Folding Shelf Unveiled

 

Hello readers!

 

Well I'm nothing if not consistent so as with most DIY projects here at KATcapers I've kept you all in suspense with unveiling the finished product.  Sarah at A Beach Cottage I am not:)

 

In the case of my innovative use of an old louvre door as extra bench space in the laundry, it was my mum who enquired as to what had come of it.  So, with a minimum of pfoofing (so not a word in the Macquarie Dictionary but should be) here you go....the great unveiling!

 

A reminder of what it started out as...your basic louvre door, reclaimed from a local second hand building supplies joint

 

 

Here she is 'in situ' - note the clean toilet:)

 

As I outlined in the original post, I decided to just sand her back and give her a coat of clear varnish.  I like how she's come up with the grey undertone.  Think it looks good...don't burst my bubble peeps!

 

 

To protect little heads (and big peoples as well) I attached a hook to keep her in a safe upright position when she's not in use.

 

After umming and aahing about what to hang above her I went with one of my favourite prints courtesy of Janette at My Sweet Prints.

 

 

My shelf sits on a batten attached to the side of the laundry cabinets (thank you Saint Mike).  This is still to be painted...

 

The door was cut in half and then hinged to enable it to fold down.

 

My little shelf has already more than delivered on her promise.  She's a great place to put the laundry basket when folding is in progress and with five people in the house and therefore plenty of laundry, she's in use more often than she's not!

 

In case any of you are wondering, so far there's been no clean laundry dropped in the loo:)

 

So there you have it.  What do you think mum??

Operation Bench Space

With Saint Mike busily working on getting the lady shed fully clothed, I have decided to focus on my own DIY activity this weekend.

It's a DIY project that I've code-named "Operation Bench-Space".  Our newly renovated laundry is abundant in bench space compared to our previous laundry.  You see we were coming from a very low base - we had zero bench space.  If the urge ever possessed me to fold laundry it had to be done on the top of the dryer (yes I still own one!!) or removed to the lounge room or elsewhere in the house.

The laundry when we bought the house...not a selling feature!

Our laundry makeover needed to accommodate the basics (washer/dryer/sink/storage) as well as the 'Holy Grail' for a house of five people - a second loo!!

Bench space and a loo...heaven!

I am loathe to look the bench-space gift horse in the mouth, but our post-reno laundry could still do with a little bit more as our house seems to exist in a terminal state of over-flowing laundry baskets...and those suckers are taking up valuable real estate on my new bench!!

Operation Bench Space has been bouncing around in my head for a couple of months now and although I haven't gone so far as to have a mood board or anything that would indicate a level of organization and planning, I have certainly have numerous ideas percolating about it.  There's a couple of things that needed to be taken into consideration:

1. However I designed the bench it needs to be a 'fold-down' type of arrangement as it's going to be situated above the loo that's saved our sanity.
2.  The flat-pack cupboards that we went with for budget reasons are a bit on the blah side and the shelf therefore needs a bit of oomph:)

Trawling Pinterest I came across this image of a shelf made using an old shutter...

This beauty is from here

I don't normally embrace the shabby chic thing when it comes to decor, but I can take it in small doses.

I like the aged patina of the shutter and the iron brackets...it definitely got me thinking that I could incorporate a shutter into Operation Bench Space.

Our lovely neighbor PK who has been Mike's mentor and general whizz with all things 'handyman' had mentioned a recycled building materials place in our general locale, so I went on a bit of a treasure hunt to see what I could turn up that would fit my vague specifications.

This place is a treasure trove if you're into the re-use/re-cycle concept. Twenty dollars later I had scored me a louvred door that was just the right size for my project.

Now I realise this whole project may have some of you scratching your heads wondering what the hell I'm thinking...but each to our own!  My door was in desperate need of a good clean.  Who knows how many years it had sat in the shed at this place before I rescued it!! 

Out came the rubber gloves and the scrubbing brush...off came the dust, dirt and grime!

I also removed the old hinges and the old door knob and got out my trusty palm sander ready for the next stage.

In the interests of retaining some of the patina of the door I decided not to repaint it, just to sand it back and give it a coat of Porters Clearcote to freshen it up a bit.

Sanding it has taken off a nice bit of paint so it's got that 'not new' look happening.....I'm hoping it's a nice counter point to the blahness of the flat pack cabinets!!!

The next job will be to cut the door in half lengthways as I only need one half for my drop down bench...the other half will sit in line with the upper laundry cabinets above the fold-down bench as a permanent shelf (hard to explain but I will show you 'after' shots when it's done.

Saint Mike is going to help me with fixing battens to the wall and side of the existing bench and put hinges on the end of the door so it folds down.

In the meantime, the freshed up door is waiting for the next stage of Operation Bench Space.

bursting out

This wallpaper is currently winging it's way over to me from the US.  I bought a few metres of it on Etsy and am going to paper the wall outside our bathroom with it.

I am super excited about it.

The colors are just up my alley and as it's only a feature wall I figure I can get rid of it in a month if I hate it.

We're currently in reno mode and our bathroom and laundry are in various states of demolition and construction. 

As with all reno projects it's had it's moments but I am not going to dwell on the low points as we've waited five years to do something...anythin in the reno arena so I'm not looking the reno gift-horse in the mouth:)

My vision for the bathroom is a wall of green mosaics something in this tone

But only one wall - the one facing you...the other three walls and the face of the bath are in lovely big (30x60) white tiles. 

The laundry is accessed through a door adjacent to the alcove where the wallpaper will hang and it's splashback is going to be the same type of mosaic but in a lovely yellow something like this pantone color

I think the ladies at the tile shop were even more excited than me about my color choices...they get a bit bored with all the people wanting Hampton-style neutral blah (no offence).

I was on the phone to my sister in the UK this morning and I could tell my colour choices (as well as the planned use of wallpaper are not her cup of tea!!!!) 

In case you're wondering, Saint Mike is with me when I talk about wanting to create a 'happy' and energised space for our KATs...I have no room in my life for blah and he is totally on board (maybe a bit fearful of the yellow tiles in the laundry but it's just a splashback!!!)