. I have a ton of things to do but I’m tired… I’ve spent HOURS on Facebook.

You know, I never really understood the purpose of FB. Its handy, sure, and its fun to look in on friends occasionally… but I never really got it. I still can’t totally figure out how it works.

For instance, I’ve always wondered how come I never heard news on FB the way other friends seem to. I’d get calls saying ‘Did you see…?’.

No.

Yes, I’m their friend on FB, but I didn’t see.

You know why? Cause I only just realised that you can chose who’s updates you want to appear on your timeline! How was I to know this?

I’ve got about 700 FB friends and I get reams of updates from people I don’t know from a bar of soap – except they also own/love poodles or horses or a related to me. Yeah. I have a rather big extended family. I have relatives I’ve never met…

So, I’ve spent hours tidying up my FB friends and turning off ‘show on timeline’. I’m not sure if thats the solution, but fingers crossed. Problem is I accidentally click on a name when I’m trying to switch off the updates and then I have to wade though pages of friends to find where I was.

I bet that once I go through 700 friends manually I’ll find a way to do it with one click…

Anyway, somewhere in between loading stuff into the ute and writing lists, I found time this morning to stick some upholstery tacks onto the kitchen chair. It looks great. Though naturally I didn’t buy enough tacks. I got one pack and it turns out I needed 1.5 packs.

Oh well. What’s another visit to Spotlight?

I actually love visiting Spotlight. Then again, I love so many places… hardware stores, tip shops, IKEA…

I even enjoy grocery shopping. I think its all the possibilities… When I wander around a tip shop or a hardware store I can always see the possibilities in things. ‘I can do xxx with that’ or ‘I can do xxx to this’. When I wander around Spotlight its the same. And IKEA… well, I just love that place! I feel rather deprived since they didn’t open a store in Hobart as they’d promised.

Supermarkets are also about possiblities. The possibility of food to cook, recipes to try out… new ice cream flavours…

Speaking of food possibilities, this week I got this sudden urge to revisit favourite Dutch foods. I found a recipe for klets koekjes (lace cookies) and eagerly made them.

Total disaster.

Not even the dogs will eat them.

Plus I burned them…

I’m not new to disasters though. I read the sequel to Julie & Julia a few months ago and Julie Powell raved about Ukranian banosh. So I made it.

YEECH.

Maybe it wasn’t the recipe. Maybe it was me. Whatever. The chickens didn’t mind it.

I got the urge to make a mashed potato dish with sauerkraut, bacon bits and pineapple. Yeah, wierd I know, but I’d had it in Holland many years ago and remembered it fondly. That worked out alright and even Wayne (who dislikes pineapple in food) admitted it was good.

Next I’ll make hutspot. Another Dutch mashed potato dish… mmmmm.

Lately I’ve also been nostalgic for greek food – stuff my mom used to make. Comfort food.

Last weekend I made halva – a semolina pudding with honey and almonds. Yum. And tonight I made kolivozoumi – a kind of porridge made with whole wheat and topped off with nuts, cinammon, sesame seeds and sultanas. YUM.

This dish is actually somewhat of a rarity even among greeks. Mom used to make it all the time, but very few greeks actually know what it is. Back when we first moved back to Greece we had an old wood heater you could cook on. Mom would make a vat of this stuff and keep it on the side of the heater so it was always warm. We could just go help ourselves – breakfast, lunch or dinner. Mmm-mm!

When I wanted to make it I asked all over for someone who could not only give me a recipe, but tell me where I could buy the wheat and what to ask for. I ended up finding a page on FB all about greek food. They didn’t have the recipe but were kind enough to find it for me.

I’m thinking I might try to cook something different once a week from now on. Not necessarily new (though that would be nice) but different – something I haven’t cooked for years maybe.

See how that goes, but if you want any recipes, just let me know and I’ll share them in a blog.

z

progress on the mud room

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The guys have almost finished the mud room. The reason its not finished yet is that there are still a few minor bits and pieces we need to finish it, plus it still needs a ceiling. I’m not overly worried about the ceiling at this stage – it has a roof and its not leaking. That’s a bonus whichever way I look at it.
First, the mud room used to be a small porch. Chris and Wayne put up stud walls, we bought a window to go in one wall and they clad the external walls. Last time Chris was here they started on the interior walls. I wanted the walls lined with timber and we had a pile of tassie oak flooring so we used that. Its not all one size but I’m easy (in some things) so what I got the guys to do was randomly alternate the thin boards with the wider ones to create interest.
Over Easter the guys put some plywood down over the decking to create a level surface and I went and collected the roll of vinyl I’d found in a shop way on the other side of Hobart. This morning they put down the vinyl… I love it. Love the 50s black and white tile look. Their laying of it isn’t perfect, but it’ll do!
I had also bought some skirting boards on the way from collecting the vinyl and I had time to paint it before it was put in place. I’d never had the time to do that before. Sure makes life easier.
 
As I said, its far from actually finished yet, but the main stuff has been done. The mud room and toilet both have vinyl on the floors and skirting boards. Only the house ‘exterior walls’ needs a bit of skirting board to finish them and that’s my job to buy, paint and put in place. I also need to buy some trim to go around the window.
Once thats done I’ll fill gaps and paint… and then the best bit: decorating! I have such ideas for this small room. The main idea is to get all the coats and jackets and shoes (oh so many shoes) into one place in an organised fashion… well, I can dream.
The new/old front door is in place with a deadlock on it. It still needs a handle but I’ll find one I like in my travels somewhere… The door needs 2 panes of glass in it but till we get the glazier in to do that, Wayne’s put in a bit of plywood to stop the howling wind. 
Going to the toilet is so much warmer than it used to be! 
Better go and tizzy up the gourmet pizzas we bought for dinner tonight and feed the monsters. The dogs too.  
hahah.
z

DIY – kitchen chairs make over

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This is the story of a couple of chairs found at tip shops looking very sad and very ugly. I got this first chair for $1! I couldn’t believe it! When I saw it I thought for sure they’d want something like $15 for it. At least. I’d seen similar chairs in much wobblier condition for $25 each at one of the other tip shops. This one was nice and sturdy. When I got the sales person’s attention I asked about a couple of other items I was interested in, then offhandedly asked about the chair, sure I wouldn’t want to pay their price for it. When she said $1.00 I had it in my car before she could change her mind.
It was painted in layers of oil paint which I found where almost impossible to get off using the sander.
So, I got out my trusty angle grinder with the sanding attachment and made short work of all those layers of paint.
I then decided to stick with the two toned theme on the chair and painted it Limed White, with a pale blue seat… And hated it.
I quickly repainted it. This time I used a mix of my own making. I never used to do this, but I have a good friend who is forever taking liberties with paints and mixing up her own tints. My biggest fear is that I’ll find a colour I love and run out mid-job with no way to recreate it.
I soon got over my fears though and was happily mixing up colours for all I was worth. Almost everything in my way got a coat of paint on it over the last 2 weeks.
I finished up with a chair in a pale rich creamy white which I love. Its similar to the colour of the kitchen table. Once the chair was finished I gave it a quick sand, exposing a few spots on ‘wear’ areas, then I gave it a wax with some clear beeswax. I love the smell of that stuff and the soft gloss it gives to things. I’m totally new to furniture wax and this is the first time I’ve tried it. I read about it on the DIY blogs I’ve been reading lately and thought I’d give it a try.
After all, try everything in life once, and the good things twice.
The other chair in this little story is a dining chair from a set of 3 I got at a different tip shop for $5 each. These poor little chairs were sitting in the rain on the day I saw them. One had a broken back so I knew I had to rescue them. The pic below is of one of the chairs, the one with a missing slat, not the broken backed one or the horribly upholstered one. They had the best 50s style vinyl on them, marred by paint splatters, but gorgeous.
 
This is the horribly uphostered one. With a broken and splintered seat due to having nails pulled and hammered in quite a few times over the decades.
I thought I’d tackle the upholstered one first, thinking it might be the easiest one to start with – plus I needed to find a way to repair the broken back and fill the other chairs where timber was missing… 
I ripped off the check fabric and nails, found wadding and the original vinyl being used as a kind of backing. Plus lots of nails and splintered wood.
So, first things first, I painted it – white of course. This time I used my favourite stand-by Antique White USA. Once the painting was finished I gave it a quick sand and wax. I cut a bit of masonite to cover the hole and nails I couldn’t remove or hammer in below ‘ouch’ stage.
Then I upholstered it. 
I’ll spare you the gory details. It wasn’t pretty.
I’ve only tried upholstering something once before in my life – using a staple gun. This time I tried my hot glue gun. That made it easier, but my corners leave a lot to be desired. Here’s a photo far enough away as to hide the imperfections.
In the spirit of not spending any money if I can avoid it, I used things I had on hand. Paint I had on hand, offcuts of masonite I found in the casita, some toille fabric remnants I’d found a couple of months ago in the clearance bin at Spotlight, and some wadding I also found among my collection of ‘stuff that’ll come in handy one day’.
(I’ll come clean: the wadding came out of stuffed toys the dogs ripped apart. I knew I kept it for a reason!)
All in all, I love my new kitchen chairs!

 They now sit proudly in the kitchen, awaiting the arrival of their not-quite-matching mates.
I have more of the black and white fabric and a complimentary fabric in cream and burgundy which I plan to use to make a cushion for the hard chair, maybe for all the chairs…
I just love doing this stuff!
z

ps. I just added upholstery tacks to the padded chair and its really finished it off nicely.


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i need a holiday

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Just a quick post to let you know I’m still alive… but barely kicking. I’m exhausted and my arm has been sore since I woke up this morning. Usually it has the good grace not to hurt till I’ve been working for half the day. I’m not impressed.
I know I’m always saying I’m tired cause I’m doing too much, but I’m really working my butt off. Pity its still as big as ever… its just not fair.
So, photos of projects will be coming soon, as each is finished, but I’m still working on the kitchen chairs, a coffee table, a coat rack and some smaller projects. 
Meanwhile, the sign outside the door has changed – this one inspired by a sign on Pinterest. Love it.
Montana is fine, but still not her usual self. She’s sooky and isn’t eating much at all. Yesterday when I started packing the car with stuff to take to Fentonbury she got in and stayed there all day. That’s not unusual, she loves the car. Sweet girlie. I hope the results are all good.
 
Meanwhile, Chris has been here since Friday and the guys have been working on stuff. In 3 days they lined 2 walls in the mudroom (they do look great) hung our new/old front door, bought and installed a deadlock on it, and I think they connected a downpipe to our new guttering – a good thing too cause its been pouring.
 
In the same 3 days I made a chalkboard and painted an old frame for it, sanded and undercoated and did 2 topcoats on a coffee table, 2 chairs, a louvre door and a coat rack. Groomed 3 dogs, 2 of which were standard poodles, did the washing and folding of  laundry, loaded the car with things to take to Fentonbury, entertained visitors, went to Fentonbury and cleaned the house and started getting it together, washed dishes countless times and avoided cooking.

Why is it that when men work they take so many breaks? Maybe if I adopted their more relaxed attitude to working I wouldn’t be wearing my wrist brace during the day and moaning about the pain…

z

if there’s no rest for the wicked, what does that make me?

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Even when I’m supposed to be taking it easy, I’m doing something. I just can’t stop. I’ll stop for a cup of coffee but I’ll read a book or check mail while I do it. I watch TV but half the time I also work on a craft project, brush or caress a poodle. Before I got a PVR I used to read a book during the ads.

Point in case, the vase above. This used to be an empty coffee can. I collected some old gum tree bark and used the hot glue gun (I love my hot glue gun) to glue the curls of bark to the tin. They look amazing…. just like cinnamon sticks. This is only a preview. I have plans for this vase… stay tuned.

Another thing I worked on while watching TV over the last week was a birdhouse. We now have two birdhouses hanging off the trellis in the yard. I promise I’ll take better photos one of these days but I was so eager to hang it up and see what it looked like in its ‘natural environment’.

This too was made from an old coffee can. Wayne helped by cutting out the door for me and making a roof out of some old rusty tin. Great isn’t it? I love the little twisted wire ‘hooks’ he made to hold the roof on.

All I did to improve this birdhouse was to glue sticks to it to cover the tin. I’ve temporarily hung it off an old horse bit we have on the trellis. Kinda cool.

So, besides all that, now that the kitchen table is done, what have I been doing? Well. On Monday I found out that the tenants had vacated my house in Fentonbury. I had given them notice as I discovered that its very stressful and not at all easy to sell a house while its rented out. The only thing to do was to take the house back and move myself back in so I can have the house looking the way I like to have it: neat, tidy, clean, maintained… and gorgeous.

Not that the tenants were bad… they were fine to start with and to be honest I never had an problems with them till I decided to sell the house. From the minute I notified them of my intent to sell they became the tentants from hell. I wont go into details, all I can say is that it could have been way worse. I’ve seen the horror stories. We lost a sale because of them, but the house is ok… Nothing some cleaning and TLC can’t fix.

I’m so glad to have my house back. Its been a really hard thing for me to let go of this house. I think its because I didn’t sell it but decided to rent it. I confess I’m a control freak… I like things done my way. And seeing my house not being maintained the way I would myself… well… it was hard to deal with. If I’d sold it it would have been someone else’s house, no longer mine to worry about.

When I sold my house in Melbourne I moved away so I didn’t see what the new owners did or didn’t do. When I did visit Melbourne and drove by one day a couple of years later I was disappointed that the new owners didn’t seem as house proud as I was… but it was no longer my house, so it wasn’t my problem.

My advice is this (and I really wish I’d given myself this advice a year ago): don’t rent your house. Not if you’re attached to it… if you want to move on, sell it. Being a landlord sucks.

But enough of that. I had been talking about my week. It started with learning the house was vacant on Monday, then having to take a day off on Tuesday to go and inspect it with the agent to be sure all was ok. From there things just got busier and busier. Tomorrow is Good Friday, so with having Monday and Tuesday off its been a short week for me… short but not quiet! My week included finding the vinyl I want in the mud room, taking chainsaws in for a service, grooming 2 new dogs, working, picking Merrill up from the airport, visiting the tax man, shopping and taking Montana to the vet to be spayed.

Yes… My baby girlie is in the living room right now, sore and miserable. She won’t eat even though I chopped up some leftover sausages and a chicken schnitzel and tried hand feeding her. That’s ok. She’ll eat it in the morning I’m sure.

Thing is… I knew I didn’t want to breed Montana again. She only had the one litter but she had bad diarhea for weeks afterwards so I didn’t want to risk her health by having another litter. Plus, if I did  have another litter I’d have to keep a puppy and then I’d have to show it… and who has the time? and who has the money? Breeding Montana would mean airfares to the mainland for both of us, stud fees, and the cost of raising a litter. I sure don’t have money to spare right now.

So, even though I knew I wasn’t going to breed her again, I couldn’t bring myself to put a full stop on that part of my life. You know… just knowing that I could breed another litter if I wanted to, that my own line didn’t end there, well… it was reassuring.

But I finally decided it was time. Montana is 7.5 yrs old. I wouldn’t breed her again even if I wanted to at this age. So this morning I dropped her off and asked that the vet who spayed her also look at a small hard lump on her tummy near her last teats.

$565 later (yeah, you heard me!) Montana is spayed, all went well and the lump was removed and is being sent to be biopsied.

I was fully expecting the vet to tell me it was nothing. But here I am now… not even wanting to think anything other than positive stuff.

He said its a mammary tumour – of those 50% are benign and 50% not. Of the not, 50% are the type that spread, 50% aren’t. So, there’s a 75% chance this is nothing at all to worry about.

Fingers crossed. I try not to think that Pagan (her mother) died at age 9 of cancer. She was fine till one day she had diarhea and didn’t eat, the second day when things didn’t pick up they took her to the vet and the ultrasound showed she was full of growths in her abdomen. There’d been no indication.

Hopefully this is nothing at all. I couldn’t bare her being sick. I adore my baby girl. She is the most beautiful dog in the world.

Ok. Enough of that. It will all be fine. I’m going to go cuddle her for a while.

So, tomorrow I had planned to go up to Fentonbury to start the clean up of my house and yard. But I wont be… Wayne suggested that a day off wouldn’t kill me. Little does he know huh? I’ll stay here and look after my girlie, clean my car, do some work on my dining chairs, sort out stuff to take to Fentonbury, catch up on emails and computer work… that’s taking it easy!

I’ll leave you with some tip shop bottles I gave a ‘sea glass’ effect to using PVA glue and food colour (yep, you go it! another Pinterest idea). These will be going to the bathroom in Fentonbury as decor.

z

DIY – the kitchen table

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Well, its finally done!!! The new/old table that I’ve been making over is finished! It only took about five weeks from the day I got it. Really. It would have been done sooner if I could have worked on it more solidly. As it was, it went from this:


to this:

Not bad eh?

Ok. So here’s the story. I’ve always dreamed of having a country kitchen. Our kitchen here is melamine heaven (ugh) and not really big enough for the big pine table I dreamed of. So I make do till I can afford to do the kitchen up. Up till now I’ve had my 60s kitchen table (and chairs as you can see above) in the kitchen and that worked fine. But I still wanted that timber table. I figure the rest of the kitchen will catch up one day soon…

As you know, I’m a tip shop/op shop addict. And on one of my trips I saw this table and thought ‘hey… I can do something with that!’

It had a horrible, broken top, a wonky leg and nails all over the sides.

All I saw was that it was solid tassie oak and I was going to replace the top anyway. I had plans to use the offcuts from enclosing the mud room to create a new top, but then I looked around me and found this:

And old shed door. Too small to use as a front door but still… I thought it’d come in useful one day. 🙂

I put it on top of the table and thought ‘eureka!’. I had my new table top.

I started by removing the bracing at the back of the door and the very old, very rusty hinges. I quickly found out that the slats were in pretty bad shape. I had to pull them apart, clean them up and re-glue them together. They still weren’t all that solid.

I sanded off the paint. I wanted to use the front of the door with the grooves between the slats. The slats were bent and uneven due to years of exposure to the elements. I had to sand a LOT to get the door more or less smooth and even.

Then I started work on the table. I turned it upside down and found it had a clever little ‘hold the top on’ system which I saved and re-used when I finished.

It had a nice solid oak frame which had originally held plywood covered with some kind of laminate which was long gone, only the glue remaining. I had to beat that out with a crowbar.

In the end I was left with the solid table top frame and the table legs.

I worked on straightening up the wonky leg and sanding back the peeling paint off the legs. I wasn’t too fussy about getting it perfect. I’m after a country look after all. Worn and loved, not pristine.

Next came attaching the top frame to the legs with glue and nails, then the new top onto that.

And sanding.

Lots of sanding.

I got to use the new belt sander for the first time. That sucker sure can pull. Almost pulled me over the table top first time I turned it on.

 Eventually, I got to where I thought I was finished. Then I sanded some more.

The table was only about 19-20mm wide with ragged edges. Even after I cut the worst of them off with my circular saw I still needed to edge it to make it look neat. Plus make it look thicker. Nothing like a nice thick table, right?

I got some pine strips as edging. They were 40mm wide. Great, but too much overhang underneath. I didn’t want to risk anything catching onto the edge and pulling it off. So I had to cut down some strips of timber to put behind as extra support for the edging.

Sorry, no photos of that. It was dodgey looking.

Once the edging was on I had to sand it again cause my joins left a bit to be desired.

I learned to work with furniture from a guy who makes rustic pieces. I basically learned to sand using a grinder … need I say more?

I used some clear silicone stuff to fill the big holes. Big mistake. Sure, it worked on the holes, but that stuff was horrible. I tried to fill the gaps with it (cause who wants to lose crumbs in cracks in the table?) and I got it all over the surface of the table. I got my fingers covered in it for one thing, but I couldn’t remove it. And when I went to sand it off it only made a kind of greasy smear. Yuck.

Note the clever trick I picked up from a friend: use a balloon stretched over the tip to keep the silicone from drying out.

I had to find a way to get the smeared silicone off, or at least minimise the mess… so I rubbed some burnt umber artists acrylic onto the table around the cracks where the smears were. I like it. I love burnt umber. I use it to give my ‘distressed’ items a more distressed look.

Then I looked at the table top, before applying polyurethane, and thought ‘Hmmm. It needs something.’

I found a graphic I liked on the Graphics Fairy website, printed it out but couldn’t blow it up to the size I wanted to tranfer it onto the table. I had to do it freehand.

I ruled up lines, then drew the letters on with a pencil. I then used a brown marker to draw on the type. I ain’t a signwriter. It came out ok, but not quite as authentic as I would have liked.

 
So I attacked it with the sander, rubbing it down, making it look like it had worn off. I probably went overboard with the rubbing, and perhaps the black marker would have looked better, but when I tested it on a scrap bit of timber the brown sanded better than the black.

Finally it was time to paint and lacquer the table. I sat the table up on some tap bits (like the skirts you put under tap fittings) so that I could paint the legs all the way to the bottom without having to worry about then sticking to newspaper (a tip off Pinterest)

I tried another tip I got off Pinterest: the elastic band to stop drips. Have  I mentioned how much I love that site?

I had to do three coats of polyurethane, sanding lightly with 240 grit paper between coats (cause thats what the instructions said). I gave the legs 2 coats of a creamy white paint I mixed up using some leftover cream and a bit of Antique White USA. Once it was dry I gave the legs a light sand to show a bit of wear, then moved it into the kitchen!!!

Next project… the chairs!

z

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I’m on fire!

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Yep! I’m SuperWoman! This weekend I managed to get to a ton of my current projects. And it feels good!

Since I plan to blog about each project in more detail when they’re finished, I thought I’d share a sneak peak just cause I’m so pleased with myself.

Above is our new/old front door. This is stage 3 of the door. Its now had the hardware removed and have been sanded on both sides (the other side being mostly orange).

I also got started on the three dining chairs I got for $5 each. Above is one of them, with a 50s vinyl seat and a missing back slat. One other has the same seat and all its slats. And the third had a fabric badly replaced seat which I have removed and have started the process of restoring.

I also started on another chair. This one cost me $1 from the tip shop. I know! I couldn’t believe it! You never see these old chairs (in sitting safe order!) for that much. I had to grab it. I had some trouble getting the 104 layers of paint off it, but I managed and now its ready for a fine sand and paint.

Then there’s the new/old kitchen table. The one where I replaced the stuffed up top with an old shed door. That needs more work but the basics are done. I’m so excited.

But don’t think I was slack and stopped there! I worked on a birdhouse, a vase, our firewood box, made muffins, entertained, worked on horses, did the requisite multiple loads of washing and groomed a dog. (Not my own fuzzy faced beasts unfortunately. I had to draw the line somewhere!).

So, I feel good as I go into another week of work.

z

e.t. phone home

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Today, finally, was a productive day. We’ve been so busy lately with work and visitors that it seems my life has become anything but productive.

After a run to the hardware store for some plywood for the mudroom floor and a good start to 5 loads of washing (where on earth do that many clothes come from?) I got to do some real work!

As opposed to work for someone else, or computer work.

Firstly we got to do some work with Dancer. She’s been very wary of lifting her back feet – she leans onto Wayne and snatches them away in fear of losing her balance. Today we tied her up and, using a rope and some cuffs (technical horse training gear), worked on lifting her legs – Wayne in the danger zone and me on the other side of a post hanging onto the rope.

We were both thrilled with how she went. After a few minutes of panic at being cornered and having rope around her legs she started giving her legs and letting Wayne lift them forward and back. Excellent work! Not a single kick. When we first got her she’d let fly every spook she got. Tomorrow we hope the farrier is able to trim her back feet for the first time.

After giving her an apple and lots of pats, I got to work sanding an old feed box Wayne had which we’ve decided to use as our firewood box. Its going to live on the front porch which is exposed to the weather (no roof on that part yet!) so the box needed a new coat of paint to protect it from the elements. I gave it a quick sand and put on the first of 2 coats of paint. What colour you ask? Antique White USA of course. Mainly cause I have tons of the stuff in exterior (and interior) paint. I’ll finish that off tomorrow and I’ll get my trusty man to fill it with firewood. 

I got the new/old front door out onto the little porch of the casita and sanded the inner side. I’d already removed the hardware so I was able to sand it pretty well and remove all the old flaking white paint. I then chipped away at all the glue and broken glass on the panel bits so we can put in new glass.

Once I decide on a lockset and handle for the door I can bog up the unwanted holes and paint it! Oh… and then get the glazier to put in new glass of course.

Still, I was very excited by my work.

While I was out there sanding for what seemed like hours, using my left hand as the main sander hand to spare my right (which is a problem hand with its constant aches and pains) I wondered where Wayne had got to. I knew he was around somewhere but I couldn’t see him and I couldnt hear him. When he’s working in the shed I can usually hear him hammering away and swearing. Today there was a strange silence.

Ok. I’ll go with the flow. I did my work on the door, brought in the washing, got onto the computer to check mail. And then I heard Wayne calling me.

You know how you can always tell by the sound of a dog’s bark what they’re barking at? For instance, you can always tell if its a stranger at the gate, someone on the road, the horses at the fence, or a chicken in the yard – and you respond accordingly.

This afternoon when I heard Wayne calling for me I knew he had something to show me.

When I went outside this is what I saw:

Wayne’s obviously been playing with his welder. Isn’t it gorgeous? So cute in its aggressive little way.

I love it when Wayne gets to be creative.

I better go have a shower and rest up my arm. Tomorrow is another big day. Hopefully I can move my other projects along a bit further, or, dare I even dream it… finish one of them!

z