The Kitchen Reno - D Day 2nd Week September 2014

AHHHHHHHHH freaking out. My leave has been approved for the 2nd, 3rd and 4th week of September to get this old, broken kitchen out and put this new bitchin kitchen in! All by ourselves (well.......hopefully with a little help from our lovely friends and family and a great electrician).

You might be thinking, Gee Jess that sounds easily doable, why three weeks off? 
STOP JINXING ME DAMMIT!

In true CaseyPedersen form, it is not simply a kitchen swap - oh no....we will also be pulling up the multitude of floor surfaces (read: horrible yellow laminate, black lino over white tiles in random places, and manky carpet) and installing our new flooring throughout the ENTIRE house; which will this be this beauty:




Yeah. We're insane. But we like it.

As for kitchen design, we are finalising our IKEA 3D build and making a few adjustments here and there (an undermount sink? YES PLEASE) so I should have a screenshot of that soon for you all.

We have chosen the gloss white ABSTRAKT cupboards with a Laminex Freestyle benchtop (including waterfall edge on the island) in Smooth Concrete. Pretty much the exact kitchen look below (down to the handles) but with an integrates dishwasher & different backsplash (we'll get to that in a minute)





As for the backsplash we are on the hunt for some 51mm white hexagonal tiles with white grout, ala:





But what about lighting, I hear you ask. This one is a difficult choice. Tim is what I like to refer to as a BIG FAT SNOB. He is headoverheels for $400 concrete pendants (each!!) from The Block below; whereas I am of the mind that it is ridiculous to spend $1200 on 3 lights to hang over a bench (no matter how pretty and delicious they are). So I guess we will see how much room we have in the budget once we have some items locked in and go from there.




Speaking of budget, we're hoping to pull this whole reno in under $15k including appliances - some of which we have already begun collecting. We scored a $3k 70cm Westinghouse induction touch Cooktop on GraysOnline for about $270 and a discontinued hidden Rangehood from Ikea (still in box) for $74 (85% off!!!!!!).

Next up is an oven and fridge as we know we are buying a Microwave Oven and the integrated Dishwasher from Ikea. But promise me you won't mention fridge size around Tim; he thinks we need one big enough to feed a small family of 30.....

Until next time xox

Loungeroom Updates

Introducing our new Draper lounge from Freedom!!! We have lusted after this lounge for so long; that wood, those cushions!

Also arriving at the party are the Stockholm Coffee Table from Freedom, some new rugs from Kmart, an industrial side table/stool from Eureka Street and some amazing potted plants. The pot plant below is a rubber plant in a designer pot from Biku Furniture on the coast (a gift from me to Tim).

& this little man is Wilfred #2 (um yeah so we're not great Peace Lily owners and we're up to second one already....whoops) in an Ikea pot on a little wheelie thing which allows our robotic vacuum cleaner to ram into him and move him into the corner... yay?

Our previous DIYs

Sometimes I get overexcited. I do, especially about house DIY projects on my favourite blogs & Pinterest. When I see something amazing my brain kinda shuts down and I forget that I am a novice with power tools (except jigsaws, holla @ dad for trying to make me into the son he never had).
I think to myself that it looks simple, so so simple and easy and oh wow I can just go to Masters and buy those bits and make that and my house will look better than anyone's ever!!!.

No, Jessica...No.

We have had some great DIY successes and some not so great ones too; but that's ok, because everyone is a little bit shit at the start (& the middle &, spoiler, there is no end so you may always be a little shit).

However I am in a fabulous mood because I have the day off work and I have just finished a rigorous round of online Halo followed by doing absolutely nothing - so let's focus on the DIY successes shall we?

First up, our matching TV unit & dresser. 
Although these weren't originally a matching pair, my gorgeous controlfreak of a boyfriend needs a little matchymatchy in his life. Alas these two twins were born.

Originally crappy gumtree purchases, Tim & littlebro Mike stripped the crappy laminate off these cupboards, painted the shells a gloss white; and cut & stained a plywood sheet to make new 'laminate' drawer fronts. I have the name of the wood stain around here somewhere, promise I'll find it one day. I was allowed to assist with the stripping (not as fun as it sounds) and measuring out drawer fronts.

Dresser (unfortunately I don't have a before for this one)

TV Cabinet before

BAM secret door. Bet you didn't see that coming. 

The boys joined 3 drawer fronts together to allow our Xbox 360 to fit. They're smart boys I tell ya

Next, the ombre dresser.
Tim's old dresser was in need of a little love, with scratched drawers and missing knobs. I purchased a few small sample paint tins from Bunnings and went to work. I love how it turned out and we have used it for a few months now. Unfortunately there is no real place for it in the new house so it may be sold soon.

Our amazing dining table
Tim purchased some old wood that used to form part of the Pimpama Wharf and, with the help of Mike, built us a 6 person dining table. He used new wood to frame the reclaimed timber and added metal legs from a desk kit (Officeworks). It weighs an absolute ton and I love it even if it attacks me with splinters once in a while

Next, Tim's office coffee table (now living in our loungeroom)
I built this coffee table for Tim for one of our anniversaries from stained Timber and angled metal pieces from Bunnings. Due to our old coffee table shitting itself, we have now relocated this one to our new house and will re-stain the top a less-red colour

The infamous tub chair
I can't express how much Tim disliked the broken, cream tub chair I bought off ebay for $15. I printed out a hexagon clipart image and used it as a template; utilising painters tape to tape up the entire chair (yeah I totally regretted it halfway through) and mixed fabric medium & yellow paint. Result - success? Unknown. We have lived with this chair for months now and it is a bit bright for our new place - hopefully I can find a new loving home for it, in someone else's house.