Chez Larsson

Democracy

As you can imagine I've been punching a hole or two this weekend. Thank you so much for all the orders! I didn't expect that many, but I'm super happy!

Besides from the holes all three of us have been busy in our garage workshop.

In the 20+ years Martin and I have known each other we have never ever had a "real" coffee table of the knee high variety. For some reason or other we have always had taller ones. One was given to us by a cousin or Martin's, another one was in the storage room of an apartment of ours when we moved in and our current one was left here in our house by the previous owners.

 

I've liked all three of them but I've lately been wondering what it would be like to have a lower table. Martin was skeptical at first but said he would consider it if all three of us could agree on a design. (Perhaps hoping we wouldn't be able to?!) I myself would happily have gone into a store and bought one off the rack but that's a no go in this household. Martin will not accept anything store bought unless it's from a second hand store and the likelihood that we would find something perfect second hand was slim.

So we all racked our brains and had a zillion ideas of what we wanted, printed photos from the internet and doodled ourselves. We decided we needed a somewhat rounded shape to break up the squareness of the rest of the furnishings, we wanted some storage for magazines, remotes and other in-front-of-TV clutter. We decided we wanted wheels and that Mini an Bonus would have a little cosy nook. Sounds like a big wish list, huh? Well, it's all there! Still some finishing touches to be added. Like paint. But hopefully I'll be able to show you the end result sometime later this week.

~

Yay, Mini's stitches and cone are coming off today. One happy kitty to be. Check!

Introducing my Shop

 

Tree in green

Finally I'm able to introduce my little shop! It's been in the works for a while and I was unsure if I should do a DIY job right here on Chez Larsson or to go back to selling on Etsy but being the DIY girl I am I decided to try for a shop of my very own.

Speech Bubbles in yellow

To start off I'm selling a few of my own Punch Art designs. Each piece comes as a punched out design on 190 g acid free paper in a choice of colors with another sheet as backdrop to make the punched out design pop. To customize yours you can switch the included backdrop paper to another color to suit your style or mood!

His n' Her Bikes in orange (you decide which one's which)

Each hole is individually punched out on paper (by yours truly) and no two will ever be exactly the same as they will all be individually made. The designs are punched on A4 size (8 1/4 x 11 1/2  inches) paper which can easily be trimmed to be framed.

Home Sweet Home in Turquoise

So, if you feel like adding some Chez Larsson punch art to your walls or just to browse pop over to my shop! 

EDIT: I seem to be having some PayPal issues. Some orders are working out fine and others are not. If you are experiencing problems or if you don't even want to bother trying you can e-mail me directly and let me know which design/s you are interested in and I'll send you a PayPal money request instead. Oooh, this is exciting, I'm actually getting orders in!

Have a great weekend!

Tray Chic

We don't have a fancy built in micro-wave. Ours is a cheapo 75 dollar one and it only has two buttons, any more or my tech challenged husband (by choice, the less he knows the less he has to deal with...)would not be able to operate it.

Because it's free standing on the counter we are able to use the space on top for corralling kitchen clutter; grocery list, pen, stray paperclip, recipe etc. You get the picture.

An array of different trays have graced the space but as I wanted change and couldn't find what I wanted in any stores (wrong size, wrong color, wrong price, too high edges for Mini who likes to sit up there etc etc) I decided to make my own.

Said and done. A scrap piece of thin MDF, some left over trim, a bit of wood glue and a lick of paint and there is is! Tray chic indeed if I do say so myself.

Here's the how-to if you want to make your own:

Measure the size you want your tray to be and cut a piece of wood, in this case MDF, for the bottom in that size minus x2 the depth of your molding on each side.

Cut your molding at 45 degree angles using a mitre saw. You want your pieces to look v-shaped so you need to change the direction of your cut alternate times.

Here the bottom and sides are cut, ready to be glued together.

I decided to clamp the whole thing together with wood glue and not use nails at all but if you don't have these many clamps you can nail and glue, be sure to snip the tips off your nails though when nailing in these thin moldings or the wood may crack.

After the glue dries, sand the whole thing with a fine grit sand paper. You can do this by hand but I used my beloved mouse sander. After sanding wipe the whole thing down with a damp cloth.

Prop the tray on two pieces of trim so it won't stick to the surface when being primed and painted. I used white primer and then added two coats of the same paint I used in the bedroom. I would normally use oil based paint for a project like this but decided to try this latex paint simply because I had some left over and it was the right color. I added a couple of coats of spray varnish to the top. Underneath I stuck rubber dots at the four corners to prevent the tray from slipping.

Sunny!

Brainstorm #1

After this postI got a comment from one of my readers, Leslie, who suggested a new feature on Chez Larsson; "the Brainstorm". The idea is that you guys send in photos of items you have at home and I'll do a post on what the item could be used for or be re-purposed as. You like? I do!

In Leslie's case the item she wants ideas for is an awesome piece of weathered barn-wood. It measures 22 3/4" x 9 3/4" and is about one inch thick. She says "All I can think of is putting cup hooks in it and hanging keys - but I already have something to hang keys on."

Martin, my friend Sanna and I brain-stormed Saturday night and came up with these ideas on how to use that piece of barn-wood:

A notice board. Use pins to attach your (love)notes and important reminders. The barn-wood could be framed or used as is mounted on the wall with D-hooks.

 

Add hooks to it and put it in the powder-room as a conversation piece towel hanger for thick plush whites.

Come the holidays and use it as an Advent calendar. Add 25 pins (24 if you're over here), wrap 25 (or 24...) little gifts, hang each one on a pin and Bob's your uncle! Or Santa.

Or earlier as an eerier decoration.

 

Plonk it on your dining room table. Add votive candle holders on top for a stunning center piece.

 

Frame it. Display it. Add it to your art wall.

My personal fave. Hang it as is on D-hooks. It's a gorgeous piece of art in it's own right.

Oh, Martin also suggested mounting it vertically on a wall and using it as a giant back scratcher but we had all had a couple of glasses of wine by them. So, dear readers, do you have any other ideas for Leslie's chunk a' wood? Please do tell!

Do you have any weird (or not so weird, a bucket will do) items you want uses for or simply a great thingy you wish you could use for something but you can't think of what, send me an e-mail and it may be brain-stormed and re-purposed the Chez Larsson way. Write "Brainstorm" as the subject title, tell me where you got your object, what you're currently using it for (if anything) and be sure to include a decent photo of it on neutral background . Depending on the quantity of oddities I get I can't promise to do them all but I will do my best and will rope in my friends and family in the process.

Drawings and montage courtesy of Martin.

Organizing the Storage Room

On Sunday I decided it was time to sort out the storage room yet again. The reason being that there were a few things in there that we will never ever use in this house but Martin wants to keep. I've been working around them. As in re-stacking four broken chairs in every manner possible to make them take as little space as can be. Somehow I wasn't succeeding.

The thing is we have an attic. It's just a crawl space and for eleven years we've kept it completely empty. A few months ago Martin brought home a bunch of stuff which I knew wouldn't be used or worked on for a long time so I agreed we could store it up there and now that we have some stuff up there already I thought we might as well add some more to free up space in the more accessible storage room. It will soon be fall (Yay! I love fall!) and the patio furniture needs to fit in there as well as some other garden equipment.

So I climbed the ladder, fought the wasps and successfully stored the chairs, a metal sink, an vintage wooden soda crate and a wooden toy ride.  And for those of you who enjoy a peek inside someone Else's boxes I'm hereby revealing their contents:

1) Empty boxes and containers. This is where I shop when I reorganize a space.
2) Wille's old Lego's and empty game console boxes. Boxes kept in case he wants to resell.
3) Snow ballers and children's books. I know, weird combo but there was a bit of space in front of the books and there I was with a snow baller in each hand.
4) Marbles, string lights and lamp parts.
5) Box of stuff Martin wants to keep and I want to toss, toy cars for when Wille's cousins come over and plastic bottle and tube caps. Very important. They are for a project yet to be revealed to me. Sigh.
6) Frames and  canvases.
7) Office stuff as in empty binders, clipboards etc. And a slide show thingy. Again, sigh, but on my part. I want to transfer the slides to digital and then toss the originals and the machine. Any ideas on the best way to do that? I know the tossing part, I'm good at it, but the other bit I'm unsure of.

1) Old cameras, cell phone bits and other tech stuff.
2) Herbarium and stamp collection.
3) Lead, plaster and tin for crafts.
4) Vintage toys.
5-8) Wille's toys to be sorted by him at a later date.
9) Keepsake baby clothing.
10) Manga books
11) Easter decorations
12) Halloween decorations
13) Advent decorations
14) Christmas decorations
15) Christmas tree decorations
16) Miscellaneous hardware, lanterns and scraps of foam core board.
17) Abandoned craft projects corralled by yours truly, shell and bone collection aka the smelly box and fishing gear.
18) Comics.
19) More comics. These all need to be easily accessible. Loo literature for the man beginning with an M.
29) Small frames, party stuff as in balloons and decorations and soda and beer bottle caps.

Interesting the stuff one keeps isn't it!? If it were up to me it could all go. With the exception of Molly, my plush bunny of course.

Organizing the Garage Workshop

 

I had a wonderful weekend. I hope you did too! I got plenty done that I wanted to and managed to rest a little too.

Mini slept through the night last night which was heavenly for Nurse B who has been on night duty this past week. What happened to Mini was that she got an abscess on one of her hind legs and it burst open, she had to go the vet, be sedated, get shaved (she the cutest half shaved derrière...), stitched up and have a drainage tube put in and on top of it all wear the dreaded plastic cone... She's doing so much better now but needs to stay indoors for another week.

Anyways, one of the things I wanted to get done this weekend was to finish off some projects in the garage/workshop. Will post about them later but since I've had some questions on how our workshop space is organized I took some photos of what we keep in there while I waited for paint to dry.

Martin and I didn't build the work space at the far end of the garage until we had lived in our house for about five years. In the beginning we used old kitchen cabinets and made do with what was already there but if (when) we move I will make sure we will prioritize a set up like this even before starting on any other renovations. Having everything organized makes everything so much easier. 

So from left to right; just left of the entrance from the house (our garage is in the basement just under our living room) we keep MDF and other large boards leaning against the wall. There's also an old folding patio table there which I use as extra work surface when I paint. Above the boards I've mounted inexpensive shelf brackets which hold moldings and strips of wood.

At the far end, under the work top there's a little nook for small scraps of board.

Under the left side of the work top is where we keep power tools. The plastic bins contain 1) clamps, 2) assorted rarely used hand tools like paint scrapers, hand drills etc 3) electric cords. The black box holds my mouse sander with sand papers, attachments etc.

Under the right side of the work top we keep four boxes with dividers with screws, nails, nuts, bolts etc. I also keep a small brush for the work top and a roll of old gift wrap there. I use the gift wrap to protect the work surface when I paint. The larger bins hold 1) rags and drop cloths 2) paint brushes, rollers, stirrers etc 3) sandpaper, spackle, filler etc 4) tiling tools and materials 5) latex paints 6) oil based paints 7) paint stripper and similar 8) oil and putty.

On the floor to the right is where we keep boards and planks. They butt all the way into the corner under the work space. Above, again on brackets, we keep our ladder and a spare trellis. Our compost sieve hangs on smaller brackets next to the door to the storage room. 

A shelf under the work surface keeps the smaller and shorter pieces of wood  separated from the longer ones.

We use candy containers (which we get for free in grocery stores) to store all the little bits and bobs. There's one for wheels, one for string, one for tape, one for hardware etc.

Hand tools are kept  easily accessible on peg boards.

Drill bits are stored in drilled pieces of wood. We have one for wood bits, one for metal , one for concrete and one for special bits like for tile.

Long clamps are stored hanging on the wall and above them are the long metal rulers.

Saws etc are hung on hooks on the wall. The japanese hand saw blade is simply stuck between the boards of the work surface.

I use plastic trays which originally held frozen crayfish to corral bottles on the work top.

In the corner there's a catch-all bin which holds a bunch of stuff but because it's contained it feels less cluttered than if it were all sitting directly on the work top. In the catch all there's an ice cream container where I drop all little nuts and bolts etc that I don't have time to sort in their proper places. Once in a while I sort it out.

On-going projects are kept on old trays so they don't spread out all over the place.

Just to the right of the entrance to the house are two wire shelving units. It's where I keep cleaning stuff, plastic bags, work gloves etc. To the left (not seen) is the entrance to the garage from the garden.

That concludes the garage work shop tour. Hope you enjoyed the ride!

 

 

Pooped

Sorry guys, I'm so tired today so I'm taking the day off normal posting. Besides from working in the office, I've also been working on some new stuff for the blog (such as yesterdays post) and some other things too which I hope to reveal soon. Also Mini hasn't been 100% well these past few days (nothing related to her injury back in spring and nothing too serious but a few partially sleepless nights nevertheless). Basically I just need a three day weekend to recuperate. Have a wonderful weekend and I'll see you again on Monday! Love ya!

~B.

Kicki's Organizing Obstacle ~ Testing Testing

  

Ok, testing testing. After so many of you said you would like for me to try to help you with your organizing obstacles I thought I'd do a test run first. 

Just as I had finished writing that post but not yet published it I got an e-mail from a fellow Swedish blogger,Kicki, who had some questions on a space of hers. The funny thing is that she lives in a house which is almost exactly like ours but right across town from us. She has the exact same stairs to the basement as we do and it's the space underneath those stairs that is her organizing obstacle.

Kicki and her husband have done some major renovations in their basement recently and now the time has come to make the best use of the space down there. One of the things they want is a home office. Currently their home office is in their master bedroom and consists of the little white desk you see in the before shot. Cute but not very practical. There are wires everywhere, the computer sits on the floor and the printer resides on a stool under the table.There's no good storage for any papers or binders.

  

As Kicki and husband Orlando are ok with doing some DIY and to make best use of this tiny space I suggest skipping the idea to move the current little desk into the nook under the stairs and instead build a very simple desk top and some shelves out of boards (MDF or any other board they may have on hand). This way the space can be used to it's full potential.

The desktop and lower shelves are at full depth of the stairs but the top shelves are only 38 cm / 15 inches, just deep enough for binders and boxes. The desk top runs the length of the space at a comfortable sitting height and at 110 cm / 43 inches from the wall there's a vertical board which served as the wall for the side shelves. The desk top and shelves rest on strips fn wood along the walls and on brackets under the steps of the staircase. At the back of the desktop, a hole big enough for cables and wires to run through is drilled.

The computer sits on a "skate board" made simply from a piece of MDF and four small wheels which allows it to be pulled out if needed. The cables and wires coming through the hole in the desk and going to the computer are gathered in neat cable reels.

The items which must be incorporated in the new home office are the technical bits; computer, screen, printer, speakers etc. Kicki also requested that her red IKEA Helmer drawer unit be included in the scheme and her orange in-box.

For prettiness and practicality I suggest cutting a homasote board in the exact shape of the space between the desk top and shelf above and covering it in a nice fabric and attaching it to the wall. This will give her a nice funky backdrop to the desk but also a notice board. I know Kicki is a vintage fabric lover so I'm sure she has a perfect piece of fabric for the spot.

So besides from the DIY bit above this is what I suggest for the new home office:

1. These cute boxes are actually gift boxes but are perfect for storing small office supplies in too.
2. Cable reelsare a must! If you've never tried them they will change your life forever. From a birds nest of cables and wires to one neat long sausage!
3. You can never go wrong with white boxes. Use them as the base for your storage and you can add little cute polka dot ones for fun.
4. A tall garden plant pot works really well as a trash can in a narrow space.
5. Kicki wanted a stool for the home office and I couldn't resist adding this bright yellow Tolix one but a simple thrift shop one painted in sunny yellow will work just as well! Here are some other stool options including a silver Tolix look-alike.
6. A simple spotlight attached to the shelf above the desk top saves on desk top space.
7. These custom mouse-mats are fun! This one sports a photo from Kicki's blog.
8. Kicki already had this drawer unit. I love it, practical, good looking and fits a small narrow space like under this desk top.

~

So there you have it, the first organizing obstacle obliterated. What do you think? Honestly! Do you want more of the same? What is good? What can be made better? Would you pay for this service? I know you guys crave Afters but I realize they will be hard to come by since not everyone will be able to rush off and redo their spaces right away AND send in the photos after. Is the drawing sufficient as an After? I'm all ears, bombard me with your constructive criticism!

Thank you!!! / B.

Craft Corner Step by Step

 

I get quite a few questions regarding my thought process when I organize a space so when I reorganized my craft corner a couple of weeks back I took some photos to explain how things ended up where they did.

I start off by thinking about what I need to keep in the space and what can go. In this case I have to keep the binders, the storage boxes, the pens, pencils, tape, etc and the craft paraphenalia which is stored in the muji drawers. I'm also keeping the gift wrap in it's space.

What I didn't need and want there anymore where craft projects that I'd finished or didn't see would be done for a while yet. I also wanted to display some new things I'm working on to to store the materials for those projects properly.

 

Here it's empty besides from the necessities. I like a fairly blank space to start out with. Some things will return and some are gone for a while or for good and some have been moved elsewhere.

This is the end result. What happened? Too quick for you? See more detail below.

One. Space emptied of the unnecessary and the remainder has been weeded out and organized in containers and drawers. This is basically all the space I have so I need to be careful of how much stuff I keep. The stuff I keep is the stuff I know I will use. When in doubt, toss, donate, recycle. 

Two. Some art was added for interest and the file folder holder found it's spot on the desk top. Still a little bare and lacking interest but well get to that.

Three. Little knick knacks have been added. They bring the space to life but you have to be careful not to overflow it with little things. I like neat rows of items and I like displaying little collections together, in this case my tiny chairs. It's not a huge collection but just the right amount of stuff for here.

Oh, and those white dots? The disco ball in the window casts these really amazing glimmers of light when the sun shines through :)

Look What I Found!

 

I love it when I have an errand downstairs to the basement at work. That's where the building's recycling center is situated and I always take a peek in the metals bin. Have made many a good find there. Like this lovely team water bottle carrier. Charming don't you think? Ha! Wait until those stickers are gone and you'll be envious!

What I'll use it for? Here are three options:

1) Garden party central. All you can carry party paraphenalia in one go.

2) Indecisive morning shoe station. Bring the whole shebang to the front door and take you pick last minute.

 

3) Craft tool caddy.

So, any other suggestions? I was thinking possibly a herb planter?  I'll let you know (and see) what we end up using it for. I told our receptionist at work who saw me bringing it up that I may return it to the recycling center in a couple of weeks :) It's happened before...