Thinking Out of the Box

Sometimes when you are working on a project, measurements may go haywire due to the materials that does not measure up or for ANY particular reason.  So you have to make amends and think out of the box.  You have to be creative.  You have to see BEYOND the project, beyond what the material or project can offer.

For our latest project, the DIY Bathroom Counter Top (you can read about it here), that was what happen.  

We bought the Ikea Freden series cabinets which are for bathroom storage. We used the cabinet for the sink but because our counter top was long and over lapped over the cabinet, and we did not want to cut the beautiful Chenggal wood, there was an empty space below the counter top.

So we decided to cut the Ikea Freden shelve.  By cutting the shelve, we got one cabinet and one side table.  The cabinet was inserted into the empty space and the shelve will be used for another project.

Hopefully the pictures below will give you a visual understanding ... 

The counter top that over lapped from the cabinet.
Hence, there was an empty space at the right.

The Ikea Freden shelve which was cut into half.
Used only the cabinet.

The cabinet fits nicely into the empty space as you can see on the right.

DIY Bathroom Counter Top

After 2.5 years of moving into our new home, we finally got around to install the counter top and cabinet in our master bathroom.  We purchased the Freden series cabinets at the discount corner in Ikea before we moved in.  The counter top is recycled Chenggal wood which we bought from our local lumber yard.  Plumbing was done by Hubby himself.

Here are the pictures of our master bathroom.

Before : Our bathroom, plain and simple.

After : The counter top and cabinet installed!

For now, this will be the decoration ...
intend to add more color later

In progress : Adding the counter top.  

So much storage now!

A look at the plumbing and how we manage to
incorporate it with the cabinet

Another look of the plumbing and cabinet

DIY Coffee Table

This is another completed DIY project that we did, a coffee table.  It is a mixture of wood and metal. We think the wood is from a mahogany family.  Hubby and a neighbor found the tree which was chopped down by the local municipal council by the road side.  Apparently someone has slice the tree already but was not able to transport it.

This project took about only two weeks to complete.  Here are some pictures on the chronicles of the coffee table.

This is where the wood was found.

The wood was a little too thick for a coffee table.

Our neighbour helped us to slice the wood
with his chainsaw. 

The wood is in the process of being sliced.

Done! Sliced!

A close-up of the wood slice.

Hubby used a sander to smoothen the wood.

Getting the wood ready to be treated.

The wood has been treated so that no bugs
will attack the wood in the future.

We used metal for the coffee table legs.
We did not use wood as we did not
want to take the beauty away from
the coffee table top.

Legs from the other side of the coffee table.

Close up of the wood texture. Beautiful!

Bracket being fixed onto the metal leg.
Mini shelf will be fixed later.

Our DIY Shoe Cabinet - Part 1

Living in a home with 5 people, of which 3 are growing up children, there are bound to be lots of shoes lying around!  Shoes for school, shoes for going out, shoes for sports, shoes for work, shoes for walking and the list goes on ... 

So handyman Daddy made us a shoe cabinet.  One that can keep all our shoes.  It will come with a short bench so that we can sit to put our shoes on and a tall cabinet to put our laundry hangers and pegs and maybe some gardening tools.

The materials used for this cabinet are recycled wood from old kampung (village) houses such as the walls and window frames.  The type of wood are Balau and Chenggal, I don't know what are the English names for these woods.

We will leave you with some photos and will update more when the final project is completed.

The green drawers is where we currently keep our shoes,
one drawer for each family member.

The frame is put in place to confirm the length we want.

One of the cabinet doors in the making.

The skeleton frame of the cabinet.

The side and top of the cabinet is put in place.

The cabinet doors are being fixed.

Furniture Refurbishment ~ We found more Chairs

CRAZY US!

We found more rattan chairs and of course we had to have it! Someone had thrown away six white color rattan chairs.  We took only one as the others were rotting.  

Funny how I have always wanted white rattan chairs and now that I found them, I want to spray them bright lemon yellow, and that is just what I did.  This rattan chair will be used in my craft room.

Brought home two rattan chairs but only one was in good condition.
After spray paint ~ the bright lemon  yellow.

The rattan chair in the midst of being spray painted.

Furniture Refurbishment

Here is an update on the two rattan chairs that we brought back from the shrubs in Bukit Jelutong, Shah Alam.  We washed, sanded them down and dried both chairs in the sun for a few days.  Both chairs had to be repaired a little, mainly by securing and making them more stable.  We had to remove one of the arm rest for one of chairs as that was not repairable.  This will be our 5th and 6th rattan chair that we have refurbished.

One chair will be for our daughter's study table.  Since we will be spray painting these chairs, our daughter has requested for Mint color.  The other chair is for myself, it will sit nicely at my craft table.  I am thinking of a bright Yellow Lemon color.  All that is left to do now is to find a nice cushion for the chair.

One of the two rattan chairs being
prepped for spray painting

The front view ~ in the process of spray paint

More front view

Side view ~ almost done

From the top and back view

Furniture Refurbishment

We recently brought home two rattan chairs that were thrown away.  I see these chairs every time on my way to work, but because they were thrown in the shrubs, I could not take them myself.  So finally, on one Saturday, I dragged Hubby along and we went to get the chairs.  One was in good condition and the other not so.

These chairs will go nicely into the children's room for their study table.  We brought them home, gave it a good wash and Hubby sanded it down.  Next step will be to spray paint it to the color of our children's liking and buy a cushion for these chairs.  The girl wants her chair to be Mint color while the boy wants his chair to be Silver or Gold color.

This will be our 5th Chair Refurbishment. We also refurbished a baby rocking chair and you can read about it here and here.  We also refurbished other rattan chairs which we picked up from road sides and dumpsters.  You can read about these chairs here. 

This is where we found the rattan chairs

We had to wash the chairs as fungus was growing on the rattan chairs

Left : After sanding down
Right : Before sanding down

Before being spray painted

After spray painted and I sewed the cushion cover

Our DIY Bed

If you have read our blog post about the Chronicles of our DIY Bed Frame (link), well, here is the final picture of the bed.  We just love this bed, you just want to lie in bed the whole day and do nothing ... that is how we feel ...

Our DIY bed ~ finally completed.  We love it!