Little Blue House Tour: Living Room

The living room (as promised). By no means finished (I think it's beginning to dawn on me that perhaps finished doesn't actually exist), but comfy and worthy of a look none the less.

Sofa: Second hand and reupholstered by moi
Arm Chairs: Second hand
Side board: Second hand
Side tables: Ikea
Rug: Spotlight
Fan: Artemis from Beacon lighting (thanks insurance company for those)
Suitcases: Family heirlooms
Cushions: Moi
Blue footstool: Spotlight
Poster: Second hand
Lamp: Officeworks (silver) home made (white frame)
And the big white wall above the fireplace... that's our tv/movie screen (there's a sneaky fabulous projector mounted on the ceiling just out of shot)
Paint: Lexicon quater & Spun Grass (Dulux)

Before, During & After: Kitchen

So, the one room which is finished... mmmm, most finished anyway I thought might be ready for a little look around... This room is worth seeing the before of - it's been one of the most drastic (and fantastic) changes the flood brought!
This is how it was when we bought it:

The curtains went within 3 hours, and we made do with a bar fridge for the first month. Note the sink off centre to the window, leaving no room to stack dirty or clean dishes and the generally crapola layout. We also painted the beige cupboards blue to cheer the space up until we could renovate (a room tour I was going to do for you, which didn't ever eventuate!).

This is what it looked like when we walked in the door after the flood:

Then it got stripped back completely, (you may remember this find) and we insulated the walls:

And now it looks a little something like this...

Before & After: Compost heap

Look! We actually finished something!

The veggie garden is well under way growing us winter treats, but the compost heap was sitting like a an ugly mountain in the middle of the garden. We made it's enclosure using entirely recycled materials with the exception of the screws holding it together. Everything else was found in our sheds. The paint is from sample pots and the posts where just dug in to the ground. Slowly, slowly the bigger picture will come together!

Timmy built most of the structure. We sunk the four corner posts into the soil, put braces across the sides and back. Found some ripple iron to do the sides with and then painted old fence pailings and screwed them all in. Now Tim (and the worms) have 4 square metres of compost heap heaven (he is calling it the worm palace!) - pretty generous I reckon!

Discoveries

The Hunter.
Who knew that behind this kitchen pantry:

 Was This:

Score eh what? It is the original stove from the house, which was built in the late 1920's - whilst I appreciate it's beauty, I don't think I will be switching to wood fired cooking any time soon. We are planning on turning it into a barbeque and pizza oven outside, what do you think?!

Before & After: Arm Chairs

I have these fabulous parrot chairs on loan from my mum who in turn has them on permanent loan from a friend. They are a little worse for wear, poor things, but they are super comfy to curl up in and sink into and I love the shades of green in them. Having a puppy around the house now means that any loose dangely bits of fabric may get eaten and made worse, plus I wanted to freshen up the darlings. Whilst sorting through my fabric scraps box I came across this gorgeous cotton that I picked up in an op shop in Adelaide over Christmas. I had just enough to do both, I hemmed it and gave it some corners so that they just slip over the worst of the wear.

Before and After: Cabinet

We found this cabinet in one of our sheds (mmmm sheds) when we moved in, underneath the orange paint, wasps nest and cobwebs we saw a bit of potential, plus we are in need of furniture. Moving from one bedroom to an entire house does that to you.

 

It took me about 4 hours over a couple of days to get this beauty functioning again and it cost about $20 for paint and a replacement bit of ply for the top.
I washed (scrubbed actually), sanded, removed the top then cut and nailed in a new one.
I gave it three coats of paint in 'Red Alert', but decided to paint the inside of the door in 'Mermaid Splash' (both British Paints).
I left the inside as it is because a) we both love rustic and it has a certain charm and b) I might think of something amazing to do with it later.

Oh yeah and we made it our booze cabinet, because y'know, everyone needs one of those (all donations to expand contents of booze cabinet most welcome). I added fairy lights, et voila! I love how the red of the cabinet picks up the red of Surry Hills, our old home!

* Artwork from red dog design
* Cardboard radio from Suck UK

Wrap.

Wow. It's a wrap. It's done. I'm unpacked. The washing is in. The marking is complete.. er almost. I've been anxious about the month that's been for a while now. Been looking anxiously towards it. And now it's done. I had a moment in the middle of it all, where I sat back, looked at the work in front of me and at what I had already done and went. "Wow. Here I am. And it's okay. Enjoy this moment." And man is that something I need to do a little more, always looking forward never just being in the present. Does anyone else do this too?

ps. There's a little questionnaire going on my f'book page... please head over and lemme know whatcha think?!

My creative space...

Has been getting rather rusty. I'm slowly but surely making this lovely girl run. She goes now, with a slight groan and a definite lack of brakes. I've cleaned her thoroughly with a mix of vinegar, baking soda, water, eucalyptus oil, rags and a tooth brush. I thought the chain would need replacing but it's come up fine. I thought the gears probably wouldn't work, but they do. BUT the rust. The miles of rust. After trying several different methods it turns out fine metal sandpaper is the way to go.
I've got another wheel to de-rust, a kickstand to remove, front brake pads to replace, brakes to be tightened, a mudguard to straighten, and maybe a paint job on the handlebars. I'm also going to de-rust the parcel rack and paint it white I think, just to tie in.
It's lovely to cruise perfectly upright on her though. Go you good thing!

More creative spaces here...

Ps. Still time to enter my giveaway here!

Mantel piece, before and after

So things have been a-changing around these parts. Please note Exhibit A. Our kitchen, the mantel piece to be specific...

Now with added shelves (thanks Ikea) in the back room, the crazy huge amounts of stuff have been replaced with cool calm and serene... Exhibit B:

Better yes?!

Sunshine and tree loss.

First you see me now you dont. This tree was a celtus and a weed. Once they get over 10Metres tall the council order you to chop them down. They ruin house foundations and suck up all the nutrients and water from everything around it. So it had to go. I'm just glad we did it in winter when it's looking kind of sparse anyway. In summer it shaded the garden and blocked off the rather ugly flats we live next door to. The loss of privacy is made up for by the vast amount of sunlight now entering our rather cold dark home. Everything is brighter and hopefully things will begin to grow more in the garden now too. The gum tree next to it was rather sick also so here's hoping the native tree springs back to life.
The tree guys just shimy on up with chainsaw attached to their waists and chop it down. It only took them an hour!