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.

Light by Peca | Rubber stamp set by Yellow Owl | Decal by Smiley Walls | Doona cover by Urban Outfitters |  Tea towel by Ferm Living | Wallpaper by Graham & Brown

I was working on a project involving a birdcage (come back tomorrow to see what it is) and it reminded me about all the cute birdcage-inspired homewares I’ve seen lately. I love the mid-century vibe of the bed linen and the abstracted concept of the light fitting. I’m not a fan of decals except in kids’ rooms like this adorable nursery.

Super bonus commenter points if you can come up with your own Catalog Living-style caption to that last image.

I had a whole bag of scrabble tiles leftover from another project (more on that another time) that were crying out to be repurposed. I’ll be going through a few ideas over the coming weeks. First up, we have fridge magnets:

You could spell out lovely messages according to what’s being displayed (as with the invitation above) or go a bit more practical as in the examples below:

Although I have to admit the lack of punctuation in this last one offends the pedant in me.

Grammar aside, here’s the so-simple-I-wonder-why-I-did-a-tutorial instructions:

You will need:

• scrabble tiles (I bought mine here)
• strong magnets (I bought mine here)
• superglue

Instructions

1. Apply small dab of glue onto reverse of tile.

2. Press magnet into glue. Allow to dry.

What would you like to spell out with your magnets?

I mentioned some time ago in this post that I wanted to upgrade our dodgy plastic kitchen taps. Well I am pleased to announce that we have finally ticked it off!

To refresh your memory, here’s what it looked like before:

The tiles in the kitchen and laundry are painted, which had been problem-free until we realised that the baseplates for the new taps were smaller than the old ones. So we had to leave the water turned off (during a very hot weekend) until I’d touched up the gap.

Here they are now, all shiny and new:

The taps in the laundry didn’t look quite as bad as in the kitchen, but there was this little problem when the tap was running:

Yep, every time we used the laundry taps, we got a waterfall of wasted water coming out of the wall. Not cool.

We had the same ring-of-stripy tiles issue as in the kitchen, so after repainting that we thought we were smooth sailing home. Except that the new taps had a shorter thread than the old ones so we couldn’t screw them in. Gah! After an emergency trip to the hardware store to buy tap extenders, they look like this:

If you’re interested in replacing your own taps, I found some useful how-tos on YouTube.

I love how they look so much more crisp and clean, as well as being more functional. Not to mention crossing a long-standing job off your to-do list being so satisfying!

The cupboard where we keep the glassware in our kitchen is a decent height but had only one shelf, resulting in oodles of wasted space. I popped over to the hardware store (a minute’s walk away – gotta love that!) and had them cut a piece of laminated shelf to size which I then installed within literally five minutes.

You might notice the new crisp white shelf doesn’t match the original beige interiors, so it’s not exactly the prettiest storage ever, but I’m loving the extra functionality. Not only is it much more convenient than digging through cabinets to find the other glasses, it has also freed up loads of room where they had previously been stored. Not bad for ten dollars and ten minutes’ work.

I’ve been having withdrawal symptoms from my daily fix of fave blogs. After two weeks of hotel rooms, I had to satisfy my decorating habit with a hit of Young House Love, who reminded us about an incredible makeover that a reader sent in.

Here is the gloomy before:

And the elegant and light-filled after:

If your jaw is not already on the floor, it sure will be when I tell you how little their budget was. Homeowners Jordan and Landon completed this stunning transformation for less than a grand (US dollars).

(Spotto the pendant lamp that I have my eye on for our own kitchen.)

Want more? Get all the deets for the makeover here and see the rest of their gorgeous home here.

I am taking some time off my regular blogging schedule during the final days before my wedding and while I’m on my honeymoon. Since you will be at home while I am having the time of my life, I have pre-posted some fun links and great guest posts to keep you entertained.

I can’t emphasise enough what a fantastic resource Apartment Therapy is. The House Tours, in particular, are so inspiring. They feature real people, usually with small homes and small budgets, which is especially good if you are sick of seeing overly styled, unrealistic interiors.

You can easily freshen up your kitchen for loose change just by adding a fun new tea towel. If you think these examples might be just a tad too good to use on the dishes, stretch it over a basic canvas for cheap kitchen art in a flash.

My pick: I can’t go past the hilarious juxtaposition of the Tea Rex.

1. Fox and Cubs by Lush Designs.  2. Showpony is telling you what to do.  3. I pity the fool who doesn’t have a Mr Tea towel.  4. Bottles by Unity Peg.  5. Cute townhouses from Hunky Dory Home.  6. Butterfly Love by Ros Shiers.  7. Rob Ryan proves that his intricate paper cut designs can even make a humble tea towel look poignant. 8. Tea Rex by Jay Jay Burridge.  9. The coolest Hairy Lady I’ve ever seen, by Third Drawer Down.