“I will not say that your mulberry trees are dead; but I am afraid they're not alive.” - Jane Austen

Today, dear readers, Kit plans to grace you all with a peak inside her (and Face's) home.

She will also reveal her latest (and most adorable) crochet project.

And all this will be done with some very poor examples of photography! Huzzah!

One of the great things about moving to Tasmania was selling off all the previously owned furniture and coming across the Bass Strait with absolutely nothing. 'Say whaaaaa'?!' you exclaim. 'Surely, Kit, that would be most inconvenient!' Indeed, it was. Face spent a few weeks squatting on the floor with his computer set up on a cardboard box, many a meal was enjoyed over the kitchen sink, and we are still sleeping on a floor-mattress. But one of the great advantages of starting with the minimalistic/we-can't-afford-to-buy-furniture looks is that it allows you to go shopping for new furniture! And that's uber fun.

There are still quite a few empty spaces in the home of Kitcat and Face (they only yesterday recycled the massive pile of cardboard boxes that had been acting as clothes storage in the absence of a chest of drawers), but it's slowly filling with stuff. And now that Kit has a substantial collection of furniture, she can start renovating (i.e., painting a different colour) all of it! 

Let's get started with Kit's list of projects, shall we?

Now, Kit would have loved to have a cute little wooden table like this:

But it turns out delightful cottage/country-esque tables such as the above don't come up on Gumtree all that often. Instead, Kit has this:

It's... Functional! In addition, it has potential! Kit just isn't quite sure how to unlock said potential... Squirrel (Kit's go-to decorating guru) has suggested spray-painting all the black pieces white, as she did with her lovely (and quite similar) table, which can be seen on her blog (what do you mean Kit has pretty much copied her blog-format? Pfft. Individualism is overrated anyway). Given that the black paint is all rather chipped and gross, that is seeming like an excellent idea. 

Or Kit could try and combine this table with her dream table, and spray-paint the legs of this table white, and each of the chairs (including the wooden seats?) a different colour. Any suggestions, interweb friends? Gimme yo thoughts.

On to the dresser!

Standard dresser, really. The mirror/top section make it look rather dated, but they aren't attached, so that was removed as soon as the photo was taken. Kit has also removed the mirror from the rest of the piece (she spent an hour fiddling around with a screw-driver before realising that the mirror slides out), and is thinking of painting the frame (aqua! Or black! Purple! Red! Oh! The decisions!) and hanging it above the dresser. Face insisted on this (the hanging the mirror part. He doesn't care about the painting part). Not due to any decorative desires of his, but because the only other mirrors in the house are in the bathroom and the study. Apparently this is highly inconvenience for him, as (without fail) whichever one Kit chooses to use for her makeup application always seems to be in the room that he wants to enter at that time. Since the mirrors in the study and bathroom are both situated in places that result in a blocked doorway when in use, Face has decided that this Simply Won't Do. What a drama-queen. 

Moving on! Kit hasn't quite made up her mind as to whether or not she wants to paint the dresser yet. She did toy with the idea of whitewashing it, but that apparently requires sanding the wood back. That sounds like hard work. Especially since Kit doesn't have any super cool sanding machines, so would have to do the work by hand with a teeny tiny square of sanding paper. Such an outdated way of sanding.

For now, the dresser will remain as is, with all Kit's junk piled on top. Maybe she'll get a sanding machine for Face for his birthday and borrow it. Oh, no, Face says he doesn't want a sanding machine. Problematic.  

And the final piece Kit is planning to attack with her limited supply of tools and paint:

Don't mind the icky, cheap colour. That will be gone soon. They should look pretty good when painted to match the bed frame (when it finally gets delivered). White, of course. If you haven't yet cottoned on, Kit's solution to any renovating dilemma is to paint it white. Outdated piece? Paint it white. Non-matching furniture? Paint it white. Stain on the couch? Paint it white.

Face doesn't understand Kit's obsession with white furniture at all. She has tried to explain the 'nordic' look to him, but just got blank stares in return. It probably would have helped if she fully understood what she was talking about. 

And that completes the Kitcat's projects section of tonight's blog! This weekend will see Kit taking a trip out to Bunnings, and then stuff will (probably) start happening from there. Probably. Depending on whether Kit can actually summon the motivation after a week of reading journal articles and writing ethics proposals. Ethics proposals are just the worst.

THE WORST.

In other news, the promised cute thing!!

 

OH GAWD. IT'S JUST SO CUTE.

With it's little hot air balloons and rainbow and cloud and birdy and happiness. So soothing to stare up at. Soothing...

Kit made this for Miss B. and her adorable bub. The pattern came from Inside Crochet (issue 46, October 2013). As it's an old issue, Kit had to visit every single newsagent in Hobart to find a copy of the magazine. Maybe not every single newsagent. But close to. Like, one off. 

As it turns out, mobiles are really fun to make. Which means that all the other people in Kit's life who have babies can expect one to arrive in the mail in the coming months. Even those without babies will probably end up getting one.

Anyway. Kit wants to go to bed. Nighty night lovely readers! xx