a quick magnet board

What would you do with this ruined whiteboard? It was disgusting. The paint was flaking off, it was stained. It looked like it barely survived the plague.

But the frame was so rustic and sweet. The back was ok but green. And it was metal, hence magnetic.

Well, if you're me, which I am, you spray it white and use it as a magnet board in the office.

I always thought I needed an idea board in the office. So now I have one. I'm using my vintage earring magnets to pin up images for inspiration. 

Excuse the messy office. Well, I did crop out most of the mess to save your eyeballs.

On the shelf to the left you can see my remade dolls covered in plastic while they wait for their forever homes. Top right is my memory box of Billybear, with his paws cast in plaster. My darling little man. And below that is an icon in a silver filigree frame given to me by my aunt in Greece.

Its my office. Its full of stuff that I like and which means something to me.

Right now its buried under about 50 projects I have on the go...

z

old window window chalkboard #2

Time just flies when you're having fun busy. Don't know how it is with everyone else, but working from home sure doesn't mean I have more free time. If anything, it means I have more to do than ever.

I mean, there's the grooming, which is work and must come first. Then there's caring for the house jobs, garden and animals. Often the house and garden don't get their share of care. And then there's crafting and DIY-ing and just plain making stuff. Sometimes that gets pushed aside as well in favour of work or rest.

Still, I'm managing to do a bit here and there between the bigger jobs like clean the chook shed and tending to sick horses. Here is one such small project... the second of the old king billy pine window frames made into chalkboards.

This gorgeous window frame was given a shelf at the bottom - new pine aged with steel wool and vinegar. 

It got a chalk holder as well, this time a sliding door pull I found at a tip shop, sitting down into the shelf.

This frame had much less paint on it so I left it more natural, giving it a couple of coats of polyurethane to seal and protect it and to bring out the grain of the wood.

I really am seriously considering keeping all my chalkboards and covering a wall with them. I think it'd be fantastic. If I had a big wall in the living room or kitchen... which I don't. Too many doors and windows... the price you pay when your house isn't big enough for the stuff you make.

... Maybe I can remove a door or two... we don't need all our doors, surely...

z

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plants for sale

Nothing wrong with diversifying, right? I mean, I groom dogs for a living and I make stuff and I garden. And my garden produces flowers and flowers produce seeds and I end up with more plants and more seeds. Its the circle of life.

As Neil once said on The Young Ones, "we sow the seed, nature grows the seed, then we eat the seed, and after that, we sow the seed, nature grows the seed, then we eat the seed..."

Except for the eating part. I don't eat my flowers. I admire them. Then collect seeds, sow seeds, grow seeds, you get the picture. As a result I have baby plants growing. I can't use them all, so I normally sell them at markets here and there. 

Well, I decided that instead of having my plant nursery along the back of the casita where no one sees them, I'd put some out the front of the new grooming room so my customers can see them. That way, if anyone sees something they like they can buy it while I give 'rover' a new do.

I made the cute little sign using a timber offcut and acrylic paint. The large basket they're sitting in is a galvanised bakery basket I've had for a few years. I put some metal legs on it and for the last 2-3 years we've lined it with burlap and used it to hold carrots for the horses in winter.

I do love my galvanised metal things!

One of my favourite pastimes is moving things around, assigning new uses to old things, etc. 

I wonder how Wayne will feel about the carrot bin disappearing.... hm. He wasn't too impressed with the wood box moving to Stalag 13 to house chickens...

z

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renovating the chickens' home (already)

Turned out the ladder I made for the chickens' new home was too steep. Well, even if it wasn't, they refused to use the perch. I'd sneak in every night and grab them and put them on it. The hen would stay but the rooster would just jump off and sleep in the corner on the bottom of the box.

I wondered whether it was the width of the branch that the rooster had an issue with. Maybe something wider would make it easier for him?

Someone in a FB poultry group suggested the box was too open, they needed more protection from the weather.... So, I revisited the whole thing.

This is what it looks like now:

First, I removed the trellis door and cut it down, cutting out a section to make a small door for the hen to get in to the nesting box.

I replaced the branch perch with a piece of timber, sanding the edges off so there were no sharp bits to hurt feet.

I used a large piece of plywood to make the upper door and cut a door into it as an entrance.

Lastly, I used a long piece of barn wood as a ramp. I used offcuts to make little steps on it to make climbing easier. I added a hook to the back of the ramp to hold it securely to the door, and hinged on a walkway leading to the perch.

I mean, what more can I do?

I even sprinkled feed on the ramp to encourage them to explore.

They're totally ignoring it. They prefer to sleep on the bottom in the corner.

I mean, does it matter? No. They're safe in their little yard either way, but what ungrateful little sods! I worked my fingers to the bone for this new improved housing and they prefer to roost on the floor!

Sheesh.

I hope the other chickens are more appreciative of my efforts when I redecorate their pen!

z

the new chicken box

What do you call it? A roost? A home? A box? I have no idea. But I've made our segregated couple a new home. These two live in Stalag 13 - a dog run converted to a chook pen.

Why are they segregated you may ask. Well, basically the rooster needed to be put in a safe place or his son was going to kill him. Then I couldn't leave him lonely, so I got him a hen from the feed store. I didn't want to pen one of our free range hens as I thought it'd be cruel to cage a girl who's known freedom. This little girl was born and bred in cages so I figure that she's happy not having to share her space with a lot of other girls.

So here are the steps to making this wonderful creation. In case you were wondering. If not just skip this post.

Believe it or not, I started by making a nesting box. I was dreaming of the day I'd open a lid and reach in to a clean poop-free box and remove fresh, clean eggs, without having to get down on creaky knees and grope through chicken droppings to get them.

Here is my box. I'm so proud. Don't ask me for a tutorial on this. You really don't want to make anything the way I do... But let me just say I only cut one piece of timber wrong! Honestly. That's a new one for me. Especially working on angles ..I failed geometry. And the teacher was right... I did need it...

NOTE: This nesting box and roost is made up entirely of offcuts of wood I had in my workshop.

Let me try to walk you through it, I cut a base the size I thought the hen would appreciate. Then I put a front and a back on it, the front high enough to hold in bedding, the back high enough to give the hen head space. Since I really suck at putting sides on things I used brackets to put the back on. I'm a cheat. I'm comfortable with that.

To make the sloping sides, I held a piece of plywood up and kind of drew where I thought the sides would meet the back and front. Then I used a ruler to draw a line between them and cut along those lines. Once I was happy with side #1, I traced it onto another piece of plywood and cut that too. I used screws to join them together. 

I added a piece of pine to the top and to the front for the lid to swing off. This is how the box was looking at that stage.

I used some offcut pieces of cedar cladding for the roof. I had to add a thin strip of pine at the top in order to hold the screws. Turns out cedar is really soft and breaks easy. Who knew?

Result, a stylish nesting box. I hope the hen is pleased. I gave it couple of coats of the same self priming exterior paint that I used on the house, except for the roof which I simply gave a coat of polyurethane. 

So there I was, nice nesting box, nowhere to put it. I was trying to think of how to make a home for the chickens in Stalag 13 when I had a revelation. In the middle of the night of course. Lying in bed, not able to sleep cause of nesting boxes and angles going through my mind, when suddenly it was KAPOW.

The wood box!

We've been using this as our wood box for the last 7 years. I think it may have been a feed bin in a previous life. I'd given it a coat of paint and Wayne cut half the front out so we could reach in for our wood and put it on the back porch. We used to keep the smaller, kindling type of wood in there. But we now have air conditioning. And a broken wood heater... so... we don't need the wood box! 

In my sleep deprived state I knew it was the answer to my prayers. I didn't have to make a home from scratch!

First step, I took the front off. I had planned to just turn it upside down, leaving the opening on the bottom. 

Then I thought, why leave the 'wings' at the bottom? I cut it straight across and down the middle, creating doors. Which I had all kinds of trouble hanging on my own. Those suckers were heavy and its hard to hold the drill, screws, hinges and doors all at the same time. The lost screws under the deck are proof of that.

Plus, I was thinking it might be too enclosed. So I took them off again.

Meanwhile inside the box I put in a long branch as a roost. I sure hope its thick enough... I did this by drilling out two large holes with the hole saw (yes, I own a set of those!), pushing the branch through and then putting a screw through to hold it in place. You don't want it spinning when the chickens get on it!

I also cut a hole out for the nesting box and attached it to the outside with screws. I admit, I googled how to make nesting boxes and chicken homes. The nesting box has to be lower than the roost or the hens will sleep in the nesting boxes. Since chickens poop in their sleep, if they roost in the nesting box, they'll poop in the nesting box. YUCK.

Now I was thinking, can they get up onto the roost? Is the box too small? Is the roost too high? I have no idea.

So to be safe, I made a little ladder. A friend thinks its too steep. Maybe it is. I'm hoping they'll use it. They've been living on the ground for so long...

Oh, and I added more cedar to the roof to make it match. Looking good!

Since the outside of the box had already been painted, I just gave it one coat of house paint to freshen it up. Then I decided the inside needed painting too.

In the end I decided to use a piece of trellis I found and make a single door. A bit of privacy, and more air circulation. Remember, these chickens have been sleeping in an old dog kennel till now. This has got to be a step up in the world!

Here is the other side. Pretty plain huh? I thought a little porch would look nice, balance it out, you know. I'm all about curb appeal. 

I used some brackets and some timber wedges to achieve an angle, added more cladding and voila! An undercover area for eating.

Ok, the reason behind the porch is that I had planned on demolishing the dog kennel. I hated that thing, it was stinky and hard to clean out. And I was over reaching into it for eggs.

Well, when I started pulling it apart I had another idea. I pulled off the cladding on 2 sides, making it into a kind of summer house. How many chooks have a summer house? huh?

Its actually a great place for the food dish too. You can see the hen is having a peck at the shell grit while the rooster is having a snack of grain under the porch.

I didn't think I was going to be able to get the new home into Stalag 13 till next week as there was no way I could move that thing off the porch on my own. However a nice man gave me a hand today and its done! I'm not above playing the weak female card. 

I cleaned out old bedding and put down some new stuff, put some hay in the bottom of their new roost and in the nesting box, and here they are...

Stalag 13 has never looked so good!

I'm so pleased. I love the new look. Now, if they would only use the roost...

Next job - the chicken coop. Ugh. Don't remind me.

z

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storing fabric

Sometimes all it takes to get creative is to have a need.

For instance, a need to store fabric. Or a need to get piles of fabric off the floor, hence a need for a place to store it.

The whole idea of storing fabric is to be able to find the bits you need quickly. The fabric has to be visible, not hidden in boxes and, ideally, sorted by colour.

I needed shelves. I needed narrow shelves. Or a bookcase. 

I didn't have either. But I had a box.

I had this box, which I'd used as a dog bed when we first moved to the farm, for Barney and Mischa. It was a solid timber box I found somewhere which I cleaned up and gave a lick of paint. The post on how I did this is here.

I made my own dog bed cushions for it and put it in the entrance which is where Mischa and Barney slept as they'd always been outside dogs and I was introducing them to living inside.

After we lost Mischa it didn't seem right that Barney slept by himself. He moved into the living room with the poodles and the box was put into the store room. Which is where I found it again while looking for something to make my fabric storage shelves from.

It was a very simple re-do. All I did was put small bits of timber on the sides as ledges to sit the shelves on. The shelves were cut from leftover bits of plywood. Easy peasy.

I sat it on the little side table in the office and now I have all my fabrics in one place.... or most of my fabrics... or some of my fabrics... Ok! You got me. I have a large basket full of small offcuts cause I can't waste anything, a wire basket with real and faux leather bits and a large plastic container with fabrics for doll costumes.

But I do have all my colourful cotton fabrics for things like my anti-bunnies sorted!

z

string holders and evicting bats

Phew. The day is over. A good day, but SO tiring. I got a ton done which is great. I failed at a couple of things too, but hey, you can't win 'em all.

So, what did I do today that was so exhausing? Well, I started with the plan of putting up the new grooming sign. I worked on that for about 30 minutes before giving up. It was just not working. Good thing too really, cause in the end I decided I needed to rethink the position. More on that soon.

I did 3 loads of washing and the usual chores of feeding and caring for all the animals, and I did a little garden work. Then I decided it was time to clean out the carport. 

Background: We used to keep our chicken feed in the carport and that encouraged mice and rats to live in there. Which encouraged the dogs to dig at the walls and generally cause trouble. About a month ago I started the car and a mouse jumped out of the engine bay. I've been parking out in the yard since. 

So, I decided the carport needed a makeover, more to make it safe than to make it look nice. Trust me, its a pretty basic farm carport... Not much I could have done to make it look pretty.

Anyway, I ripped off the sagging plywood which had been put over the barn wood and in the process evicted two rats and one tiny bat.

Yep, a tiny bat! Not a typo! I was so excited when I saw it. At first I thought I'd uncovered a hairless baby rat but then saw its cute little face and wings. I wanted to keep it! I wasn't quick enough to catch it, it escaped under the wall and out near the dam. I was worried the geese would eat it - I mean, it was full daylight... what do bats do if they're out in the day? I looked for it but couldn't find it so I hope it was ok. The geese weren't around so I know it wasn't lunch at least.

I threw out a ton of rubbish and rat infested nests and then I nailed a thick particle board to the bottom section of the wall - Its not about keeping rats out as much as its about keeping any small animals (ducklings, chickens, natives) out of our yard. The finished carport is so much neater and I like the exposed slatted wood back wall. And bonus - there is nowhere for rats to nest any more!

After the carport was cleaned up, I opened up a small area I've had penned off to keep the dogs from digging. Hopefully now the rats have been banished the dogs won't need to dig for them and destroy my plants. And I'll be able to pull weeds. Yeah. I live to pull weeds.

ha.

Anyway, that's not what I wanted to share with you today. I wanted to share my new rustic string holder. 

I was inspired by this lovely makeover of a thrift shop find by Carlene at Organised Clutter. When I saw it I thought what a great idea, I have to make one of those!

Yeah. Ok. Mine looks nothing like that. 

I had spindles. I had a ton of string. I didn't have a fancy wall sconce. I also didn't really have a wall spot to put it. So I just grabbed a piece of timber from my offcut pile and put them together. It'll do for now.

Its not pretty, but it works. Its not for the office, its for the workshop so it doesn't need to be pretty. The workshop leans more towards a more rustic-farmhouse-hoarder design style.

Thanks for the inspiration Carlene, and sorry I killed your idea. 

z

DIY wire hanging hooks

An observant reader noticed these cute hooks Wayne made for me. He made them to go on driftwood sticks and I'd use them when I went to markets, for hanging my windchimes.

They really are quite sweet, and they're easy to make. I know cause I've made them myself. Only I make them with thinner wire than Wayne does.

All you'll need is:

1. Wire thick enough to hold the weight of what you plan to hang. And as thick as you feel comfortable working with - ie you have to be able to bend it and cut it. If you're anything like me (a weakling) you'll want to stick to a not too hard wire...

2. Needle nose pliers and wire cutters. In case you don't know what they are, here is a visual aid:

And here are the instructions. 

So, if you followed that, and if I didn't do a bad job with the instructions, you should have something like this at the end of it.

Have fun! :)

z

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