How to re-vamp, re-use and restore.

I try to decorate my house with things that I like, that are interesting and have a story. Sometimes the story is in how I came to find the piece, which more often or not is eBay, or council clean up.  It’s some sort of subconscious challenge I give myself…to get something awesome, for nothing. It’s not about being tight (although saving money is definitely a big plus), it’s about the creative challenge and finding unique pieces that can’t just be bought. I definitely think it is a skill to be able to find the potential in something that has been thrown curb side, and not everyone has that skill. If you think you have an eye for it, but lack the hands on know-how to revamp your find, then keep reading.

That’s not to say I don’t like new things…I mean who wants an old lounge or an old mattress, yuck. Even I have my limits. I definitely feel myself rebelling against societies pressure to have everything new, up-to-date, the latest trend. I loved that my Grandparents house always stayed the same. My Grandma would serve tea in the same cups that her mother did. The playing cards that we played with were the same ones my Dad played with. Grandma mixed ingredients with the same spoons for 65 years until they literally wore down. There was certainly a sense of comfort and stability that came from the familiar objects in their home.

When Grandma died, I got her spoons. That’s what I wanted. To me they tell a story of a bygone era. Where women were housewives, they physically worked hard yet were expected to appear well ironed while doing it, they bought or were given quality items when they were married in the hope they would last a life-time and serve their family well. Grandma baked and cooked from scratch every single day of her life, that is how those spoons were worn down. Women still work hard today, but in a different way. Today, nothing gets worn down. It either breaks and is tossed, or a newer, better one comes out and it is tossed to make way for the new purchase.

It’s kind of sickening all the waste that happens and not just from an environmental standpoint. I hate that society as a whole is made to feel that they need the ‘latest’ to fit in and be acceptable. Young women will put a $5000 handbag on a credit card because they just ‘needed’ it, or at least made to feel they did to fit in and be seen as a worthwhile person…seriously? To me it’s a kind of illness.

I want my home to be a welcoming place. A place where relationships can grow and memories made. A place that represents creativity, stability and family. I know it comes down to personal taste, but I definitely don’t want it to look clinical or sleek. I want it to look like a family lives here. I want to see evidence of life in the objects it holds. Everybody has a personal style, and my house definitely all me. Is your house you, or have you let the marketing genius from the 2012 summer collection decide that for you? Baaaaa (if the answer is yes, then yes, you are a sheep).

Anyway. Here is a quick ‘How To” re-vamp something that is old. I recently bought on eBay this pine dresser for $70. Pine generally is pretty crappy and it looks really 90’s country. They used to make furniture out of oak and walnut, but they are too slow growing for our societies taste for disposable furniture. Pines are a fast growing tree, which makes it a practical choice for plantations. All that said, this is a really solid piece of furniture. We have a walk-in pantry, which also doubles as a laundry. Bit of a bad combo. I had open shelving for all the food, but practically it was a really bad idea. Aside from looking really messy, it wasn’t really big enough and everything was getting covered with lint every time I used the dryer. This dresser will hopefully solve some of my problems. I decided to paint it a solid colour. Fortunately I had paint left over from another project, so I just used that.

<cough> I know, its bad.

 

 

1.       Give the whole thing a light sand. You need to create a surface for the paint to stick to. Ideally it should be sanded back to the timber…but there is no way I am that bothered. Also remove any handles and the glass if you are able. A professional would say to remove the doors and hinges, but I’m not a professional, so I just pained right over them. When you are finished, wipe it over with a damp cloth to remove all the dust.

 

 

2.       Next apply an undercoat or primer with a paintbrush. This is important because it is designed to stick better than the top coat, while also providing a better surface for your paint to stick to. The one I used also promises to block out stains which is important when painting timbers as the tannins will want to bleed through to the top coat.

 

 

3.       Paint the top coat. I did two coats. I also used a gloss, because this is just what I had. Glosses are hard wearing. I would normally have probably chosen a satin finish which is somewhere in between a matt and gloss. I find matt finishes are harder to clean and get grubbier quicker.

4.       I put new handles on. I happened to have these already from another project.

 

 

5.       I lined the shelves with scrapbooking paper, just to protect the shelves really while the paint was hardening…also looks nice.

 

 

6.       Da-daaaaa. Installed in my pantry/laundry.

 

 

These steps could be applied to any furniture. Next time you’re driving along and see an old timber chair on a curb-side clean up pile pull over and jam it into your boot.

Just to show you a few more re-vamp projects I have done. I bought our bed on eBay. It came from France and is 100 years old. It was upholstered in blue velvet that smelled 100 years old so I re-upholstered it in a white leather (pleather really). It has hand carved roses and forget-me-knots at the head, foot, sides and legs. I love it and want to keep it until I'm a little old lady.

The bedside tables I found on the side of the road. They were white, but I just painted them a bright watermelon colour. I wanted something fun to take away from the antiqui-seriousness of our bed and I think they do the job just great. I was trying to post more pics but my computer has chosen this moment to have a melt down. Until next time...x

 

 

 

 

 

 

Home Grown Blog #1

I’ve been encouraged by friends to start a blog. When I voiced I had nothing interesting to write about I was reminded that I don’t live like the average Sydneysider and other people may find it interesting. Don’t worry, It’s not too whacky. If you are looking for a devotional, food-for-your-soul, heart wrenching, hilarious, motivational blog, well this may not be the one for you. It’s going to be way more practical than that, in the most literal sense. I think it will be more of a city-girl-moves-to-the-counry and all that entails type blog.

We made the decision a few years ago to move from Sydney suburbia to Sydney rural, and are embracing the change. So what is country life like? From where I sit now, out of all of my windows, I can see acres of paddock, horses and morning sun streaming through the gum trees. Fresh air, space for the kids to run free, wood fires, far away neighbours are just some of the benefits. My morning rituals now include (after a coffee) going up to the hen houses to collect eggs and make sure everyone has food and water (aah, did I mention I have taken up breeding chickens?), and watering the veggie garden, seedlings or the new orchard I have planted. When we move in I bought the kids leather boots as protection against snake bites. They ended up being kicked off in the yard and rained on. Ruined. Now they just go bare footed. I have drilled in snake bite first aid. “What do you do if you get bitten by a snake?”, all three reply in a drone “lay down and call for help”. They know how to call an ambulance and apply pressure dressings. We saw a red-belly and a brown snake the first season after we moved in, but since cutting the grass low (and getting a dog) we haven’t seen any.

Another rural hazard in our area are deer (yes, seriously). Particulary when I drive home from work late at night I continually scan the sides of the road for deer waiting to leap suicidally in front of my car. Judging by the road kill, kangaroos, foxes, possums, turtles, lizards, snakes and rabbits more suicidal/stupid than the deer. I remember Miss 7 pouting with arms folded across her chest in the back seat of the car after I pointed out a fox carcass we zoomed past too fast for her to see. “It’s not fair. You never stop so I can see them!”. True, so then next time we passed a fresh, mostly intact fox, I pulled over and all the kids piled out to examine. I must admit, it was kinda cool seeing one up close. Nasty sharp teeth, but beautiful fur.

Road kill does have one benefit. Septic systems basically run on bacteria. Sometimes the bacteria numbers can be affected by excessive water, household cleaners or a disproprotionate amount of vegetarian poo. If a septic is working correctly it doesn’t smell. If it starts to smell, there isn’t enough bacteria, and this is where the road kill comes in handy…just add a ripe carcas to your tank (vomit) and voila, problem solved! Everyone who wants a septic tank raise your hand now….umm, no one, that’s odd.

Without really knowing what I will blog about I imagine it will be fairly practical around topics such as gardening, chickens, parenting and the art of living simply. I’m sure there will be a series of ‘how to’s’. I do have a personal goal of living self sufficiently…I use that term loosely as I don’t plan to live off the grid, or collect methane from the septic tank to heat the house in winter. I would however like to grow all our own fresh fruit and veggies. I have been inspired to do this (unbeknownst to him) by my Dad and his veggie patch. My parents live on a regular suburban block, yet manage to produce a huge amout of food for the table. At the moment they have one mandarin tree that is laden with fruit. In summer there were so many tomatoes we ended up making the most delicious sundried tomatoes in the dehydrator, and made litres and litres of ‘Grandma’s tomato chutney’ which is being stored in jars and will last until next season. They have herbs, spring onions, spinach, Chinese cabbage, passionfruit vines over the fence with hundreds of passionfruit on them, ginger, sweet potatoes, corn and beetroot. Nearly every time we eat at Nanny and Pa’s house my mum sends the kids down to the garden to pick the meal! I can tell you now, my dad doesn’t spend a huge amount of time in his small garden and none the less, it is so productive.

Chickens! Well chickens are just fantastic, and unless you live in a unit, you should get some. That actually reminds me…a Real Estate agent friend of my husband said once he had complaints from tenants in an apartment building that black water was running down their walls. He went to the apartment above to investigate the cause and was flabbergasted to find the people in the upstairs apartment had converted their lounge room into a rice paddy! True story. They had also removed their kitchen cupboard doors and replaced them with chicken wire and had a chicken run in the kitchen. They must have had the self-sufficient dream too! Anyway, chickens are really easy to keep, they will eat all of your kitchen and table scraps, they will eat your grass clippings, they are quiet, they produce eggs, they don’t need a big area, they produce the most amazing fertilizer, they make the best pets and kids love them. Need I say more.

On the topic of parenting, I’m not going to pretend I know it all, but I have developed a few theories on things that I would like to share. Take it or leave it. I have to be honest, I think parenting advice is often the most annoying kind of advice so I will share sparingly as to not drive you all away. I will say I am incorporating gardening, chickens and living simply into my good parenting strategy, I have my reasons, and will expand on these at some point. In a nutshell, I think it is important that children are given ‘real life’ experiences, not just synthetic, man-made, marketing-at-its-best, all-the-cool-kids-have-one, type experiences.

I hope you enjoy my blogs. Stay tuned for more and don’t worry, they won’t all include road-kill and septic tank management.

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