Long Weekend: The DONE list!

On the Wednesday before the Easter long weekend, I shared my long weekend to do list with y’all.  Now for the summary round up. I’ll first confess to my sins (oh so Easter relevant!) – I’m known to add things to a to do list, just to strike them off… So some of those chores… they sort of snuck on there that way.  And one or two DIY projects (listed up front for those that were with me on Wed!).  Interestingly, my more ‘me’ time and entertainment focused targets didn’t get met – I was darn busy getting all the things I wanted done, that I wasn’t looking for a movie or a TV show (or even the internet) for entertainment – and I REALLY liked that. I spent good quality time with friends (they helped me DIY, and I helped them DIY and sort out some $$ stuff whilst we DIYed), and also spent almost a whole day with some delightful (though exhausting) 2 year old fraternal twins.

I’ll post more detailed posts on some of the bigger jobs, with photos, in the coming days.

Finish my book (Grotesque) in time for a Tuesday Review: Done

Clean out rangehood vents: Done

Boiling my very long range hood vents in bicarb soda

Installed LED lighting track: Done

For $25, i bought 5m of LED lights from Ebay, and with the help from some friends, hung it with the 3M adhesive it comes with.  Such a simple solution – especially seeing the vendor I used offered everything I needed – even the power pack, for an incredibly reasonable price.  Only downside? The lights somehow reek havoc on my radio nearby?!

Exposed beams in the dining area – and a glimpse of my pendant light (the art work is a temporary stop gap!)

LED light strip added under my rafters

Re-silicone the bathroom vertical joints: Done: A detailed post to come – Wednesday is my (self imposed) House DIY day, but I can see a few days in a row of house DIY posts after my epic weekend!  Maybe even later today perhaps?

Make cushion covers

This didn’t happen – I didn’t have a pattern, and I needed the table space (more on why I had none below), so I figured I’d let this one to do item slip.

Paint damaged wall: Done

I put this one off once I got sniffly, but late on Monday afternoon/evening, I figured I’d just get it done.  I’d prepared myself on Sunday by already laying out the drop sheet, and bought everything I needed, so all I had to do was open + paint. (I cleaned the wall on Monday morning, hoping some Magic Eraser would solve the problem, it helped, but didn’t fully resolve the mark).  Whilst I had the paint out, I painted a wooden piece of timber I’d cut to size on Saturday night, for hanging my birdcages from ‘upstairs’ – fully utilising the double height living room and a dead space.  I just need a ladder to screw it into the walls, and I’ll have photos.

Stamp map of the world: Done – a detailed post to come, how about tomorrow, for ‘zero waste’ day – where I’ve re-used some of my stamp stash?

Contact the under sink cupboards: Done – a detailed post to come – easily also a ‘zero waste’ post as it’s where all my trash lives hmmm…  How’s Friday suit you?

Change shower head – sort of done

I kept the ‘new’ shower head, and my friend showed me how to remove the flow restricter.  Took some wrestling (on his part), but it is now flowing a little more – although with all the grouting works, I’ve only used to (hacked) shower head once since it was done.  The old one is still on hand – to be freecycled if all goes well.

Read in the park or hang out in a book shop: Done – I babysat, and I read whilst they played in the park

Invite my brothers for dinner: Done (and exchange easter eggs! not so done – we exchanged our mother’s offerings)

Actually, I’ll share some photos of the eggs I got and what I gave for Easter:

My favourite eggs laid with love

Three of the seven devilishly dense, rich brownies I sent to Melbourne for Easter

Decorated with love

Chores

Vacuum upstairs

Mop kitchen

Change sheets & wash

Iron

Mending & de-piling

The un-done list

Work out podcasts/music downloads on my phone: was hardly online, except for reading posts from my blogs I love on my phone

See a movie: didn’t ‘need’ to – I was so busy

Watch 3 episodes of Gossip Girl: nope – though I did get two in on Wednesday night?

Overall, I had an awesome four day weekend.  I kicked butt in my ‘cook at home’ challenge – preparing myself by shopping for three meals’ ingredients on Thursday night (see updated March goals post for recipes).  I got so many niggley jobs sorted out.  I went to church three times (!!). I helped out friends (wine racking and babysitting).  I had a nice dose of book reading.  And I spent next to nothing, which will help my savings targets. Really a delightful time away for work – I hardly had time to miss my parents or BF (but it sure is nice to have them back!)

Blog giveaway

The tiny parcel of give away goodness!

I was lucky enough to **WIN** a blog giveaway lately, thanks to Fairy at organised castle.  Generally I don’t enter giveaways, unless I’m sure I need what’s on offer.  So Fairy was offering a surprise, I was a little dubious. I shouldn’t have been – her blog aligns nicely with mine, all about making do and being frugal and having less clutter.  And sure enough, her giveaway gift was right up there with utility and style.

organised castle’s Peg Bag giveaway

What was it you ask?  Why it was a peg bag! Fairy’s pretty handy with the sewing, and she might have ever reused fabric from her thrift store shopping – who knows.  It’s a lovely shade of lime.  (I’m not being tongue in cheek – my pantry/linen closet is also lime – by choice!)

Pantry and Linen closet

I need to find a coat hanger than fits in it a little better – perhaps mold a wire hanger a little better?  Here it is with a ‘normal’ plastic hanger:

Peg bag with my usual coathangers

It seems just a little too big, as you can see from the fabric straining. Thanks Fairy – next I need to load it up with my pegs!

Operation: Bed Ledge

All I wanted was a bed ledge.  And for so many months, I could NOT find one.  Sure, Ikea makes a bed ledges/shelving unit for my style of bed (the Malm), but I didn’t want all that shelving-ness.  I just wanted ledge-ness.  I searched the as-is section with a fervor bordering on stalker (helped that Ikea is on the way between my work and my parents place, which I do at least once a week).  But never did I find an ‘as-is’ Malm 3 Piece bed head like below (I’m not sure I could have made it work anyway – cause as is can be ANYTHING).

Ikea’s 3 piece bed head offereing

One day, in as-is, I found this:

Malm occassional table

If I overlooked the orange-ness (haha… sure, me, and orange!), it was still 22cm too ‘wide’ for a bed head ledge. And a few centimetres lower. It just wasn’t good enough.  It just wouldn’t work.  And nor would Ikea’s ledges.  Nothing looked like it would work (despite me seeing them make a catalogue COVER with a ledge behind the bed that was the SAME width – one of those mysteries I’m yet to have solved!).  I diversified to gumtree.com.au and ebay.com.au looking for occasional and sofa tables that might, by chance, meet all my measurements, and hopefully tone in with the wood.

And then… amazingly, something in my brain switched.  I wish I could remember when or how or why.  I undoubtedly it was with my MR DIY (not the BF, someone else, I like to compartmentalise).  What if I had a second Malm bed.  What if I used a second ‘head’ of a bed, against the wall, and jutted my normal bed out off the wall.  And bridge the gap with a ‘foot’ of a second Malm bed?  This would all measure up PERFECTLY.  And then: I found a Malm queen bed in the black brown for 50 big ones on gumtree.  It would be mine.  And it was.  I took a friend along for a ride (she was up for company, and I had a mission – and she was a sport… cause there’s two long ‘side’ bits to make it a bed frame… well we needed to NOT impale ourselves on those on our drive back… and so she helped me carefully dispose of them pronto!)

I carted the components into my loft, and then balanced everything out.  Which is FINE when you live alone.  And you sleep ‘carefully’.  But then, well, someone came along and it went boom crash!  So a securing system was needed.  Lengthy negotiations with MR DIY commenced.  And, to be honest, best laid plans didn’t succeed (we though we could out-Ikea Ikea – with dowels.  But ikea hollowed out the bed head and it was never going to work 😥 )  In the end, we just duplicated the L bracket scheme on each side.  Of course, I bought enough to do this initially, then we changed the plan, returned one set, only to have to go back and buy it again.  I’m a serial ‘returner’ of anything unused – waste not, want not!

Now for the photo essay:

Mounting simple L brackets to the horizontal ledge component

Two ‘legs’ to my bed ledge – using a second Malm Queen bed head

Drilling into the ‘legs’ to later screw the horizontal ledge to the vertical leg (creating an upside down L)

Attaching ledge compenent to legs component

Brackets attached to the ‘rear’ (wall side) leg and the ledge

Look at that ledge!

Side view

Finished – complete with BOOKS!

My house may or may not resemble an Ikea showroom – what do you think?

Want to learn more of my tricks for making a small loft work for me? How about how I store all my jewellery beautifully, so I know what I’ve got, and I wear it? What about an innovative way to organise my spices?  Or maybe you’d like to see more of my house – see the house tour.