The old kitchen that became a bedroom.

 

It has been quite a few months since our 14-year-old was able to move into his new bedroom that used to be a kitchen and I thought an update was long over due.

The photos aren’t the best but I hope that you’ll be able to see what we’ve done.

The photo below is what the kitchen looked like a year ago.

And this is what it looks like now. I found the old set of drawers on Gumtree.  They sit in the old alcove where the oven used to be.  The old slab of terrazzo has been left as a reminder of what the room once was.

The old possum house (the cupboard at the top) has been sealed off and the old pantry has been cleaned and painted inside and is now a wardrobe.

The old back door and ‘dunny’ have gone and replaced with a lovely little study nook.

The study nook is painted using Wattyl – Midnight Seas. It’s a nice contrast to the bedroom which is painted using Dulux – White on white

The table was given to us by our neighbours who were moving out and it was on its way to the dump!!! I stripped it back and painted it yellow.

The desk lamp was a bargain at Target, $35!

I found the fabric for the blinds at Fabric.com. I was looking for something that would suit a teenage boy and not look out-of-place as he grows into a young man.   The fabric  was  $8.47 US per yard.

This is a great price as many of the fabrics that I’d looked at here in Australia were around the $30.00 mark for similar fabrics.  Shipping to Australia was approximately $30.00. We needed quite a few metres for the three windows, yet the total bill (including shipping)  was under $100.00!!!

Just recently, I bought some shelves for the study nook at the Freedom mid year sale.  They were too hard to photograph so I’ve borrowed the image from Freedom’s website!!!

The hunt for a coffee table.

And what a hunt it’s been! I thought finding a coffee table for the living area would be easy.. but when it comes to trying to find the right coffee table for a decent price it was harder that I thought. I initially had thought that I’d like to have a go at making a padded ottoman . Something like this.

or this..

I’d read a few DIY blogs and they made it look kind of easy.

I’d even gone as far as hunting through op shops, Gumtree and ebay looking for a second-hand coffee table.  I was excited about making it and had even roped my ‘ever faithful mother’ into helping me.

But then last week when we were finally able to unwrap the sofa that was delivered back in march and unroll the pom-pom rug we brought last year, we realised that we just wouldn’t  have the room for a large coffee table. So I abandoned the ottoman idea and started the hunt for a small coffee table.

In hindsight it’s probably better not to add another project to the ever-growing list.  I’d purchased another old timber standard lamp a few weeks before that needs my attention first.

I went to the online shops of  Ikea, Freedom, Domayne, , Early Settler, Vast Interior, Oz Design, , Far Pavilions, Matt Blatt …….and so on….. until I finally found one at Nick Scali

It will fit the space perfectly and was it on sale!!!!   It has a concrete table top.  Something different, I’ve always wanted a concrete bench top in the kitchen but they’re not cheap, so this is a great compromise

I have to now wait a week to pick it up from their warehouse.  (don’t ask me why..  I rung today to see if I could come and get it but I was told I have to book in a ‘pick up’.  Far out!!  

A new/old standard lamp.

I’ve been looking for about a year now for a timber standard lamp base.  I’ve been on eBay and Gumtree, trawled op shops and secondhand shops but had no luck.

but…

Mr F was driving home from work this week and found it sitting out for the kerbside collection.  Woo hoo!!.

I wish I’d managed to take a photo of it before he started attacking it.  It had two bendy lamps  like tentacles coming out of the top.

I sanded all the varnish off and gave it an undercoat.

The colour I’ve used is called Marquise – Taubmans.

The velvet shade came from Freedom about five years ago.  I’m not 100% sure about the shade yet.  I’m thinking it might not be big enough.  I’d appreciate any thoughts.  should I add some pom-pom trim?  .

Or am I going overboard with the pom-pom thing??  as the blinds and Beryl the Cockatoo lamp have them.

A new rug.

We’ve just brought a new rug for the house.  It’s from Freedom and was on Sale!!!.

We first saw it on The Renovator’s back in 2011 and have patiently waited for it to be reduced in price.  So when Freedom had a sale recently, we brought it  for $560.00 compared to the normal retail price of $800.00.  It’s bright, cheerful and perfect for our house.  It’s made from thousands of colourful pom-poms.   We’ve decided not to use it though until we’ve finished the house.

So the way things are going it could be next year before it comes out of the plastic bag!!!

We are slowly getting closer to getting the major work done on the house.  After many quotes from different builders we decided to go with a company called Easyway Building Brokers.  We are just waiting on a few more quotes to come in and then we can start to get this project started.