Category Archives: Restoration

They’re Back

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A couple of weeks ago I wrote this post about the ‘new to me’ boots I had purchased.

Well, I did take the old ones to a cobbler in Melbourne to see if they might be able to be repaired. He assured me that he could and that the cost would be $60. This seemed like a very reasonable price to restore an unwearable pair of boots that had seen 6 years of constant winter wear.

Today we were on another jaunt to Melbourne and I picked them up. They are as good as new so I am looking forward to several more years of wear out of these favourites. While buying secondhand is a sustainable option, it is important not to forget about taking care of what you have to ensure that it lasts as well as considering repairing items where possible.

I was also able to drop off the donation of towels which I mentioned the other day. They were very gratefully received and I am pleased that they will be put to good use. I also gave them the two carry bags which I had made as I am sure that someone will appreciate those, too.

After lunch we headed over the river to The Sumner theatre to see ‘Mother Play’. It was both funny and tragic but most all, very moving and certainly not one for the faint-hearted. I enjoy live theatre and this was no exception and it was particularly exciting to witness Sigrid Thornton’s superb talent on stage.

Conception to Completion

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We have guests coming to stay next week and as well as the dedicated guest room I needed to set up another bed. There is a fold-out sofa bed in the third bedroom so I have unfolded it and made it up in readiness.

After I had done the bed it occurred to me that there was no side table in that room. After a bit of thought I decided that I could create one fairly easily with things we have one hand.

First……….a spare plastic crate from the shed. No modification needed apart from turning it upside down.

The next step was to add a solid top. GMan found a piece of melamine that was leftover from the pantry renovation and cut it to size. It is heavy enough to stay in place without any additional fixing.

The next step was to find some suitable fabric in my stash to make a cover. I found a large piece of embroidered heavy satin which was originally one side of a thrifted doona cover and made a fitted cover.

The fitted cover in place.

The new side table in position and the room is ready for the guests.

The entire project took less than 2 hours to complete from the moment I first thought of the idea.

Refurbished

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There are many things that we can repair, mend or upcycle ourselves but some are just beyond our range.

What do you do with shoes that are no longer wearable? This was GMan’s dilemma recently. The first step is to examine them and understand why they can no longer be worn. A pair of casual leather shoes looked to be in perfectly good nick at first glance but the soles had worn to the stage where there was no remaining grip on the soles and they were positively dangerous. So, a full retread was in order.

We have had this sort of work done on a couple of other pairs of shoes previously, however, we have moved interstate since then so it was a matter of finding a quality bootmaker/cobbler in Melbourne who could do the work. GMan was fortunate to find The Cobbler’s Last. They have turned these shoes that were only good for the bin into wearable footwear with a long life ahead of it.

The cost of this work was $95 which is not insignificant, however, that is about half of the price of a replacing them with a similar shoe. Additionally, the savings created by not seeing these end up in landfill is immeasurable.

Refreshed and Ready

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You would think I would have had better things to do 3 days before we travel overseas but I decided to make new covers for some cushion pads to go on some stools for the kitchen.

When we first moved to this house I was unsure whether I actually wanted stools to sit at the breakfast bar at the island bench. I felt that they could make the space feel visually cluttered. In the meantime, we decided to utilise the space under the bench to store some of the buckets which hold bulk dry goods such as flours, nuts and dried fruit.

These will eventually be housed in the revamped and extended butler’s pantry but I am really not sure when that is likely to happen due the eternal dearth of tradesmen.

A few months ago I spotted a giveaway of 2 stools that turned out to be in the next street to us. They were in OK condition overall buy the cushions were covered in a faded yellow fabric that was rather grubby from having been stored in the shed. I picked them up and set them aside as a future project.

So, a few days ago I rearranged somethings in the wardrobe in the spare room, relocated the buckets of dry goods to the wardrobe and set about transforming the stools.

The first step was to remove the old covers. Deconstructing items carefully is a great way to create a pattern for their replacement and helps to understand how they are assembled.

Some strong calico from my stash created a neat, smooth base for the new covers.

I chose a lovely vintage cotton paisley print fabric which had been given to me some time ago.

I decided to adapt the design slightly to make the covers removable and the extension flap folds over to the underside of the cushion and fastens with velcro.

I am very happy with the end result.

The stools are exactly the right height for the bench and the backs are low enough that they do not create a significant interruption the the visual lines of the bench.

I also made a new set of tiebacks for the curtains in the family room to match the cushion covers. They replaced the ones that I made when we first moved in.

One Thing and Another

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The main bedroom and the guest bedroom have been pretty well arranged since we first moved in, however, the 3rd bedroom has not been quite so lucky. It has tended to become a repository for everything that is pending a permanent home in another part of the house, partly restored furniture, pictures that are yet to be hung and various things that we are looking to sell or give away.

When we assembled the restored chest of drawers for our bedroom (see previous blog post), I could actually see what else was in the 3rd bedroom. The temporary chest of drawers which had been a fixture in our walk-in wardrobe were now surplus to requirements. For a short while it looked as though they were going to end up, at least temporarily, in the 3rd bedroom.

Thankfully, GMan decided that he could use them for storage in the shed so we spent a full day moving and rearranging things in the shed. While the overall shed storage is still a work in progress, it was good to get the drawers in position and create some more functional storage. The tall cupboard was also relocated from our walk in wardrobe and repurposed a few months ago.

Meanwhile, I could then work on the pile of assorted shopping and saved bags. I managed to quite quickly change it from this:

To this.

They are sorted into the shopping bags I regularly use, extra tote bags, saved plastic bags and saved paper bags. I can now find exactly what I want at a glance.

On the floor of the cupboard are 3 spare plastic storage tubs. I previously had another 6 empty storage tubs. I had been given some and used them for packing when we moved and the previous owners had left a couple behind. I decided that I really did not need them all and was debating who might be able to use them. It was rather fortuitous that there is a Community Pantry being set up and they put out a call for lidded plastic tubs for storing some of the donated foodstuffs so I was delighted to be able to help out by giving them the ones I did not need. A couple of the tubs had no lids and they have also been given away.

I am pleased to have sorted another small space and rehomed a few items plus been able help out someone else.

Clothes Storage

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When we left Maleny we chose to sell 2 large vintage silky oak dressing tables with plenty of storage in drawers as well as a large cedar chest of drawers. We correctly surmised that these would neither suit nor fit in the bedroom of our new home.

We now have a large walk-in wardrobe which will be reduced in size somewhat when we eventually use part of that area to remodel and enlarge the butler’s pantry. After a bit of searching on Marketplace we found a long, low chest of drawers with a more modern profile. They had been given a fairly quick makeover but we decided to put our own touch on them. GMan completed all of the painting a couple of months ago but we had to wait about 6 weeks for the knobs that we ordered.

Yesterday we attached the knobs and completely reassembled the chest of drawers. I am so pleased to have these finished and the opportunity to finally arrange all of my clothes in some sort of order.

There is plenty of space for all of our clothes which are folded up apart from underwear and socks which are in the small bedside chests of drawers. They are the next thing on the restoration list as GMan intends to paint them white (top and sides) with navy drawer fronts to match the large set. You can see them in this photo.

Once we set up the lounge room with the new furniture, the cedar chest was relocated to the lounge room for use as a coffee table. You can see it here.

More Furniture

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Today I am able to unveil a piece of furniture which I first acquired several weeks ago. I had decided that I needed a piece of furniture to separate the dining area and casual sitting space. Of course, it also had to be functional. So, after a bit of searching I found an upcycled solid timber sideboard.

We collected the item and while the piece had been upcycled, it was not completely finished to my satisfaction. The top had been sanded back and was completely raw so I applied 3 coats of clear finish. I also needed some more matching paint to do a final coat on the rest of the sideboard.

Because I am using this as a room divider as well as for storage, the back of the sideboard needed to be finished as well as possible. As with the most furniture that is designed to go against a wall, the back of this piece is simply lightweight board which is stapled on. However, a couple of good coats of the dark paint is sufficient to make it satisfactory to face the casual sitting space.

The reason I chose this particular piece of furniture was that it would provide storage for the good crockery and glassware in close proximity to the dining area. The good cutlery as well as some platters and table mats are in the drawers.

Refreshed, Ready to Use

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It is over 2 years since my mother died and in many ways it seems like just yesterday. Both of my parents were small children during the Great Depression which undoubtedly coloured their views of taking care of their possessions and mending, repairing and upcycling where necessary. Throwing perfectly good items away was simply not in their DNA. Much of this mindset filtered down to my siblings and me so we felt a certain obligation to ensure that Mum’s personal effects were distributed wisely. Some went to various family members, others were sold and yet more went to charities who could use them.

I was surprised when my younger daughter expressed an interest in the kitchen stepstool. It was sturdy but had seen better days and the orange vinyl seat screamed 1970s. Nevertheless, she was keen to have the stool as it offered a practical solution for accessing the top shelves of her kitchen cupboards as well having some special memories of helping in her grandma’s kitchen when she was a young child.

I don’t have any before photos but GMan dismantled the stool, removed the seat and spraypainted the metal frame. We disassembled the seat, scrubbed the vinyl cover, bought a new piece of foam and cut a replacement base from some leftover timber. I used upholstery staples to recover the seat using the same vinyl cover. This is apparently some of the appeal to my daughter.

Here is the end result.

The seat folds up to allow the steps to be accessed. Note the photobombing dog!!

We will be delivering the refurbished stepstool to its new home this week.

Don’t forget that there are various repair cafes and groups who can assist with restoring/repairing items if they are beyond what you are prepared to tackle.

Remember, the most sustainable items are those that you already own.

More Progress

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Since my last post we have continued to make progress in setting up our new home. A huge achievement has been to pass all of the unpacked boxes and packing materials to other people for reuse.

Meanwhile, I have continued to successfully trawl Facebook Marketplace to source items I need.

Today we picked up this dining table and chairs. We plan to sand, paint and update them at some stage but at the moment we don’t have any workspace in the shed – and it is too cold to consider working out there. I think that will be a project for the warmer weather.

Hanging the artwork above the table was another achievement for today.

The curtains were a new buy as I decided that the semi-sheer ones that were already hung were not really suitable as we approach winter. The creases have not really dropped out yet but once they do we will adjust the position of the curtain rail to suit the length of the curtains.

A couple of days ago we picked up this desk to use in my sewing room.

I am working on finding homes for everything in the kitchen and the office and will share a bit more about those spaces in upcoming posts.

Building a Box

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Just when you thought that all of our attention would be focused on decluttering and packing for our impending move, you discover that we actually spent some of our time making, or at least repairing something.

Even though my father died over 20 years ago, his legacy lives on. We have 3 boxes which came from his workshop which we have used to store various items. 2 of them had been in our woodshed for several years and we discovered that the base of one of them had completely rotted.

We are planning to use these boxes to pack things from the workshop in and transport them to their new home on the tray of the ute.

The boxes had originally been made by my father from various scraps of masonite and the reinforced with metal angle.

GMan removed the rotted base of the box and metal angle surrounding the base by drilling out all of the existing rivets. He then cut some offcuts of pine to make a frame to fit inside the base and screwed the metal angle back in place.

The final step was to cut a new base. This was cut from a piece of scrap plywood which we sourced from a neighbour. It had been one of the signs for our combined garage sale a week earlier.

The view of the completed base.

A final view of the inside with a reminder of the source of the plywood.

With the plywood in place and secured with nails, the box is as good as ever and I expect it will last for many more years.