Free to Good Home

Oh Hai. We have moved to www.pigeonhq.com
Pretty much the same but no .blogspot. Same but BET-TER.

Pete and I were driving home and on the way discovered a whole world of trash in Engadine. Council Collection was due in the area and it was late afternoon, residents were putting out their trash for collection that night. As the sun was setting, we scooped a couple of awesome treasures amongst the trash.

Here's an offcut I have trimmed of Astro Turf. We are using this as our new door mat (even though we are on the second floor and don't have a porch).
We scavenged a plastic terracotta look pot that I cleaned all the dirty dirt off and refilled it with some clean dirt. Planted some parsley seeds so hopefully we will be able to harvest in a few weeks time. Note the bunny proof fence around the balcony. This was our very first renovation project when we moved in.
The stand is an old IKEA stool that had a broken leg. The wood had split and was repaired but broke again so I guess the old owners tossed it before trying to mend a second time. My workmate found this for me in her neighborhood and bought it in for me because she knew I was looking for something like this to stop Toto from reaching my plants. Petes fixed it and its sturdy as ever.
The makeshift plastic Kartell style fruit bowl is actually a pendant light fitting and even though we've sorted our lights out now, I just loved the amber colour so I have kept it as a (temporary?) fruit bowl.

The Rolls Royce of Skirting

Oh Hai. We have moved to www.pigeonhq.com
Pretty much the same but no .blogspot. Same but BET-TER.




Got a bargain on skirting board on eBay. I think because it was listed at "Architraves" (which of course is correct) there were less people watching. We won the bid at 99c a piece and we only needed 7 pieces seeing as they were 5.4 meter lengths. When Pete went to pick them up, the guy had a mansion on the north shore with a Merc. in the garage. He said he was a builder and was fixing up his own house and didn't need the leftover skirting. Claimed he didn't know how to place an ad on eBay and charged us double, we accepted seeing it was only going to cost us $14 for the lot. Guess that Mercades needed the cash to cover the rising cost of petrol...

Cost us more on Tolls to get over the Sydney Harbour Bridge and back!

Pretty happy with this plain profile. We just wanted something simple (easy to keep clean too, could you imaging the dust that gets stuck in those ornate profiles!). Pete had to sand back some bits as they had some drops of paint stuck to them, to our delight however as we discovered that they are solid wood rather than cheaper MDF which is mostly used for architraves.

Here's a shot of the doorstop that Pete installed the same day we installed the floor. Unfortunately the door has such a large gap at the bottom, it misses the door stop. Oh well, door replacement is further down the line on the list of future projects.

Hey Presto - A New Sofa

Oh Hai. We have moved to www.pigeonhq.com
Pretty much the same but no .blogspot. Same but BET-TER.



We have decided its finally time to replace our exiting sofa. This is a decision we have waited to make for a long time. This sofa used to live at the Sea Shanty, back when Pete was still a young, single lad. It was never meant to be a fancy sofa, just a cheepy from Fantastic Furniture. The share house chipped in for a matching pair, this one has carried on with us for the 6 and a half years Pete and I have been together.

It has definitely stood the test of time. They got is scotch-guarded, surviving many a party, sleeping bodies and random drop ins above the general task of everyday sitting in front of the TV and jamming with a bunch of mates. Its still in awesome condition, no a rip, tear, stain, or mark on it after all these years. In a way I've been waiting for the sofa to cark it so we can get it replaced, but it just keeps living!

Alas, its time to go sofa. King Furniture had a massive sale, up to 50% off. The sofa we chose, called Houdini was 40% off. We got to the show room on the last day of the sale, not even sure if we were going to buy that day. 'King' pride themselves on their modular collections, being able to mix components to suit your space. They also have the infamous Delta storage collection.
We saw this sofa in the showroom and indeed its storage capacity is massive, you can see how the tubs sit to the ground in the image below. The hinge system is really well constructed too.



For us though, we had our eyes peeled on the new "Houdini". Aparently so new that even the sofa in the showroom on Parramatta Road is more of a prototype. All the images online don't show the arm panels that were available on the day. The table in the picture below is something we want to get for the sofa further down the line. Because our place is so small we could buy a nice quality piece of furniture that wont cost us too much. We got a two seater (which is more like a two and a half because the seats are huge) with two backs and two arm panels.


So comfy, the arm panels (not shown) are low and soft so they can be used to rest on like pillows. I love how its dimpled as well like an old chesterfield, or like a big fat down feather quilt.


Choosing the right fabric was important too. We liked two other fabrics that had a larger weave to them but Michelle, (the sales assistant) suggested that it wouldnt work as well because of the dimples in the fabric. It would be harder to line up the weave on the stitching lines making the fabric look crooked. This was a really good point. I should mention, if anyone heads to the Annandale King Furniture store, talk to Michelle. Best service ever.

We settled on two swatches that we really liked. Michelle showed us two other sofas that were on display in the showroom of different models that had the same fabric as these swatches.The white looked A-MAZING, but could we jump in the deep end. You know EVERYONE talks about the dreaded white sofa saga. All the niggling comments were flooding trough my brain. We looked at the Portland silver which was on display on a Baby Jasper. There was a menagerie of small children, maybe five, six, possibly more climbing over this sofa like a jungle gym. Michelle mentioned this is not out of the ordinary, considering there was a cartoon playing on the TV at the display, I could see why. Were these paid child stars?? I had to wonder. It all seemed to obvious - pick the silver. It still looked mint!


This Baby Jasper taken from their site, I believe is in the same fabric. Its almost like an unbleached canvas (think Ikea bottom end sofa), which is what I was worried about, but it looks much more refined and deliberate than that.


Delivery is expected for mid April, just in time for Petes Birthday.Hopefully we will get the skirting board finished by the time April comes around.

You Paid How Much?

Oh Hai. We have moved to www.pigeonhq.com
Pretty much the same but no .blogspot. Same but BET-TER.


Just when I thought the Sydney Op-Shop bargains were over, an oasis emerges from the heat of the Inner West. The furniture is delivered daily, and though they have a small selection, apparently things turn over VERY quickly. I can see why.

This one was missing a ticket, now usually at Sydney Op-Shops, there's no budging the ladies for a sale. If there's no ticket, there's no sale. Even though they just make up the ticket prices out of thin air, they still cant decide on a price on the spot. This was the final death of the op-shop experience.

Well not today! Not anymore!! THIS op-shop lady plucked a sweet ten dollars out of those fluffy white clouds. There were two and she let me split them, and sold them as each. That hasn't happened since 1999!

Now this 3 drawer retro side table lives next to the bed. Its obviously not in perfect condition. A few scratches. Because its wood veneer, I cant really sand it back. The drawer fronts are pretty minimal. The top, I've stuck on an off-cut of Cole & Son Off wallpaper with double sided tape.

I got the cane basket sitting on top for one dollar and a nice dress which only cost me five bucks.
Admittedly, the bus cost me two dollars because I couldn't walk home but I'm still calling it a thrifty day.

The Great Wall of Chester 2

Oh Hai. We have moved to www.pigeonhq.com
Pretty much the same but no .blogspot. Same but BET-TER.


To think that the committee took years to address the problem. Months to get a quote, more months to agree on a quote and another month or so of delays from the workers, council and insurance before the job even began.
To this! So much progress - in a matter of days. They started only last week and everyday, the wall grows before our very eyes.

The Great Wall of Chester

This photo below taken by the real estate agent back when they were selling the unit doesn't show the true state of the retaining wall. As you can see from the image below, it was in need of replacement. The council had issued us with a warning and a time-frame to fix the wall or a fine of considerable amount, (thousands, not hundreds) would be charged.
A severe slant on the wall was beyond repair. Staples were attempted but this short term solution wasn't good enough. The wall had to go.



The front portion of sandstone wall was still in good quality, so this was kept and the capping removed. The sandstone wall is now being stepped so we can landscape some shrubs and flowers to soften the front. The white wall on the other side of the block was the most damaged, a rendered brick wall, it was doomed to fail from day 1.





The old white rendered wall was removed in a few days and work has begun on the sandstone look wall.


Real sandstone was too expensive for the job. These sandstone blocks are made for retaining walls compared to bricks and mortar which aren't meant to hold so much soil pressure.
This should last for MANY years to come.



Our old mailboxes will be replaced with something newer and shinier (similar to the image below) I think. Haven't seen these as yet so its still a bit of a mystery as to how it will be when its finished.

Mountain Ranges

Oh Hai. We have moved to www.pigeonhq.com
Pretty much the same but no .blogspot. Same but BET-TER.


When figuring out if I want to put wallpaper up on the bedroom wall behind the bed, I like to have a bit of a play to see if it would look any good. I've been looking on Wallpaper Direct which is a site from the UK. Their wallpaper is from reputable, big named companies and is much cheaper than buying from Australia, especially with the great exchange rates at the moment, even if the hefty cost for postage, it'd still be worth it. Then I discovered wall murals. A lot more sites from the US offer this, and it costs about the same as wallpaper. The large ones, (they come in different sizes) are in 8 panels and go on the wall just like regular wallpaper.

I know this is really cheesy but check out the mountain mural mock up! Oh how I love kitch...but maybe not for this apartment. I would so love to have a real house and a play house just so I could do silly stuff like this. Maybe for our next place I will be a little braver in my decorative choices.