CAT DOOR

When the first lockdown hit, we started to seriously talk about getting cats. We’d always figured we would adopt a couple of older cats but had intended to wait until the major building work was finished. But after being stuck at home every day, we started really wishing we had something furry to love and care for. I found myself surfing rescue sites in the evenings, but none of the centers were open to allow adoptions. And that’s when it hit me… kittens!

See cats don’t understand things like lockdown. They’re still out there, getting preggers and having kittens. I figured there might be some in our area needing a new home. I’ve always wanted to have kittens, but since we both work 9-5, we wouldn’t be around enough to look after them. But hey, now we’re stuck at home all day every day!! Suddenly this lockdown has an upside – we could get kittens!

So we looked around in our area and sure enough, there were some Maine Coon cross kittens available nearby! I’ve always been of the opinion that the larger and fluffier the animal, the better… so a kitten with even a hint of Maine Coon was right up my alley! (Not sure what I’m talking about? Just google Maine Coon and you’ll see!)

Enter the cutest little fluffballs you ever see… Moose and Smudge!

I can’t handle the cuteness…

They really made lockdown just the absolute best. I still find myself looking back at photos and videos from when they were wee little things and it makes me want to get more kittens aaaaaall over again. (Richard keeps saying no.)

So cute!

Anyways, what was this post meant to be about again? Ahh, right. My secret cat door.

The plan

I don’t know about you, but I’m not really a big fan of the way most cat/dog products look. Who decided that brightly colored plastic everything was the way to go? If it’s going to be on display all the time, it could at least look nice.

So now that the cats are getting a bit older, we have been talking about where their litter tray will live. It lives in the living room at the moment, where we shut the cats in each night so they don’t get into mischief. But eventually, we’re planning on moving it to our under-stairs cupboard.

The only problem with that is how do they open the door?

We obviously can’t leave it open all the time, but traditional cat flaps just look so… bleh. I wanted better for myself my kittens (yes, I still call them kittens).

So I looked online at some tutorials where people converted one of the panels on a paneled door into a hidden cat flap. They all used really clunky mechanisms, so I tried to come up with something hidden. My idea was to install some small metal rods into the sides of the door and then router a groove/track into the sides of the panel that they could slot into. Then, in theory, the panel would just swing on the rods.

Oh, and apologies up front for the lack of progress photos, or just good photos in general. Most of these are crappy iPhone pics, as I was sort of making it up as I went along.

Turning plain into the paneled door

The door in question was actually not a paneled door to begin with. It was clearly not the original door, but something they must have swapped in at some point over the years. Because it wasn’t as thick as a normal door (only 18mm), I knew that I could add thick MDF pieces to the face of it. That would create the four-panel look, without adding too much weight/depth. I based the dimensions of the panels on the original doors with have in the house, scaled down appropriately to our smaller cupboard door, and cut them out of 12mm MDF.

Before they all got nailed into place, I marked the inside of my secret door and cut the panel out. I had to drill two holes in the corner to get the jigsaw in, but I knew I could fix that later with wood filler. Once the panel was out, the MDF got wood glued and nailed in place. I could go into detail about filling/sanding/painting the door, but I think that’s all pretty self-explanatory.

Secret door mechanism

I picked up a length of 6mm steel rod at B&Q to inset into the door frame and finally plucked up the courage to learn how to use a router. Luckily, my router bit set had a straight bit that was 6.35mm in diameter. I figured that if I routered a track using that bit, the rod would perfectly slot in with just enough wiggle room to swing about.

Using an angle grinder, I cut two lengths of the steel rod, 20mm long. I thought that I could drill into the door 10mm, leaving 10mm exposed for the door to swing on. There was no real science to the height that I chose for the rods to be installed. I just eyeballed it to where it made sense in terms of gravity allowing the door to hang mostly vertical when not in use. For my actual panel which is 535mm tall, that ended up being 95mm from the top.

I measured the door frame first, marking the same distance down from the top on both sides (95mm), in the middle of the original door frame (not including the added MDF). Using a 6mm wood drill bit (in a right angle drill attachment since the opening was too narrow), I drilled 10mm in for each rod. A bit of glue in each hole and they got hammered into place.

Next up, I needed to router a track to allow my door to slot in and then hang. Basically, I drew a hockey stick shape (see below), 6mm wide, so that the rods could enter from the back of the secret door and then slide up. The stopping point had to be exactly level with the top of the rods, otherwise, my door wouldn’t line up. I did it in a couple passes of the router, being careful not to go past the top mark. If the sides were a bit wonky, no big deal, but the top line really mattered.

And it worked! Well, mostly.

There’s always going to be a bit of sanding required to make it swing perfectly without catching. And the thickness of your panel will make a big difference. Since my door wasn’t a normal four-panel, the swinging part was actually a lot thicker/heavier. So I ended up sort of rounding the back edges, top and bottom, to allow for a perfect swing.

Finishing touches

Now that it worked, I just had to make it look pretty! I purchased some ogee panel trim at Wickes to match our existing four-panel doors, and installed it around the inside of each normal panel, with glue and some veneer pins. For the swinging door, the trim was installed on the actual panel, not the door.

Nail heads were sunk, everything got filled and sanded, and then it was paint time! I painted the door in a custom color (which we dubbed “‘Bout Ye”), like all the trim. I couldn’t find a dark green that I liked, so we color-matched it from a mixture of F&B ‘Bancha’ and F&B ‘Pitch Black’.

The swinging panel had to undergo a few more rounds of sanding once the door frame had its final coat. With the clearance for the swing only a couple millimeters, layers of paint can get in the way. I just had to keep testing it, sanding it back, painting… and then testing again.

The final result!

Add a shiny new beehive knob and boom! Secret four-panel cat door.

Part of why I think this works so well is that the panels naturally have a shadow all the way around due to the trim. So if there’s a subtle gap all the way around one panel it blends in. It would look even better on a proper four-panel door, where both sides have panels. The inside of this door is flat, which means that you can see it from the inside. However, it’s not as clunky as some of the mechanisms out there, so I’ll let it slide.

I also just had a lightbulb moment where I realized I should have routed from the bottom straight up the side to my stopping point. You could slot it in that way and never see where it goes in! If anyone attempts this, do that!

The only niggling detail is that I’d like to sink a couple magnets into the bottom edge of the panel/door. Right now, if you open the door, the panel starts to swing. It would also help the panel stay perfectly vertical all the time. I know I have some perfect neodymium magnets somewhere in the house, so I’ll add them once I find where they’re hiding.

But hey, it works! And it’s a far cry better than what was there before, don’t you think? Do you feel like attempting your own hidden cat door? Or am I the only crazy one…

Our flat isn’t exactly spacious. Don’t get me wrong, it could be smaller, but the only storage we have (besides our bedroom wardrobe) is one tiny closet in the hallway.

I wanted someplace to store books, computers, cables/cords… and plants! I wanted more plants! Oh, and whatever it was had to fit perfectly between our living room doorway and TV cabinet.

I started hunting around for a perfect bookshelf – something visually open, interesting and tall. Our flat might not be big in square meters, but it has really high ceilings – why not make the most of them? Since this bookshelf was going beside the doorway, the shelves couldn’t block sight lines into the room. Hence my ‘open’ requirement.

The perfect bookshelf was the helix from CB2. But, not only did I want it to be cheaper (international shipping and all), I also wanted it to be wider and taller. I figured that it couldn’t be too hard to make something similar myself – after all, it’s just a couple of metal poles and wood, right?

Well… nothing’s ever easy, is it?

I found a website that not only supplied the metal I needed but would even cut the mitre corners for the top! Cool right? They also had metal lugs that I could get welded on as shelf supports. Now, all I needed was someone to weld those 16 joins (for the corners, and attaching the lugs).

I started asking local metal fabricators but the quotes I got were insane! I mean, the metal was going to be delivered to them, already cut to size – they just had to weld it. They were trying to charge £200 to make 16 weld joins. Bat-shit crazy…

So I put it off to the side and kind of forgot about it for a while, until I had an epiphany. There are other jobs that use welding! And, because building custom furniture or railings isn’t their 9-5, they might not try to rip me off! So I called up a local auto-body shop and managed to secure the work for only £30! Boo-yah! To finish them off, all it took was a couple coats of primer and black spray paint.

Next up, came the wood. Which threw another wrench into the works.

See, I wanted the shelves to be 30cm wide, which it turns out, is wider than standard planks of wood. I searched high and low but anything wider than 20cm was expensive. So I decided to go with plywood! I knew that I could add wood edging (which I used to make the bedside tables) to make it look like solid wood, but I kind of liked the plywood edges.

I looked around for a place that would not only supply large enough sheets of the right grade plywood but would cut it down into my shelf size. That’s when I discovered Builder Depot and boy, do I wish they had a location closer to me! I have lots of projects in mind…

The first time we went, I didn’t call ahead of time and they were out of the birch ply I was planning to use. I had already been toying with using marine grade (looked nice in photos), so figured I would just give that a shot. It ended up being a nightmare. The edges just splintered when I tried to sand them smooth, not to mention the stain looked awful. So I managed to convince Richard to drive me all the way back another weekend for the birch ply – it made all the difference.

Seriously, the stuff is amazing – it’s no wonder they use it to build kitchen cabinets etc. The edges are neat when you cut it and you can sand it without wearing away the top layer.

To construct the shelves (which the helpful staff at Builder Depot cut at 30cm x 100cm) all I had to do was cut a little notch to allow the metal to sit flush with the edge. I measured my metal posts, marked the square, and cut it very carefully with a jigsaw. It took some time to do each one, as I had to sort of cut it away in triangles a bit at a time.

After cutting, the shelves got good sand and some Danish oil! As I was worried about the colour looking blotchy, I did a couple of coats with clear oil first. I figured it could soak into the grain and ensure that it didn’t absorb too much pigment in the later oils. Then I did a couple passes with a mixture of Canadian Cedar and Jacobean Dark Oak. I tested both colours on some scrap plywood and decided something halfway between would be the best match to the existing wood in the room. Once the colour was dark enough, I let them all dry completely before varnishing.

Side note – I can’t wait to have a garage or somewhere to do stuff like this! We ended up taking them to my brother-in-law’s place, as they had some room in their garage we could use.

Now, one thing I didn’t do a great job of, was choosing the best birch ply sheet. The stuff they had in stock wasn’t the same grade on both sides (BB and C) which meant that some sheets had lots of these patches anywhere there was a knot on the one side. I hate being picky when someone has to forklift sheets down for me, going through them until I find ‘the one’, so I kind of settled on what I thought was good enough. Well, the stain really highlights those patches! It’s not the end of the world though – I made sure that they were either on the underside of a lower shelf or the topside of the higher ones. You never see them! But if you’re doing anything similar, learn from my mistake. Be that annoying perfectionist going through an entire stack of plywood!

Now that I had everything ready to go, it was just a matter of putting it all together. The metal supports got these plugs to go in the bottom so they wouldn’t scratch the floor and then I just had to attach the shelves.

I found screws that were short enough that they didn’t go all the way through the plywood; unfortunately, the holes on the lugs were a bit wider than the screw heads. To compensate, I picked up some washers and sprayed them black to match the screws. Then it was a simple job of attaching the shelves by screwing through the lugs, making sure to put the shelves in the right order (to hide the patches).

Finally, we stood them up, measured and marked the holes for the wall, and drilled in some drywall anchors. The studs would have been great, but the placement of the shelf didn’t line up with any. We used some spare butterfly anchors we had and I painted the heads black to match.

And that’s it! It took a long time to actually get these shelves up, what with finding the right welder and getting the wrong wood at first, but I’m so happy with them! They fit the space perfectly – adding much-needed surface area for all my books and plants. (Not to mention the booze and computers/random cables hidden in those baskets.)

What do you guys think? Feeling inspired to find a local welder of your own? Now that you know my mistake’s secrets, give it a shot!

I actually made a pinecone wreath in the same way about 5-6 years ago when I was back in Canada. I had always intended to make it snowy but chickened out. See, I was worried that I was going to mess it up, and you can’t really go back once you start painting pinecones. It already looked nice just brown, so I ended up leaving it.

But this time, I was determined to get the snowy wreath I had pictured! And you know what? It turned out amazing!!!

I find that it’s rare when a craft turns out exactly as awesome as I intended it to be. I tend to have these grandiose ideas, which never execute quite as well as I hoped. I mean, they look good, just not exactly like my imagination. But not this wreath!! It’s almost better than I pictured it! But the bad part is that I have nowhere to store it!

I promised Richard (when I first started gathering pinecones) that we could throw it out at the end of the year (can you compost hot glue?!). But, now that it’s done… I am not sure I can bear the thought! Does anyone else want to give it a home once Christmas is over?!

Anyway, back to the tutorial!

This wreath is dead simple and just takes time. It’s also super cheap if you can get a good deal on hot glue sticks (it used a ton!).

Oh, and a tip for you – take a couple of large pinecones and remove the individual scales. Then, glue a line of these around the edges (inside and out) of your wreath before you start glueing down pinecones. Both times I made this wreath, I ended up with visible cardboard along the edge. I ended up glueing a combination of individual pine scales and tiny hemlock cones along both edges to fill the gap. But, if you wanted to do it first, it would definitely be easier. Up to you!

That’s the gap I was talking about above and below shows it filled in with hemlock cones and a few scales.

Oh, and the pinecones? Well the best time of year to gather them is actually the summer (weird, right?). That is when they are ripe and fall off the tree all nice and open. But who makes pinecone crafts in the summer?! So if, like me, you are hunting for them in fall or winter, here is a tip – bake them!

That’s right! To open up green pinecones (and get rid of sap and any little crawlies you may have picked up) you bake them in the oven at a low temp! Simply line a couple baking sheets/tins with foil and place your pinecones in a single layer. Then you bake them at 100-110°C (200-230°F) for about an hour. Depending on how many you have, and how open they are, it can take a bit more time.

I just went to the park one day and collected all different kinds of cones – pine, fir, cedar, hemlock, etc. The tiny hemlock ones were perfect for filling in the gaps later. I had about four oven trays worth for my wreath.

Warning, it’ll make your oven smell like pine for a bit, but it’ll fade pretty quick once you cook anything else. I haven’t noticed any lingering smell, and nothing I made after tasted like pine.

So, once you have a nice big bowl of pinecones ready, you can make this wreath!

Materials:

• Hot glue gun + glue sticks (I forgot to count how many I used, but would guess about 30 mini ones?)
• Stiff cardboard as big as your desired wreath
• Pinecones (lots!)
• White craft paint
• Clear-drying craft glue (I used some wood glue I had lying around)
• Cheap paint brush
• Fake snow
• Ribbon for hanging (I got mine on Etsy)

Directions:

1. Measure how large you want your wreath to be, and cut it out of some stiff cardboard. If your wreath isn’t strong enough, cut out two layers and hot glue together.
2. [Optional] Glue a line of pine scales along the inside and outside edge of your wreath.
3. Glue down a ring of similar-sized pinecones along the inside and outside edges, overhanging a bit.
4. Continue to fill the wreath with a variety of pinecones, adding depth.
5. Fill in any gaps along the edge or middle of the wreath with little cones, like hemlock.
6. Using a dry brush (with only a little paint), dab all over the pinecones to give them a frosted look. Let dry.
7. Figure out which way you want to hang the wreath so that you can add snow where it would naturally sit. Using the same brush, dab craft glue along the tops of some of the pinecones. Sprinkle over fake snow.
8. Add as much snow as you want, piling it on the ‘tops’ of the larger pinecones. Lift up the wreath and shake to remove excess. Warning – it’ll make a mess!
9. Add ribbon and hang.

You can see how light my paint application was above. The left shows without, and the right is with paint. Use a really dry brush, and stipple it on the tips of the cones.

Et voila! A gorgeous wintry wreath that’ll add a touch of snow to your Christmas, no matter where you live! I only wish that my door was outside (and prettier) so that more people could see it!

See, we were lazy and didn’t want to spend all that time and money on installing a plaster ceiling medallion. That, and the fact that the selection was incredibly limited at local DIY stores – we couldn’t find one in the right size that wasn’t insanely expensive. So, after our success in installing plastic coving in our kitchen, we decided to go the same route with our ceiling medallion. Plus, it takes like 5 minutes to put up!

We ordered this ceiling medallion from Amazon, as the middle circle was large enough to accommodate our IKEA pendant light. Many medallions had detailing too close to the middle or were too pricy. This one had detail right in the centre, but the smooth expanse around it was wide enough for our needs. We simply cut away the middle detail, as our light would cover it anyway.

When we received it, I was a bit disappointed. It wasn’t smooth and ready to paint, like our coving had been, but resembled polystyrene packaging. It had that rough nubbly surface. So, I thought I would try a trick I read about on Daniel Kanter’s blog Manhatten Nest. He painted his plastic medallions with watered-down plaster/filler to help make them look older. I mixed up some, but I think I made it too wet… when my first coat of primer dried, huge cracks formed all over the surface!

I was sooooo bummed, as sanding a detailed medallion is ridiculous. I tried to remove the larger cracks with sanding and then hoped that a few coats of primer would fill in the rest. Well, it took like 6 coats before they started to look okay, but even then had more texture than I would have liked. After primer, I used our ceiling paint to do a couple more coats.

It still has a bit of a rough/sloppy look when you see it up close… but definitely doesn’t look brand new! If I were to redo this, I would skip the joint compound, and simply do a couple rough primer coats, allowing the paint to soften the edges.

Once it was all painted, I simply applied some No More Nails to the back, and stuck it up in place! Took me all of 5 minutes to install. Then I just re-attached the lamp, caulked around the edge, and painted it once dry.

So my verdict? I would definitely recommend polystyrene medallions for the ease of installation, and removal. They are so quick to put up! But, I do still prefer the look of the plaster one. Maybe it’s just because I know it’s plaster, but I feel like it has more visual weight to it. Or maybe that’s just because it’s bigger The one that Daniel Kanter used in his kitchen definitely had more presence to it, so perhaps it’s not because it’s polystyrene, but because we chose one that was too thin. Hmmm…

I think in the future I’d use plaster ones in my forever home, because I like the thought of using real permanent materials, rather than plastic. But for this wee flat?

Polystyrene my friend, hands down!

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As I mentioned in the first kitchen saga post, our kitchen came with IKEA cabinets that were no longer available, and we had to replace the upper cabinets in order to add more storage. Now, we could have kept the lower wood, as I’m a fan of a two-tone kitchen, but all the white appliances sort of messed that up. My original plan with the kitchen had been to do a tuxedo kitchen with deep navy or green lower cabinets, and a white top. But, as our appliances were all white, you’d be left with half white, half colour. Not exactly the look I was going for. So, in an effort to make the kitchen feel brighter and larger, we went all white. Does that make any sense to anyone besides me? No? Okaaay…

beautiful navy + white tuxedo kitchen via Apartment Therapy

So, that meant painting our lower cabinets white, but what about the upper ones? I could have colour-matched IKEA’s SÄVEDAL doors, and then painted everything in our kitchen the same, but decided against it. See, every ceiling, door, and trim in our flat is painted All White by Farrow + Ball. If I wanted to use the IKEA white colour, then it would have meant repainting our doors and trim in the kitchen to this different white, and I didn’t want it to look different from the other rooms in the flat. (Richard wishes I had told him about the colour-matching option…)

Am I crazy? Yes. But I also justify it because the finish on the doors was so smooth and machine-made looking, that all the built-in trim with brushstrokes would have looked different. We would have had to paint the doors to make them all look the same, no matter which white we used.

Aaaaanyways. So in addition to painting all the wood doors and trim below, we had to paint all the new upper cabinet doors as well. That meant removing all the hinges and handles, cleaning everything of grease etc. and giving it all a light sanding. For the wood cabinets and trim, we used 3 coats of this primer, and then 2-3 coats of our Valspar paint in All White. For the upper cabinets, it took 2 coats of primer, and then 2 coats of paint. After the doors were up, I did a bit more sanding, and some touch-up paint, as we had been painting on low surfaces and little bits of fluff kept getting caught in the paint.

Now came the fun part – making all the IKEA cabinets look built-in. See, I’ve always been a huge fan of inset cabinetry and wanted to try and give our bank of cabinets a similar look. This meant filling in the gaps all the way around the cabinets with wood and trimming it all out.

inset cabinetry inspiration via Curated Interior

To get the look I wanted, it meant lining up the trim with the cabinet doors, as opposed to the frames. So we added a piece of 21x21mm strip wood all around the cabinets, flush with the face of their frames. To install it, we simply screwed into the piece from inside the cabinets with a couple of wood screws. Not only did this give us a piece we could then attach the trim to, but allowed us to offset our next piece by a few millimetres in order to create a gap between the doors and our trim.

For the left and right side facing trim pieces, all it required was some No More Nails, and then some finish nails into our strip wood. The one on the left was one solid piece, but the one on the right was two separate pieces because of the window. As the side pieces were quite narrow, they didn’t need any other support, but the piece running along the top required more help. If we had only secured it to the strip wood, then it wouldn’t have stayed in place – the long expanse of pine was just too heavy. So we used some scrap wood that we had lying around and built some supports all along the length of the cabinets, to prevent it from leaning, and then screwed the piece into supports on either end as well. Unfortunately, I forgot to take a photo showing the larger support pieces on the ends, that we screwed the facing trim into. Just imagine them…

As our ceilings aren’t level, we were left with a bit of a gap towards the right side. However, we weren’t too concerned as crown moulding would cover it. See, all the rooms in our flat, except for the hallway and kitchen had some sort of moulding or covering around the ceiling. Even the bathroom has a really simple coving. But for some reason, the kitchen didn’t have any, which always bugged me. I wanted to make the room feel a bit more architecturally interesting, and add some character back in. Not only that, but it would finish off our built-in cabinetry quite nicely.

Now, one thing I have noticed here in England is the lack of available moulding for the average DIYer. You can buy wood coving at trade-only shops, but nothing for the average Joe (me!). The main reason, I discovered, is because coving here is traditionally made of plaster. And after our experience with installing a heavy plaster ceiling medallion, we weren’t about to try that again. Which meant that our only option was to use the stuff readily available to us – polystyrene. Now, I know what you might be thinking – “ew, plastic coving – gross! that’s not adding character at all!” – which is exactly what I thought at first. But, as it was the only option, we went for it.

We ended up purchasing this kit from B&Q as it was the closest in style to the existing moulding in our flat (see above) and came with mitred corners. It was relatively easy to install, except that our not-perfectly-flat walls meant that we had to hold some pieces up for a while so that they held instead of drooping. We probably would have had an easier time if we’d used No More Nails instead of the coving adhesive, which took aeons to dry fully. (We found that out after using it to fill the gap along the ceiling and had to wait until the next day to sand and paint.) The other part that made it so time-consuming was the number of pieces we had to cut. Our room has 5 corners, which meant we had a total of around 13 or so pieces to cut and stick up. That also meant a lot of joins to try and smooth out. I’m a bit meticulous about filling and sanding, as Richard could tell you.

Our final pieces were some quarter-round trim that we added vertically along all the edges that meet the tiles. Once they were up, filled, and sanded, all it took was a few coats of paint. As per usual, we used All White for the trim, and then I cut in again using the wall colour – Barest Hush.

Then, all the cabinets got their matching handles, and the drawers as well. The handles that we chose are these ones from Etsy, in the 14cm length for all the cabinets, and one 23cm long one for the drawer below the oven. The drawer pulls are these ones from the same Etsy seller, in the 7.5cm length. They have a subtle texture, like cast iron, but visually match the smooth handles.

The final touch was filling in the gap along the tiling with silicone caulk. I made sure to tape both edges before filling and then smoothed it with a damp finger before quickly removing the tape and smoothing it again. Once that dried, the whole thing was finished!

We went from basic IKEA cabinetry to something that looked built-in and far more expensive! Not bad for just some simple pine trim, and plastic coving eh? Just don’t count how long it took us to accomplish…

Now we’re just one step closer to a finished kitchen! We can finally put away the paint cans, and start adding those finishing touches. Soon, we’ll have the first properly finished and decorated room in our flat! Yay!

Buuuut… I’m cheap, and thought I could make my own! First up on my list were Anthropologie’s Budding Monogram ornaments. I loved how they looked like branches, and figured I could make them out of clay!

My first thought was that I didn’t want to make the flowers and leaves out of clay, as they would probably break off too easily. As I knew that I was going to spray paint it gold in the end, I figured I could use flowers from another material and no one would know. I wanted to buy some tiny fabric ones, but Hobbycraft came up empty. If you’re in North America, check Michaels as they have much larger stocks and probably have something perfect. In the end, I cut the leaves and flowers out of a thin sheet of foam.

My second thought was to make a wire shape, and then build the clay around it. Great in theory, but the air-dry clay is too dry for that – it doesn’t stick to the wire. Instead, I just used the wire to make hooks, and the shapes are 100% clay.

So if you’re thinking of making some branching letter ornaments of your own, why not try this tutorial?

Materials:

• Air-dry clay (I used this one)
• wire + cutters/pliers
• thin foam sheet or fabric flowers/leaves
• scissors
• gold spray paint (I used this one)
• super glue
• ribbon to hang ornament

Step 1. Roll clay into a long rope, and shape into letter form. Add some little branching points using small pieces of clay. Using a knife or other tool, carve grain into the clay.

Step 2. Twist a small section of wire into a loop and insert into the top of the ornament. Allow clay to dry completely.

Step 3. Cut out flower and leaf shapes from the foam (if not using fabric ones) and super glue to the letter as desired.

Step 4. Spray paint ornament in light layers, until completely covered.

And that’s it! While they aren’t perfect, I think they actually turned out better than I thought! I finally saw the real ones in store the other day, and they are much larger than mine! However, I am perfectly content with the size, as some ornaments these days are too big and heavy – they weigh down the branches too much. For our little tree, the scale is perfect!

So what about you? Any handmade ornaments this year?

Okay, super quick ‘DIY’ for you here today. These guys are so easy, it’s barely a tutorial.

So last year, when Richard and I were figuring out how to do our first Christmas tree, we had only a handful of ornaments. I had bought him a couple funny ones that year, and we were given a few from family. But 10ish ornaments, do not exactly a tree make. So we had two options: 1. Buy a bunch of ornaments we would then have to store (and spend ££ on) or 2. Make ornaments we could get rid of at the end of the season! And by get rid of, I mean recycle, of course.

So last year, I made three things for the tree – little paper balls made of vintage sheet music, popcorn strands, and orange slices. You can keep orange slices (if they dry out fully), year after year, but we simply composted ours along with the popcorn. Which meant I had to make more this year!

All it took was two large navel oranges, and I had enough for our little tree. It made 18 slices, but if I had done them a bit thinner, I could have made a couple more. A large tree could use 3-4 oranges, which makes this project very economical.

To make the ornaments, simply slice your oranges thinly (if your Mandoline is sharp enough, go for it!), no more than a centimeter thick-ish. The thinner you slice, the better they will dry out. Then press the slices gently between layers of paper towels to try and absorb as much juice as you can.

Finally, place them on some parchment paper lined sheets, and pop them in the oven at around 60°C (150°F) for about 3 hours. Some ovens won’t go as low as others, so watch the times depending on your oven temperature. I flipped mine over every 30 minutes to get both sides to dry out, and let them dry for about 3.5 hours. It smells amazing by the way, every time you open the oven.

Then you simply let them cool, and use a chopstick or something similar to poke a hole, and string them with whatever you like! I used ribbon here but used some natural raffia last year. They look great with cinnamon sticks tied to them as well.

Now, if you read other recipes you may see instructions to dredge the slices in sugar or gelatin. I tried the icing sugar method but didn’t notice that they were really much “shinier” than the plain ones, and it made them a bit sticky. Some of them did look a bit ‘snowy’ afterward, but they absorbed moisture and faded after a time. So try it if you want, but I don’t recommend it.

And that’s that! I still need a few more things on the tree to call it done… and may take it all apart to do ribbon or tinsel. Buuuuut I love the way the orange slices look with twinkle lights behind them! So if you’re looking to add a vintage touch to your tree, or simply need a few more ornaments, why not try oranges?

Sorry for the blurry photo, my camera doesn’t focus very well in the dark.

Cleaning silverware with baking soda | Hello Victoria

As I mentioned before, Richard and I collect antique or vintage silverware, instead of getting a proper set. We love the idea of using these pieces that often get relegated to a “fancy cutlery” drawer, in our day-to-day use. But there’s a reason that people avoid silver cutlery in favor of stainless steel – tarnish. So how do we go about keeping our mismatched set looking nice?

A few years back I was told this magic trick by an antique store owner on Fort Street in Victoria. Simply combine baking soda (sodium bicarbonate) and boiling water in a container, with aluminum foil covering the bottom. What happens is some sort of chemical reaction where the tarnish is attracted from the silver to the foil, removing the tarnish almost instantly! I don’t know how, but it does! Trust me.

I’ve read various recipes for this – some specify that the foil should be shiny side up, some add a bit of salt, and others use water softener instead of baking soda. The general rule of thumb tends to be about 2 tablespoons of baking soda, to one litre of water.

To be honest, I don’t often measure how much I use. I simply line the bottom of my container (or sink if yours is stainless like mine, and has lots to clean) with foil, sprinkle on some baking soda, and pour over the boiling water to dissolve the soda. Then add your pieces either by dipping, or submerging, depending on how bad the tarnish is. Mild tarnish will come off instantly, while more build-up can take a few minutes.

You can see the line where I dipped the spoon. It took only seconds to do that!

If you find that you still have discoloration after about 5-10 minutes of soaking, try making a baking soda paste and rubbing the tarnish with it. In some cases, it could be that the silver plating has worn off and nothing you do can fix it. (I say that after having a few recent spoon purchases with this very problem.)

And that’s it! Simply remove your pieces, give them a quick wash to remove any residue, and dry them! Easy-peasy no?

One important thing to note – never use this on anything with stones in it, only use it for full silver pieces. Also, any modern jewelry with “antiqued” detailing – like faux darkening in the etching – shouldn’t be treated this way. That dark stuff in between the detailing will simply turn white, not silver.

I know that from experience 

So if you’re into old stuff, but don’t always want it looking that old – give this method a try!

As for what we have done since I last blogged about it? Well, we finally have a functioning kitchen again!

After we patched all the holes in the walls and cleaned up from demolition, it was time to paint! We had chosen Barest Hush by Valspar to be the color for our walls. We tested a couple of swatches, but Richard was worried they would be too dark, so we settled on this option. My goal was to have a grey-tinted green that didn’t read too strong either way. As our living room is grey, I didn’t want the whole place to feel the same. But of course, I also didn’t want too bright of a color, as I tend to prefer more muted walls. Let the color come from the furnishings, in my humble opinion.

Valspar’s Barest Hush

For the cabinets and trim, we are sticking with our tried and true All White by Farrow & Ball, color matched to Valspar paint. This time around we went with their premium paint, as it was the most scrubbable option. It also comes with a built-in primer, so win-win! However, due to time, we didn’t get around to painting the cabinets, just yet. That’s a job for another day. Or month… year… sigh. Procrastination is real folks.

After painting the walls, we put the pot racks back up and got to tackling the cabinets. Originally, our kitchen had only three upper cabinets – two on the right of the range hood, and one on the left. As I mentioned before, we had planned to simply add three more cabinets above our original ones, and paint them all to match. Instead, we ordered eight of the METOD cabinets – four of the 60×60 size, three 60×80, and one 60×40. The four 60×60 cabinets were in the top row, with the 60×80 replacing our existing cabinets. In order to add the MAXIMERA drawers, we ordered all 60×60 doors, and the remaining 20cm of the cabinet became the drawer. The final 60×40 cabinet sits above the new LAGAN range hood.

Quite a lot of new storage eh?

Installing the new cabinets was another point where things took much (much!) longer than they should have. The IKEA rails were fairly simple to cut and line up, but then we started having issues.

See, we ended up back in the same place as before, dealing with old walls. We couldn’t seem to find consistent studs in the walls, and our expansion screws weren’t working in the crumbling plaster. This meant that we had to go grab some spring toggle screws from Screwfix… only the first set we brought home was the wrong length for our wall thickness – darn! I think Richard had to make three trips that day just to get the screws we needed. Every time we tried one set, there was something wrong with it.

We ended up putting in more screws than IKEA said to, as every now and then we would hit a stud, or have to move to a new hole. We just put up as many as we could (that were secure). The more the merrier, right?

Soo many screws

Once we got the rails up (finally), it was a simple matter of hanging the cabinets. Of course, because our walls aren’t perfectly smooth, the cabinets wouldn’t line up perfectly. IKEA recommends that you screw the cabinets together for stability, which we did. It also solved most of our problems with the cabinets not lining up. Just a simple matter of clamping them together, and then two screws in between the holes for the shelves.

The only thing not quite so simple to put up was the range hood. We decided to replace the one we had (even though it worked okay) with an under-cabinet version so that we could add two more cabinets to the mix. It just felt like too much-wasted space in such a tiny kitchen. While the installation was relatively easy for the range hood, it came with a plug, but ours had originally been wired into a fuse box. All it meant was that we cut off the plug, stripped back the wires, and wired it into a new white fuse box. Then we cut a hole in the back of one of the cabinets so that we would have access to the fuse, should we ever need to replace it.

We sort of sandwiched the new fuse box on the back of the cabinet, and then it sits in the original recess that the old one had. Not sure if that makes sense to anyone, but we did it months ago and I am forgetting details… I also forgot to take a photo of it inside the cabinet.

After the cabinets were all screwed together, and the range hood up, it was a simple matter of putting in the shelves and attaching the doors. Of course, IKEA put silly stickers right where the hinges needed to go, and they are the type that is ridiculous to remove! Coconut oil to the rescue! Just rub a bit of that onto the sticker and it comes away so easily.

The hinges for the cabinets were really simple to install, and I only wish that I had got the 90-degree ones. The ones we bought open a bit wider (I think they are 110 or 120 degrees). When we were ordering them, I thought that would be a good thing, however, it means that the doors want to open into the walls and window. Oh well!

We finally have drawers!!! So exciting!

Now this is pretty much where we got to before Richard had to go away for work. We managed to put our kitchen back together and use it for a little while. The next steps are to add some trim around the cabinets in order to make it all built-in, and then paint all the doors and trim to match.

I’ve ordered the tiles and hardware, so the only thing we’re waiting for is for me to get off my lazy butt and trim out these cabinets! But of course, Richard is now back in England, so hopefully he’ll be the motivation I need…

welcome to our tiny kitchen!

When we had just moved in, we discussed how we could make the kitchen space work best for us. First up, would be to add some hanging storage on the wall, for all of our pots and pans. I don’t have any photos of the kitchen before we put them up, but you can see below how we’re currently using it. We installed two rows of IKEA’s GRUNDTAL rail system, using the top row for pots and pans, and the bottom for pantry goods. One basket contains bread, another potatoes and onions, and the third is a fruit basket.

Those three baskets took me ages to find (it’s hard to find an open weave basket that’s fairly flat) and are actually beach bags that IKEA was selling in their limited HEMTRAKT collection (I just cut off the handles). And yes, we bought waaay more hooks than we needed, but we still have to buy more pots.

After adding some hanging storage, we needed to address the cupboard situation. The ceilings are high enough to accommodate another row of cabinetry, so we thought – why not double our storage?

look at all that height above the cabinets!

Speaking of storage, before we had moved in, I pointed out to Richard that there were no drawers in the kitchen. I mean, sure… it’s a tiny kitchen, but no drawers?! Where am I supposed to put my cutlery? Who designed this space?!?

We thought about adding some drawers under the cabinets, as the trim below meant we had the space and false fronts to use. I even bought some fully-extending hardware for them! But that was back when we thought we were going to leave the existing cabinets, and simply add three more above. Oh, how those plans have changed…

our dream kitchen includes hiding the microwave in a cabinet

Basically, the cabinets that are here are from IKEA. I measured them and found that IKEA still carried 60cm wide cabinets, and assumed we could simply add another row above. IKEA doesn’t make the same doors anymore, but that worked in my favor. I wanted to paint the cabinets white anyway, so this was a great excuse. We could get flat cabinet fronts, and add trim to make them match our existing shaker style. I’m pretty sure you can guess where this is going…

When I measured the cabinets initially, I had measured their width and height, but not the depth. It wasn’t until I was properly planning all this that I bothered to find the depth – which is when I realized the ones that IKEA currently stocked were too deep! IKEA had replaced the set that we had, with their new METOD line a few years back, and the new ones were a couple centimeters too deep.

This meant we couldn’t simply add three more above our current set.

soooo much ceiling height wasted

This left us with a few options:

1. We could just get a new kitchen
2. We could custom build new upper cabinets to match the old ones (proper depth)
3. We could replace all the upper cabinets but leave the lowers, and paint them to match

I liked Option 1 (obviously) but the old wallet didn’t. Richard liked it too, but it just wouldn’t bring any return in resale which meant it wasn’t going to happen. Option 2 wasn’t really something we felt up to DIYing without the proper tools (although I look back now and laugh at that… we will end up doing more work in the end now).

Which left Option 3, the one we have gone with! IKEA has some cabinet fronts just like ours but with a slightly different-sized trim around. We’re thinking that if we paint the uppers and lowers white, they will be close enough to trick the eye. As they aren’t side by side, you probably won’t notice the difference in trim.

IKEA’s SÄVEDAL cabinet fronts

Now, with the new METOD system, we will be able to have drawers (!) in the lower set of cabinets. This means we no longer have to build them (yay!). We can also get slightly taller cabinets as well and still have room at the top for a bit of trim. Unlike the rest of this flat, the kitchen currently has no crown molding, so we’ll add that all the way around the room. I’m also going to add wood pieces on either side of the cabinets to make it all look built-in, hopefully, flush with the doors to create an inset door appearance.

Now, as if all that wasn’t enough, I found myself looking at our range hood. It’s always bugged me that the stainless backsplash thing doesn’t go all the way up, and by adding cabinets on either side, this would only look worse. So what if we replaced it?!

IKEA makes some range hoods that can go under a cabinet. Since ours doesn’t actually vent outside (and can’t) it mostly just acts as a light and fan. But the one at IKEA can either be vented outside, or you can use a charcoal filter and recirculate the air. With that in the middle (as opposed to our current one), we could add cabinets all the way up to the ceiling!

We could go from having only 3 upper cabinets to having 8 cabinets, and 3 drawers!! Talk about storage! But by replacing the range hood, we would have to replace rather than repaint the tile. Which is terribly sad. I mean, who wouldn’t want to keep this gorgeous stuff right?

I’m obviously kidding – this stuff offends me. I’ve always wanted to try tiling and both Richard and I are big fans of classic subway tile. So once we decided to replace the range hood, it meant we had to replace the tile – yay! I’m thinking of a classic white subway tile with contrasting light grey grout. We’ll probably end up using either a flat or beveled tile, but if Richard would agree to it, I would looove to get a textured handmade-looking tile. I love all the ones Emily Henderson keeps using from Cle tiles. But of course, Richard really doesn’t like them… bah! So instead, it’ll be more like the image below.

subway tile photo via Nest of Posies

Finally, to complete this space, we need to paint the walls, and I’ve found a pretty great color to use. I had wanted a green-tinged grey and had quite a struggle finding something that still read as green, without being too minty or brown. This is actually a bit more green on the walls than I had been searching for, but pretty darn close. It’s Barest Hush by Valspar (what a name – right?), and we’re using their premium paint which has a built-in primer, and is apparently very scrubbable. Perfect for the wall where our pots and pans will constantly be banging and scraping.

Okay, was that all straightforward? Feeling lost and confused amidst a sea of bland before photos? How about a recap, eh? Here’s our plan as it stands, for updating and increasing the storage in our wee English kitchen.

1. Remove the 3 upper cabinets, range hood, and all the tiles
2. Paint all walls that won’t be tiled with Valspar’s Barest Hush
3. Install 8 cabinets (with 3 built-in drawers) using IKEA’s METOD system
4. Install the new range hood
5. Paint new IKEA SÄVEDAL doors and all existing ones to match
6. Tile backsplash
7. Add contrasting black hardware
8. Decorate with fun accessories

And that’s that! Simple right?