Finally Some New Carpet

Have you ever lived with old stained carpet that never looks clean and wondered 'what would it feel like with fresh new carpet?'.  Well it feels fantastic!!!!

This is our formal living room which we call 'The Good Room'.  I was oiling our timber blinds last year and knocked over a whole tin of Danish oil on the carpet.  That was the final straw - the carpet HAD to be replaced.

The old carpet was a cheap cream carpet that was 15 years old and had seen better days.  You ready?

and now ... Ta Da

Beautiful 100% wool sisal Godfrey Hurst (Australian made) carpet in 'Linen'.

I did a quick new carpet house tour on instagram.  Here are the pictures in case you missed them.  The Guest bedroom.

The Master Bedroom

The Master Bedroom Retreat area

The teenager's room.

The pre-teen Drama Queen's room

The upstarirs retreat, craft room, creative space, bookcases, and general storage sometimes even play room.

I am sitting in the office now, with my shoes off rubbing my feet on the carpet as I type.  We used premium underlay so the carpet is so soft and feels like you are walking on a cloud.

So if you are contemplating putting in new carpet.  Just do it.  It feels amazing.

A White Chippy Footstool

Well hello, do I have a classic for you today?  Those of you on instagram will know that I recently bought an Ikea Ektorp sofa for my 'empty room'.  I love it to bits.  It's so nice to have a little area where I can sit and read.  Problem is you need somewhere to put your cup of tea or glass of wine where it won't get knocked over.

I have seen so many lovely chippy stools on blogs and pinterest, so I decided that's what I needed.  Well I didn't need to look any further than the storage area above the garage and I found one.

This was the stool my husband made at school for woodworking.  Do they still even do woodworking as a subject anymore?  It has his name and class 10GA1 written underneath.

Look at that handywork.  How good is that glue joint?  Despite appearances, it's actually a very solid and sturdy stool, so I gave it a lick of paint and a little roughen up.

How I did it

Step 1 - Lightly sand and give the stool a coat of burnt umber paint (I use Jo Sonja's acrylic).  I wanted a deep brown to come through rather than the orange colour.

Step 2 - Give the stool a couple of coats of white paint.  I used Dulux aqua-enamel in Whisper White.

This is an instagram photo I took while I was doing it.

Step 3 - Roughen it up a bit.  Sand the edges and use a screwdriver or blade to scratch some paint off.  Kristen from The Painted Hive uses a surfboard wax comb.  Mine ended up looking like this:

Some of my favourite books and a rose from the garden, and it's all pretty.

Even my husband is happy with it.  I did ask him if I could paint it first ... just in case.

I'll be back in a couple of days to share the best pancake recipe for the weekend ... yum.  Don't forget my tin hearts giveaway is still open.  You can enter here.

Sharing at French Country Cottage, Miss Mustard Seed, Scandi Coast Home

Caring for a Stainless Steel BBQ

Summer's on it's way and it's time to crank up the BBQ.  Problem is, our BBQ was looking very old and tired.  Time for some elbow grease and some love.

Firstly, all the decals had worn off.

so I scraped them off.

I printed up some new labels on water-slide decal paper.  

Sprayed the sheet with a couple of coats of clear matt sealer, then applied them to the BBQ, the same way that I made a decal bottle vase here.

They're not perfect but at least I know where Hi and Lo are now.

Then it was time to clean the BBQ.  A quick wipe over with warm soapy water, then a good scrub with Gumption to remove rust, dirt, and other marks.  Then what do you do to keep your sparkling stainless steel looking like new?  Well you follow my friend Dana's advice, and you wipe it all over with cheap baby oil.  

It works a treat.

I even cleaned out the drawers, so I had everything I need at hand.

So now our 7 year old BBQ looks like new again.  

All we have to do now is fill the gas bottle.

My husband loves his BBQ.  He even took it to our tiny London terrace where it took up half the courtyard.  Our London neighbours came over for an Australia Day barbie, and remarked "Now that's a BBQ.  You're definitely Aussies."  You bet we are.

Creative Space - Work Table

Everybody needs a creative workspace.  Somewhere where you can lay out something you are working on and not have to pack it up at dinnertime.  I have an area upstairs that I have claimed as my creative space, I just needed to set it up.

Firstly I needed a desk or work table.  I searched eBay and finally found this.

It's a soid pine table, with large turned legs.  It's not an antique but it is old, not just a modern reproduction.  I picked it up for about $100.

It had a few scratches on the top, so I gave the top a light sand and varnished it with some cedar stain/varnish.  Then I painted the underside of the table and legs in Dulux Whisper White.

I love having the big wide surface of a table rather than a slim desk.  It means I can easily wrap presents and set up my sewing machine with plenty of room.  The old blue chair is the roadkill piece my husband found in the street.

After painting the table, I then created a collage wall and some stylish storage to hold all the crafty pieces. I'll share some more on that next.


Sharing at French Country Cottage
My Romantic Home
The Shabby Nest

$20 Handyman Special

One day my daughter and I were out shopping and on our way down the mall we spotted this:

Jewellery Box.  $20 Handyman Special.  Sold as Is. 

Handyman I thought?  What about Handy woman?

Both the rounded side cupboards had come off their hinges, after being hit by people's shopping trolleys and the paint work was looking a little ordinary.  Somebody had pulled the ring holder section apart.

I walked into the shop, quickly paid cash and got them to put a sold sign on it.  The lady told me the jewellery console was originally $149.  Guess which shop?  Homeart!  You know, it used to be called Copperart.  Amazing where you can find things right?

Anyway, my daughter and I were able to restore the jewellery console quickly and easily.  My daughter sanded the whole thing down (good girl!), and I gave it a fresh coat of paint.  We bought some new screws and attached the side cupboards. 

 We decided to ditch the ring holder and just lined that section with some French sheet music.

What more could a 10 year old girl want, than her own armoire to store her bling?

All styling by my daughter.  I think she did a great job!

A Writing Desk

We have a small home office at the front of our house.  It's a real thoroughfare as there is a door to the front entrance hall at one end of the room and a door to the garage at the other end.  I have tried placing a desk in various positions over the years, but the place I prefer best is between the two north facing windows that look out onto our street.

There is only a small amount of wall between the windows and I didn't want to block them with a heavy desk.  I searched eBay and found this desk for $150.  More than I would normally pay but a similar one had sold for $300 so I took it.

I sanded it back, only to find that whilst the legs were solid timber, the top was laminate (yuk).  Originally I had thought I'd keep the top timber and paint the legs, but after discovering the laminate, all white was the way to go.

I changed the brass drawer pulls for these decorative black ones from Recollections.

I was a little nervous about having a white desk top, and my friend Ivana suggested I get a piece of glass cut to sit on top.  So I did.

The glass top protects the desk top and means I can put down cups and glasses without worry.  My computer mouse doesn't like the glass top though.

A gardenia and Autumn Crocus from my garden.

The black framed pictures above the desk are of Castle Howard in Yorkshire.

So this is where I sit and write to you.  I really like it.  Now all I have to do is get a comfortable chair!

Sharing at White Wednesday