This Loving Home.

Bathroom Update

noreply@blogger.com (Katie) — Sun, 27 Aug 2017 08:44:00 +0000

Well it's been a good four years since my last update on this old blog and things in my life have come a long way.

My little house here in New Plymouth is my first real place to myself and it's a little bit fun getting to decide everything myself and not feel guilty if I leave a bit of mess around the place.

I've fondly named it The Wildling Hut,

I'm going to decorate the house slowly but I decided to start with the bathroom since it seemed to be the cheapest and easiest to do.

Here's what the bathroom looked like on the real estate agent's ad

A below average run of the mill old state house bathroom with exposed fittings, slightly off white colours everywhere and an ratty shower curtain.

And here it looked like the day I moved in...

With the bright blue plastic shower curtain, it somehow looked a little worse. The bright blue reflected around the bathroom making me feel like I live in a cheap underwater hotel.

The first thing I did was get rid of the shower curtain, literally as soon as the movers left, I took it down and went to find a new one.

I took my inspiration from pinterest and this bathroom in particular

Source

It had a similar set up to my bathroom except mine was a little bit more old fashioned and also given that I hadn't actually seen the property, I wasn't sure how much I could change or what really needed to be changed.

Looking at the photos from the rental ad, I brainstormed a bit and thought the bathroom probably needed an updo to make it look warmer and a bit more upscale (as upscale as an old state house bathroom can look without completely redoing it). So I decided on a black and white shower curtain, a dark round mirror, natural fibre baskets and a whole lot of greenery in white pots to add a bit more life into room.

Without further drivel, here's the bathroom now:

Originally I was going to get this shower curtain from Kmart, I thought the simple spots would help tone down the not-so-niceness of the room and it keep it nice and simple.

But after being grossed out by the neon blue shower curtain and needing a shower meant that I had to take what I would get locally. I had a quick look online of things that might be avaliable locally and found this cool black and white moroccan shower curtain from Spotlight.

I headed down there and they had it! Thank goodness to because all the other black and white shower curtains were not my thing.

I wasn't sure what to do with the weird space beneath the sink but decided some baskets might work given that the bathroom lacks storage too.

I got both the baskets from The Warehouse. I love the little basket for toilet paper and the bigger one is great for my dirty washing (although that might have to change when I start having more people over) but the white paint on the bigger basket is done a bit shoddily, not like something that has been done by a actual manufacturer. I might have to tidy it up sometime.

The round mirror, the wall handle and most of the little containers in the medicine cabinet are from Kmart. The wall handle was originally light wood but I spray painted it black to match the shower caddy (more on that later). The medicine cabinet needs a little touch up too but I've organised it to make it look as nice as possible in the mean time.

I shopped around for a shower caddy. I wanted a black, sharped edged one but I couldn't find one that wasn't worth my life savings, or didn't attach to the wall with suckers.

So I ended up buying this one from Kmart and spray painted it flat black with Rustoleum Flat Black.

I'm in love with the look of it. I also spray painted the hooks to match (they are just cheap removable hooks).

I've added jars with scrubs and bath salts on the windowsill but I think I'll also put a candle up there (and probably around the bathtub too).

I also want to put some more plants on the windowsill, build a bath tray and put some more hooks up next to the door for my guests bath towels since there is only one towel rail.

But there you go. The first room pretty much done in my new home.

Some Typography: A Gift for Eleanor

noreply@blogger.com (Katie) — Sun, 28 Jul 2013 04:08:00 +0000

My sweet friend Eleanor turned the big 18 a couple of weeks ago. We haven't been friends for that long but she is such a beautiful person that I wanted to make sure I gave her something that she would really like.

When I'm brainstorming gift ideas for someone, I usually write down the things I know about them and then do a bit of social media stalking. Etsy used to have this great tool that analysed people Facebook profiles and gave you ideas for presents based on the pages they liked but sadly I can't locate it anymore.

Eleanor is an amazing musician so I considered creating something that related to that but I couldn't find something that I thought she would really like. My social media hunt paid off however, Eleanor had been doing a Instagram 30 day photo challenge that included a day where she had to share her favourite quote. Boom! I had an idea!

I picked up a white frame (we all know white is my favourite and that it goes with everything) from The Warehouse and set about creating some awesome typography art.

I didn't want to have just the quote so I decided to make it a bit personal with an 'E' at the bottom, I used picmonkey.com for the font and arrow and inserted it into the word document.

We paired the frame with a sweet bunch of flours, wrapped it up in some cute pink paper and gave it to Eleanor at her party. She seemed to really like so I'll call that a win! Happy Birthday Eleanor! May you have many more to come.

My Baking Centre

noreply@blogger.com (Katie) — Fri, 12 Jul 2013 00:13:00 +0000

I love baking! I try to bake at least once a week to give the flat something delicious for morning tea and for when visitors pop over. But what I really love when it comes to baking is when I'm baking for a special occasion like a Birthday Party or Christmas Party.

I've managed to produce some amazing baking from my little kitchen. These cookies and cake were created for my First Annual Christmas Party last year by myself and my friend Kimmy. The photos were taken by Kimmy's very talented sister Lucinda over at Lucinda Morris Photography, check out more of her work here.

Sadly, my kitchen is teeny weeny and doesn't have huge amounts of storage space so I have to be creative when it comes to storing all my baking tools and ingredients.. Because really, there is baking paraphernalia overflowing in our house.

Enter my baking centre.

This repurposed bookcase has been turned into the hub of my baking activities. It holds the majority of my basic ingredients and a chunk of my tools.

It sits just outside the kitchen for easy access.

My dislike for plastic means I have scoured op shops, retail stores and the Internet for glass jars that aren't too pricey. I find that large, repourposed Moccona coffe jars are perfect for smaller amounts of ingredients like Baking Cocoa and Baking Powder.

The medium and large jars hold the bigger volumes of ingredients such as white flour and white sugar and have been picked up at different op shops throughout the years.

Oils and vinegars are housed on the bottom shelf along with a burlap box hiding food colouring, sprinkles and other baking goodies.

I actually love my baking centre, seeing my ingredients out in the open always sparks my baking motivation and it's a nice way of having functional but eye appealing decor.

How do you guys store all your ingredients and tools? I have another cupboard of baking items that really needs to be organised, it's deep but narrow so will need a creative solution. Any ideas would be great!

Russian Fudge Recipe

noreply@blogger.com (Katie) — Sun, 07 Jul 2013 22:58:00 +0000

A staple at any school fair, Russian Fudge is simple to make and delicious to eat so head to the supermarket, pick up some ingredients and start baking. Follow the tutorial below or download the printable recipe at the bottom of the post.

This is what you need:

200 grams of butter
1 can of condensed milk
3/4 cup of milk
4 cups of sugar
2 tablespoons of golden syrup
1 teaspoon of vanilla essence

1. Put butter, condensed milk, sugar, golden syrup and milk into a medium pot and set on the stove.

2. Combine all ingredients and bring to boil, stirring constantly.

3. Simmer for approximately 20 minutes, until mixture is thickened and turned a dark caramel colour.

4. Add the vanilla essence into the mixture and stir to combine.

5. Using a electric beater, mix until fudge is thick and creamy and is sticking to the sides of the pot.

6. Pour the mixture into a large, greased baking dish. The quicker you do this, the easier it will be as the mixture hardens quickly.

7. Spread evenly into dish and smooth over.

8. Put in the fridge to chill for approximately 30 minutes.

9. Once chilled, cut into slices and serve as desired.

Warning: If you leave these in plain site you won't be able to stop eating them and anyone that comes into your house will have the same problem.

So click here (or on the picture below) to download the PDF recipe and head off to your kitchen.

Sweet Finds: The Warehouse Winter 2013

noreply@blogger.com (Katie) — Thu, 04 Jul 2013 23:37:00 +0000

We are back this week with another wee window shopping adventure (you can see the first one at Freedom Furniture here) at that big red building we know and love, The Warehouse.

I love The Warehouse and I really think that lots of people don't give it much of a chance when it comes to Home Style and Function. They often have some amazing items hidden in the huge shelves and the price is always pretty great. So here are some of my favourite picks and sweet finds from the stock currently in season.

Cereal Bow Peacock Blue - $4.99

The Warehouse has a huge range of bowls, some of them less appealing than others (I'm looking at you cheeta print) but I particularly love these peacock bowls. The bold pattern of the bowl on the left is nice but my favourite is the more elegant pattern on the right, it doesn't scream "PEACOCK" and its subtle beauty grabs me. At $4.99 its a bit more than I'm willing to pay for a single bowl but given that The Warehouse has sales all the time, I can bet you that it will be discounted at some point.

Dandelion Bowl - $1.98

Speaking of bowls, these clearance bowls are gorgeous with their bold pattern and muted colours. They could go in anyone's kitchen and at $1.98 a bowl, they are a steal.

20cm Glass Cake Stand - $9.99

This wee cake stand is super cute and a great buy at $9.99. At 20cm, it can only fit a small cake but if you have a small cake pan or a few cupcakes, this will keep it looking in proportion.

Owl Cookie Jar $12.99 - $19.99

These owl cookie jars are really cute and will add a bit of whimsy to your kitchen or bedroom. I can imagine them being a great place to hide head bands or bracelets on your dresser. The large one is $19.99 and the smaller one is $12.99.

The Warehouse always has heaps of cushions and right now they are on special! YAY! I love these the moroccan/geometric pattern of these cushions and at $6.98, I wish I had come home with a couple of the blue ones. All the other cushions were $12.99 and I loved the look of the wave pattern in the middle and the subtle pattern of the cream and white polka dot cushion in particular.

Butterfly Door Mat - $16.99

This colourful doormat is sure to brighten up anyone's front door. I'm not usually fan of bright colours or butterflies but something about this makes me happy and kinda wish I had bought this.

Kids Floral Bunting - $9.99

I spied these in a pile on a bottom shelf and they caught my eye immediately. They would be gorgeous in any little girls bedroom, above the dessert table at a Birthday party or out in the garden during a Garden Party.

Ironing Board Wooden Base - $19.99

I love these little ironing boards, they are small but still functional so if you don't have a big storage area, these will work great! I own this one (with a smaller polka dot pattern). They don't have the longest legs so the board doesn't sit high so that might bother people.

Oval Lined Willow Basket - $12.99

If I've talked to you about my home, I've probably told you that I HATE plastic so wicker laundry baskets are my go to when I need something to cart washing around in. I have two of these calico/wicker combos at the moment and I LOVE them. They come in 3 colours, the one above, a darker brown and a white basket with a floral lining. And at $12.99 they are a great price!

Housekeeper Box - $14.99

I love these old fashion housekeeper boxes. They are such a neat way to store all your home cleaning products and make it easy to haul everything around as you do a total house clean. They come in a couple of colours, I love this blue, but you can get a light beige or a multi coloured patchwork style. They also have soaking buckets in the same colour available. These are $14.99 so won't break the bank.

First Aid Box - $29.99

I LOVE this tin first aid box! As a avid first aider with dozens of bandages lying around I need something to contain it all and I ended up going home with this. It's classic style and functionality sing to my medical loving, decor happy soul. Its $29.99 so a bit higher than I usually like to pay for things (yep I can be super cheap) but this is something that is totally worth it.

So there you go, a quick window shop to The Warehouse where you can find some amazing stuff. Next time you need something sweet for your home, head along and see what treasures you can find. Hope you guys enjoyed this, I know I did!

Katie's Lemon Muffin Recipe

noreply@blogger.com (Katie) — Sun, 30 Jun 2013 06:49:00 +0000

One of my favourite times in the world is when I'm baking in the kitchen and there is no-one else at home. I get to create something delicious and spend time by myself and it's a sweet treat (in more than one way).

These Lemon Muffins are my go to when I haven't got anything particular in mind and all my friends and neighbours seem to enjoy them. People are always asking me for the recipe, so everyone, here it is.. a complete tutorial along with a printable PDF which you can find at the bottom of the post.

1. Preheat your oven to 180°C and get all your ingredients together, here is what you need:

4 cups of white flour
4 teaspoons of baking powder
1 1/2 cups of white sugar
2 large eggs
2 cups of milk
2 large lemons
125 grams of buter
Juice of 2 lemons
1/2 cup sugar

2. Sift flour, white sugar and baking powder together in a large bowl.

3. Mix eggs, milk and the rind from 2 lemons into another bowl.

4. Melt the butter and add to flour mixture along with milk mixture. Mix until just combined.

5. Grease 2 x 12 muffin tins with butter and spoon mixture into tins. Fill about 2/3 full.

6. Bake in oven for 15-20 minutes, until top is a light gold.

7. While the muffins are baking, combine the remaining sugar and the lemon juice together. Spoon over the muffins as soon as they come out of the oven. Set on wire rack to cool.

Serve with butter, cream or eat it by itself.

The sugar glaze over the top finishes the muffin off beautifully but you can always top this off with a cream cheese or vanilla cream icing.

So now it's your turn to get baking, click here to download the PDF recipe and treat your friends and family and friends to some delicious baking.

Map Art: Some places I love

noreply@blogger.com (Katie) — Wed, 26 Jun 2013 07:04:00 +0000

It's been quite awhile since I've posted. Life is crazy busy with Work, Disaster Response, Friends, Family, Pets etc etc so the blog has taken a bit of a back seat. I miss it though and lots of people have been asking for it, so I will try my best to post a couple of times a week. But while I was away, I did get myself a little iPhone and have been playing around with some of the apps avaliable. I've joined the masses and now have Instagram so if you want to check me out, just look right over there (and up a bit) ------------------------->

If you look at Pinterest, you are bound to see some map art. It's all over the place and some amazing projects have surfaced. I love maps, I love to travel, tramp and even studied Geography and Geology at University so maps are a big part of my life.

via Not on the High Street

I picked up a old New Zealand map book for $6 from an Op Shop on the North Shore awhile ago. I originally bought it to make a Engagement present for my friend Sam and her (now) husband but it's been sitting in my arty craft bag since then.

So last week, I finally got off my butt and made this sweet little project.

I grabbed the old map book, a small heart shape that I printed offline, some white card and set to work. I chose locations that had some kind of significance to me like Mt Roskill - where I grew up and my parents still live, Stewart Island - where my ancestors were the first white settlers, Mt. Ngaruhoe - where I went tramping with my best friend and is also known as Mt. Doom from Lord of the Rings plus a whole lot of other places.

This was a pretty easy project. After cutting the card down to 8 x 10", I centred the heart shape over the place I wanted, drew an outline and then cut out the location. I lined them up on the paper before sticking them down with foam tape to give them a bit of depth. I then put the finished art into a large white frame with matting that I got from The Warehouse for $14.99.

The art has found its home in my bedroom, leaning against my window above my desk. I love being able to see some of the places I love in a tidy grid form. It sings to my slightly OCD, map loving soul.

Some Curb Appeal - The Front Door

noreply@blogger.com (Katie) — Tue, 14 May 2013 20:42:00 +0000

I love a house with good curb appeal. To me, having a house with great curb appeal is the difference between your house saying "Hey! It's you! Welcome Home!" rather than "Oh its you.... you won't believe how crappy my day was"

Our house is currently in between these two extremes, we don't have rubbish lying around but there is nothing especially wonderful going on.

Options are limited for our wee house, we only have a small space to put any kind of decor outside (where the bench is now) and the fence is positioned to make the front of the house lack symmetry. Why did they have to partially cover the window!?

But there are definitely improvements that can be made. Everything can be spruced up a bit and some plants that are more visually appealing are needed for sure. My poor lavender is slowly dying. Thankfully, given the limitations, this isn't going to be a big job.

So here is the plan for the front of our house:

Get some new plants, maybe some ferns (this area is pretty shaded) and some hanging baskets with coloured flowers to balance the entrance out.
Water-blast the driveway. You can see the difference between the clean and dirty concrete in the picture above.
Buy a bigger mat (and do something awesome with it... maybe like this). This one is too small for my liking.
Find a bigger bench, a place to put shopping bags would be amazing.
Fix the light sensor. It turns on and off for no particular reason and isn't really helpful when people arrive.

So that's it for the front entrance, pretty simple and easy and shouldn't take too much time and effort.

A Mother's Day Afternoon Tea

noreply@blogger.com (Katie) — Mon, 13 May 2013 20:33:00 +0000

I don't know where I would be without my mum. She has gotten me some of the worst times in my life, especially when I was in the depths of depression, and has sacrificed so much for me and my brother. The older I get, the more I appreciate how much she has done for me and how much I realise how hard being a mum really is. I work as a nanny now (which I love) but kids can be hard work.

So when I realised that Mother's Day was just around the corner, I decided that this year I would do something a little different to celebrate and appreciate my mum. It was time for a Mother's Day Afternoon Tea.

I sent a txt to a few of my cousins to see if they wanted to invite their mums, and so it became a family affair (for the woman in our family).

Sadly two of my cousins (Hi Anna and Lisa!) live out of the country and Grace had to work but my mum and two Aunties could come, as could my cousin Claire. We have a small family which makes for easy catering.

I went for a pink and white theme and made cupcakes, mini quiches and scones as well as heart shaped cookies for favours. Claire provided the wine and other beverages and did some very good whipping of the cream with my mixer that only has one arm.

I picked up a sweet floral cup and saucer set from The Warehouse and got the Noodle Boxes from Spotlight.

Unfortunately I was sick during the morning so the Afternoon Tea wasn't quite what I envisioned with a lack of decorations and finishing touches but we still had lovely time.

I love my Aunties and Mum a lot and Claire and I were treated to a afternoon of reminiscing and learning new things about our mum's and Aunties.

It was a wonderful way to spend an afternoon and treat the mum's in our family for being such wonderful people. Hopefully we can make this a annual affair. I hope you all had a wonderful day and gave the Mum's in your life a little bit of love.

Sweet Finds: Freedom Furniture Autumn 2013

noreply@blogger.com (Katie) — Thu, 09 May 2013 22:59:00 +0000

Oooo I love to window shop, there are so many amazing items for the home out there and I'm pretty sure I would turn into a hoarder if I had a bigger house and more money.

One of my favourite stores is Freedom Furniture, with heaps of variety and lovely finds this store is great. Although it can be a little pricey, especially with my small budget, you can get some really great stuff here. Here are some of my current favourites.

Escher Cushion $34.95

1. Yale Cushion $39.95 2. Mademoiselle Cushion (Pink) $39.95 3. Freeway Cushion $39.95

Freedom has heaps of nice cushions and these are some of my favourites. I really like the pattern on the blue Escher cushion, I am thinking this might be a great one for my new lounge I'm planning.

The knit Yale cushion would be amazing to snuggle up with in the winter time in front of the fire.

And this Mademoiselle cushion would be perfect for a little girls room (this is the boys version).

I love the texture of the Freeway Cushion and while this isn't my favourite shade of yellow, I would be more than happy to have this in my house.

Pier Rope Table Lamp $149.00

How cool is this Rope Lamp?! At $149, its not the cheapest thing ever but I want one. I've also seen a floor lamp version in store which is more expensive.

Precious Hourglass $29.95

This large hour glass would look awesome on any mantle or side table and isn't too expensive either. I want it!

Farmhouse Console Table - $999.00

I LOVE this console table, the rustic wood and drawer pulls are exactly my style. While its a bit expensive for me, I know someone with a bit more money will give this guy a home.

Clementine Print $299.00

The colours and shapes in this print are lovely and would be a great focal piece for a room. Not the cheapest print ever but if you love it, go for it.

Portland Modular $1699.00

If I was looking for dark coloured couch, this would be the kind of one I would go for. I love fabric couches and the chaise part would be perfect to put your feet up after a long day.

So those are some of my favourite finds from Freedom (woah, accidental alliteration). I might have to snag that rope lamp sometime when I'm feeling especially wealthy.

I dream of white couches

noreply@blogger.com (Katie) — Tue, 07 May 2013 20:00:00 +0000

Now that my home office is pretty much done, my thoughts turn towards our living room. The living room is one of my least liked rooms in the house. This is a bit of problem since its really the heart of the house and I spend so much time here with my flatmates and friends.

Its something about the mixture of colours which consist of two shades of browns on the walls, multiple types of wood finish and pink, green (vinyl!) and cream couches. Then there is the hoards of electronics that leave cables all over the floor.

My dream lounge and dining room oozes light and calm and is filled with comfy fabrics and warm lighting. Kind of like these ones.

via The Homemade Home

via Annaleenas Hem

via First Sense

I love those white walls. Love love love. We have brown walls. Which I can't paint.

But more than those white walls, I love the white couches. And adore. I adore them. White couches are the couches of my dreams. And thankfully, white couches are well within my reach. So based around my white couch dreams and brown walls, I have created this mood board.

I love the mix of rustic wood and classic navy mixed with the warm sheepskin and white breezy curtains to lighten up the place a little. And while there is yellow in the colour palette, I think I will be leaning to something a little more tanned rather than yellow.

So here's the plan for the living room:

Sew white slipcovers for the couches starting with the green vinyl ones until I can save for the white couch shown above from here.
Hunt down a wing back chair to reupholster in a classy navy blue
Strip back the chest of draws to natural wood and turn into a media centre with hinged draw fronts and hidden cables.
Hang white curtains
Get a new coffee table. This one hopefully.
Create a mirror wall
Find or create some awesome art work
Define an entrance way (somehow!)
Find or make some ottomans and floor poufs for extra seating and comfort
Find a large rug to define the area better
Tidy the cords around the doors
Buy some new throws (that I actually like)
Recover some of the cushion in large prints and nice colours
Find a sheepskin

This won't be the cheapest project around so will take a little while to complete but I'm determined to do it. I'll be starting with the slipcovers... I can not wait to see my white couches come to life!

5 DIY Mother's Day Gifts

noreply@blogger.com (Katie) — Sun, 05 May 2013 06:22:00 +0000

Mother's Day is almost here! I've got something special planned for my mama (Hi Mum!) but I know how hard it can be to come up with some cool ideas for gifts. I've searched high and low and found 5 ideas you might want to try out, complete with tutorials. Hopefully your mum will love it

1. Family Silhouette Art. A different but cool way of showing the members of your family. Tutorial here and here.

2. Special Dates Art. Record the dates that have significance in your family. Your parents birth dates, wedding dates, kids birth dates or something else work perfectly. Here is the tutorial (with generator) to make things easy for you.

3. Indoor Herb Garden. I love this idea since you don't have to go outside to get your fresh herbs, and it also adds a bit of greenery to the home. Find the tutorial here.

4. Family Photo Coasters. This is a cute and simple way to have some of your mums favourite photos on display for guests to see. Find the tutorial here.

5. Hot Chocolate Spoons. This is an awesome idea for mums that love Hot Chocolate, especially for since winter is on the way in the Southern Hemisphere. Find the tutorial here.

So there you go, hop off and show your mama some love with one of these ideas. And if you don't have time to make one of these, at least get her a card :)

Op Shop Finds

noreply@blogger.com (Katie) — Thu, 02 May 2013 20:00:00 +0000

Op Shop, Thrift Store, Second Hand Store.. call it what you like, I love them. So much easier than TradeMe and so much cheaper than regular stores (most of the time). There are so many treasures to be found in these shops of unwanted goods and I am a treasure hunter. A good one (I like to think so at least).

I have one friend in particular who loves to see some of my finds since we talk about home stuff all the time but only rarely get to see each other. And everyone who comes to my home knows I like to crow about my finds. So this is me crowing online, and I know at least one of you will be interested. These are just a few things I found recently that I really love.

I found these cool little mini milk bottles for 50c each. These retail from anywhere between $3.00 - $20.00 each and are all the craze at the moment for weddings and parties as a different way to drink your refreshments. I have a different plan in mind for mine, mainly for mini vases on the window sill.

These tiny bottles with rubber stoppers have to be one of my favourite finds of all time. I found them in a little brown wooden holder for $4.00. $4 whole dollars! I actually couldn't believe it because these things are hard to find and the fit my tastes perfectly because I HATE plastic. I have a special place planned for these in my baking centre.

I scored these two fantastic lamps for $15 each from different stores. They are both big lamps and would usually cost a lot more. They will both need great lamp shades but since I'm not sure where I will put them yet, that will have to wait until later.

So those are just a few of my recent favourite finds. I'm sure you will see them around the house so keep an eye out in future posts. And as always, I'm sure there will be more soon. Let me know if you have any particularly awesome finds or know of any great Auckland Op Shops that I need to check out.

My Office Storage

noreply@blogger.com (Katie) — Tue, 30 Apr 2013 20:00:00 +0000

My home office is done, mostly. I've bought a great chair off TradeMe, so once I pick up that and add a few finishing touches I'll be able to reveal the finished product. But really I'm so happy with it I can't help looking at it whenever I get the chance.

So after building my plank desk and finding a cool set of industrial shelving from The Warehouse, I headed out to pick up some storage boxes. Inspired by some other pretty offices on Pinterest like this one from Better Homes and Garden (granted this is very styled) I kept my eye out for white storage boxes as I trawled the shops.

via Better Homes and Gardens

I found the A4 storage boxes at Whitcoulls who currently have a sweet deal of buy 2 or more and get 50% which means I got all 6 boxes for $24. Boom! The CD boxes are from The Warehouse, the blue concertina folder from Warehouse Stationary (on sale for $15) along with the two ring binders for my Disaster work and Nanny work.

I use the A4 Boxes on the shelf for different types of paper as well as page protectors and folders. The CD boxes are used for cables, photo storage and software.

The A4 boxes on the desk house Current Work and General Stationary.

On the other side of the desk are my recycled pen holders, sequestered from the kitchen thanks to the consumption of some baked beans, fruit salad and tomato sauce (not eaten all together, nor all by me) which now hold my colour pencils, black pens (its one of my little quirks where I only like to write with black pens) and some of my paint brushes.

I can't wait to get the chair, add a lamp and a couple of other things and declare my office officially done!

Kitchen Art Printable

noreply@blogger.com (Katie) — Sun, 28 Apr 2013 22:57:00 +0000

My home office is coming along nicely with the addition of some new storage boxes organised beautifully (if I do say so myself) so I'll be back with that on Wednesday.

In the mean time, I've whipped up some cute geeky kitchen art for you to download. You've got 3 colours to choice from with this periodic art and I've designed it so each element is to be printed onto A4 paper and then inserted into a A4 Frame (giving you 3 separate frames) which makes this a simple and budget friendly project.

Just click on the links below the pictures to download the PDF file.

If you really want another colour, let me know and I'll see what I can do! Enjoy!

Navy Blue Periodic Art

Light Blue Periodic Art

Yellow Periodic Art

I Built a Desk... oh yes!

noreply@blogger.com (Katie) — Sat, 27 Apr 2013 02:06:00 +0000

Surprise! I've already built my rustic plank desk. I actually got it finished early this week but I was camera-less for awhile so couldn't take photos.

I headed off to Mitre 10 for the lumber for my desk. While not the cheapest option, it is really convenient to be able to see the prices and sizes available and just pick the right lumber off the racks.

The only logical place to put my office was in my bedroom since our house is pretty small and I needed a place where I could work in quiet. Based on my measurements, I bought 3 boards mesuring 13.5cm x 180cm x 20mm along with some wood screws and 3 eye screws.

I searched far and wide (on the internet) for some industrial legs that would work for my desk. There wasn't much choice that was within my budget but I stumbled across these three trestle legs on TradeMe for $30. So after heading to the North Shore to pick them up, I was ready to get building.

To save you all the boredom of hearing exactly how I built it, please observe my expertly drawn, detailed plan.

Impressive, I know.

Despite my poor drawing, my desk slowly came together. I measured and remeasured, drilled and screwed and finally was finished with my desk. I had to re-drill the holes for the eye screws a few times to make sure the desk was sturdy enough to survive longer than a night. I'll still need to put wing nuts on the end of the hooks to keep them in place.

I also grabbed a industrial shelving set from The Warehouse and then spent a good hour putting it together. There were a whole of nuts and bolts involved.

Finally, I can declare the bones of my office done! I really love the desk but I will probably stain it in the future just to give it a bit of protection and make it look a bit more finished.

Next up. sorting out storage and a chair for my office. The desk is a set a bit higher than regular desks so the chair will have to be a bit taller too. TradeMe, here I come.

Creating a Home Office

noreply@blogger.com (Katie) — Tue, 23 Apr 2013 19:57:00 +0000

via Thistlewood Farms

Since moving into our wee rental 8 months ago I've been without a home office. After finishing up at uni, I didn't really see the need for one so I converted my vintage writing desk into a vanity desk. My office supplies were kept in an old blue suitcase that lived in the corner of my wardrobe, with my documents stored on top of it.

I had visions of making a mini home office in the suitcase but instead, the suitcase turned into a dumping ground for all types of art supplies, stationary and paper work (plus the sash from my Year 12 School Ball).

Although this has never really worked, its been working a lot less well lately since I've become more involved in my disaster relief team and started a new job as a nanny. I needed a better organisation system that is much easier to access plus a large work space to spread out and do my thing. I love my writing desk as my vanity and it's too small as a work space, so I needed something different.

I headed to Pinterest to find some inspiration and to help figure out exactly what I need for this space. You can check out my Pinterest boards here.

via The Veda House

via Hubsch

via Almost Bunnies

I love the industrial vibe of the first two and the stunning organisation of the third, but most of all, I love this next office area.

via Stylizimo Blog

The rustic plank desk top, the industrial legs and the femininity of the area as a whole is beautiful. I am in love.

So I've developed a plan to create my home office space.

Build a plank desk with industrial legs
Source a suitable desk chair. Maybe something industrial, or a refurbished table chair? Definitely not a modern office chair
Buy shelves for storage since the desk will have no drawers
Buy storage boxes for paper supplies, cords, pens and other stationary supplies as well as a pretty concertina file for my document filing
Buy a wireless printer/scanner/copier for all my possible needs. I especially need this when putting together emergency plans for families
Buy a laminator. Same reason as above.
Start saving tin cans for pen and pencil holders
Turn the old suitcase office into a gift wrapping station

So that is the plan for the home office, I'll hopefully be getting most of it done in the coming fortnight so check back. I look forward to finally getting this done and having a happy organised place to do my work.

Little Rented Home: Bathroom Makeover

noreply@blogger.com (Katie) — Sat, 02 Feb 2013 08:10:00 +0000

It's been a long, slow process but I have finally finished (mostly) decorating our main bathroom in our little rented home. It started off as a boring, builders grade bathroom with no towel rails... I'm not quire sure how towel rails were forgotten. You think they would be a given but we had none which resulted in lots of towels hanging out the window, lying on the ground or over the top of the shower.

And yes... I am wearing a crop top in the above photo.

The blue wall behind the sink was the only thing that gave the room some personality and since I am limited in what I can do with our house (no painting etc) I decided to go with it.

I wanted the bathroom to be a mixture of rustic beauty, spa glamour and white luxury with a little bit of quirkiness (kind of like me) so I whipped up this mood board with some cool ideas and a pretty colour pallet.

After a few slow months of searching for the perfect pieces in Op Shops and building or making specific items I couldn't find, I would like to welcome to our rustic, pretty, quirky and only slightly glamorous bathroom.

I bought a $2 silver tray from the Salvation Army to add a touch of glamour by the sink, paired with fake flowers, jars with cotton buds and face pads and the soap dispenser and toothbrush holder.

The cabinets were really messy before I bought these baskets to get things into order. The bottom 3 were $8 each from Kmart and hold each of our personal bathroom products, the basket holding the toilet paper was $3 from the Sally's and the box came as a housewarming gift filled with Asian cooking oils and sauces.

Above the newly installed towel rails (bought them for a great price off TradeMe), I framed a few cherry woodland animal prints I found online to add a bit of colour to the room.

Over the large window, I whipped up a fake roman shade made from $4/m fabric from Spotlight since we don't need it for privacy. A cute little rustic kerosene lamp went on the ledge above the bathroom ledge.

Next to the shower, I custom built some rustic crate shelves to hold my very loved white linen that I have collected over the years. The crate is made with a mixture of pallet wood and pine from the mill.

I also made the little wire basket out of chicken wire to hold flannels (face cloths) and guest sponges based on this tutorial and glued some wooden letters on a canvas for a bit of humour.

I think I will have to find something to fill the space above the bath on the blue wall but otherwise I declare the bathroom done. I really love how its turned out since I don't have free reign over the layout or wall colours. Here's to rented decor on a budget!

Tray Beautiful

noreply@blogger.com (Katie) — Thu, 18 Oct 2012 22:47:00 +0000

I love wooden trays. I'm not sure why exactly but something about them makes me feel happy. Its probably partly because they help contain things and keep things in order which always makes me feel good.

This particular wooden tray was sitting battered in a Salvation Army store for $4.00. The finish had been damaged (by heat I think) but I loved the little gold fittings so I snapped it up.

I took him home along with some gorgeous navy blue paint whose name escapes me now and set to work. The gold fittings came off, the paint went on along with a clear gloss coat to protect the blue guy. I screwed the gold fittings back in place and this easy project was finished.

I've given old bluey a home on a coffee table to contain some magazines and a few of my favourite decorative items. The colour is actually much darker in real life and a bit brighter. I love him.

It's one of my first projects in my new house (I have more to come) and I'm so happy with how it turned out. This guy below is the next tray waiting for some new threads.

Move it, move it

noreply@blogger.com (Katie) — Wed, 26 Sep 2012 00:46:00 +0000

Moving Weekend: The Numbers

Three - The number of human residents in our sweet little home

Twelve - The total number of hours it took to move all of our furniture and belongings from 3 houses to 1

Six - The number of trailer loads (all tightly packed) along with full cars to move all the big pieces of furniture

Also Six - How many times we've rearranged the lounge furniture since moving in.

Twenty (and counting) - The amount of empty Lynx cans Simon has in a box, ready to "dispose of" aka blow up at a later date.

One - How many piano's we have in the house. I was skeptical of it at first but after hearing the amazing music coming from it since moving in, I'm happy with it.

Four - The number of guitars we have in the house (I'm not even going to count the number of amps and speakers).

Four - The amount of toilet paper wedding dresses made at the Kitchen Tea for one of Melody's pre wedding parties (we won!!)

Five - The amount of pizza's we bought to feed the large amount of friends that descended on our place place on Sunday afternoon.

Two - The amount of people who learnt to longboard on our driveway on Sunday. One of them was me :D

Eighty (aprox) - The amount of Ducks, Pukeko and other water fowl that live in the beautiful little reserve next to our house. The regularly perch on our fence for a little look-see in the windows of our house.

Twenty - The amount of random singa-longs that have broken out over the few days we've lived in the house.

Two - How many times we've had to borrow items (like a can opener) from our neighbours.

Three - The amount of times I've gone home to my parents house to use the internet since we still don't have any.

Also Three - How many bags of bread we got from the free bread table at church :D

Ten - How many times I have lovingly looked at my plate drawer in the kitchen. It's full of light blue and white dinnerware.

Eight - How many different people have told us that the cafe around the corner "Humbug" is amazing.

Two - How many candlelit dinners we've had since moving in... by choice.

Also Two - How many days we had to use a cake slice to butter our bread since we didn't have a knife.

Living in my new little house is going so well. I can't wait to get the internet so I can start blogging properly and getting inspiration to do projects around the house. More updates soon!

Sleep Well Little One

noreply@blogger.com (Katie) — Tue, 18 Sep 2012 06:38:00 +0000

In the middle of all the chaos of moving, as I pack my whole life up into boxes, I've managed to carve out a little time to make a pallet bed for my sweet Scout. I found this inspiration on Pinterest and knocked up my own version in a few days.

via etsy

I cut down an old couch cushion that Scout loves and wrapped it in her favourite blanket. It is also my favourite, most expensive blanket but being the loving owner I am, I've let her keep it.

It is now her favourite place to hang out and watch the world go by (and attack stray camera cords). She is a great observer and people watcher so a comfy spot like this is perfect for her. In all the chaos and change of the move, I'm glad Scout will have a familiar place to hang out when we move to our new place.

Speaking of chaos, this is what our dining room looks like at the moment as I clean out my room and pack things up. It has tripped family members up at least 5 times but there isn't really any other place to put it until moving day.

And yes, that is a big pile of toilet paper. It's my emergency stock should the world ever collapse. Everyone will need toilet paper and I plan to be the one with the goods. I'm just not entirely sure where it will be stored once we move.

Three days until we move into the Gingerbread House. I am so very excited and can't wait to share all the things we have planned. In the mean time, I still have to pack the rest of my belongings, wrestle two chest of drawers up the stairs from storage (future projects that will appear here) and fit in work in between it all. THREE MORE DAYS.

A New Adventure

noreply@blogger.com (Katie) — Sat, 08 Sep 2012 05:12:00 +0000

AND A NEW HOME!

In just under two weeks, I'll be leaving the familiarity of my parents house (again) and heading back into the world of rented homes.

Along with my friends Joel and Simon (two of the coolest guys from church) I've been searching the listings for a perfect 3 bedroom home. We found a few we liked, some we didn't and some where we walked out of almost straight way. We ended up applying for 5 houses and being offered 2, but this little gingerbread gem is the one we chose.

We are all students so our budget isn't huge but we wanted a 3 or 4 bedroom place with decent sized bedrooms, cat friendly (for little Scout), a garage for storage, close in location to our church (where we are all involved with a lot) and close to a train station. It also had to have a clean and semi new interior. We may be students but there was no way we wanted to live in a dirty hole.

Our gingerbread house has all these factors plus a heat pump (YAY for warmth in winter) and a dishwasher (YAY no hand washing dishes). It also has a second toilet which is so handy for guests.

We also wanted a bit of an outdoor entertaining area, this little house doesn't have much of one but we can create a really nice one easily enough.

We have lots of huge plans for the house to make it homey and welcoming. We all want it to be a place of rest and love for all our friends and family. And we know it will be a frequent destination for the young adults of our church which is perfect.

And the first thing I'll be doing when I move in is hiding those ugly bins and chair around the other side of the fence. And I am so ecstatic to be able to pull all my home goodies out of storage for the world to see. They have been hiding for too long.

So there will be a lot more regular blogging in the future. I have a whole lot of DIY projects up my sleeve so watch out for those. And expect a lot of content on Rented Home Decor. I'm going to have to come up with some out of the box ideas for making a rented house something that is mine.

Having a home for myself again has been a long time coming.

A cozy little upcylce: Sweater to Hot Water Bottle Cover

noreply@blogger.com (Katie) — Thu, 06 Sep 2012 06:51:00 +0000

When I slip into bed on a cold winters night there is nothing I like better than having a hot water bottle as my bed companion to warm my cold feet. And there is nothing worse than burning your feet on hot rubber if you don't have a decent cover for the said bottle.

I love everything knit so when I saw these cute knit covers I was hooked.

via Country Living

via A Crooked Sixpence (Esty)

Being a financially challenged student, $60 NZD is a bit steep for me. And anyone who has ever worn a knitted sweater could see the similarities in the two designs. So I headed off to the 2nd hand stores and picked up 3 cute knits for about $2 each. love neutrals and earthy colours so these were exactly what I wanted.

Here's a quick tutorial for those wanting to make one themselves. I'm currently sewing machine lacking so it was all hand sewing for me. You could easily pop one of these out in 30 mins with a machine but hand sewing took a little longer :P

Start by marking out the shape of you hot water bottle. I'm not a perfectionist when it comes to these things because mostly I just want to see the end result so mine were made roughly with a sharpie. To make it easier on myself, I cut the jumper open along the underarm seam to open everything up.

For this particular one I cut a front piece, two back pieces and sleeve for the neck of the bottle. I also planned on using the two original large buttons but decided against it later.

Pin your three main pieces together inside out (the 2 back pieces and 1 front) making sure you leave a gap at the top for the neck of the hot water bottle. I also hemmed this bit to tidy it up since it will be visible since the neck inserts into the hole. Now get to that machine and start sewing (or pick up that needle).

If you're copying this same design, you need to remember to leave the little access flap open. I 'designed' this one with the flap coming down over the top of the bottom piece to hide the domes.

Next get your sleeve soon to be neck piece and cut slits up to just under the folded cuff.

Slip the neck into the hole at the top of the cover and pin to secure. Make sure you pin the flaps to opposite sides so the neck of the hottie will be able to fit. While sewing the neck to the body, you need to be careful not to sew the hole closed.

If the sewing in this area is a bit messy, you can easily pull the cuff down a little further and sew in place to cover it. Next sew hems on the sides of the covering flap and put some domes on. Remember that once the bottle holds water, it will be a lot bigger so make sure you give the domes some breathing room.

Cut any loose threads and you are done. It really is very simple so hopefully my directions didn't confuse you at all. This was definitely the roughest of all the finished products. It was mostly my meager skills but also this knit was a bit looser than the others which made it harder to handle.

Here are some more glamour shots of the finished products. These guys like being beauty queens. Warm, fuzzy beauty queens.

You can see on the creamy cover that I have a zip at the bottom. It was a total accident as I was cutting this one late at night and not thinking clearly. So this one couldn't have a flap opening and instead got a zip. Sewing the zip in took a lot longer and I definitely like the other ones better.

So there ya go, cute little hot water bottle covers ready for some cuddling and holding. Too bad it's Spring time in New Zealand.