narrow table

One of my projects in the loungeroom was to build a narrow table to sit behind the couch so that I could have lamps there to read at night. It was an easy project as I found some brackets that had a scroll effect and was able to use these at each corner to join the top of the table to the legs. It is hard to remember what it looked like before I had the narrow table there.

DIY chest of drawers into shelving unit

We needed a place to store all the crockery, cutlery etc that is used every week for family night. Each Monday night we have about 15-18 people and 10-12 children for dinner. We have three groups. Every 3 weeks the group that is rostered on does the set-up, cooking and clean up. This works very well and the food is always delicious. I decided to make a cupboard unit especially for the family night utensils. My daughter had given me an old chest of drawers that she no longer needed and I had one the same. I used these as my basic cupboard and then built shelves to join the drawers together. I removed the drawers and built shelves where they were. I left in the top drawers and this was used to store the tablecloths and drink holders. One of our friends Thomas is a carpenter. He and is wife Angela come to family night and he kindly helped finish off the woodwork. I used some marine ply as the first layer on the top and then a piece of hardiflex and then on top of this I glued the cream tiles. Thomas then put a beading around the edge to finish it off. I was happy with the end result.

Repurposed pine cupboard

I found this old cupboard on the side of the road.  It was in a bad way with one door off and the other hanging half off.  I think the family were horrified that I would even bring it home.  I love a challenge so I set about pulling the back off and took away the doors and sanded back the wood and put wooden tongue and groove panels on the back of it.  I had some cream tiles left over from my bathroom so I glued them to the top and then grouted with cream grout in between the tiles.  The picture above is the cupboard when it is half completed and the one below the completed project.  I have now put the cupboard near our front door.   The baskets have rugs for the children to use in winter when they are watching their favourite movie on the television.  The picture of Jesus was given to me by an old friend Sister Monica (a Presentation sister who taught my sister Patty and I in Year 11).  The picture had been in her family for many years.  I love this picture of Jesus and often times I will make myself a cup of tea and then sit on the lounge and spend some time with the Lord.

Building our hen house

We have been progressively changing our backyard to a vegetable garden and early this year we were given two Hyline hens.  They are very tame and the grandchildren love them.  My husband and I built a chook pen using fly wire doors as our fencing.  It has worked really well.  My sister-in-law Nola has now given me two more Silkies (one black and the other white).  I love having hens as there is no waste with food scraps and they faithfully give us eggs every day.  We have two fruit trees in the chook pen - a mandarin tree and a nectarine tree.  I was having trouble with the crows stealing the eggs so I have put two mosquito nets over the top of the pen and this has solved the problem.  The trees are starting to get fruit on them so it will also help keep them safe from other birds stealing the fruit.

I love thinking of ways to repurpose and recycle pallet wood and anything else that can be reused.  The hen house is a dog kennel and my sister Patty and I built a base for it from pallet wood.  Inside the hen house I have put long black trays on the floor and I put hay as the flooring.  I have also built two laying boxes out of recycled wood.  The house has a perch up high.  The hens seem to poop at night time.  Each week I remove the black tray (see picture) and tip the hay and poop into the compost tumbler and it all eventually breaks down into a great mulch for the garden.
We have now put an archway over the gate and by the end of summer the jasmine creeper should have grown over the top of the archway.

Candle making

Candle making

We have been given a lot of candles that needed to be melted down and made into fresh candles.  I have been trying different techniques to make the candles look different.  Some of the wax has been poured into glass jars and then an inspirational sayings put on the outside of the jar.  These jars in the picture have the candles placed in the jar after they have been taken from the mould. Both ways work well. The other candle is dipped in the burgundy colour and then has a flower painted in acrylic paint on the outside.  To seal the candle after you paint it you need to buy some wax paper and then wrap it around the candle with the wax side of the paper facing towards the candle.  A heat gun is then used to put a thin layer of wax on the outside of the candle.  The roses behind the candles are the first for the season from my husband Robin's garden.  As you can see I love roses.

Projects with pallets

Projects made with pallet wood

I love using old pallets or going to the pallet yard where they put out the front the rejected timber for free.  I have just bought some tools to help me with these projects.  On the weekend James and I decided to do a project with the pallet wood.  We are going camping and wanted some crates that we could carry the camping gear in and then be able to also use while we were away.  The crates are very solid and can be turned on their side to create storage.  We will be able to create a very serviceable kitchen area with these crates.  In the picture you will see that the crate has a shelf.  This shelf is the lid for the crate and when it is turned on the side can slide in to create an extra shelf for storage.  I will take a photo when we come back from camping to show you the end result.

Renovating ideas

Renovating ideas
I love renovating and thinking of different ways to make something look unique.  My daughter Jo and her husband James are renovating their home at the moment.  They are using an open cupboard for their linen.  We went and bought some normal plastic tubs but found when we put in the linen that it was difficult to make the boxes look neat and tidy.  I had just finished renovating my laundry and had some left over federation style wallpaper.  I used this to cover the boxes.  Hobby glue was painted on the back of each piece of wallpaper front and back and then the sides.  I then used a paper doily with a computer print out which I laminated and then glued on the front.  This is the end result to the project.