A few finishing touches.

We're making steady progress on the house everyday and each change is making it feel like our home more and more. It's almost a year now since we bought the house, although only 6 months since we moved in and we only started working on the house in January.  Anyway it's clear, I'm a renovation addict and I just can't stop making more and more changes.
If you're a regular reader of this blog, you'll remember our laundry turned from this to this...

Needless to say, we were pretty happy with the fresh new look. However the walls were looking a bit too empty so I wanted to add some art and extra shelving. While we would like to have big built in shelving in the future and perhaps include another toilet in this room, I wanted to use items I already had (or could source cheaply) to make the laundry a bit more homely.

1: ART

Any kind of art probably works in a laundry but I decided to go with laundry themed art. The frames were from kmart for $3.50 each and the prints came from this post . I downloaded the images and printed them with a matte finish for $1.20 each so altogether the artwork came to $9.40- not too bad for adding a little bit extra to the laundry room. I had tried thrifting for frames for about a month or so but matching white frames are hard to come by and when they are so cheap from the store, I didn't feel it was worth the effort to paint the frames. It's amazing what lovely free downloads are around and I really like how the colours of these prints connect with the existing mint/white colour scheme of the laundry.

 2: SHELVING

I am very fortunate to having some fantastic carpenters in my family but whenever I can thrift the perfect item, I do that over taking up their time and energy. I came across a pine shelf at a garage sale in the country about a year back for $10 and knew I could find a good use for it. After giving it a coat of primer and two coats of white enamel, it was in our bedroom on the wall holding up some jewellery. However as the master bedroom has had a bit of a makeover recently (will share soon, I just am waiting for the right light to capture some pretty snaps), I had removed the shelf and realised it would be great extra storage in the laundry and create some visual interest for a very high blank wall.

There is still potential space for more artwork and other accessories but I like it so much more already. Our laundry in our old home had a blue theme so the peg basket shown above is actually our old blue peg basket given a few coats of white paint- recycling whenever possible :)

And speaking of art, I just had to share the newest photographic addition to our art collection. Our darling dog Maisy is a bit of a cutie and when I found a deal online for a $9 dog photo shoot that came with an 8 by 12 print, I just jumped at the chance. I love a good photograph and somehow we'd neglected to print any of Maisy in the last three years. She wasn't quite the perfect model for her little snaps but we ended up with a truly adorable print of her that is now proudly on display in the lounge room, she needs her few minutes of fame and attention before baby comes in 6 short weeks and the baby photos start to fill the walls. I'm stoked with the end result, definitely worth $9!

It will need to move soon from its current location as when the gas heater is turned on, the top tends to get too warm to leave things on- and I don't want to wreck this picture :)

 Lisa x

P.s My friend Kirsty asked me to share some tips on fixing up secondhand furniture on her blog this week.

 click here for the link

Ideas file- a homemade fruit bowl and dog feeder.

I am a dreamer and a diy junkie as is obvious by this blog! I am always dreaming up new projects and am thankful to have people in my life to help make these dreams a reality. There are some things I needed and I wanted to create items that would be unique and lasting in our home. Two items on my want list were a nice fruit bowl and a dog feeder for Maisy as her current bowls were cracked and very old. 

1) the perfect fruit bowl. 

I was after a fruit bowl that could hold lots of fruit and would look pretty in the kitchen. I also wanted to have a bowl that had a homemade unique feel.

My Grandpa went through a stage a while ago where he just used to make lots of wooden bowls. After raiding his stash, we found a large wooden bowl and a smaller one to turn into a fruit bowl. I decided to make the fruit bowl double layered as that way I could hold more fruit and fruits that age each other when put together could be separated. Grandpa looked through his random wood pieces and found a piece that we could use to join the bowls together. Then we used wood glue to hold the three pieces together until they had set and stained the wood piece in the middle to match the two wooden bowls. I love this fruit bowl in the kitchen.
* The jam pictured next to the fruit bowl is quandong jam that grandma and I made on Tuesday- it's so delish.

2)a homemade dog feeder.

This was designed with Maisy's habit of pushing around the bowl in mind and also the problem we had with ants always getting in her bowl.  I purchased two white bowls for $3 each from neds. We (Grandpa and I ) used the bowls as measurement and cut two holes out of a piece of wood and then added little legs. The feeder worked out so well that then we had to make one for mum's dog too as she was envious of how nice it had worked out...it's always flattering when someone likes your idea and wants to copy it :-)

Clearly Maisy enjoys eating from her new feeder...and just eating in general really :)
Two items to check off the to buy list and since they used supplies already owned, only $6 to make them- I do love some thirfty home decorating, especially when it ends with unique items I can treasure. Have you been dreaming up any new home ideas lately?

Lisa x

Dog proofing.

It's been a bit of a challenge to make our new home fit for our little dog. After living in the country for her whole life, Maisy now had to get used to having a smaller space and no grass :(. It was time for some doggy DIY projects. It's so important for us that she is settled and feels at home in our new house so we had to fork out some money and do some DIY projects to see what could make her feel more comfortable in the new environment.

A fake grass patch

After looking around I found that most were a good two hundred or so dollars but eventually found one for $99.She is starting to use it more and more. It has a base that can be emptied on the bottom and can be hosed down too. Since we haven't decided exactly what to do with the atrium, it's the perfect short term solution.( I love the bench the old owners left behind too and got a new outdoor pillow for the hanging chair- which isn't hanging yet - thanks to a welcome to the neighbourhood voucher).

 A doggy door

Before

Our new house has a cat door but Maisy soon broke it after trying to squeeze herself through it too many times. It was hilarious to watch but definite proof that our dog needed her own door.  For $100 I'm sure she'll enjoy her new larger door. It actually ended up taking a good half a day to put in as the door might not look it but it weighed a tonne! Also the wood was very thick and a few jigsaw blades were broken in the process :( but with the help of Grandpa and Dad it was eventually completed.

A safety gate

We live only a few houses away from a busy main room so it was crucial to us that Maisy couldn't escape and run down the street whenever vistiors come over. I bought an extra wide perma safety gate and then a 10 cm extension for about $70 to make it fit across the hallway that connects to the front door. This is actually an extremely easy DIY project, I did it all myself in about 10 minutes so anyone could put up one of these safety gates. I always love a DIY project where I don't need to call in help! You can see the end product in the top left corner of the photo of the fake grass.

A happy dog makes for happy owners. Now, if only I could train her to use the fake grass patch all the time!

Lisa x

A garage sale fit for a dog.

I'm always on the lookout at garage sales for things for my little dog. She's already got a a suitcase bed but I found a few other things too.

At a recent garage sale there was a freebie box. The above sign was sitting in there, a scary dog with an underbite. I couldn't help but grab it since I've got such a scary guard dog with an underbite at home :)  All I need to do now is work out where to put the sign.

In the freebie box there was also a whole bunch of leads and collars. Maisy already has one but I grabbed a few more - now I can coordinate Maisy's lead with my outfit. Lol, I am just too cool.
So here I leave you, a post from someone whose a little bit too dog obsessed :)

Lisa x

A suitcase dog bed.

With the other half of the larger suitcase leftover I decided to turn it into a cute little bed for my dog, Maisy. This was very easy and looks cute in Maisy's area. All I needed to do was seperate the top of the suitcase from the bottom and find a regular sized pillow and a cute cover (which you can sew up quickly using a pretty fabric).

Doesn't Maisy look cute in her suitcase bed?

Lisa x