Saturday, 13 April 2013

This handywoman RULES!!!

We have been replacing some of the hand-me-down, mismatched, falling-apart furniture we've received from family over the past 20 years.  The furniture served us very well over those years and I was very grateful to be given them but the time had come where we decided to spoil ourselves with some new matching stuff. It's budget flat-pack furniture but it has nice, simple lines and it MATCHES!!  That's where the handywoman part came in as I had to assemble numerous flat packs! My back, legs, hands, and wrists screamed with arthritic pain but I persisted until the job was done. 

This bad boy was the biggest conquest with it's gazillion parts and pieces. 
It took me just under THREE hours!!
The BEFORE photo.

The AFTER photo.

I love my new white desk!
More assembled flat-pack furniture below.
While I can admire it in other people's homes, dark wood furniture just isn't for me. 
I LOVE white furniture!!! 

The other part of my handywoman skills came in yesterday. 

Firstly, I had to remove and clean the shower drain when Aaron said the water was very slow to drain away. It's amazing how much hair and grime gets caught up in those things!  An icky job for sure but some poor sucker had to do it, namely me.

Then, later in the morning, I was brushing my ear studs with toothpaste...yes, you heard right.  Did you know that toothpaste and a toothbrush work great to clean, freshen, and add sparkle to your jewellery?!  Well, it does, but the trick is NOT to drop little ear studs down the drain hole in the sink.  Yep, that's exactly what I did.  Normally, I would lay a couple of tissues over the drain to catch any wayward pieces of jewellery but, I'll admit it, I was lazy and skipped that step yesterday.  So, I had the extra job of dismantling the S-bend under the sink to retrieve my ear studs and, while I was at it, I did a little more cleaning there too.  More icky!!!  I can also give a 100% guarantee that no plumber's crack was on show at any stage whilst I was carrying out said tasks.

I'm happy to report that,
water is now running freely again in the shower, 
ear studs were safely retrieved from vanity sink drain, 
bathroom drain interiors are now nice and clean, 
and my ear studs are sparkling!

All in a day's work for this handywoman.

20 comments:

  1. Wow Wee Serena!! Great job! You did good. You should be proud of yourself. ::patting you on the back:: Not only are you a excellent artist, but a jack of all trades as well.:) Have a great weekend.

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  2. You Rock Handy woman. :)) Love the white clean furniture too. Enjoy!!

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  3. Awesome work chicka!!!!! ;)

    I love the white furniture too.....and such clean lines! Perfection!!!

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  4. plumbers crack - that really made me crack up with smiles! wow love the good job youve done with the furniture and all that cleaning, I too have lost an earring down the plug hole, but dh managed to retrieve it too, now I always put the plug in when cleaning my jewelry!

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    1. As I never fill my vanity sink up with water, I never think to use the plug....maybe next time, I will. xo

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  5. Ha-ha! You were busy. I love your living room. It is bright and airy. I don't have white furniture but I do like the look of it especially with the dark wood decorative pieces you have. Our drains are always a problem here. First, because the sewage system is the pits and second because there is so much dust and hair and grime. Really is a nasty job to clean it all. I've put together bookshelves from Ikea here before but never an entire desk. Great work! Have a wonderful weekend. Tammy

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    1. Thanks, Tammy! Yes, all that built up grime, dust and hair is NOT pretty when it comes to cleaning. I enjoyed putting the shelving units together but that desk really wore this old woman down. lol xo

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  6. It looks light and fresh! I´m also in to building my own furnitures (from IKEA-the Swedish company) and have spent many hours putting them together. It makes you feel real good about yourself after its done, doesn´t it.

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    1. Thanks, Catharina! I LOVE IKEA's white furniture! You're right...I felt quite proud of myself after the job was done. xo

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  7. you are a handywoman to have around, when you said you were cleaning you studs with toothpaste I thought you had your earstuds pierced on your tongue and thats how you cleaned them (lol)

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    1. Too funny, Lee....nope, no tongue piercing here. xo

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  8. Those types of projects (putting together the desk) are time consuming and challenging. Congrats, lady!

    As long as I am renting here--I call the office when the bathroom drain plugs up--hehe! I've done it myself in the past, but they've never complained about doing it for me here, so I haven't had to do that for 8 years now. It is quite gross. And I have watched somebody remove and clean that pipe under the sink but have never done it myself. Wow! You are really a handywoman!! Kudos to you!!

    Love your desk and the whole room!! I'm like you--but the opposite--can really enjoy seeing other people's white furniture, but I prefer my darker woods--LOL! Maybe because I live where it is cold 9 months out of the year and the darker woods seem so much warmer to me? ;)

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    1. Thanks, Rita. That makes perfect sense which is probably another reason I love white furniture...it has a cool, beach-type feel to me which is perfect for our hot and humid climate. I also love the simple lines of the Scandinavian decorating style which also uses a lot of white. :)

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  9. the white looks really nice :D well done you for getting it all together!

    always used to tooth paste to clean jewellery, hate the smell of the cleaner you can buy, its way too strong

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  10. Wow you are amazing! GREAT job and it all looks fantastic.
    Your photos make me so nostalgic for the house we had when we lived in Florida. All that lovely tile and light furiture, sunshine...*sigh*. I can't tell you how much I dislike carpeting:))
    Fabulous job Serena! Fran Txo

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  11. The furniture looks lovely - and so beautiful - the room so light and airy - it is gorgeous! You are so handy - wow, I'm impressed. I could never had put together that desk! Well...maybe if I had to.

    It's been way too long since I've stopped by - I'm always hanging out at the other place and notice that I rarely visit blogs. I need to stop by more often.

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