small things big impact - a bench in the mudroom

Day 4 - A bench in the mudroom

Do you remember when I made this little cabinet for my shoes? I always intended it to live in the mud room as a bench as well as storage. But up till recently we've always had a dog bed in that spot, somewhere for the dogs to get out of the weather.

Well, winter is coming, and I decided it was time to move the dog beds off the porch and out of the mud room and into the grooming room. Two birds: warmer dogs and we reclaim our porch and mudroom.

So the cabinet moved into the mud room. Its still not finished in there. I had planned to paint all the walls white, but I decided to leave that wall natural, showing the old weathered timber we lined the walls with. It really shows off the drawer front coat hangers I made.

This is another of the small changes and updates which I'm finally catching up on and which make so much of a difference.

The photos make the mudroom look ok, but its not really. Its filthy, the white squares on the vinyl are so grimey and so hard to clean. Possibly not the best choice for a mud room...

Oh well. Choices are made, things are done, decisions are proved to be wrong. Such is life. 

I still love my floor, but maybe not in this house, in this yard, with these dogs and with this man.

:)

z

small things big impact - a bit of a toilet roll holder

Day 3 - a rustic toilet roll holder

When we first moved into this house, the toilet was almost an outhouse. It was on the porch, outside the house. It was, literally a "room with a view". You could sit there, doing your business, and look out over the valley.

We really haven't done anything with the toilet since then, other than bring it into the house by enclosing the small porch to make a mud room. Its still 'outside' the house and you still freeze your butt off going out there in winter, but its no longer "exposed".

I've been wanting to improve the toilet since we moved in, but its never been a  priority.

I mean, really... its not top of the list of places you want to show off, right?

I do have plans. I bought paintable wallpaper to do the walls, I plan to fix the weather damaged door,  put in a shelf... all kinds of exciting things. Among which was a different toilet roll holder.

I've seen toilet roll holders made of non-toilet roll holder items and, being as we're horse lovers, I always thought a bit would make a good one.



Among all of Wayne's horsey things was this huge bit for a horse in harness. Its old and the colour is just gorgeous. You can't really tell in the photos, but it has a green patina to it.

I did consider trying to cut the bit somehow to make it into a roll holder, but I didn't want to ruin it... so I decided to use it as it is. That way I can recycle it at any time in the future.

Basically all I did was search my stash of junk for a bit of timber which was the right size to hold it. I found this hand sander thingy (I never know what to call these things yet I've done stuff with them before). I sanded it (ironic) and gave it a couple of coats of polyurethane, then added hooks underneath to hold the bit.

I had two options for the actual roll holding bit. One was this rusty metal spike (my favourite) or a piece of copper pipe I cut to size and flattened the ends so it would fit through the gaps.

I prefer the rusty spike, obviously.

I really dislike the brackets I have on it now, but it'll have to do for now. They're all I could find. I'll be fixing this up when I finally 'do' the toilet.

Oh, I also put on a new toilet seat, but no need for photos of that. We all know what a toilet seat looks like.

These surely were two small changes that had big impact.

z

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small things big impact - a new dog bed

Day 2 - less dog hair on the couch

There's one thing I just can't stand. Dog hair. (Or cat hair but I don't have a cat, mainly cause of the hair.)

That's why I have poodles. They don't shed. Or smell. They're the best that way.

So, after making the catastrophic decision to wash the couch cover and living room throws in our washing machine a few weeks ago, I decided it was time Barney had his own bed.

Let me explain: for ages I've been washing all our couch covers and throws at the laundromat cause our washing machine doesn't handle scunge well. You know what scunge is? Its the hair and lint that collects in washing machines only to be deposited on the next load of washing you do, especially the dark items. 

Last time I had to wash the covers I chucked them into the washing machine thinking "how bad can it be?"

Bad.

Took me 4 wash the washing machine cycles to clean that sucker out. Turns out vinegar and bi-carb in together works, I finally got it as clean as it'll get.

So, having this new Barney bed is great. Barney has his own spot, he doesn't have to jump up on his arthritic little legs, and the couch no longer smells of stinky dog while covered in dog hair.

One small step towards a cleaner home.

Meanwhile the poodles continue to enjoy the couch. All they give the couch is dirt and the occasional stick from the garden. No doggy smells, no hair.

Don't they look cute? Like bookends. Montana on the left, Romeo on the right.

Here are two puppies from one of my litters. Astra on the left and Zeus on the right. They own that couch!

z

small things, big impact - improved phone charging station

Its a new month and I've had an idea. I'm going to share the small things I've been doing lately that make life a little better around here. Its mostly those small things which I've been meaning to do for weeks, months, years... that I'm finally making a point of getting around to.

Ok, don't cringe. I probably still won't post daily, but for the month of May I'm challenging myself to not only finish a few of the niggly jobs I've been putting off for ages, but also to share them in the hopes that I'll inspire someone to get up off the couch and fix that loose hinge, broken door handle (darn, that reminds me...) or whatever.

I actually started on this challenge last weekend, before I knew it was actually a challenge. Now its all up to me to keep up the momentum.

So, here is Day 1.

Improved phone charging station

I like to change things around a bit... Most of the time I re-arrange furniture (which Wayne LOVES), but I also like to update, change and re-make things I've got.

Like this phone station. I made this last year to hold the phone and as a place to charge up our mobile phones. Back then we had normal dumb phones.

Now we have smartphones and they're bigger than the old ones...

BTW, who saw that coming? Mobile phones kept getting smaller and smaller, then suddenly the trend was reversed and they got bigger and bigger, the bigger the better.

With the new mobile phones and kindles all needing charging...

...and there's another thing. Back when mobile phones were small and stupid, every single phone had a different charger cause heaven forbid they made things universal. Every household in the world had a drawer full of mobile phone chargers which didn't fit any phone in the family.

Now, the kindles and smartphones use the same chargers. Will wonders never cease!

So anyway, as I was saying, the new smartphones and kindles didn't fit on the narrow shelf which used to hold the old mobiles. And sitting them on the top shelf was to risk them sliding off and breaking.

It was time for an update.

This is what it looked like before:

This is what it looks like now with the addition of a couple of timber strips across the front, making a safe charging space.

A small, simple change which makes life a little easier, or neater.

Now if I could just convince Wayne that we should never cook in the kitchen, I might be able to keep the entire room neat...

z

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