Kitchen renovation

I have hated my kitchen ever since I bought my home several years ago.  The previous owners 'renovated' the kitchen (seriously - what were they thinking?!) and the result was brown walls, brown cupboards and a brown floor. 

 

 

I didn't want to do a total renovation of the kitchen as this would be over-capitalizing on the property, but I've decided to stay in my home for a few more years, so I needed to at least 'disguise' the horrible brownness (yes - that's the technical term for butt-ugly coloured kitchens!). 

 

Renato from Ned and Nancy's repainted the existing cabinets and wall tiles 'Paris Grey' using Annie Sloan chalk paint, and I'm loving the result. 

 

 

Renato has a great team that finished the job in 2 half days and 1 full day.  It's taking a while longer to unpack each cupboard, wash out the shelves and contents, and I'm uncluttering as I go.  I'm a happy bunny in the kitchen now.

 

 

Art

I've lived in my home for 4 years and many of the walls are still very bare.  I love beautiful art, so I started looking at art online, in galleries and at some of the monthly 'art in the part' events.  I was determined to only buy art that I loved, and after months of looking, I eventually found 4 painting that I love in the space of 2 weeks.  I then commissioned a 5th painting by one of the artists. 

 

The 3 new flower paintings are in my dining room, next to 2 paintings which I did many years ago

These beauties are in my bedroom

I found it

My sister Caron, Lynn, Connor and I intended to go for a walk at the Walter Sisulu Botanical Gardens on Tuesday 16 December - the Day of Reconciliation in South Africa.  I wanted to actually see the summer cuckoos that I hear calling all day in my suburb. 

 

But it was raining when we woke up so instead, we had breakfast at Lifestyle Garden Centre. 

 

Caron and I - LOVE this  lady!

Lynn and her son Connor 

We pottered around the shops.  And then I found it!  The walls of my bedroom have been bare since I moved in 2 and a half years ago.  I've been looking for a picture of a King Protea for my bedroom for ages.  I found this gorgeous painting in one of the shops at Lifestyle.  And it was on sale.  It looks fabulous in my bedroom!  The navy background of the painting has inspired me to add some navy blue to the colour scheme of my cream and pink bedroom next year.  I'm still on the lookout for another painting or two of proteas

 

 

A little wall art project

I have lived in my 'new' home for a year, and the home decorating continues slowly.  Last weekend I put the wall art up in the guest bedroom.  The colours in the bedroom are cream, orange and brown, so I used aloes (which I looove) as the theme for the wall art...

 

 Before : this wall has been bare since I moved in over a year ago

I re-used some old frames that were in storage 

I printed 2 of the photos of aloes that I took at the

Walter Sisulu Botanical Gardens last weekend 

some pray inks on cardstock as a background to the photos... 

added to some orange and brown cardstock for double-matting 

and the finished wall - the large canvas print is from @Home,

the 2 oil paintings are from the Irene Country Market (painted by an artist in Pretoria), and my 2 framed photos

 

 

a little garden project

I have not done any 'serious' gardening for many years, but having a new home with a rubbish garden means that I am inspired to roll up my sleeves and get busy.  This weekend, I 'renovated' a little piece of mess at the entrance to my townhouse...

 

This messy patch was filled with broken, uneven bricks

and awful pots that were painted purple!  The gardener

cleaned and levelled off the space for me

the pots were repainted a terracotta colour, I laid down a piece of mesh to prevent the weeds and grass growing, and then surrounded the pots with pebbles.  I just need to buy a few more bags of pebbles to finish off the space

 

 

this overgrown hanging basket now looks like this....

 



and this half-dead basket is now filled with winter pansies

 

My back is sore and my thigh muscles are protesting, but I'm inspired to keep going.  Summer is just 2 months away...

 

Home - a work in progress

I've lived in my (new) home for almost a year now, and it's been a year of hard work and lots of changes.  I'll do a full picture update soon, but here are some of the things that have been happening on the home front...

  

Most windows are covered by awful yellow office blinds (above),

I've had some of the old blinds replaced by wooden blinds.

I still need curtains for many of the windows

 

Patio wall art

 

 

Wall art - I embroidered all these bird pictures myself

most of my photos are up, including 3 canvas prints from our family photo shoot

I still need a lot of wall art, especially for the bedrooms, but I'll wait until I find

(or make) art that I love

I am hugely affected by my environment, so I definitely need a home that is comfortable, peaceful and clutter free.  During the last month, I have donated 3 bags of clothing and a car load of other items to the Randburg SPCA.  Lots more to go, but making progress.  The concept of 'living with less' appeals to me.