Weekend project: Paint dipped stool

It's been a busy few weeks around here, but not with renovating! We've been confirming our itinerary and booking accommodation for our July Europe trip.  I'm getting really excited about it but I have to say that I find the whole planning caper exhausting and frustrating! However it's mostly done now and now I can relax a bit.

Amongst all the planning, I managed to squeeze in a trip to the op shop where I came across this little stool for $5! Did I actually need a stool you ask? Well, no but come on it was $5 and it had project written all over it!  With my little stool (which in my head was lovingly handmade by a local Nonno for his grandchildren!) secured in the boot, I headed off to Bunnings to buy some new paint.

After much deliberation over the colours, I decided that I would paint dip the bottom of the legs in Taubmans Painted Parrot (Turquoise) and the rest in Taubmans Summer Splash (Yellow) so I got a sample pot of each of the colours.

 I gave the stool a clean and a really light sand and then got painting.  I started on the Summer Splash first (I just realised that it's actually someones job to  make up these paint names!), and then with some help from painters tape taped up the legs at the height I wanted the Painted Parrot to start.

It was a bit tricky to get the tape straight on the round legs, but I did ok.  If I was a patient person (hmmmm!) I probably would have painted the whole thing yellow, waited for it to dry completely and then tape it at the right height and paint the dipped part.

But I'm not patient and it was the first time I've ever done anything like this and I guess it's all about trial and error. So I did it the hard way and had to do some detailed paint work where there was some gaps between the two paint colours (you can see the gap in the picture (left)- I had to re-tape it at the yellow level).

That being said, it ended up coming out quite well and after three coats of each of the colours I finished it off with two coats of clear lacquer.


Here it is inside- it still doesn't have a proper home yet, but it's in our bedroom until the next furniture shuffle!

As usual, I got a bit excited about the paint and also decided to paint these little planter pots that I picked up from Aldi for $10! That's including the 3 pots, the tray, little chalk board tags, dirt and seeds- bargain! The paint just went straight on and again, I did three coats of colour and finished off with a coat of the clear lacquer.




Happy ANZAC day to all the Aussies and Kiwis- I hope you've had a lovely day off today and took some time to stop and think about all those who have fought for us.  I'm sure the smart ones are also taking tomorrow off, but not me! Although, I can't really complain too much about going back for a day then off again for the weekend!

Erin xx

Ding dong, the chimney's gone!

Happy Easter everyone, I hope that you've had a lovely long weekend whatever you've been doing!

It's been a while between posts but it's been a busy month in our little household. We've both had a bit going on in our work worlds, I applied and was successful for a volunteering position that I will start next month, we've had some exciting baby news in the family (not us!) and....we installed a new toilet! The addition of a new toilet doesn't really compare to the other news, but hey we're pretty damn excited! When you're living in a renovators delight and with a toilet from the 70's, you tend to celebrate the small stuff. Our spiffy new toilet flushes so well (the first time!), is water saving AND it has a soft closing lid- fancy huh?!

As a side note it's lovely to know that despite no new posts there has continued to be a steady stream of people coming to have a look- thank you all so much for taking the time out of your busy lives to read my little blog!

I'm not going to miss this ugly brown thing!

So, to get to the point of the post...we've removed our chimney!  Paul started on the roof, removing all the bricks up there and then patching the hole where it was with some second hand tin from our favourite junk yard in Coburg (is it even a thing to have a fave junk yard?!).

Smile!

Last Saturday morning we removed the small stuff from the room and then covered the larger furniture with sheets and tarp. We donned the dust masks and got into demolition mode removing the lath and plaster and then Paul removed the cement sheeting that had been used for the lovely brown facade (it was previously covered with fake bricks before I attacked them one night!). I can't tell you how satisfying it was to take that ugly thing out!

There was a brick fireplace under there!

 Underneath the facade we did find a fireplace (uh-oh!) but it wasn't beautiful (I think it's probably been damaged over the years) and besides we were too committed to change our minds now!
 

Next project; to use the bricks

With dust flying around everywhere we removed the bricks and threw them out the window.  There was a frame in place above the fireplace which looked as though it had a support beam for the ceiling, so we paid a visit to Bunnings for some structural pine and the plasterboard for our temporary wall.

Check out the mess!

I'd love to be able to explain exactly what he did next, but basically he rigged it up so that the ceiling didn't cave in and then put in some temporary flooring where there were gaps. 

We (Paul especially because lets face it, I'm no builder) were pretty tired after all that so left the next steps until Thursday night and the start of the Easter long weekend.  Thursday night was the big clean- and what fun it was(n't!). Even though the couch and the TV had been covered, the layer of dust was incredible.  Dust had also made its way into the study nook which basically caused me to have a dust induced breakdown.  I have never seen such dust, especially because it required about a five stage removal before it even looked like I'd tried to get it off! Wash down, wipe, wash down, wipe and keep on wiping! I still think that I'm probably getting dust all over me just by sitting here typing- yes it's that bad.

The temporary walls and floor

On Friday the plasterboard went up, last night some timber as a finish between the old and new plaster wall and floor and today the gaps have been filled with expanding foam.

It's not exactly beautiful but it's sealed, it's neat and when it comes time to do the rest of the room one fiddly and time consuming task is done!

It was a happy day when I was able to move the furniture back in- my favourite part! It's amazing how removing a seemingly small thing in a room can create such a different feeling of space. I've rearranged the furniture in a way that I think makes much more sense and creates a nicer flow in the room (not perfect, but working with what we've got). 

Lovely ceramic stool

The side table and bargain rug

The whitewashed table from my previous furniture makeover is now in the hallway (I liked the look of it there when I temporarily moved it there so it's staying for now), and I've replaced it with a side table from the spare room.  I also purchased this little ceramic stool from The Reject Shop for $40 and picked up a cheap rug from K-Mart today for $29 to cover the uneven floor! You've got to love a bargain or two!

Maddie and Millie enjoying the better flowing lounge room!

The best part of all is that I really feel like we're doing this! It's also been an excellent eye opener as to how much dust we're going to be dealing with when we pull out all the old plaster in the front half of the house.  At least when we're doing that, the furniture will be all out of the area so the cleaning will be focused on the room itself (which will be bad enough!).

It's also reinforced for me that if we're going to survive this renovation we need to communicate better (I'm still trying to get Paul across the line on this one!)! It's become clear that I like a bit of structure (lets call it a "strategic" plan) when it comes to these things, whereas he's more of a "give it a crack and deal with whatever happens later" kind of guy! It also doesn't help that I've never done this stuff before and I think he gets a bit tired of the constant "why are you doing it that way?" questions- when all I'm trying to do is understand what's going on! It's definitely going to be interesting (as those of you who know us really understand!), but I'm hoping that we can work on that during the planning phases and get better at it before the big stuff happens!

I'm feeling really positive that we've started and there's a lot of planning taking place. We're currently cooking up another "interim project" to utilise the bricks from the chimney so I'll keep you posted!

Study makeover

I've been working on a little project for a few weeks now and it's finally ready to share with you.  Since Paul made me the desk out of reclaimed timber I've been giving our little study nook a makeover!

For those of you who are familiar with the style of a Californian Bungalow house, you will know that often what was previously the front porch gets built in to use as inside floor space.

In our house, this little nook has been used as a study off our lounge room.  I haven't spent much time or energy on this room, as eventually it will be reopened up to become the front porch again. But with my beautiful new desk and increasing time spent on the computer, I decided that I wanted to make it easier on the eye as well as more practical.


You can see from the before picture that it was pretty boring uninspiring, with some bare necessities and a second hand (not to mention ill fitting) desk.

Look how lovely it looks now! A desk which fits perfectly in place, less clutter and some pretty accessories. 

The prints on the wall were wedding gifts from our friends Jess and Lach.

I decided on a blue and green colour palette with pops of yellow (and some of Paul's things in red). I love the calm of blue and green and it reminds me of being by the sea- the different blues and greens of the water and the blue of the sky.
 
To increase the amount of storage in the study, I've used two 2x2 Expedit shelving units as storage (behind the desk) and they couldn't fit better if they were made to measure! I already had one in the spare room so only had to get a second one to sit beside it.

Now we've got plenty of storage including a place where we can keep the printer so it doesn't take up space on the desk.  We also finally a have a practical filing system (including in and out trays) and I think that it looks good too!

I tried without success to find a new home for the Ducati models (top left).

Adaptability of the items that I used in the study was a key factor given nothing is permanent right now! Everything that I've used will also go well in the renovated house, either in a study or reused in other rooms. I did a lot of shopping around to find things that I liked and cost was also a consideration, given the temporary nature of the space.

 

I love having pretty, personal things around me and it's definitely the many small pieces that make a room homely and inviting to me.

 

This gorgeous print is a custom order made by my talented friend Nat at Little Puddles.  She has lots of other gorgeous prints as well as jewellery and if you like this one, you should head to her page and take a look.

The blue Tempo fan is from Bunnings (only $8.00!), the clock (which you can't see in this pic, but can see above) is from Typo and the notepaper holder was part of (another bargain) clearance stationery set from Kmart.

It's fair to say that I'm currently obsessed with glass and all things upcycled.  The pen holder is an upcycled jar wrapped in brown paper and twine that I used at Christmas as a vase, but now has another new life!

On the left side of the desk are a set of black and white Ikea canisters (that I've had for some time), and the turquoise and yellow bowls are an op shop find from last weekend. The frame I got for my birthday contains the chorus of our wedding song (I downloaded a handwritten font I loved and made it myself on the computer- easy and cheap art!) and you can also see an origami mobile that was a gift from my friend Rach.

The milk bottles are by Morgan and Finch from The Works Hawthorn (who strangely don't appear to have a website).  If you're into homewares this place is massive and worth a trip to check out. The milk bottles are holding drawing pins and clips also in blues and greens.

So there you have it, my new study! It's been a little while coming, but I think it's been worth the wait. I'm so happy with how it's come up and it's now somewhere that I love to be and work.