Sunday, February 14, 2010

Fabulous February Update

As part of Fabulous February I looked at the household projects that needed to be started or finished (or both) The back patio was looking a bit like a second hand yard. Not pretty.  My big priority was getting my hands on a staple gun for one of the projects. When I think of one of us wielding a staple gun I am transported to a memory of my childhood and my mother saying "Put that down or someone's going to lose an eye " We didn't own a staple gun in my childhood, but the "Put that down or"...rule applied it seemed to almost everything.   Both of us  kids managed to get to adulthood with the right number of eyes so the naggng paid off. Thanks Mum.

We lashed out and bought  a staple gun and how freaking awesome is this tool? I’ve been running around ever since looking for things to staple. I’m going to select projects from now on purely on the basis of whether I can somehow work my staple gun into the process and I’m pretty sure I can sell my sewing machine because now I can just staple a quilt together. Love , Love Love the staple gun.

As usual, I digress. But thanks for sticking  there with me, waiting for me to get to the point. Did I mention how much I love my staple gun?

So far Mr Pyjamas and I have managed to finish two of the million projects I had in mind for this month. Whooooooo Hoooooooooo we’re on fire!

This is the side of the house BPC. (Before Project Completion). We all have an area like this – a neglected area that nobody ever goes to and nobody ever sees, except the neighbours, so you completely ignore it – and said neighbours whisper about how lazy you are and how awful your garden/yard /house looks.

See how the dogs look surprised because they've never seen us in this part of the yard before?

This is the same area now....after one hour on a Sunday morning. I'm going to get some mulch for those garden beds.


Completely inspired by Chad over at Bald Man Mod Pad , the second project really appealed to me for the back wall of our house. I saw it a while back and thought "I'm so gonna do this". It was a true recycling project. The filing cabinets cost us nothing. They were being turfed out at my work because they were occupationally unsafe as filing cabinets, and when we removed the drawers and runners we offered those bits on freecycle. Someone took them for shed storage.



Take two condemned filing cabinets, rip the guts out and paint them



Take a messy part of your back yard and clean it up thereby limiting opportunities for your neighbours to talk about your laziness.

Finished  planters. Gorgeous. Pat yourself on the back, and enjoy the envious stares from the neighbours.

Paint was a leftover from a previous project, pavers to raise them off the concrete were leftovers, and plants were moved into the planter from another part of our garden. This project cost us $36.00 for dirt. (Does it seem strange to anyone else we had to pay for dirt?)

Projects three and four are under way as we speak. One is being accompanied by the copious use of profane language by Mr. Pyjamas. Apparently that helps with the process somehow.

By the way I had an awesome childhood and my mother wasn’t a bigger nag than anyone else’s mother. However she was a worrier about safety. We weren’t allowed to play with guns, knives, sticks or any other sharp objects. (Go Figure!)We still found creative ways to injure ourselves, like the time my sister rode her bike off the edge of the verandah into the rose bushes and the time I had an 8 kilo rock drop on my head. Mum  also had an abnormal obsession about us getting our fingers trapped in slamming doors. Aside from that she was completely normal and an ultra-cool Mum.  Love ya Patty. Thanks for giving a rats about whether I had to go through life as a cyclops.

5 comments:

Brenda said...

Wow! Looks fab!

CK said...

looks hot! a slew of foul language always helps make projects look better.

Shay said...

lol CK, well it was a fabulous idea to start with ...as I'm sure you would agree. That filing cabinet planter idea of yours is now internationally famous.

TheLab said...

I am in AWE of these things! (I was loving my snow, but now after seeing these photos I want some of your warm Aussie days!!!)

How do you think of these things!?!?!? I am obsessed with make-overs like this, and these photos are shocking. Totally beautiful.

And you cracked me up about the dogs being surprised to see you and Mr. P in that area! HA HA HA HA HA!!!

Shay said...

I steal all my ideas from other people's blogs. I've never had an original home decorating idea in my life. Actually that's not true. I have gold twigs in a vase in my entry hall that everyone comments on. That was my idea. And rattan balls in a gold fish bowl. My idea too.

Aren't those planters fabulous? Bless CK for posting about them. Everyone I know is planning to do some. And Leslie...you should see the rest of my house. the bits I haven't displayed are a complete mess decor wise.