I bought a gun

Maybe I should clarify, I bought a staple gun. Technically I bought 2 but the first one I bought used and it didn't work so I returned it and bought a smaller new one for less. I needed a staple gun for a reason and that reason is ofcourse to refurbish another item. 

I got this old ottoman from my in-laws. They were going to throw it out so I took it home and put a little work into it. The first thing I did was completely strip the ottoman of it's fabrics. the most tedious thing was probably removing all the staples. there was at least 500 of them!

After I removed the materials I transfered the woven potato sack material from the top of the ottoman to the bottom so that I could create a storage space. Our house is very small so everything has to serve a storage purpose also. 

I then started adding a new fabric and stapling it into place with my new staple gun.  

I purchased a small piece of plywood to create a lid, placed the padding ontop and added material to it. I connected the two with some hinges, attached a loopy thing for a handle  and added some tacks for decoration. 

The only thing that needs to be done still is an inch or so needs to be chopped off the front legs because for some odd reason they are waaay longer than the back ones. 

after

before

I think it looks fairly good though I am not too sure about the corners of the fabric, I beleive I left too much excess fabric to fold over but it doesn't look terrible.

In with the old, out with the new.

Ingo-bought at Ikea

 

Although I really like the clean look of modern furniture, there is something about the texture and look of old pieces that I really like. 

I recently bought a hand held sander of my own and thought I should try it out, so I started a new project: converting my Ikea Ingo table into an older rustic table. (The colour of this table is inspired by the Bekvam Ikea cart remake which can be found at http://www.homeroad.net  which is another great blog).

I had to purchase some materials I needed so I went to Rona. I didn't take a list with me as it was only a couple of items: paint, nails, tape and sandpaper for my new sander. I spent quite some time looking for the right can of paint: white and cheap. Rona should make small cans of recycled paint because the other stuff is expensive. I found the chain I had to purchase. It costs $160 for the roll...I got a rather questionable look when I told the sales clerk I only need a foot. I guess not too many people buy only a foot of a heavy-ish chain. I purchased the wrong nails. I didn't notice until I got home that I had purchased concrete nails. I did notice however that I forgot to purchase tape. I guess I should have brought a list after all. However after making sure I had all the materials, it was time to begin this new project.

tape..then paint

                                                                                                                                                                               The first thing I did was tape the edges of the table top and then painted the legs and skirt of the table white. 

Because it was unbelievably hot hot outside, I didn't even have to wait for the first coat to dry before applying the second.

sand the legs and skirt

I then used a heavy-ish chain and a hammer to beat the entire table giving it an older look.

This was followed by sanding the top, the skirt and the legs of the table to wear off some of the paint and the old stain that was left on the table so that it looks more natural. 

sand the top

I added tacks to each leg and the corners of the table top as well as some randomly placed tacks to give it and old used wood look. Lastly I added 3 tacks to the centre of each side for decorative purposes.

add some random nails

add nails to the corners

add nails to the legs

                   a little decorative touch

    all finished!

The look of the table brightens the room up nicely!

That is an inappropriate donation!

Today I was working in the donations room where we also sort books. While I am not accepting donations, I take a bag or box presumably full of books, sort them according to condition and separate the movies, Cd's and books. Sometime working in the thrifting field has it's challenges.

As I was grabbing a bag from a bin to sort through, the bag hit my leg and began to vibrate!!! of course we don't always think much of this as often we get battery operated nick knacks and singing Santas and such. However this was a different type of toy. I am ashamed to even tell you what it is. But I am sure by now you have all guessed what was in the bag. As a clue, this is not the type of toy that you buy at Toys R' Us. okay fine I'll say it. it was a freaken dildo!!!!! (and other related items). EEW! who donates that? there was also some money in the bag...probably apology money.

Apology not accepted.

                                                                                          

                                       

Le Doors and anti-hooligan gates

There are people from over 17 different countries reading my blog! Neato!

"Le doors"

So last post I mentioned that I would post some pics of some projects I/we were working on. The first one was the french doors. We had an office in our house which could potentially be a second bedroom. we have a day bed in there at the moment but without doors it's not very private. So my dad made small french doors that swing both ways that we could put in our doorway. I had to have them made because this particular door way, like our appliances are much smaller than the standard size.
I went to Ikea to pick up fabric to make curtains for them, since they have plexi-glass panels. So i got to the store and they have an entire roll, brand new still in the plastic in stock. I needed the same fabric that I have on my living room curtains. Anyways I am looking at the hanging sample of the fabric I need and as I was calculating how much I need, this lady takes the entire roll and puts it in her cart! Who needs the entire roll?? They were even chatting about making shower curtains while taking the fabric....umm you can't use that material for shower curtains! helloo??!! I had to come back the next week to get my fabric. Now we have a second bedroom so guests can have a private space...until we have kids, then that will become the nursery.









(bragging rights to the first person who can tell me what major thing I changed in my living room. and no its not the pillows. you might need to check other blog entries to figure it out.)

the anti-hooligan gate

The second project was the baby gate. Okay to be honest with you, we haven't completely finished this project. The idea was to make a gate out of shoe racks and hinge it to the door way to prevent Olive from running onto the streets like the hooligan that she is. The gate itself is together but  it hasn't been mounted yet as we have also been using it in other door ways. So for now it is just a blockade. either way I save a tonne of money on a real baby gate. Don't have a hairy kanipshun  now! I know that you are all thinking that I would use this as an actual baby gate but I wont. Relax. it's just for the dog.

I painted the shutters on our house. Did I mention that already? or did I say I was going to? Anyways I did. I painted them. they used to be a light/faded gray. They are now black. I also freshened up the mailbox and the lamp, and added two flower pots to balance out the black shutters since my other window doesn't have any. It really made the house "pop".

before

after

new flower boxes

I've also been busy with a bit of gardening. We expanded our vegetable garden. This year we are growing corn ( way more that we planned, infact it's so much I might debate borrowing the harvester from my parents! Okay that might be a bit too excessive.), cauliflower, kale, lettuce, tomatoes, potatoes, beets ( but I don't think they will survive) green beans ( Which my husband swears are not green beens, but they are). We are growing some other things too but I can't think of them. Oooh and we have raspberries and blackberries , but they are small plants still so we wont see any this year i don't think.

My "rock" garden

Hens and Chicks

our rose a 1 yr anniversary
gift from my in laws

front garden

our vegetable garden.
 Twice as big as last year!

That's it so far I think. At least until a new project comes along or another price tag enrages me.

genius ideas amongst other things

First item on the agenda:

We bought a dog. This is the part where you  might flip back a couple entries and review the fact that we did this once before and it turned out to be a horrible mistake. And you are probably thinking  "what are you getting your self into this time Jelma!?" And I will respond with a very cool and calm " shhhh...relaaaax,". The problem we had last time was a personality clash. I'm a very chilled and relaxed person. Bently was a horribly wild, loud and obnoxious dog. People should really get dogs that match their personalities. Fritz already said in the first week that we had her that the two of us seem so much alike. and its true.


Let me introduce you to Olive:

Just after a bath

Olive loves to sit by the window
and observe traffic and pedestrians

Olive is a cocker spaniel, if you can't picture a cocker spaniel, then think of Lady, from Lady and the Tramp. She's a little girl dog and acts like a little girl dog. But don't worry she doesn't wear dresses or anything like that. Though she does have a little yellow fabric flower with an orange button attached to her collar. We both fell in love with spaniels at a friends cottage. Family of theirs have a springer spaniel and she was the sweetest dog we had ever met. Immediately we thought we had to have a springer spaniel.  I realize that yes we ended up getting a cocker and not a springer, but Olive still has a very sweet temperament. She is also a very intelligent little pup. On may 28th she will be exactly 4 months old. We bought her at 9 weeks (about 2.5 months). Since that time, she has learned to sit and lay down on command, she knows to keep out of gardens, she's learning stay, (which is difficult for her) she is house trained and rings a bell by the door when she needs to go outside.
I only work part time so having a dog is much easier. on cold or rainy days she stays in her crate, which is feeling more like a safe place for her every day. but on Tuesday's she plays with Kiba at the in-laws. Olive loves playing with Kiba, though I think that Kiba may find her slightly annoying as she hangs off his ears, but that dog has so much patience for her.

eating a broccoli stem

curled up by the couch

Olive loves to eat green beans and sprouts, but don't worry she eats her protein kibbles too. No corn based meals for this dog. Except when she hangs out with Kiba, because then she seems more like a little pig than a puppy as she mows down on his big dog kibbles.
If you ever meet Olive you would love her.



Next item on the agenda:

I have this "i can make that myself" attitude. I don't like paying more for things than what they are worth and that attitude is/has rubbed off onto Fritz. Maybe he had some of it too but I am definitely rubbing off. The other day we were waling though this cheap store and they had a canopy thing. it was aluminum with these fabric panels that could be pulled back to open it. they wanted $300 for it! I don't think so! I would have given them no more than $129. 99! But Fritz and I looked it over, and decided that this wouldn't be so difficult to make. In fact we could make it look better and sturdier.

Off to home depot we went, bought some lumber and hardware. Fritz (with my help, though he claims 100% of the credit) put up the structure. then I went off to Ikea ( because their fabric is cheaper than fabric stores) bought way more fabric than I needed and made three panels that can be hung between the beams.
Ours cost half the price than that crappy one we saw. though we do credit the crappy one for the idea.

the finished trellis/gazebo

corner 

Final item on the agenda:
I'm a genius. No really, I am a smart cookie. We had a little incident with olive in which she slipped out the front door into traffic. No harm was done and everyone is okay, but we learned that our little Olive can be a sneaky little pup. We decided that we need to put up a baby gate to prevent that from happening again. we spent the last week searching for baby gates on Kijiji but couldn't find any nice ones for a good price. There are a lot there, but we specifically want the one that swings open so that we don't have to pop is open everytime.  A brand new one of those costs up to if not over $100. pffft! I'm not paying that!!! so I went into Zellers today to take a look at the gates there. I could not find them but then I had this genius idea. I ended up purchasing a three tier wooden shoe rack for $9.99.  When the shelves and placed side by side they fit perfectly in the door way! the legs will be mounted against the frame and I already own the hinges. all I need is a hook/latch to lock the gate! We haven't started the project just yet, but once it is done, I will let you know if it worked.

I'm also getting tine French doors put into my office/2nd bedroom as well as a new sink and painting the shutters on the front of our house. You will read about all those renos in my next blog when they are complete. Big savings on the sink by the way. Ikea. $149 (ish) and a new faucet for $22.

Seriously though, I'm a genius. A cheap genius!

Have a Seat

When I go shopping/browsing, I always seem to be attracted to the things that are not for sale. For example, when I go to Ikea, I browse through the books on the shelves.
The other day (of course by that I mean several weeks, maybe even months ago) I was doing some groceries at the farmer's market downtown. One of the vendors there was selling all sorts of delicious sweet things ,or so I was told...I never really noticed what he was selling because I was more interested in the tables on which he was serving. They were tall pine tables made out of thick boards, like a picnic table. The legs were this really nice, antiquey tealish -green colour and the table top itself was a natural pine colour lacquered. They were beautiful! The vendor told me that he got them at a place called Mr Used.
Well I couldn't resist, and neither could my husband, we hopped in our car (we drive a little Kia Spectra that we call Special K) and went to check out this "Mr Used" place.  (As a warning I must tell you to bring your warmest coat, a scarf and some mittens. even if you think you can handle the cold).
There is sooo much stuff!

• a life size red power ranger
• many old pianos
• a stuffed lion, baboon, and hyena...like  real ones, not plush!
• old arcade games
• paintings
• tools
• old fair rides
• lamps
• all kinds of trinkets 
• doors
• sinks
• a giant cow
• the tomato from east side marios
• a 15' roman soldier

...

and tonnes more!

it was incredible. there was so much to look at and rummage through! Then when we got home I had this terrible feeling, and incomplete feeling, as if something was forgotten... it then dawned upon me that we never went upstairs!  AAAAAHHHH I needed to know what was up there!
so back we went. Not the same day though because that first floor was pretty overwhelming. I tired not to look at the things around me on my way just so I could get to the upstairs as quickly as I could.

Have you ever watched princess diaries 2? you know the scene where she opens up the closet and it's full of jewellery and shiney things? you know that feeling that she (and me and maybe you)  experienced of awe and wonder?

 I opened the door to the second level  and I was standing before room after room of old refurbish-able furniture. Beautiful antiques, some not so beautiful. Chairs and tables, and armoirs and boudoirs, and chests and all sorts of amazing things! that feeling of overwhelm-ment that I experienced on the lower level, you tripled! I didn't know where to go, where to begin. I could browse for days on end!
I ended up finding a set of really nice wooden folding chairs. They have a coat of grey-teal paint on them that has be peeling away, giving them a beautiful rustic look. I plan to cover them with a sealer so that they keep that same look.

my new chairs, not yet sealed

We took the chairs down to cash to see how much they wanted for them. only $15 per piece. A man waiting by the register said he was willing to pay $25 per piece so I quickly paid the cashier the $15.
The $25 man said " that's a good buy you got there. those ain't Ikea chairs you got" when we got home, we inspected the chairs a little closer to find half of and Ikea sticker on the bottom.  I guess they are Ikea chairs after all Mr! but it was still a good chair, because although Ikea no longer makes this specific chair any more, when they did, they sold them for $70 a piece. Good buy? I think so. Now all I need is a nice wood table to match my set of chairs.