This is the hidden comparment behind the old kitchen door. It’s only about 130mm deep — any ideas on what we can hide there? Candles and tins of baked beans?
When designing bookcases, one should take the thickness of the actual shelf into account. 185mm = good, 177 = bad.
CDs fit better, but I’d need a few thousand CDs to fill the shelves… so… the girls get a fairy shelf each, and I get to redesign these bookcases with fewer shelves.
We spoke to the carpet dudes in Fish Hoek a while ago, got a quote etc, but we waited as long as possible before (1) choosing the carpets (to match the kitchen cupboards and bookshelves which are still going in) and (2) having the carpets laid (to get as much work done without getting the carpets too dirty).
Belgotex Sensation Kiat for the living room (the one on the right).
Novilon Liberty Yellow Beech for our bathroom.
And while we were at it, Dakota Mist (floor) tiles for the kitchen backsplash.
The quote came to just under R14k (Carpets in Jessica’s room, passage and living room, Novilon in our bathroom, and the supply of one box of tiles). They’re starting on Thursday, which means we have to clear the place so they can work.
Tanya and I hit the road looking for furniture. A desk for Tamsyn, primarily, and pedestals for the main bedroom. We found both of these at Exclusive Used Furniture in Wynberg. Bought the desk, took an option on the pedestals. They also have a nice large oak wardrobe, which we’ve decided to get for Tanya.
When we saw this, we both went “ooooh!” It’s beautiful, but it also seems to be a cheap rip-off of the real thing. The drawers don’t fit properly and the doors are a bit wonky… but I’m still sorely tempted. (Price tags read R7900 / Now R6500).
At another place further down Main Road, we found this oak wardrobe, which might just work for me :
We also found the dressing table on the right, which is sooo nice — but it might not fit.
Some of this stuff is rather expensive. But if I built a 1800 wide chipboard closet with sliding doors, it will cost me about R6000 (unit on display at Lansdowne Boards, so I know). “Real” furniture is just so much more durable and less tacky than chipboard built-ins.
For now, everything’s going into Tamsyn’s room. She’s not happy :-)
<– Some of Tanya’s books.
It’s OK, I also have a few paperbacks somewhere to help fill up the shelves… (Truth is, I have a few *hundred* paperbacks in storage — now you know why we need so many shelves).
(I was in a hurry when I took these photographs so y’all will just hafta live with the autofocus, OK?)
The last five or six times we went to Muizenberg market, I looked for but could not find a prep bowl tap — i.e. a single tap for cold water only, not a mixer.
On Sunday we saw this one and I snagged it, even though it’s not quite what I wanted (R180).
Well, lo and behold, we found the one below at the next table. Exactly what I wanted (Cobra Capstan – R200). So now I have a preb bowl tap spare.
While I much prefer the look of the Cobra Capstan range, I want a continuous mixer at the zink*. This makes it easier to select the temperature when rinsing, for example. Example above cost R180.
Tanya found this shower rose which she quite liked. R375.
And somewhere along the line I found some time to cut the holes for the three dominos. We’re still sort of deciding where to put the electric one, but I think I’ve settled on the layout in the picture.
* While the rest of the (civilised?) world calls ’em “kitchen sinks” or “basins”, in Cape Town we call ’em “zinks”. Much to the chagrin of SWMBO.
Delivered this morning, one wardrobe (R4500), two pedestals (R650 each) and Tamsyn’s desk (R795).
The desk barely fitted through the back door, which is a good thing, saved me from cutting the legs off and propping it up on bricks. Or removing the door. Whatever.
Last night we cleaned the living room in preparation for the carpets going in on Thursday / Friday. Moved all the remaining kitchen cabinetry to the lounge and all the offcuts to the garage.
I also wormed my way into the main bedroom roof to fit some insulation (what used to be the pink stuff is now the green stuff, and it doesn’t itch, which is a bonus). To get up there I had to lie on planks. To use the planks I had to remove some nails. In this process I bashed my knee when the hammer got away from me. Which in turn means I didn’t get much sleep, ouch. It’s hard being clumsy.
All the hardware stores carry router bits. Kits with the most astounding selection of everything I don’t need.
I used a jigsaw to cut the holes for the dominos in the kitchen countertop. But the dominos are deeper than the thickness of the counter, so I figured I should route a space into the cabinets below.
OK, I could just jigsaw it out, but that would leave holes visible from the bottom. I only need half a plank’s thickness extra depth (yes, I know, the preceding sentence doesn’t make much sense. Just nod and smile).
So I needed a router bit with a bearing on the shaft, like the one on the right in the picture :
B.P.M. Power Tool Centre in Southfield is the place to go to. They’re cheaper than Builders Warehouse too.
Then I discovered that the router I have on loan is a POS. The “one little thing wrong with it” (inside joke) is that you can’t lock the cutting depth, it works itself loose. So the hole starts off at the right depth and then gets shallower. I removed the springs, with the result that the hole starts off at the right depth and then gets deeper.
OK, there’s still a lot of work to be done before the end of the month, but things are happening.
The carpets went in on Friday, and I bought some furniture this morning, it’ll hopefully be delivered today.
This weekend I bought a new router, and finished the routing work. I painted the cut surfaces with marine varnish in an attempt at waterproofing (the bit I got on my arm stayed there for three days, so the stuff is rather waterproof) and I’ll hopefully be fitting the dominos and the oven tonight.
I’ve ordered the last bit of countertop, that can go in next and then I can assemble the appliance garage.
I still have to plumb in the kitchen sink, the drain for Tamsyn’s bath, and our bath.
I’ve also ordered a (rather expensive, R3999, but nice) shower door for our bathroom, but that can wait. More important to get skirting boards into our bedroom so that we can move the furniture in.
