memory lane

Used to be I made all my own cards – for Christmas, birthday, moving, everything. Used to be I made them for others as well.

The other day while sorting out some filing (over a year's worth which had piled up in a box in a forgotten corner of the office) I found my moving card from when I  bought my house in Melbourne.

This is the house in Melbourne.

It was gorgeous. An original 50s style place with a deco entrance, set way back from the road on a huge block which was subdivided to build units on either side of the old house.

This is the moving card when I bought the house with my then partner.

I had such fun making it.

I should take the time to search for and share both that house makeover (I have recorded most of it in photos in an album) and the cards I've made over the years. You might enjoy seeing them and I would enjoy revisiting the memories they conjure.

Like everything else, its a huge job. Finding, sorting, scanning photos.

Worth it though I think...

Stay tuned for some more recent before and afters at Wind Dancer Farm. I've been spending some time recently looking at how much the place has changed since we've lived here and decided to go ahead and share some of the changes, whether big or small, finished or not. More to remind myself to keep my chin up. Its happening, even if its not perfect... yet.

z

roadside salvage drawer to phone station

One of the problems in our kitchen is that the telephone jack and a power point (where we plug in the phone and one phone charger) were kind of 'in your face' in that they were to the right of the 'servery' into the living room, but not lined up vertically or horizontally. Hard to hide in other words.

Here's a photo of the 'pre' kitchen and you can see how I dealt with it before. An old drawer, with a hole cut out to expose the phone jack, held the phone, a framed print of a rabbit (cause why not?) and some of my 50's collectibles.

Of course the powerpoint was lower and to the left, so that remained exposed along with the accompanying ugly cords.

When we were doing the kitchen and Handyman was lining walls with pine, I asked him to move the power point and phone jack so that they were closer and neater.

I wanted to create a 'charging station'. A place to keep and charge our mobile phones and landline. And hide the mess of cords and plugs.

I have a ton of stuff in my workshop and the shed, including a stack of drawers I picked up off the roadside one day. I evaluated them and thought one of the drawers would be perfect. It had an unusual shape - it was long, one section had 4 holes, and a dip in the sides. No idea what a drawer like that would be for.

Here it is after a coat of milk paint.

I took off the handle on top, filled the holes. then did a few coats Lichen milk paint to stop the paint flaking off too much in some spots.

I had to somehow hide the holes in the back... We buy our timber from a local guy who mills his own wood and cuts his own boards. Last time I was at his place I picked up a few of the trimmings he'd cut off the ends of his boards when dressing them. They were the same width but irregular thicknesses so I sorted through and picked the bits which were more of less closest in thickness.

I cut them to size, sanded the weathered layer off and glued them to the back of the drawer.

I really need to go back and get more of them. They're great!

This was the plan: the top shelf would hold the landline phone station. The bottom section would have a shelf added up the top to hold our mobiles. Below would be a door to hide the power points, cables and chargers.

I made the shelf out of an offcut of pine since I planned to paint it and it didn't have to match. I put a 'lip' on the shelf in tassie oak, matching it to lining and so mobiles won't fall off. I drilled 3 holes in the bottom shelf (one for the landline cables, one for each of our mobiles) and one hole in the original shelf for the landline cables.

Now I needed a powerboard, giving us enough power points for 2 mobiles and a cordless phone.

Since the idea was to hide the mess behind a door, I cut a hole in the drawer... badly. Necessitating the addition of trim to neaten it up. eh. That part will be hidden most of the time. 

The worse problem was that when it was finished, I screwed it to wal, plugged everything in, then discovered that the mobile chargers were too fat for the door to close properly!

Sigh...

I had to cut out the entire bottom back of the drawer to give them a bit more room.

Goodbye trim.

I'm such a professional!

Anyway... next came the exciting part. The door.

A barn door with Zs at the back.

I always wanted to make a door with Zs at the back.

I bought the smallest T hinges I could find and a silver handle I kinda liked. But I didn't want them looking new, so I painted them. Tons. So they'd look like they'd been used for years on many different cabinets.

I also got a magnetic catch as a closer since I planned to swing the door downwards, like an oven door.

Here's what it looked like when it was finished.

And here it is in the kitchen, ugly cords hidden, Mickey, Mini, Wilma and Barney back in their spots. Plus a rusty wire flower Wayne made me.

Here are some details...

(Btw, I used bread bag clips to keep the charger cables from falling down behind the door.)

Lastly, inside I decided to try one of the cord organising tips from Pinterest... I got a hand paper towel roll, decorated it and discovered the plug wouldn't go through the middle. I had to slice it open to slot the cord into it, hence the jute string holding it together.

The only things I had to buy were the hinges and power board. Overall its a success I think!

z

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at last.... kitchen reveal part 1

Welcome to my new kitchen.

Its finally finished and usable. I cooked dinner yesterday for the first time in 6 months... amazing!

So how about a quick tour?

First, the new, improved, bigger window centered in the middle of the wall. With the sink below it. I can now see out of the kitchen without cricking my neck and banging my head on cupboard corners.



I ended up going with an outdoor blind for the window covering, mainly cause I couldn't make up my mind with so many choices, and cause I just liked the grey and white stripes.

I will be putting shelves up to hold everyday items and display items and cause I just love open shelves. Till then, I've put the kettle and hot drink stuff in one of my old made over wooden trays to stop them from spreading all over the benchtop.



This close up also shows the tassie oak benchtop we had made especially.

I love it!! I spent a couple of days sanding and varnishing it to get it just perfect and it was worth it.

The opposite wall from the window has had the pantry cupboard removed and now holds one of my antique kitchen dressers. This one had to have some minor work done to it as it was sagging in the middle (had to put a support in the middle under the top and add a couple of legs in the middle underneath).

A 60s step stool just fits in that corner and comes in handy for reaching things in the pantry and the colour just happens to work well with the colour I chose to paint the doors.

Some old tins act as display and storage for small stuff.

The door to the right leads to the entry area where the fridge, microwave and pantry live. The door on the left leads to the hallway and the rest of the house. These doors are almost always open, but I wanted to bring a bit of colour into the room.

The kitchen is all white - Dulux Antique White USA on the woodwork and on the cabinets. Dulux China White 3/4 strength on the walls... a slightly creamier white. The minty green I used on the doors is a colour I mixed up myself and had the guys at the paint store match for me.

I had mentioned experimenting with milk paint (the jury is still out on that) and my favourite colour in that was one called Lichen. My minty green is very similar to that but a bit greener. I wanted to match that antique green you see so often on old things.

I'm actually very pleased with the colour. First I tried the caramel colour I got a sample of thinking I'd match the stove but in a darker tone.

Yuck.

That failed.

Which is when I went to green. I love it. The result is a kitchen thats fresh and clean looking.

As a backsplash for the stove I got an old glass door from the tip shop and mounted it to the wall with clips. That was my economical contribution to the kitchen. Backsplash - $5. Clips - $14.95.

Ok. Ok. You have to excuse the un-colour-coordinated towel. I was in such a hurry to get things in working order! Why not notice the good stuff, like the old billy (which id used to make tea over an open fire) holds my wooden spoons...

and an old galvanised box holds oils and vinegar close to hand. With felt bits underneath so it doesn't scratch the bench.

Actually, these were meant to live in my planned mobile kitchen cart but I don't think I have room for it.

On the right of the kitchen is this big window into the living room... a handy thing really, as you're not disconnected from the rest of the house when you're cooking, you can watch tv and it allows heat from the woodheater to circulate through to the kitchen.

The ledge comes in handy to display bowls which also hold fruit. Now if we can stop ourselves from piling crap up there we'll be right!

To the right of the 'window' are the phone jack and a power point. I've always had a drawer as shelf thing there to hold the phone but this time I went all out and made a proper cabinet out of an old drawer for our phones. I'll be sharing this in another post later on. Stay tuned.

I have since placed a greek rag rug given to me by an aunt in Greece in front of the sink to add some warmth. Coincidentally it has some of the bluey green in it! (Your mom Mina, tell her I love it!)

My old mixer and blender are back in their spot on the tiny shelf between the doors and my old clock is back on the wall. This was an electric clock I bought on ebay many years ago and which came from Tasmania. Its back again, now battery operated!

So there you have it.

I really need some sleep. I've been working 14 hour days lately just to get the house back in order, back to being clean and tidy.

Later!

z

false alarm - kitchen update

Ok, I'm curious how the women out there in blogdom can do these great reveals where they show 'after' photos featuring perfect rooms all set up with the right curtains, the right cushions, the right furniture, the right artfuly placed 'random' items.

Even when my kitchen is finished, it won't be finished enough for that perfect 'after' photo.

For one thing, I plan to put up shelves and I don't want to put them up till I live in it a while and decide where I want what...

For another, I won't have the perfect dishes for a while, and I won't have the kitchen dresser painted for who knows how long...

I guess you won't so much get a 'finished' photo but periodic 'after' photos every time I add to or change something... cause I'm nothing if not in a constant state of updating, rearranging and changing things.

Meanwhile, yes, you heard right.

The kitchen isn't finished yet.

It would have been finished but for the sink...

See, when Handyman was doing the plumbing, moving pipes from the old sink position to the new one (back when we had a hole in the floor), he calculated that the sink would be centered in the window and put the pipe there. But when he put the sink in the bench and showed it to me, the sink looked too far to the left.

Visually, the sink looks centered when its further to the right, cause the eye sees the bowls as the center.

So, Handyman moved the sink to where the boss (me) wanted it and now he has to find a joiner of some sort to connect the offset pipes.

Here are some photos I took this morning.

You can see the rangehood and glass splashback, the stove, the dishwasher with its protective film still on it, the sink with our two taps..

Same wall but you can see the cornice that needs painting and the handprints on the rangehood stainless steel cover.

This is the window into the living room. Note the decorative corner bits. Love them.

Now I have a dilemma. What type of window covering do I put on the window? A roller blind? Curtains? Lace? Doily curtains? Modern? Shabby? I have no idea. Well, I have an idea but I'm not sure. Any thoughts from my silent readers?

The window faces east so summer afternoons are hot hot hot. And on winter evenings I need a window covering that will keep the heat in. The rest of the time I want the window open to the view.

I await your thoughts.

z