...And onto a new life

I'm terribly excited: I finished slip-covering my revolting couch. I'll admit it was somewhat daunting and at times overwhelming, but it's done and I love it. Possibly white wasn't the best option for a cover...I am beginning to see this already. I thought that now that the kids are older there wouldn't be the same need to run screaming at the thought of white upholstery. Unfortunately it seems that though children grow past spilling spaghetti bolognese all over the floor, once they get older they somehow persuade us naive parents that they can now eat in the lounge...need I go on. 

I now keep two king-sized sheets in the footstool storage, for whenever the kids have friends over! 

The second photo also shows the new curtains I made. I'll show them off with some better photos on another post. Also, I love the cushion fabrics I imported from Cabbages & Roses! 

Passing the blame

I like to blame my kids for things. I blame them for a lot of things, in fact. I'd like to blame them for things like my waistline, but I think in fact that could be my gene's fault. I can certainly blame them for any grey hairs I get, but I don't have any yet. I'll definitely blame them for the broken window in the front door. And it wasn't from playing ball outside, you can be sure of that.

I can say, hand on heart, that the overhaul of my pantry was my kids fault. After all, there is only so many hundreds of times one can tell them to SHUT THE PANTRY DOORS! Well, one day I got sick of it, so I took the doors off and put them in the garage.

It worked brilliantly. 100% success. I can now say, hand on heart, that I have not had to tell my kids even once to SHUT THE PANTRY DOORS!

However, as I'm a normal mother, the inside of my pantry looked...well...rather a jumble. And since I had just taken so much effort to redecorate my kitchen in a pretty, vintage style, the piles of half-empty packets of flour and tea bags, bags of chippies and a very ugly microwave, along with plastic boards, electric frying pan, and bottles of oil and vinegar really let the whole room down. Isn't it funny how 99% of a room can look great, but the 1% that's at odds is all that you see?

So I had to do something about it of course.

Out came the pale blue gingham to make some gathered curtains for the unsightly wire baskets and extra packets of food. I emptied Uncle Bills of apothecaries jars and tipped every known baking supply into these. Now I had the problem that the kids can't tell the difference between salt and sugar; baking powder, baking soda, icing sugar and cornflour; and self-raising flour, plain flour and gluten-free flour! I printed off some cute labels and tied these on with brown string. The microwave 'luckily' stopped working properly so I replaced it with a little rounded white one, and all the plastic boards were replaced with wooden ones.

In the kitchen upgrading process by a previous owner, the butter-yellow formica bench tops had been replaced with granite everywhere except the pantry. I'll admit, it did brighten up the kitchen no end on a dull day, but it's not the kind of 'brightening up' that I am partial to. However there is nothing, and I mean nothing that paint can't fix, so with a coat of chalk-paint (adhere's to anything!) and a wax, it's now white.

I still need to find a way of removing the old catches and things but it's become quite a lovely view, rows of baking and cooking supplies on the shelves. One of these days it might inspire me to actually bake something!

But I think it's more likely the kids would actually shut a door before that would happen.

Death warmed up

Here's a good 'before' photo for all you up-cyclers out there. Isn't it foul? That dark colour on the arms isn't shadows, by the way. Note the cat-scratched sides and lumpy cushions.

I bought this little beauty along with it's bigger sibling off Trademe for $50. I've mostly enjoyed the challenge of purchasing a great preloved deals online and then turning it into something quite unique and lovely with a little diy and google. However I must admit that when we went to collect this treasure, the preloved condition was bordering on skip-material. It's one redeeming feature is that it's incredibly comfortable.

I had been quite taken with the lovely, squidgy features of the Rachel Ashwell Shabby Chic Couture sofas. However, with a price tag of between $5000 and $7000 I decided perhaps I'd look at other means of achieving the same look. I had the shape and style in mind and then trawled through auctions. This delightful specimen had the low, rolled arms, cushioned back and skirted base that would be perfect for our room. Also, as the room is only 3.6m x 4.8m, and I needed to fit in two couches, they had to be smaller in dimensions. These two fitted the bill. Damn it.

So watch this space for the 'after' photo. I certainly am!

...and here you are: