Who doesn't love a good before and after pic?! So here we go - the kitchen is finally finished. Looks amazing and is SO easy to work in.
We removed the wall between the old kitchen and the 'sun room' which was a big waste of space just storing the fridge which was too big for the kitchen.
We removed the wall between the kitchen and the dinning area opening the whole back of the house up into one massive space. A job for next year will be to paint the dinning area, but for now all the morning sun comes streaming in and we can see the beautiful old frangipani tree outside.
The old oven alcove works brilliantly as a walk in pantry, it did take me ages to source some simple track and bracket shelving in a shiny silver. Eventually found it tucked away at the back of our local hardware store and used ikea silver shelves. That came to about $250 as opposed to using a matt grey or white system from Howards Storage World which would have been $750. The double bin works great for the doggy food, the rubbish bin is built into the back of the island unit.
We finished it all off with some under shelf wine racks, either side of the fridge, and a vertical herb garden using pots and bars from ikea. And of course my magnetic chalkboard which I've always wanted. Just a sheet of metal from the hardware store painted with chalkboard paint and ikea magnetic storage containers for all of our herbs and spices.
Just a slight improvement on the kitchen before...
The work of Linda Arthurs caught my eye this week. Big on my to do list has been the idea of mixed media or pen drawn interiors, just full of pattern, and Linda has a few pieces that remind me of this.
I've managed to coax the printer back to life so prints are now available of my security envelope portrait via etsy
Finally we're making some progress with the kitchen reno. After a bit of hunting we found a builder who actually looked in the roof space to confirm one of the walls we wanted to remove wasn't structural. Everythings been ripped out and we're busy painting and puttying while the kitchen is being built.
Since I started working with envelope lining I've become a little obsessed with all things blue and white, like willow pattern china. I'm loving the work of Caroline Slotte who reassembles ceramic plates into artworks. Wow.
The Once Upon a Time exhibition has ended. Thanks to everyone who came along, made a purchase or donation to Make a Wish and a big thanks the gals from the Creative Activists for putting it all together. Here are a few pics from the opening taken by my very talented hubby.
You can still check out my work for the exhibit in creative monsoon's online gallery and a few smaller versions of the prints are still available.