Bog carpentry

Real craftsmen/women please don't judge us.

Remember, last week when Jason was figuring out how to re-mould the decorative top for the batwing lattice door? Read here to refresh your memory.

Well, he's done it. Have a look in the photograph below and see how he's matched the top bits. For those not in the know, it looks for all the world like there had never been an issue with the doors.

After shot of the batwing lattice doors

Jason's managed to shape and fashion a new decorative top with plain old builder's bog. Yep, a wannabe tradie's best friend...guaranteed to make you the Rodin of the carpentry world.

It's a slightly unorthodox approach to fix the problem but it seemed better than the alternative, which was to get new doors made. The batwing lattice doors are not a standard size - it would probably have cost us the best part of a grand to get new ones custom-made...

So, for about $25 for the bog and hardener set, the doors have been salvaged.

And now Jason's OCD twitch has dissipated substantially and all is right with the world. Amen.

before shot of the batwing doors for the sake of comparison

Revisiting the boys' bedroom makeover

It's been about eight months since we renovated the boys' bedroom (read here) and I thought it was timely to revisit what we did and show you how the room has fared with its two energetic occupants.

Too often one just reads the before and afters in blogs or magazines, but you never really hear how the 'afters' cope with day-to-day living. So, here is my review of what worked well and what didn't...

It would be safe to assume that there are still lots of toys which make its way under both the boys' beds. I was fooling myself to think their Lego stuff could be contained in little wicker baskets...it can't...especially with a mum like me who does not possess a 'picking-up-after-the-kids' mentality.

I just have to get on their back and tell them to move their toys to the playroom under the Sow's Ear. They don't need to bring so much into their room. It is however better than it was.

The white on white colour palette is standing up well. It is still fresh and bright and has given the room a great lift.

The white painted frames which we bought for the vintage Cuban movie prints are looking good and we are really happy with them.

The reality of our children's toys under the bed situation...

The pale wool rug in their room has been okay. It is still shedding wool after all these months which is quite a pain... The rug does adds some extra warmth to the room and stops some of those winter draughts coming through the cracks in the floorboards. One day it will be fur ball free...I hope.

rug fur balls

The block-out blinds we purchased, on the other hand, have been fantastic. They cut out the morning glare and have probably bought us an extra 15 minutes of sleep time in the morning. Those boys are such early risers! The blinds are in great condition despite the heavy-handedness of the boys.

We love a floating shelf but sadly this particular brand of floating shelves has not worked out. They do not sit flush to the wall and have a noticeable lean to them...and that was even when there was nothing on the shelves. Shelving fail! We will probably remove them and buy something that is better designed.

floating shelves in the boys room

Shelving fail when they have a severe lean to them.
The bag hooks we bought for near the bedroom door have also worked out well

All in all, the room is still a lovely space...when it is tidy. If I could find a tidy potion to feed the kids, I would...and then I'd take some myself!

Have you discovered things which don't work out after you've renovated or bought something too? Tell me all...

Dinky window reveal

That dinky little window in the bathroom is now finished. I probably shouldn't keep calling it that, because it doesn't look dinky at all now it has been primed and has a couple of coats of gloss white.

Single-pane casement window with chrome casement stays and handle

It's a major improvement to what was there.

The old window which was just odd bits of louvre glass which could not open or close.

Dirty little window

Having the window custom made was a good experience for us, especially as we have mostly worked with salvaged joinery. It is so much easier fitting something new than the old stuff according to Jason. It just slotted into position, as it should.

The little window cost $135 not including the fittings. And it is another small project we can tick off our list.

Bathroom: before and after

We are happy with how our bathroom looks now. If we had imagined that painting the wall tiles would've looked this good we would've done it at the very start of our sojourn at the Sow's Ear. 

Although we are not really advocates of temporary renovations, sometimes it's just necessary... particularly if you are 'umming and ahhing' about whether you intend to stay in a home forever or planning larger long-term renovations where rooms may need to be changed to accommodate a growing family.

Painting the bathroom tiles was a quick and cheap fix of our bathroom. The old beige tiles and grey grout did no favours to the out-of-square room. Every flaw was noticeable. The higgledy piggledy grouting and dated feature tiles stood out like the proverbial - the white tile paint disguises it so well.

We would totally recommend painting tiles as a temporary measure if you are unhappy with how your tiles look...but Jason and I agree that white is the only colour we would consider for such a task (I'm sure others have had equal success with colours though). 

The total cost of the tile painting was less than $150 for the paint. We used a one litre tin of tile primer and two tins of white tile paint. The process of painting the tiles was quite easy. Prepping the walls is probably the most important step to ensure a nice even finish.

Bear in mind that painted tiles will never really be as nice as a good professional tiling job. It won't have the same longevity...but I guess we will find out as we live with it. But considering how dubious we were of tile paint, it is worth a shot if you are despairing of your tile situation!

Just to refresh everyone's memory, here are some photographs of the Sow's Ear's bathroom from about 2009 when we first moved in.

Before:

Our old bathroom was quite serviceable but just needed a freshen up until we decide what to do with a full bathroom renovation...

Beige tile, grey grout, cream painted wall, ceiling and windows. 

timber vanity, timber mirror and towel rails

Country style bathroom with beige and green decorative feature tile

After:
This mini bathroom makeover has really been a work in progress for the past few weeks but with the huge advantage of allowing us to still access the bathroom. It was never out of action for too long...which is important in a one bathroom family house.

white painted tile, white walls, windows and ceiling.
We also removed the bars across the windows which we think  were installed to stop small children from falling through the opening!

We started with painting the door white, it was originally cream. A traditional chrome hook on the door provides extra hanging space.

After the fiasco of the dodgy chrome towel rails that we purchased earlier, I went out and bought a towel rail ladder. We picked it up at the Bathroomwarehouse in Newstead who provided particularly nice service, hence the shout out. Nice is always good.

A towel ladder gives us more towel hanging space. This is the round profile Heirloom brand.
I also bought a couple of new dark grey towels that were on sale.

We still have some of the el cheapo fittings like the towel ring and toilet holder...we're hanging on to them until  they fall apart. Hopefully they won't, but we're not worried because we know where we can get new ones without too much fuss.

Painted white vanity.
An old Dickies towel from the 70s and makes a cool, yet substantial hand towel

Painting the vanity and changing the handles have made it disappear completely. It never really deserved to be a feature in the bathroom. We like vanities like this to just blend quietly into the background. We also painted the heavy timber mirror frame so that it blends right back into the walls.

I'm loving these new bathroom runners that are around.
It's really soft and will be nice over the winter months...before it  becomes a hot mouldy mess. Ha!
We've left the floor tile as they were.

Jason built new window architraves to match the rest of the Sow's Ear.
He's the details man. The rubber ducks have a nice spot in which to reside.

We still have a few small things left to do on the bathroom, but that's pretty much it for now. Yippee!  You can read all our bathroom posts here if you're not up-to-date with what we have been doing. 

Anyone out there tempted to paint over some ugly tile? Tell me because I know your pain.

Some photos of the bathroom tile painting

I'm just going to do a pictorial blog post tonight regarding our tile painting experiment.

In a nutshell, it's worked far better than we ever, ever expected.

In my next blog post, I will go into some more detail about the whole bathroom makeover, particularly if you are contemplating using tile paint as a renovation option.

For now, you can just have a quick squizz at the nice fresh bathroom feeling that we are currently enjoying.

View of the bathroom from the sunroom.

View of the vanity from the bathroom door

The white tile paint has completely covered the old tile border feature. You'd never know...maybe...

New ladder towel rail

I bought a new resin soap dispenser bottle. And love that it is so plain.

Remember to read the next post where we tell you our thoughts on tile painting and show you more photos.

Walk among the homes

Elizabeth from Walk Among the Homes blog has just published a house tour of the Sow's Ear. Yay! You can read the feature article here.

The old pig is looking very silken purse through Elizabeth's camera lens. Jason and I were completely chuffed with the lovely words and amazing photographs. A lot of hard work (ie Jason) has gone into the Sow's Ear and it is so satisfying to see her shine so beautifully.

Thank-you Elizabeth for featuring the Sow's Ear and appreciating its special qualities.

Image courtesy of Elizabeth Santillan
Walk among the homes

Boys’ room: details

Sponsored by Nuffnang

As you saw in the previous post, the boys’ room is finally done. Thank you so much for all the lovely comments. We are all finding an excuse to hang ‘round in the room to enjoy the newly renovated surrounds. The abomination that was previously their room… is now one of the nicest spaces in the Sow’s Ear.

And it couldn’t have happened without the vouchers Masters Home Improvements generously threw our way. There is no way we would’ve been able to complete the room this year given all the other work we’ve undertaken around here. Thank you Masters.

We are so pleased to have the room renovated and the boys are thrilled to have a bedroom to be proud of. This post will give you the details of some of the items we used to decorate the room (all the hyperlinks will take you to the Masters products we used).

Renovated boy's bedroom in a Queenslander house. 
We wanted a  cleaner more minimal look for this space using a white on white colour scheme for the walls, windows and ceiling.

The room was sanded to remove the very worst of the flaky paint. Jason replaced the window architraves so that they were consistent to the other rooms and he also removed the picture rail which was not original to the house. We replaced all the damaged window fittings too. He bought some reliable new safety goggles for the deconstruction phase, but I think he just wanted to complement his hi-vis uniform.

Beautiful ceiling rose has come up nicely. Vintage Danish glass pendant was purchased second-hand 

We spent a hefty portion of the room budget on paint and painting accessories which we purchased in-store at Masters. The room is painted in our signature Dulux Acrylic Wash n Wear Vivid i.e. straight outta the tin. It works for us and makes a great palette for a crisp looking interior - one coat of undercoat and two top coats on all the walls, doors and windows. 

Freshly painted white walls are a perfect match with framed art work

We framed some vintage Cuban movie posters we had using the Masters white timber picture frames. The frames come with a mat board already to go, making them an easy and cheerful option to display prints and photos.

One of the main problems with the room was the lack of hanging and shelf space. We would trip over school and library bags which were strewn across the doorway. Now the bags have a handy place to reside on a port rack near the door. We bought the black contemporary satin hook board to keep their bags off the floor. No excuses for bags to be anywhere else now!

The boys have a place to hang their bags when they enter the room

Some stylish floating shelves to display their treasures. Attractive baskets make for good sneaky toy storage under their beds.

For some reason, we have a penchant for floating shelves. We installed two for the boys to display their collected items, as they are into figurines and models. It is also handy for their books. 

Another big change we instituted was a brutal cull of the boys’ toys in their room. We’ve rationed them to a couple of square storage baskets for their special things. It’s attractive storage for under the bed. Their bigger toys are under the house now.

The boys have been using the room for nearly two weeks and so far they are keeping it tidy. Hooray! (It might be a different story when they are back at school and kindy though...!)

Gloss white doors make the built-in cupboards disappear in the room. 

The built-in cupboards were also repainted. From brown to white, it looks like a completely different room. Adding new door knobs improved the overall look too.

I also bought some new coat hangers for their built-in cupboards. They store all their shoes in the cupboards, as they already had shoe racks. A cull of their clothes and shoes occurred while we were renovating the room too.

Sleek door knobs bring a new edge to the doors. These knobs are my favourite and are similar to the Arne Jacobsen designed Vola knobs.

The architectural glass and decorative architraves need only the simplest of window treatments. The blinds are always up during the day.

We don’t have any window coverings in the Sow’s Ear but we thought it would be prudent to get some block-outs for this bedroom and the early rising occupants. The boys’ bedroom gets the morning sun! The white Roomaker Oscar roller blinds were by far my favourite, discreet and unobtrusive for the lovely coloured windows.

Neutral rug adds warmth to an all white room. It will also match any bedding we may end up choosing down the track.

I liked the range of affordable wool rugs Masters had online and thought it would be a good way to give warmth to the room. The rugs must be popular as most of them were sold out when I went to order it. The Jora rug comes in a fairly neutral tone blending well into whole scheme. A nice vibrant green rubbish bin is a practical way to inject some colour into the all white room.

Most of the decorator items were chosen and paid for online, which I then organised to pick up at the Masters Tingalpa store when it was ready. This was such a convenient way to organise a bulk purchase, as it meant that I could be in an out of the store when I had Son#3 with me. Quick and easy. And friendly!

Obviously we didn’t purchase every single thing from Masters to renovate the room, but we did try to use as much as possible to get bang for our buck. We had a lot of the timber and brass window hardware already and we made use of a lot of the furniture and soft furnishing items we had in other parts of the Sow’s Ear.(I love using the old Italian military blankets on their beds, with crisp white sheets and their favourite cushions. The blankets are also something they can keep when they are older.)

With vintage pieces, op-shop finds and Masters Home Improvement purchases, I think we’ve made a fairly attractive room which the boys just love.

And compared to the before and during pictures , it’s come a long way, Baby!

P.S

The winnner of our Masters $500 voucher giveaway JenJen QLD is planning to spruce up her home after it had been rented out when they were overseas. She said there was a bit of damage from the tenants, so the vouchers will be put to good use.

She is currently negotiating with her family the following options on which to splurge: a fancy chicken coop which the kids are vying for, a new rug or light fitting or some safety glass fence panels for the pool. So much to choose from!

Boys' bedroom: before and after photos

I was planning on publishing a big long blog post about redoing the boy's bedroom today...but instead I'm just going to show you a big long pictorial of the room. You'll be able to read all the details in the next blog post.

What we have is a bedroom that our two youngest boys can share for the next few years until we build in some rooms underneath the house. Son #2 is seven years old, while Son #3 is four and they are little rascals!

This room would have originally been the Sow's Ear's master bedroom, given it is such a generous size. We are able to comfortably fit two king single beds into the room and it has good clothes storage in the built-in cupboards that were here when we moved in.

I hope you'll enjoy the little tour of the room's evolution.

So here are the afters:

Renovated boy's bedroom in a Queenslander house

Repainting the ceiling has freshened up this room no end. Vintage Danish glass pendant was purchased second-hand 

Freshly painted white walls are a perfect match with framed vintage Cuban movie art

The boys have a place to hang their bags when they enter the room

New shelves and if you squint you'll see Obi-wan riding a horse. They have a collection of Simba knights and horses. There is also a sprinkling of their own artworks.

Gloss white doors make the built-in cupboards disappear in the room. 

The architectural glass and decorative architraves need only the simplest of window treatments. 

Vintage Anna Castelli  Ferrieri componobili cabinet which used to be in Son#1's room. We swapped furniture. Neutral rug adds warmth to an all white room.

Now these images are the befores. (As in the year that we moved to the Sow's Ear in 2009)

This is the bedroom when we moved in. You'll note the cot and change table. This room has evolved from a toddler/baby room to two growing boys sharing a room.

Brown louvre doors. What can I say?

The young occupants back in 2009!

These shots are the during and how the room looked just before we renovated!

Flaky paint work. The 80+ years of paint layers which we added to.

deconstruction phase

sanding and scraping phase

Some gratuitous shirtless Jason shots. For the fans! Don't thank me.

This is a before shot of the room when it was tidy (which was practically never!) in 2010.  Mouldy ceilings and tired colour scheme.

The room as it was a month ago. A great big mess!

So, what do you think?

If you want to find out the details of how we transformed the room, tune in for the next blog post!