30 Boxes in 30 Days - Update 4

Been extremely slack these last few days but I do have a really good reason. I finally worked up the motivation to work on some long need projects. Two kitchen chairs have now been stripped and the upholstery has been pulled off, and I’ve been working on a venetian blind which is also for the Kitchen/dining room.

This chair is now naked like the one you can just see in the far left in front of the go-cart.

and another view of one of the chairs waiting to get dressed

With the blind up to the staining stage, I am determined to catch up and get some more boxes sorted through. On my last trip to Bunnings Hardware, I picked up some more boxes to fill for an upcoming garage sale, date still to be decided, but it will be on a weekend when the Codeman takes a weekend off work. Now that he’s got a new job starting in a couple of weeks, it probably wont be until the New Year when they’re not as busy.

There are at least 5 boxes of garage sale stuff to sort through and price, so that’s on tomorrows to-do list. At least until I can gather up the funds to buy the stain for the blinds and more paint stripper for the kitchen chairs LOL.

Oh well, pack to it (get it???) Yeah I know, that was crap.

Total: 18 boxes in 22 days

Jenni

30 Boxes in 30 Days – Update 3

How is everyone today?

Since starting this challenge I have found that my mojo for craft and home decorating is coming back. The “dining” room has had a good going over with  a dust cloth and vacuum cleaner, and all junk that was dumped on the table are now properly stored or disposed of. I’ve done some more work on the kitchen chairs and have started cleaning a venetian blind I got from a local recycling business.

I also managed to get some sewing done as well. Just repairs; although I have got a project in mind for the bottom half of Cody’s full length jeans that he cuts off during the Summer months, but more about that project in a later post.

So here is the challenge update

Day 5 - Cleared 1 box that had some old toys that belonged to Cody when he was younger. They just need a bit of a clean up and will be perfect for my nephew Dominic whenever he and his Mum come to visit.

Day 7 - Sorted through a box of painting supplies in preparation for stripping and finishing off the kitchen chairs.

Day 14 - Been very slack these last few days but I have definitely made up for it today. Emptied 7 boxes of random “stuff” and filled 1 plastic storage box which now stores all my gardening gear…. AND I can now actually walk into my garden shed. Still got plenty of stuff to sort through in there but I’m very pleased with myself with todays achievement. Now where is that calamine lotion and Phenergan? I’ve now got a touch of hay fever and I’ve got bites all over me from the dust and the microscopic bities in that shed.

Total boxes to date: 18 boxes in 14 days.

Cheers

30 Boxes in 30 Days - Update 2

Day 3 - was a very productive day with 5 boxes sorted through. I had planned on doing just the one but kind of got a little carried away. 

I had got tired of seeing a box overflowing with plastic bags every time I opened the pantry door and having to pick up the odd bag that had found its way to the floor; so day 3 was the day to get that under control.

Before

After

As you can see from the second image, the original bag storage was now way too big so I needed to find something smaller to store them in. The story is a little similar to the three bears. The first one was too big, the second one was too dirty but the third one was just right

Ok, now this is where I got a little carried away. In the hunt for the right box I found some stuff that I hadn't seen in a very long time tucked away. I was like a kid at Christmas.

Look what I found.... and there's two of them. they are actually a pair of candle wall sconces but they sit rather nicely on a flat surface.

Isn’t it gorgeous????

Not sure whether to paint and age these babies or leave them as is, but for now they are sitting on my mum's cabinet that she had for years. In fact I recall seeing it in and old black and white photo of when she was in her teens. that is a future project after I finally get around to re-doing these chairs.

Day 4 - I almost missed day four as I spent most of the day working on my final Uni assignment and was really excited about the finished product that I spent the arv showing off to my parents. bonus was I was allowed to pick a bag full of fresh mandarins off their neighbour's tree

Total boxes to date: 8 boxes in 4 days.

Anyways, time to put my feet up and chillax with an icy cold beer.

Cheers

30 Boxes in 30 Days Challenge - Update 1

Found time to empty two boxes over the last two days even though I had an extended Uni assignment to finish and submit yesterday.

Day 1 -  I started on the spare room which had all sorts of paperwork, booklets and stuff that made its way there in order to keep the rest of the house looking barely presentable. That room is definitely a dumping ground :-(

I can now see the foam couch/small "bed" that takes up one wall. I did have to put stuff into a box for future sorting so I'm not counting that one just yet. I did however manage to fill one box from that room with used paper. I've still got to get into the habit of printing on both sides more often but I do use the blank side for my family research notes. which leads to the second box for the month.

Day 2 - Today I had a look through a box that I've been dumping my genealogy/family research stuff and managed to empty it. The former contents are now in folders and sitting on one of the shelves in the built in wardrobe.

Two boxes down..... 28 to go. So far so good. Let's see if I can keep this up.

30 Boxes in 30 Days Challenge

WOW I can't believe it's been just over 3 months since my last post. Time surely does fly when you're studying hard at Uni. I have managed to get through my first term at Uni and I had so much fun... even though there were moments where I felt like I was going to pull my hair out with the stress of assignments. I can now draw a little better, have a better idea of how to do vector designs for logos etc, have found that I enjoy playing with digital video and audio, and enjoy creating animations. I now have 4 weeks off before term 2 starts on the July 2nd.

One thing that really bothered me during 1st term was how difficult it was to find just what I needed to create a lighting system for the digital video and audio course and to find room to put it. This leads me to today's post. 

I have given myself the challenge of sorting through and packing 30 boxes in 30 days for the month of June. I have so many boxes filled with trash mixed in with treasures that it's time to sort through it all. I am ashamed to admit this but I have 1 junk room which is the spare room, I can barely get to my car because of boxes stacked on both sides and at the front of the garage AND to get anything out of the garden shed I have to literally climb over stuff. As far as having enough crap to do this challenge certainly wont be a problem, nor is time an issue until term 2 starts. The problem is that I am a big procrastinator. Yep, that motivator is always breaking down, so this blog will hopefully help me to stay with this challenge to the end.

OK so the rules are simple. For every box I empty equals 1 box and every box filled to donate, return, use for storage or throw out also equals 1 box each. Each box is to be of a size and weight that can be carried by one person and no smaller than an archive storage box.

Wish me luck... I'm sure going to need it.

Garden Orbs

Christmas is over for another year. The Christmas tree and decorations are packed away until next time. Now what do you do with light sets where only half the strand works or you plan to upgrade to brand new lights? Do you throw them in the bin or do you try to reuse them?

I have found that to have a well lit Christmas tree I need to buy more sets and I’m hoping that the stores will be bringing back last years lights as they were almost perfect. What I loved about them is you can connect the strands together. Less transformer packs and less power plugs = Awesome. The only draw back to them is they have clear cords. Oh well you can’t win them all.

So where is this random ramblings leading I hear you ask?

Take a squiz at this.


It was time to retire my old LED sets from Christmas duty and give them a new year round job and when I first found this idea here, I just had to make my own.

The light shades were found for about $3 each at Saint Vinnie's and at the resale area of the local dump. The one on the left is glass and the other one is acrylic. They are a dime a dozen at any goodwill store. I am on the look out for another glass one because let’s face it, they just look better and have a good weight about them.


All that you need to do is stuff the lights into the shades and hey presto, high end looking glowing garden orbs on a beer budget. Can’t get even better than that and it only takes a couple of minutes to do.

Here are are few more pics for you to enjoy.




 Hmmm now I just need to get some greenery happening which is going to be a challenge. Not a green thumb in sight.

Till next time and stay safe,

Jenni (aks Smokeygem)

Dining Room Makeover Part 2

How is everyone’s weekend going? It’s nice and overcast here making it a lovely day after this heat we’ve been having here.

Remember the dining table I painted recently? See that piece of furniture on the left? It looks like it’s got stickers on it.


Yep that was my latest project. I've had that hutch since about 1999.

Here's a better image of it without the sliding glass and my collection of vintage items handed down to me by my family.



… and this is what it looked like when I first bought it from a second hand shop in Bundaberg. Sorry but it's the best only image I have.


That's my son Cody at the age of 6 isn't he a little cutie.  He was supposed to be doing his homework but when he saw the camera he just had to pose. It’s a different story now. Damn shame they have to grow up LOL

OK back on topic guys.

When I bought it, it was rather bland. Varnish ply doors, white paint and no real character at all. To give it a new look, I added the molding on the doors and painted it this blue-green-ish colour from Taubmans, painted the inserts grey and added some 'Wallies'. Definitely late nineties country going on here and in need of a whole new look.

Oh and check out the outdated contact paper. Now that was a task and a half to remove.


Fast forward to 2012. Isn't it amazing what a little bit of paint and stain can do? I'm loving it. I used Taubmans "Ivory Tower" and Cabot's “Bazillion Roast”  custom stain for the timber and also as a glaze to darken the paint finish. Minwax satin wipe-on poly was used to protect the whole piece.




I haven’t lined the shelving or drawers yet because I’m still looking for a design that appeals to me. Maybe I’ll even have a go at printing my own using the many awesome tutorials online.

Here are the before and after pics of the hutch again.

  Here's how my dining room looks so far PLUS a sneak peak of my next project. Can you guess what it is?


 Till next time and stay safe.

Jenni (aka Smokeygem)