Slowly does it

I've picked up another item for my family room - I wasn't all that confident that I'd actually find just the thing, but eBay helped me out once again.

This was the side table/chest from Kristine's inspiration board:



I knew it was a concept and that I didn't have to find that exact thing, so I was prepared to look at all sorts of alternatives. I looked and I looked and I couldn't find anything I liked. Until I saw this on a furniture website and got all excited:



The price nearly made me choke though, so I filed away the photo and kept looking. *sigh*

Finally, I spotted the perfect thing on eBay. Only thing was, the seller had a set of three and was offering them as a single lot. I figured that if I couldn't find a use for the other two, I could always sell them, so I lined up my bid, waited for my moment and....SOLD! This baby is now mine:



The timber is a little scratched, but I can fix that. The latch is also a bit skew-wiff, but nothing that can't be fixed with a pair of pliers (or possibly a hammer).

My only issue is that the bamboo is too green for my liking, so I'll have a go at staining it and see what happens....

A good day's work

I got the bamboo panel stained and sealed - I'd forgotten what a lengthy process it was last time. Stain on the front of the frame, two coats of Ultradeck on both sides of the frame and two coats of clear sealer on the bamboo on both sides. That's a lot of waiting around for paint to dry.

Bike boy added a strip of merbau to the top of the rendered screen which finishes it off nicely. Then he screwed the panel to the merbau capping. I got to hold the ladder, hand screws and drill bits to him and then rearrange the pebbles to get the water feature centred. Voila!



While all that was going on, I was also adding one more coat of paint and the first coat of sealer to my pot cupboard, plus reassembling the door. And then I got very brave and decided to give the top a waxed finish. Now I wonder what on earth I was worried about? Talk about easy...

It's still not finished, so you'll have to wait for photos. Bad luck.

Today's projects

Today, I have on the go...

- My pot cupboard. Yes, I'm still going. I've been very short on time, so I just slap on some stain or paint or do a little sanding whenever I have a spare half-hour. It might be done by next weekend. Might not, either.

- A plant pot for an indoor palm. I wasn't keen on paying $60+ for a glazed pot, and couldn't find one in the exact colour I wanted anyway. So I bought a cheap terracotta pot instead and I'm doing the seal-and-paint thing, like I did with the herb planters. I'm using one of my mistint $1.50 bargains too, so it's working out exceptionally cheap.

I also had to do a few odds and ends in the garden: apply Seasol and molasses, pull out a few random weeds, sprinkle some snail bait about and trim off the ratty dead bits from some plants. That involved working around Bike Boy, who was connecting up our water feature (another super-cheap find).

Tomorrow's effort will be to stain and seal the bamboo panel we're using as a backdrop, then get it permanently installed - it's just propped up for now, so we could see the effect.




Yes, we will level it up before fixing it in place.

Another addiction? Just what I need.

Speaking of being a tight-arse (what? I'm sure that was the previous topic of conversation...), I seem to have developed a slight obsession interest in making-over old furniture. I really love the look of a few vintage pieces placed amongst modern stuff.

I have dozens of ideas filling my mind, usually when I should be working or sleeping or doing something else practical and necessary. For now though, I'm restraining myself to three projects that I definitely want to tackle.

The first is restoring an old pair of timber kitchen chairs that I picked up on eBay for the ridiculous price of $10.50. I'm planning on stripping the poo-brown paint off the poor old things, doing a bit of repair to the broken seat on one and then staining and sealing them. I have a few ideas about where I want to put them, but I suspect they may get moved around the house a few times before I make a final decision.

Ugly ducklings, aren't they?



Project 2 is a desk for The Middle Child. He has a small pine student desk, but with a computer on it, there's no room left for books or papers for studying. He's in his final semester of VCE, and planning on going to uni next year, so something larger is required.

This is my inspiration, a fabulous makeover of a dowdy old steel and laminate office desk, from The Virginia House:



I spotted this old thing on ebay and snapped it up for $15:

If you squint and use your imagination, it looks just like the fabulous piece above. Or will when I'm finished with it.



Project no 3 is a secret. I'm bidding on something on eBay, and the auction still has a couple of days to run. It's a vintage piece that a real estate agent would describe as a "renovater's delight". Yes, it's that bad. I'll show and tell if/when I win it.

All I need now is the time to spend making my treasures all beautiful again.

What's your decorating style?

I was feeling all depressed about the lack of progress I've made on the furnishing and decorating front. There's always something that requires massive amounts of money to be spent on it (cars, kids' teeth, stuff like that...) and nothing much left for a new couch or artworks. Reading blogs and forum posts, it seemed as though everyone else had beautifully furnished homes. I'd look around at our old, mis-matched furniture and empty spaces, and sigh...

But I've decided that my decorating style will be Scabby Chic. I'm furiously restoring, recyling and finding new uses for things that we already have, plus I've been hunting down some bargains. eBay is always good for small furniture and decorator items, and I long ago discovered that K Mart and Target offer some surprisingly stylish bits and pieces.

I also have the world's best $2 Shop near my work. They stock a huge range of high quality silk flowers, some lovely vases, photo frames, trays and candle holders, among other things. I see the exact same stuff in fancy homewares stores for five times the price. And no, I'm not telling you where it is. It's my secret.

K Mart find:



Vase, hydrangeas and tea light holder from the $2 Shop, books from our bookcase, and the birdie I picked up in a gift/homewares shop this week.



I have a few DIY projects on the go - I'll post some photos when they're done.


In case anyone's wondering, the definition of Scabby Chic (which I just made up) is spending as little as possible to achieve the look you want. Reinventing the mass of crap that you already own has to be the starting point.