Monday, 10 February 2014

How do they get the people on Embarrassing Bodies to appear and show their bits and their names and faces?!


About three weekends ago, Puffin and I completed the insulation of the roof! This was, again, and unsurprisingly, still a crappy job. Things I thought while in the roof:

Knees aren't even made for kneeling!
I wish my knees were fat so this hurt less.
Maybe I should buy these. and get the inserts.
I'm going to eat the dirtiest burger once I'm out of here.
I don't even care if I die up here.


And yet, it did end, and now the house is snuggly. A little bit fell off the roof and into the garden and I'm hoping that a bird will pick it up and make the most insulated nest going around.

Now - the side tables! These are my lovely side tables that my Pa made more than 50 years ago. I love these, but they were a little creamy for our grey house. I also had our new chest of drawers, which were whitewashed. So I set out to make them match!




The dresser - Cancun style, Freedom.

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I started off sanding the units back - initially I thought, hey - maybe I could just leave it like this. But the remaining white was still too creamy, and it was more shabby chic than white washed.




Several days later, due to a heavy work schedule which perhaps on my part was pretty bloody stupid (averaging 5 days a week at my retail job, 1 day a week at my work experience job, and in my spare time, getting more work experience by helping a local GP to organise a men's health night and throw into that mix trying to see family and friends and keep a house clean and running smoothly) the units were completely sanded. The slatted section, as you see, was a little tricky, but in this area I decided that the new paint would cover this 




Then laying the paint on - British Paints 'Infinity White'. As soon as I had painted a section, I used a damp rag to wipe it back until I was happy with the look. I could lie and say I got this right the first time but I will admit that a week after finishing the painting portion of this project and looking outside at them sitting there, I dd take the orbital to them once more and re-do a couple of sections.




And the reveal! Now. This pictures are shite and you can't really see the difference - think it's a problem with different lighting for each shot, and just using phone photos. But - new white washed paint job, new knobs, new hinges, new legs. Total cost - $35. And now we have a matching bedroom suite that I have every intention of keeping for a very long time! So to see what these look like next to the dresser they're supposed to match....




Ta-Da!!! I'm pretty bloody happy with this as previously these were a solid cream and the knobs and legs made them look their age. 



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Aaaaaaand next to the bed!! So happy to have these back instead of junk on the floor next to the bed. I feel like my life has been transformed and soon I will understand life, the universe and everything. 

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Another quick project I've whizzed up was lining my jewelry box but since I forgot to take before photos, you just get to see my after... ta-da! The box was an old writing box that I sanded back and varnished a few years ago - so this week I knocked out the writing box sections of it, and lined it with black felt. I also covered the bottom of the box so it won't scratch the chest of drawers. 

One of my last interesting jobs that I want to finish before returning to uni is the upholstering of the chair. I took all the wood off a few weeks ago, sanded and varnished it but I used some of the left over floor varnish annnnnd that was my mistake. The floor varnish had gotten rather thick and sticky and I got a tonne of runs (not something anyone enjoys)  soooo this afternoon I took it all off again and got some different vanish. It's looking like I might get a bit of time off over the next few weeks so I can get stuck into this! I've purchased everything I need and I can't wait to get stuck in! 

Until next time bloggers!!


And P.S - Bowie the cat is starting to calm down and settle into the house of Squirrel and Puffin! But he is toggling between adorable and a menace. But we're giving tough love a go and he's getting the idea! 


Sunday, 2 February 2014

The Cat Who Sold The World

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And those are just some of the words from the newest member of the house of Puffin&Squirrel. Blogosphere, meet Bowie!

(This photo comes about as we were informed that our table and chairs with white legs was never revealed! And because Puffin is a cutie!)

Bowie and his brothers were dumped in a box with their mum in a rubbish dumpster. Luckily, the rubbish man saw the moving, meowing box, and took the kitties to Pets Haven animal shelter in Woodend .

While we were chilling out today, Puffin decided that he couldn't keep his Valentines Day present a surprise any longer (and neither could Squirrel so we swapped pressies two weeks early!) and told me we were going to go pick out a kitten!

The hardest part of this was of course, picking just one kitten. We managed to do it though, and now we have a fluffy little friend! Here are a few snapshots of out little friend...



This last photo was Bowie in the middle attacking Puffin and then .... Bowie fell asleep. 

We're still finishing off our few other items, I hope you can all stay tuned because it is really lovely! And coming soon!!