Bargins

Thought Id mention a few things that we have sitting around the apartment at the moment that are waiting for a home. Currently sitting in boxes, there are many items in particular for the kitchen that I have bought as bargain buys.
Firstly, this is an OVALE kitchen sink mixer. I love the square shaped spout but with rounded edges. I also purchased the bathroom sink mixer and shower mixer at the same time on Grays. All purchases have been an absolute bargain. The induction cook-top and white oven by SMEG are also still in their package, purchased from Grays and I cant wait to bake! I love the three burner cooktop (who has all 4 burners running at once anyway?!) and the semi-retro nobs on the oven. Works really well with our semi retro Fisher & Paykel fridge that we will be keeping.








A great buy on the weekend was our rangehood and sink from The Good Guys. This Blanco sink was sitting on its lonesome out of its box crying out for a home. Its quite unique because it has an overflow drainer which is a bit weird but probably why it had not been picked up by someone else. Perfect for us though because the drainer has nice lines, the edges are not too round, not to square and the bowl isn't too deep so extra storage in the cupboard underneath, plus it already has the tap hole cut out ready for installation.

The Miraculous Arrival of the Wardrobe Wonderwall

I left for work on Saturday to leave Pete to attack the bedroom solo. I dont know how he managed it on his own but for 8 hours, he managed to add a wall and install all the hooks into the bedroom ceiling. These hooks will be explained later when we will post on "Rondo".

This wall is going to be the right hand side of a built-in wardrobe where the left side is the existing wall of the bedroom. We decided on a wall as this is the best looking way to install a built-in, it makes it look like the built-in was there all along. The other option was a built-in with a panel on the right hand side.

We checked out Impressive Wardrobes in Bankstown on Sunday. They had really low prices so I was eager to see if their quality and service was compromised. It turned out to be a great shopping experience. The guy that served us was really nice (no bull). The quality was really good too. We are going for mirrored doors, with gloss silver frame and trim. Our bedroom is small so any illusion of space will help a lot. The wardrobe will be 66mm deep and about 2000mm wide, 2400mm high and 2 door.

The Little Hutch That Could

We were after a retro 60's sideboard/hutch. I had my eyes peeled on ebay but had noticed a lot of people were cluey to the value of them. The nice ones, (well restored and well looked after) were selling for hundreds. We found this little baby from a girl selling for cheap. We paid $70 for it, needed a bit of work to jazz it up. I pulled the small shelf from the left hand cavity and found some retro wallpaper on ebay too for $2 and used it to line the inside of the sideboard. Painted the legs with Haymes semigloss black enamel after an undercoat and used steelo soap pads to clean the handles. Check the second photo to see how much shinier they come up.




It worked out well for such a budget makeover. Pete now has his records stored in it and has his turntable on top We need to get in an electrician to add a power point to that wall though so at the moment the turntable is out of order. The painting leaning on top is a lino print made by Jenny from high school that we've carried on every move and it has always brightened up our apartment. Its the perfect size to sit on top of the sideboard.

Right Blind, Left Blind

When we first moved in we were pretty grossed out by the window dressings. The kitchen window had those old fashioned, lacy, scalloped half drop curtains that would have been here as an original item. It, as well as the sheer lacy curtains on the lounge and bedroom windows were brittle, yellow and a bit stinky. Over this, the lounge had yellowed calico curtains that filled the whole height of the window to floor and were also in a gross state.
It took about 5 minutes to dismantle the hooks and take down all the window dressings. We were left with the original aluminium venetian blinds. They didn't work too well and were in a poor state. They were an alabaster colour (which from researching new blinds I have discovered it is an off white, yellow colour.)

Before images as above, and after images below...



It was difficult deciding on what was the best option for blinds.
We looked into:
Roller Blinds - A bit too "officey" and cant let in a bit of light, its all or nothing.
Roman Blinds - Issues with the material gathering when fully open and a big drop of fabric when the blinds are fully open.
Wood (wood like) Venetians - Look great and are actually not too expensive but are pretty heavy and can droop in the center of the window if the window is quite wide, (like in our lounge).
25mm aluminium - These are slimmer than the ones we went with and are probably the cheapest option. The ready made ones are really flimsy and can dimple very easily. Plus you cant choose what side you want the cords on which is annoying.

We went for 50mm Aluminum Venetians. I spent a lot of time looking at 25mm blinds as they were half the cost of the 50mm, but the look of the 50mm was fitting for the building, and our unit.They are thicker and stronger and because they are wider, it means there are less slats so when they are fully open there is not much of a drop in the blind at the top of the window.
I got a quote from a blinds place down the road, they wanted $1600(!) and their service was bad.
I contacted Kresta because they had a sale on. They offered custom made 50mm slats but made by a different company. I tracked down that company and cut out Kresta, saving me about $500.
They are called "blinds on the net". We needed to self measure and install and order online. Delivery was free and the instructions online were pretty clear. They sent samples in the mail free of charge too so you could see that materials they were using. They're pretty good. The top covers are a bit bare, and the mechanism isn't perfect but overall I'm happy and would recommend them.


^ splitting the blinds in the bedroom because one side has a door which is used more frequently. This keeps the blinds lighter and easier to manage. Bottom image: New blinds, old kitchen.