Wardrobe Wonder

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Posted on March 28, 2025

It seems like forever but in reality it is a bit less than 6 months since we emptied and dismantled our walk-in wardrobe in preparation for the extension of the pantry. This post from October last year explains our plans.

Once the pantry was finished GMan still had to do some finishing filling of gaps and nail holes then he painted the whole wardrobe area and then it was time to decide on the fitout. After researching several options we decided on the Boaxel range from IKEA. It is very similar to the system we had installed in the wardrobes in our previous house. Unfortunately, the shelves we wanted were on backorder so that added quite a delay.

However, we picked up the remaining components on Tuesday when we went to Melbourne and we have spent the last couple of days working on assembling it.

The size of the reduced wardrobe is 1800 x 1800mm (6 x 6ft). It is not huge but definitely enough for our needs. We have a total of 3.2 metres of hanging rail as well as several shelves for shoes. I have a couple of handbags which will live on the shelf below my shirts and tops. The high shelves will be for a box of beanies, gloves and winter scarves as well as hats and a couple of small backpacks. The hooks at the end hold belts and dressing gowns.

We are really pleased with how it has turned out.

The view from the doorway.

My clothes and shoes as well as longer coats and suit bags.

GMan’s clothes and shoes.

Loaded Up

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Posted on January 14, 2025

I certainly had to be organised this morning as we headed off bright and early to Melbourne. We usually catch the train if we have things to do in Melbourne but today we had several errands which really necessitated a car so we combined them into what turned into a mega-trip. I even plotted our route to the various locations to make sure that we made the trip in the most efficient way possible.

Ready to go.

One of the bags on the left was some things I needed to drop off at our daughter’s place. The other contained bags of fabric scraps which I can drop off at a specific point for textile upcycling. Our packed lunches and water bottle were in the esky which is always handy in case we happen to but any groceries that need to be refrigerated. Finally, the plastic tub contained an assortment of buckets and large jars as I was going to stock up on bulk dry goods at Graina. They offer a discount of 20% on Tuesdays if you bring your own containers. It is definitely worthwhile doing a bit of planning and preparation.

After dropping off the bag to my daughter and doing the grocery shopping we then headed to IKEA. Our goal was to buy the components to build the shelves and hanging space in our walk-in wardrobe. This was only partially successful as the shelves are currently out of stock so it will be another 4-6 weeks before we can get them. However, it is good to have all of the rest of the components ready to go.

We then ditched the car in favour of public transport and caught a tram into the CBD to drop off the fabric. I also had a bag from my daughter as well as the 2 bags of my own scraps. Our last stop was Cheaper Buy Miles at Footscray where shopping can be a bit like a lucky dip. Today I picked up some rice cakes, dark chocolate, bacon and cream.

By the time we arrived home it was 8.5 hours since we had left (1.5 hour drive each way). I was tired but pleased at what we had achieved in a single trip.

The foodstuffs unpacked on the bench in the pantry and ready to put away. We are well-stocked with dry goods for a few months.

Yesterday we were in Bendigo with a similarly mixed list of errands, including medical appointment, chemist, Aldi, greengrocer, Bunnings and Specsavers. I am now looking forward to several days at home with a couple of local meetings and appointments.

A Continuing Quest

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Posted on January 10, 2025

A sense of order in my sewing room seems elusive at times but I do continue to try. These shelves contain most of the fabric and sewing equipment that I have on hand and it could certainly be arranged a bit better.

I am not a massive fan buying heaps of matching containers to ‘organise’ spaces in my home. I generally use whatever I have on hand but it is also important to consider what stuff actually needs to be kept and organised and what actually needs to be decluttered and moved out of our life.

Most of the baskets that you can see previously belonged to my mother for a variety of uses and I have managed to re-purpose them. The shelves have also been moved from other areas of this house as I chose not to use them as the previous owners had done so.

Even the drawers, cupboards and 2 glass shelf inserts had been by left unassembled when we bought the house. I found the glass shelves particularly useful as they divide each cube into 2 smaller spaces.

When we were on holidays our travels took us directly past an IKEA store in Queensland so I took the opportunity to purchase 2 more sets (4 glass shelves) to further increase the functionality of the unit.

I installed them yesterday and am looking forward to some more re-arranging to improve the storage of my sewing fabrics and patterns.

Here is a close-up of one of the new shelves. The existing baskets are a perfect fit in these spaces.

Sewing Stuff Sorted

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Posted on June 12, 2023

It is over 2 weeks since I posted this photo of some shelving I repurposed from our walk-in wardrobe to my sewing room.

I knew that there some new IKEA flat packs which had been left by the previous owners but I had not investigated exactly what they were until yesterday. In what I would describe as a massive win, I discovered that there were 4 cupboards, a set of 2 drawers and 2 glass shelves – all designed for the above-mentioned shelving units.

So, I set to work and this is the result.

While there is still some fine-tuning to be done, I am pretty happy with the set-up and mostly know where everything is.

Now to get on with some sewing before too long……………

Completed Chairs

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Posted on January 24, 2016

GMan has been steadily working on assembling the chairs and now they are all done.

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Before he put the final one together, I grabbed the seat and traced around the seat. This is now going to be the pattern for making some seat cushions for the chairs.

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We are planning on painting the existing table. The most likely colour is red so I am thinking of perhaps using striped fabric which includes some red for the cushions.

I hope to be able to show you the completed dining setting before too long.

Living Life

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Posted on January 20, 2016

No blog posts for 5 days! What have I been doing?

I have been doing the routine things that keep our life ticking over day by day and week by week. This has been interspersed by a couple of interesting diversions.

A couple of weeks ago we managed to go to IKEA on a busy day trip to Brisbane. Our mission was to buy some new chairs for our outdoor setting. We bought 8 chairs as the table we have is quite large. GMan has made a start on assembling them and did 2 the other night. This is what they look like.

The old ones are the director-style chairs and they are impossible to keep clean as our cat believes that each one of them is his bed and they end up covered in grey cat hair! I plan to make removable cushions for the new chairs so that we can have padded seats with the benefit of being able to easily remove and store them when not in use.

I have mentioned before that I menu plan our evening meals. It is difficult to emphasise how much easier this makes shopping for and preparing meals.

Here is my plan for this week.

Saturday – Dahl with brown rice and steamed carrots and broccoli

Sunday – BBQ eye fillet with sweet potato chips, roasted beetroot in caramelised balsamic and crumbled goat’s cheese and green beans with red wine viniagrette and toasted sesame seeds

Monday – Vegetable quiche (adaptation of zucchini quiche) and salad

Tuesday – Tumeric chicken with brown rice and salad

Wednesday – Stuffed mushrooms with side salad

Thursday – Hamburger patties with home-made tomato sauce, fried mushroom and onions and salad

Friday – Baked potatoes topped with refried beans and cheese plus salad

Salad will be lettuce, cucumber, cherry tomatoes and capsicum with the addition of cheese on Tuesday and Thursday.

Sunday’s meal was actually lunch as we had guests. It put a lot of restaurant meals to shame.

I had time this morning to prepare the mushrooms before I went to work so all I needed to do when I arrived home was to microwave them until cooked then top with a little extra grated cheese and finish them off under the griller.

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Any plan needs to be flexible and menu plans are no exception. I try to make choices based on our activities and needs but sometimes those change. I cook the baked potatoes in the slow cooker for 4 hours so I would need to be at home to turn it on at about 3pm. This was going to be OK as I planned to work from home on Friday, however, I need to go to Brisbane and may not be home by 3pm so I have decided to make that meal for Sunday and we will have an antipasto platter and salad on Friday as we need to eat fairly quickly before heading out on Friday evening.

A New Desk – Part 2

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Posted on July 18, 2015

Well the desk is all assembled but not without a hiccup or two.

This morning we opened the box containing the hutch and it was the wrong colour!! Yes, we had managed to pick up the wrong one. So, it was off to IKEA again which really threw our plans for the day into disarray.

The traffic was a nightmare on our way home but we finally made it back and set about assembling the hutch.

Here is the final item all completed and in position. It is shorter and narrower than the old table so creates a bit more space in the room. I have been able to conceal almost all of the cables behind the desk which is much neater than before.

I moved the pictures that were above the old desk to the other side of the room now that the second bookcase has gone.

Now I need to find a suitable chair to place in the corner to create a comfortable reading nook.

I am really pleased with how this room has been altered and redefined. I have some plans for minor alterations to a couple of other rooms in the future. No doubt, I will post about those when they happen but please don’t hold your breath.

A New Desk – Part 1

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Posted on July 17, 2015

I have just checked the date and realised that it is 10 days since my last blog post. I have been busy – in that time my mother has come home from hospital after having undergone heart surgery, I have attended a gathering of my extended family which I organised to celebrate a milestone from my grandfather’s life and been away for a work conference for 2 days. That has all been in addition to running a household and holding down a full-time job.

There will be some blog posts about some of what I have been doing,but that is enough of my excuses for the moment.

GMan and I both had a day off today and we decided to make a round trip of over 200km to IKEA to buy a new desk for our home office. I had searched online for either a new or second-hand desk and the one we bought was definitely the best to suit our needs.

We arrived home this afternoon with 3 large packages.

GMan and I have spent several hours assembling the desk. We are very happy with how it has turned out so far. It is currently sitting in the middle of the office.

Tomorrow we will move all of the stuff of the existing desk and position the new one in its place. The next step will be to build the bookcase/hutch section which attached to the desk.

Watch out for tomorrow’s post in which I hope to show you the completed desk and revamped office/library area.

Home Office/Library

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Posted on June 27, 2015

Today I have been revamping the home office/library area in our home. This is really a follow up post to one I wrote in January which you can read here.

I finally moved the Australian Geographic magazines to the bottom shelf of the shelving unit in the lounge room and finally the bookcase was empty.

I advertised it on a couple of local Facebook Buy, Swap, Sell sites and it looks as though it will be going to a new home tomorrow.

This is what one side of the office looked like a couple of years ago. The freezer has been moved downstairs and with one bookcase ready to go we now have this blank corner.

I am planning to get a comfy chair to put in the corner and create a reading nook.

Meanwhile, on the opposite wall we have a folding trestle table which we use as a computer desk.

This was always only a temporary measure but it has been like this for nearly 10 years! After much searching I have found this piece at IKEA. I have only seen it online but hopefully it will measure up to my expectations.

The look of the room has been changed by re-arranging some of the artwork we have.

These are above the computer desk at the moment but if I end up getting the IKEA desk I will relocate them to the other side so they will be above the reading chair.

Here are a couple of others which have also been changed around.

The office/library is a rather strange room due to the fact that the house was extended many years ago before we bought it. This room was originally the main bedroom at the end of the house, however, it is now a walk-through room to the additional bedrooms. The cupboards in the above photo would have been the original wardrobe. The right-hand side is my linen cupboard and the left-hand side holds the filing cabinet.

As you can see from the link in the first paragraph, we downsized from a 4 drawer filing cabinet to a 2 drawer one. This left plenty of space but it was not particularly functional. Today, we have cut down an offcut of melamine coated shelving and created a new shelf.