Decorating in the kitchen

Like many of my readers I love to trawl the seconhand shops and garage sales in search of little things that make my heart sing.

The problem with that is that you end up with a lot of things that you really have no room for.

I know because I have three boxes still in the shed which hold all my pretties, most of which fortunately have had homes in my previous rentals.

This time however there really is nowhere to display anything and the owners or agents seem rather tough on the adding anything ideas.

It's taken me quit a while to finally work out how to store things up and over the kitchen sink.

And I think it works.

Only problem is that those three boxes are still unopened in the shed because I have continued my habit of finding little bits. 

What you see has all been collected in the last  seven or eight months.

Eeek. 

I might have to make another shelf.

The shelf is made by hanging a found piece of skirting board using $9 worth of chain from Bunnings and two key rings from the Plaza onto strong nails hammered in right above the picture rail. The nails are firmly anchored so the strength of this relies more on the chain than anything.

Tutorial - easy peasy storage drawer

Materials needed

1 top shelf from any fridge so long as it already has a drawer

*****

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 140C

2. Remove all rosemary leaves, bits of cheese, etc that may linger after turning it upside down over the bin.

3. Clean item in warm/hot soapy water or with whichever method you might normally use to clean it.

4. After rinsing and double checking for unwanted pieces left in hard to find crevices allow to dry for half an hour, turning frequently to drip all water out.

5. Switch oven off.

6.Place clean teatowel on oven rack so that plastic will not melt and stick to it.

6. Place item in oven on towel. There may still be a few drops of water left but that is not a problem as these will quickly evaporate. 

7. As I forgot to time the process I cannot say for sure how long this will take. Let intuition be your guide and check back every couple of hours.

8. When completed to your satisfaction remove from oven.

Cost: $55 plus postage and handling.

This will not be available in my madeit shop but purchase is available via this blog.

For a reduced price please quote the word "stupid".

Visit here for other creative projects.

Job done

And here's the finished skirt.

I took the pattern by tracing through baking paper from a 12 gored denim skirt I love. 

Because I wasn't totally exact in my seam allowance I've ended up with a slightly larger than needed waistaband even though I added elastic in the waistband seam. 

Might try to correct this in the next version.

Overall I am very happy with this - even the zipper went in easily. 

My daughters hate it but my friends don't and since I have come to the conclusion that I shall return to my youthful eccentricity I don't care either way.

A little project

We've got this old stool in our kitchen that is much loved and greatly abused.
Undoubtedly it was secondhand when my mother came upon it because in those days we used what we could get.
Originally the seat was covered in that pale red of yesteryear with white piping and white sides.
Mum bought it because it was great for checking out the top shelves in her kitchen.
My ex who was 6' 1 1/2' used it to reach the ceiling for painting.
I've used it for everything because I am short.

Once the vinyl was totally ruined with paint I decided to recover it.
Being poor I used what I had which was this burnt orange polyester that was also used in the curtain tiebacks.
I love co-ordination you see.

Then that top got ruined with paint and I made a little cutsie top with some expensive quilting fabric from my stash. (more money at that stage you see!)
It was a simple rectangle with rounded corners and elastic sewn to the edges just like a fitted sheet.
Following on from life and the fact that expensive quilting fabric doesn't take the rigours of it too well I pulled it off and threw it out a couple of months ago.
Cutsie fabric does not compensate for holes around the edges.
No way.
But there the story ground to a halt.
I even tried to force things along by sticking the chair in my bedroom-cum-sewing room.
I would sigh as I checked my teatowel stock one day and then the expensive cottons another day.
None were right.
Then I realised that I was chasing colour and in my cream (messy) kitchen I needed less colour.
Finally, inspired by this post over at Kootoyoos blog I worked out how to fix it.

Take one rectangular doily - must be ultra pretty - just a little larger than the top, roughly thread any old elastic near the edges (using your fingers, not a needle or anything useful like that) and slip it over.
5 minutes to a new seat.
Of course you can still see the paint spots through the pattern but that is because we really do love our family stool and everything that went into it.

More from the $2 tissue paper

Here in our little cottage we believe in colour co-ordination. (Really?! Is that why I have to sleep on this bed now? Sigh.)

This lamp shade was a lovely mid green suede which totally did not go. A couple of licks of paint and a layer of that cheap tissue paper did the trick.

Likewise this shelf in that cute little cabinet. The shelf is made from part of a pin board picked up at the oppy for $1 and given a layer of tissue paper and a couple of coats of glue/water solution.
And this tissue box used to be a soft pink with pretty little frangipanis on the front. It was roughed up with a green scourer, coated in black craft paint and imediately covered in more tissue paper. A little rubbing with the finger has helped the black to come through and given it a character of it's own. The little box behind it was also a light pink with darker pink ribbons holding the corners together. DD1 decoupaged it before she moved up and replaced the ribbon.

Being so co-ordinated might seem over the top, but we are cluttery people and having a lot of things in the same colourways means that that the overall effect is not one of mess.

Recycling for craft

What would you do with all these items? Most of us would throw them out but really they are grist for the mill if you have a wonderful imagination. I saved these for an eleven year old girl with an outstanding creativity level. I don't always get to see what she makes with my saved rubbish but, when I do, I am astounded. Even if your children are no longer into creating things maybe you could recycle some of your rubbish to friends' children or pre-schools and kindergartens where they will be gladly received by little people.