Desk under the stairs

Our latest addition to the house is a built in desk under the staircase.

We used messmate floorboards for the desk and back part of the desk.

The drawers I bought from IKEA and painted white. It a Klimpen for $120 and comes in grey only.

We added MDF and skirting boards to make it look built in.

We even made a ledge above the desk to put the printer on so there is more actual desk space.

So this is what the empty space used to look like:

 

 And this is what it looks like now:

Looks much better at Christmas time I know.

Some other shots.
This one is before the timber went on and while the drawers were still grey.

And these are what it looks like now. Note that we still need to finish the covering up of of the underside of the staircase.

Next is to add the door to the space behind the desk to hide away all the school and sports bags.

Oh and I need a nice new chair too.

Cheers,
Nat

Backyard plans

 Can you believe that Summer has now finished? Man that flew by.

During that time we have been planning the design for the backyard and finding a landscaper to help us implement. We snapped a few ideas into a mood board and sketched a shed plan.

We need a new shed, big enough to store the kids bikes and one day a kayak for Sammy. I would like to have a big grass area to play soccer and run around on. Some red brick garden beds and a place for the trampoline / spa (one day). Also I floated the idea of a dog potty so we can train the dog to wee and poo away from the new lawn.

So here is the plan.

We want to reuse all our old pavers to save money. The pergola we just moved to a new location near the back wall. We are getting the red bricks for free from Dave's Uncle, and the windows and doors for the shed are also free recycled old finds.

The grass and soil and labour will cost us about $1500. Plus any irrigation and other soil and plantings will be extra.

We spent the weekend pulling up the pavers and leveling out the backyard. We got a 4 cubic meter skip bin to fill up. Also we spring cleaned the shed ready to be pulled down and moved.

So it is all hands on deck at the moment as we want to get the lawn down before the weather cools down and before the landscaper goes away on holidays.

Feels good to be doing some hard labour again. Well for me, probably not for Dave.

Cheers,
Nat

New linen cupboard

 So, I had a plan that I wanted to turn the old wardrobe in the laundry (that only had hanging space) into my new linen cupboard. Makes sense having the linen in the laundry instead of the kitchen area as it previously was.

Here is the old linen cupboard which was over flowing:

 And this is the wardrobe in the laundry. I needed some space for the ironing board and vacuum cleaning as well as the sheets and towels.

 So in a few hours, Dave whipped up this for me.

 The ironing board and brooms can fit on the left and the vacuum goes under the bottom shelf.
So then the old linen cupboard as empty and ready to be extra pantry storage. Which with 3 kids was very much in need.

Old linen cupboard turned extra pantry space

Now my pantry

And the old pantry now has breathing room.

 

 Feels like a breath of fresh air to have room in the cupboards now. Also, I put all the kids snacks and cereals down the bottom so they can make their own food when required. No excuses!

Cheers,
Nat