Kitchen shelf re-styling

So last weekend Aaron removed everything off our kitchen shelves to oil and paint them. It was one of those jobs that didn't quite get finished in the big scheme of our renovation. We have a few little jobs like that around the house that need finishing off and Aaron is now going through each room and ticking them off one by one.

 

 

After living with it all cleared and empty for a week I decided I was tired of how it was before and it was time for a change. This was the perfect excuse for a total refresh.

I started by putting out everything that was previously on the shelf and piling it up onto the bench in front of me. Then I walked around the house and looked in my cupboards to see if there was anything else that I thought might need to go up there too.

 

It actually took ages. Lots of rearranging and changing my mind and stealing things from other places in the house. But it was heaps of fun! Now I want another shelf to do!

 

 

I reckon it looks a lot better than it did before. See the before photo below. I had just kind of added to it over time without really thinking about how I actually wanted it to look like overall. It looks a lot fresher now, less cluttered, and more balanced. What do you think? Or maybe it doesn't look any better but it's just nice to have a change of view!

 

 

Here are some detailed pics below - and of course most of the items are bought from the op shop, or otherwise they are gifted, or family hand-me-downs (mostly from my Great Granny I've just realised! She did have some very cool stuff and created amazing art!).

 

SMALL GREEN BOWLS - op shop. GREEN PLANT POT - op shop. PLANT - cutting from one growing wild. WOODEN PEARS - op shop (these used to be in the kids kitchen play set. PHOTO OF FORGET-ME-NOTS - taken and developed and printed in the dark room by me! LITTLE BASKET- op shop. POTTERY URN (which holds my eggs) - family hand-me-down from my mum. BLUE TIN - gift from my mum. KITCHEN AID - gift from my dad (which turned out to be the perfect colour for my future kitchen!).

PLANT POT - op shop. PLANT ON TOP SHELF - Mitre 10. ENAMEL FISH DISH - handmade by my Great Granny. LARGE CAT - hand-me-down from my Great Granny. SMALL CAT - op shop. BAG OF COFFEE - gift from my in-laws from the Philippines (I love the packet!). COPPER WINE GOBLETS - gift from my dad. TOY MEN - Aarons from when he was a kid. WOODEN OLD MAN BOTTLE STOPPER - family hand-me-down from my mum (I always thought of this as my Great granddad 'Puppy').

BLUE POTTERY JUG - op shop. GREEN MUGS - made by me, the remaining two of a set of four (I just checked the bottom and these were made in 1997. What! 20 years ago! But aren't I only 21 ?!). HEN ARTWORK - "Fowls" by Ruth Coyle (my Great Granny) family hand-me-down from my mum. NATIVE BIRDS ARTWORK - by Flox (free with Your home and Garden magazine). WOODEN VASE - op shop. POTTERY VASE - op shop (actually stolen from a pile destined to sell in my shop! It just looked so good up there, sorry).

BROWN COFFEE CUPS - op shop. (With two cool tea bag quotes that I needed to keep. "Be giving, forgiving, compassionate and loving." "In all things of nature, there is something of the marvellous. - Aristotle." LIGHT BROWN POOLE CUPS - I have a set of 6 of these, some are op shopped and some are family hand-me-downs from my Great Granny.

WOODEN BOAT - op shop (Liam has kindly lent me this from his boat collection upstairs!). ARTISTS MANIKIN - op shop.

ARTWORK - Oil on canvas. "The drink of milk" by Ruth Coyle 1950 (My Great Granny). Written under the title is 'My son Ewen'. GREEN POT - op shop.

 

And there you have it folks, all you ever wanted to know about my kitchen shelf! And probably more than you wanted to know! Ha!

And as a side note - there still needs to be an extractor fan fitted onto that wall above the oven, and a tile back splash - they're on the list! Oh and a big photograph to be hung on that wall on the right - I have one already bought from this amazing local photographer, just need to get it printed and framed!

My kitchen

I'm in spring cleaning mode (even though it's Autumn). My terms are so busy teaching the kids and running them here and there, so I enjoy having some free time during the holiday that I can use to get on top of things, things that get ignored during the busy term. I also spend some time in the kitchen making bulk meals for the freezer - which are SOOO appreciated during the term.

 

 

I printed off a very thorough spring cleaning list from the internet and spent a morning getting the kitchen all spick and span. The kids gave me a hand, they happily get busy if I give them a spray bottle and cloth of their own. (By the way, use this recipe to make your own natural spray). 

 

It felt so good to give the kitchen a deep clean, we even tidied and wiped out all the cupboards and drawers. Isla even cleaned the toaster and the kettle for me. Every single surface got cleaned and polished and the lights were wiped of all the fly dirt, ewww!

 

 

 

I took the opportunity while it was clean to take some photos of my new (90%) finished kitchen. A bit different from my cute little old one person kitchen - (which I did love for it's funny little ways). I say 90% because there still a few cupboards that need to be added - one above the microwave and one above the oven which will hold the extractor fan. Plus we need to tile the wall behind the oven.

 

 

 

I've also managed to give the bathrooms a 'spring' clean and the laundry. I've cleared out a whole lot of stuff too and taken it to the opp shop, it's so therapeutic! But now I have a cold and my energy levels are rather low, so I'm not sure if I will get to the bedrooms and lounge. Pretty happy with what I achieved anyway, the other rooms can wait till the next school holidays!

Hey it's May already

I didn't feel ready for term two to start on Monday, but hey, here we are, and it's been a good first week so far. We had a great Easter and holiday break, even though I had the flu last week! At least it made me slow down and take it easy, and the kids were so good at taking care of me, they were so grown up and responsible, and made me special snacks to have in bed.
A few photos from the past few weeks....

Liam's Easter scene he made.




Catching up with cousins.






Starting work on the new deck - Liam is great at demolition work!


The kids first trip away on their own, they stayed at Granma's for 3 nights, the house was very VERY quiet.


Visiting Auntie Adde's.




Back home to help dad with the rebuilding of the deck (I will show some before and after photos soon).




Catching up with more cousins.




Liam's mud sculpture. Dad dug lots of holes for deck foundations so there was lots of dirt to play with.








Wishing you all a good week...

House update

These photos are a bit old now, they are from just before Christmas, but I haven't really taken any photos of the house since then and this was a major milestone moment - big changes! From dusty paint splattered floors to lovely soft clean carpet, and useable rooms!









The kids drew some pictures and wrote messages on their floors in the morning before the carpet man arrived. Liam wanted to leave some money under the carpet.

















The carpet man made the mistake of engaging with the children so they followed him around the whole time talking his head off - he didn't seem to mind, and taught them a few tricks of the trade.
And then a few hours later.....
Our building site had been transformed into a home!







It didn't take the kids long to start moving things up into their bedrooms.











And the downstairs room which is going to be a relaxing/library room began to fulfil it's purpose immediately.



We are slowly bit by bit filling the rooms with furniture and curtains etc, I will make sure I post some updated photos soon.