Storage, cushions and meatballs

We did a quick trip to IKEA today...that is, with the kids in tow as it is the Spring school holidays. I know. What was I thinking?

Since we've been busily working on the boys' room, we needed an extra IKEA wire storage thingy for the boys' built in cupboards...but do you think I could find the one I was looking for? Unless you know the name of the design, you're stuffed!

The system we've used in the past wasn't on display and I went searching for it online but couldn't for the life of me find it. Admittedly, I was quite confident I would find it on the shelves...again what was I thinking?

In the end, I bought a completely different storage 'solution'... but failed to make sure it would fit in the cupboards. And wouldn't you know it, after 'allen keying' it into its form the stupid thing is too deep for the cupboard by a a couple of centimetres. Aye, yai, yai!

Maybe I can use it for when we renovate the laundry...because I don't fancy taking it back without all the original packing.

Anyway, all was not lost. I let the younger boys choose a cushion each for their room.

ikea cushions which the boys chose

Also, tonight we're having Swedish meatballs for dinner. (Guess who couldn't be bothered doing the grocery shopping? IKEA food will just have to do) I've never had them before, I hope they're ok...

Hoping the Kottbullars are an ok dinner option!

Just one final thing. The Master's promotion I've been spruiking here ends tonight. You can win $500 worth of vouchers to undertake your own refurbishment project. Click here to win. There's only 30 or so entries, so your odds of winning are great.

It is such a useful prize...I know that we've put our vouchers to good use...and here is a sneaky peek of part of the boys' room.

boys' room - still need to finalise a few things before it is completely done.

The master bedroom is nearly finished

Well, here we have an almost complete master bedroom. We are loving it already.

Still to be finished are the wardrobe doors, which require a coat of paint, and installing a yet-to-be-found light fitting.

Newly painted master bedroom in a Queenslander

Jason undercoated the entire room in a Dulux acrylic primer/sealer/undercoat; one of those all-in-one products. This was then followed up with two coats of a low sheen Dulux acrylic on the VJs and a high-gloss on the door and door frames.

We used plain old white. No fancy white variations for uncomplicated us. And Jason used a brush rather than a roller which is why it was harder work.

Some art work for the VJ walls

Jason removed the top wardrobe doors and spray painted them white and replaced the knobs with something more discreet.

Unpainted wardrobe doors. Painting them white will make them disappear...hopefully

The dressing table is a 1930s English oak piece which we bought when we were first married.
Its days may be numbered, as I'm thinking of getting a mid-century piece to replace it. But I am in two minds because I am still fond of it.

I couldn't resist taking this photo. Poor dear Jason in a state of collapse from all his work, taken this afternoon.

BEFORE:

The image below is what it was like before. It actually looks kind of nice in this photo...however, it needed to be repainted as the paint work was very tired.

Although the cream colour was not offensive it did make the room feel rather gloomy. And we like white interiors.

Jason replaced the single-pane windows to the hopscotch windows so that they were from the same era/period as the other windows in the rest of the house. He also put in new VJ board over the fibro walls under the windows.

Anyway, the room feels much fresher, brighter and in keeping with the rest of the house, which was the main aim.

Before of the master bedroom

Housiversary week - kitchen wall

We are having a week-long celebration here at the Sow's Ear - celebrating our first year in this old house. So I'd like to share with you some of my favourite images from the renovations done in the past year.

As some of you may know, I was not at all keen about buying this place. It was Jason's romantic notions of owning a Queenslander which led us here. You can read the backgrounder here.

A year on, I'm definitely more at peace about living here but I don't love this house as much as Jason does. It is actually quite ironic that it's me and not Jason who lovingly writes a blog about this house (he is my number 1 blogging fan though). I call blogging my therapy and you know what, I've become fonder of the house because of it.

Today, I'm showing you photographs of the kitchen wall which was built to accommodate the new kitchen cabinetry. We had a builder do this part of the job - done effortlessly compared to an agonising Jason DIY.

As you can see from the photos above, this wall was lined with short, shallow cabinets which had been removed by the time I took the photographs.

Renovating an older home illustrates how building standards have changed so dramatically. You would never see such a shallow space used for cupboards anymore. They were about 30cm wide! What cornflake box would fit in a cupboard that size!

Also, see how much room from where the top of the cabinets ended to the ceiling - lots of potential storage space!

There  was also a small casement window in this area. We believe, the original bathroom would have been in this spot. And that's Number 2 son picking his nose, I would say.

These renders were drawn by the cabinet-maker of the proposed kitchen. We were happy with these plans and I don't think we changed anything. This is exactly what I envisioned for this particular space.

We probably could have moved the sink to the island bench to obtain the perfect functioning triangle, but I liked the idea of keeping the sink near the window. Call me old fashioned.

The builder's apprentice building the wall.

Old casement window removed on the otherside and new VJ boards added to cover the gap.

Below are photos of how this particular space looks like today. Ah, the magic of building.

Cooking area where the old casement window used to be.

A few more centimetres of wall allowed us to have wall-to-ceiling storage and cabinetry.

Organisation

Organisation. Home organisation. Or should I say ikea?

Much to Jason's dread we trekked to never never land where ikea is the shining beacon. I read in the newspaper recently that people don't actually go there to buy furniture; they go there to eat. They pack up the family and breakfast, lunch or dine there and perhaps they may even stay overnight...

It's cheap and cheerful. We probably wouldn't make a visit expressly for the food but we certainly didn't rebuff the $1 hot dog or 50 cents ice-cream cone when it came our way...

Our main reason for the visit was to find a way to organise the boys' rooms. Jason went off the idea of building shelves in their built-in wardrobes -  it would limit the hanging space they would need when they are older. A stand-alone solution would be better and easier.

So on our rather limited post-Christmas budget we bought two storage units to shove into their wardrobes. Cheap and cheerful (much like those hotdogs), but more importantly - organised. It's okay that they are utilitarian because they are behind closed doors anyway.

We also bought two Lack  floating shelves for the children's room - a place for their treasures. My favourite thing about these shelves is that they don't need visible brackets; they appear to float from the wall. Again, it is simple and affordable.

an eight year old's vignette on ikea lack shelf

affordable antonious wire storage from ikea for inside a child's built-in wardrobe

The boys' rooms are more organised since the ikea trip. I'd like them to start the New Year the way I want them to finish it. Wish me luck.

Useful

One of my favourite things I like about the new kitchen is the groovy jelly bean shaped shelves in the corner cupboard. They are called leMans Corner and are by Hafele.

LeMans corner shelves

Useful - see how you can pull the shelf right out

I store all my pots in this area. It makes searching for the right pot so much easier and makes my usually disorganised life organised (at least in this cupboard). They glide out effortlessly and are strong enough to take the weight of my smaller cast iron pots. An extremely effective form of storage.

I would highly recommend them and I have no vested interest in saying so!

Hidden storage

There's a lot to be said for storage in an older Queenslander home. It is one of my major issues with this house because where do you put your stuff? There is only so much that can fit under the bed.

Well, this is where our secret wall cupboards come in handy. An excellent solution for storage-poor families such as ourselves.

Storage via hidden VJ wall cupboards

The cabinetmaker suggested we use the space above our kitchen cabinets. We planned on just having a false VJ bulkhead anyway, so why not use that wasted area for our storage needs. And why not indeed!

The cabinets being installed during the kitchen renovation

Practical storage

They used MDF VJ board for the doors which we have painted crisp white. There are no handles because they toggle open and close. It is probably as seamless as they can be for doors. We store our luggage, board games and all the stuff we don't need on a daily basis in this area.

With our ceilings being so very high (3m) and me being of middling height, I am now on the look-out for a taller step ladder so I can reach the very top shelf.