For some reason I don’t have a photo of the kitchen with the old light (oh yeah, could be because I didn’t like it so I always cropped it out).

But I do have a photo of the same fixture elsewhere in the house. Because when we moved in every. single. fitting. in the house was the same boring builder’s special that you see above.

Ah, I love how pendant lights work to define a space so much more than the ceiling-mounted variety. The industrial brushed metal finish of the Ikea light we chose ties in perfectly with the cabinet handles, and at just fifteen bucks it was a very cheap tweak to the room.

I would be remiss if I didn’t also thank The Man for installing it for me. x

Family Handyman

Hands up who could do with some more storage in the kitchen? Yep, me too.

These fantastic drawers installed into the usually wasted toe-kick space have to be one of the cleverest ways I’ve seen to cheat more storage. They’re perfect for those awkward large items such as baking trays and best of all, they can be retrofit into your existing cabinetry.

Here’s the tutorial if you’re game to DIY it, otherwise ask a kitchen company or your local cabinetmaker.

My parents gave me this great tea towel a while ago as a gift. It was too cute I didn’t want to use it.

I simply stretched it over a piece of foamcore (available from art stores) and secured with thumbtacks.

I think it adds a touch of personality and a layered look to the kitchen shelf.

Do you have any art in your kitchen?

You may remember earlier in the year I told you how we removed the window film in the laundry. It’s a really small window but was an absolute PITA to remove, so it’s taken me this long to get over it and tackle the much larger windows in the kitchen.

The before shot I took doesn’t show the true cruddiness of the window, so here is a lovely shot from when we first moved in. Someone clearly thought that cleaning the window with steel wool was an awesome idea.

Before:

After:

I know there doesn’t appear to be a huge difference in the photos (especially since part of the view in the ‘before’ is overexposed) but you can definitely notice how much clearer and brighter it is in real life.

It had taken us four weekends of on-and-off attempts to scrape the film off the left window pane (I would get the size of the postage stamp done before my arm felt like it was going to fall off). The secret to removing it, as we found out last time, was elbow grease. This time, however, we learnt that there is definitely such a thing as too much elbow grease. The Man had just started working on the second pane when he heard a *CRACK*. Uh-oh!

Fortunately, since we’re in a Strata Title home, any damage to the building itself is covered by the Strata’s insurance so we didn’t have to shell out the 250 bucks (!) to have the broken pane replaced.

Unfortunately, the new pane is held in place with exposed silicone, so I’ll have to paint the outdoor trim (as you can see, it clearly needed it anyway).

Very happy with the results from inside though, and glad we don’t have any other windows with film! The view from the kitchen window is so clear now it makes me want to get outside and tidy up the garden.

You already know I love Orla Kiely so I couldn’t resist sharing this fantastic kitchen makeover by The Bee & The Bobbin that I spotted on Apartment Therapy.

I love that instead of replacing everything new-for-old, they kept the fabulous original mint green oven and rangehood, which looks perfect with the Ms Kiely’s stem wallpaper.

Get the nitty gritty here.

As you may have noticed, we haven’t done too many big projects on the house lately.

But there have been a few small additions, like this candlestick. The shape is much more formal and traditional than I’d normally like, but the glass makes it so much more modern, don’t you think? It makes a nice little touch to my quite girly dresser.

On the other side of the bedroom, we’ve replaced the chunky old CD player…

…with a compact new iPod dock. We already had a dock actually, which we use frequently when entertaining outside, but for the bedroom we wanted one with a radio and alarm clock. Apart from being a lot sleeker in appearance, I love that it is so much smaller and less intrusive.

For downstairs, I scored this fantastic laser cut felt table runner for $2 and the local bargain shop! It really dresses up the table without getting in the way.

I had been eyeing off these cute matryoshka doll measuring cups since they came out a couple of years ago but could never really justify the purchase for myself. Imagine my surprise when my friend gave them to me for my birthday! How did she know? They are the perfect addition to the new kitchen shelf.

What are your latest fave finds?

Apparently I have a dream kitchen.

I knew I had preferences, sure, but I didn’t realise how specific my ideal kitchen was until I was looking back over my Pinterest and discovered that the kitchens I’d pinned all. looked. the same.

Cote de Texas | Number 19 | Style at Home | Kitchenism

Traditional white cabinetry? Check. Dark timber floors? Check. Lab sink? Check. Industrial details? Check.

Hello! I’m back with all the gory details of how we installed the new kitchen shelf.

Here’s the easy option:

1. Go to Ikea; buy a floating shelf.

2. Install shelf.

Now, the longer version for people who like to be difficult prefer everything to fit perfectly.

1. Research DIY floating shelves. Find tuturials using hollow-core door. Send husband to hardware store to buy hollow-core door. Console said husband after the people at the hardware store told him he was crazy and it would never work. Curse people at hardware store. Get discouraged. Give up for two months.

2. Devise alternate plan. Buy solid timber, floating shelf brackets (from here) and a huge f***-off spade drill bit.

3. Follow advice of every DIY blogger and paint shelves prior to installation.

(Optional step: Ask handy father-in-law to come over because you realise you have no idea about carpentry.)

4. Mark out on the wall where the brackets and shelves need to go.

5. Drill holes into back of shelf with spade bit matching up to where the bracket prongs will be.

6. Chisel out the back of the shelf where the bracket backing plate will fit.

7. Drill holes in the wall until it looks like swiss cheese.

8. Insert wall plugs and screw in brackets.

9. Slip bang shelves onto brackets.

10. Realise that the shelves and wall are so knocked and marked you will have to repaint anyway. Curse a bit.

11. Chisel out a space for and screw in steel mending plates over the join between shelves to reinforce and straighten.

12. Putty over mending plates. Sand and repaint shelves.

13. Marvel at your handiwork. (Join? What join?). Understand that no one will see it anyway but remain impressed with self.

(Optional step: Install microwave mounting brackets.)

14. Clean up, step back. Gaze in wonderment that eighteen months after you sketched out your plans and six months after you purchased the brackets, the sodding thing is finally finished.

15. Promise husband you won’t ask him to help you with any more projects for at least another two months month until next weekend.

This is an angle of the kitchen that you’ve never seen. There’s clearly a reason for that: even after our kitchen makeover, this side remained decidedly blah with that huge white wall o’ nothing and the appliance pile-up in the corner. Add to that the fact that since we replaced the old step bookcase with the entertainment unit in the lounge oh, maybe eight months ago, our cookbooks had been sitting in a pile on the floor.

(That is not what I call a blog-worthy scene.)

A floating shelf was the perfect thing to break up the wall and add much-needed storage. We also mounted the microwave on the wall to free up bench space.

My cookbooks now have a home and we can enjoy looking at some of our cute kitchenware all the time.

Tomorrow I’ll share all the juicy DIY details.

We had a cute Marie Claire half-and-half round salt and pepper set, until we accidentally proved that ceramic doesn’t bounce. We were left with only one, which looked pretty lonely on the table. So I glued on a couple of magnets to the remaining half and now we have a handy salt shaker on the fridge. We already have a pepper grinder by the stove so it worked out quite nicely.