Side Verandah Makeover: One Room Challenge - Week Two

I'm taking part in the One Room Challenge, a design event where 20 featured designers and countless guest participants transform a single space over 6 weeks.  If you missed last week, read about my plans for the side verandah here. Check out all the other great designs at the One Room Challenge blog.

Week two has been a fairly slow week for me, mostly because I spent 5 days of it traveling to and spending time in Canberra. I did get to spend half a day at Floriade, basking in the glories of multi-coloured tulips, but the rest of my tourism was firmly aimed at the child market.

Spectacular tulips at Canberra's Floriade

What progress have I made? 

As far as the actual work on the ground goes, I've patched concrete.  I know, intellectually, that this is a very important step, and the paint won't look as nice without the patching done, but it is not the most exciting visually. It also has an odd backwards quality, as part of the preparation to patch involves chiseling and widening the edges of the holes and cracks, to create a better surface to put the goop onto.  The goop in question is Turbo Concrete Bog, the only concrete patching option I could find at Bunnings that said it was suitable for outdoor use - most of them seemed to be aimed at garage floors and said indoor only. It appears to be made by a New Zealand company, so no idea what an equivalent would be for any readers from further afield.

I'm using this to patch the verandah's floor - find it at Bunnings here. 

When I started the first patch, I was incredibly intimidated, but it didn't take too long before I got the hang of it. I'm not getting the super smooth results a more experienced user undoubtedly could, but after a sand they don't look at all bad.

My two very first concrete patching efforts! Not perfect, but way better than cm deep holes

There are a few cracks near the very front edge of the verandah where I'm too scared to widen them, because I suspect large pieces of the edge would fall off, so they may remain unfilled, and there are two large holes near the verandah uprights where the holes are way too big to be a 'patch', especially as the front edge is missing entirely.  However filling 75% of the holes and cracks still leaves me with a 75% smoother floor, and I'm happy with that.

The other thing I've done this week is a lot of purchasing!

I made a decision about which stencil pattern I want to use for the floor.  I wanted to find one from an Australian supplier, and I found several tile stencils from Gemini Creative that I loved.  I ended up going with this design. I've reproduced the picture from the vendor's website, because it has a watermark and I feel that taking a big picture of her pattern without one would be dodgy.

Image of the stencil I've chosen, from the Gemini Creative online store

I made my final choice based partly on what would still let lots of the green show through - I was initially considering the reverse of this pattern, but decided it was too much paint added at the stencil stage.

I also bought a mixed 8 tube stock box from the Native Plant Project. While the majority of the plants are headed for elsewhere in the garden, two maidenhair ferns and a fan flower are intended for the verandah.

Tube stock of some new native plants for the verandah from the Native Plant Project's e-nursery

While I've set a fairly generous-for-me budget for this project, the truth is that a majority of it is already earmarked for paint. That's fair enough - the paint is the most permanent part of this revamp, and the part that has to last the longest. It does mean that I'm trying to save money elsewhere by haunting Facebook Marketplace.  This week I found a gorgeous, large plant pot that fits perfectly in my colour scheme for only $10, way less than new.  It comes with an as-yet-unidentified, possibly climbing, plant, which I'm still deciding if I will keep.

Isn't that bronzy coppery glaze perfect with my moodboard? 

What's up next?

I have to get through a few more days of school holidays, including my son's birthday party, and then when school starts next week I plan to get paint on concrete, start turning the cabinet into a potting bench, and source more pots.  The only thing that could mess up the plans would be rain, and given how much of NSW is in drought, that's a setback I'm happy to live with.

Side Verandah Makeover: One Room Challenge - Week One

Welcome to the start of my very first One Room Challenge! I've been a huge fan for a few years, and I love seeing what the incredibly talented featured designers and guest participants come up with. I'm using this Fall 2019 Challenge - although it is spring here in Sydney - to make over my awkward side verandah and as a bonus get me back into a blogging rhythm. If you are coming across my blog for the first time, you won't find any other home design posts - I usually post about crafting projects and vintage recipes.
Check out all the other transformations via the One Room Challenge blog. 


The side verandah of my house is a bit of a problem area. It doesn't have a very clear purpose and as a result it has become something of a dumping ground, both long term for items like my son's bike and scooter and short term for things coming out of the house, or into the garden.  Our house is a fairly common design from its era in this area. It was built in the 1890s, and has two distinct sections - a wider, taller front half, and a narrower, lower back half - which means two different ceiling heights and roof lines.  This verandah runs along almost the whole back half of the house, but doesn't reach all the way to the garden.

The side verandah, looking back towards the garden. 
You can see the variety of stuff that has ended up here.

The side verandah, looking towards the front of house and the street. 
This view also shows how narrow the whole space is. 

I spent a lot of time searching to get inspiration, and I put together a mood board for my overall vision.

All of the images are cropped from pins on my Pinterest board for this challenge,
so if you want to check their source, look for the individual images there. 

The cream and Brunswick green are already present in the exterior of the house, and I'm also going to be using a deep blue and a terracotta-y pink inspired by art nouveau tiles, copper/bronze and dark wood. Most of those colours will come in through furniture and accessories, with the green and cream for the permanent house colours.  Of course, fun things like accessories are a few weeks down the track.

Planning the Space

The true first step was to think about the function of the space. As I said, the main reason this space gets so overrun and cluttered is because it doesn't have a real 'job' as a space.  The door into the house isn't the front door - indeed, you have to walk past the front door to get to this space, so it never will be the main entrance.  It isn't a great outdoor entertaining space - if it was the only outdoor space we had, then obviously we'd make it work, but we have a good square timber deck in the back which overlooks the garden. While the garden is still a work in progress, it is a much more attractive vista than a narrow concrete passage and a brick wall of the neighbour's garage, which is what you see sitting out on this verandah. It also has a few things that can't be moved - our hot water heater and the gas meters for our place plus the two adjoining units. It has the only exterior power point, so it is often where I do anything with my scanty collection of power tools.

When I measured it to draw up a floor plan, I realised just how long and narrow it was - 11 metres long and only 1.08m wide. The clear plan was to divide it up into three sections, each with a different purpose.

The proposed new floor plan for the verandah. 

The area closest to the back garden, and near the exterior power point, will be the 'working area'. We have an existing old kitchen dresser which I'm currently using as storage for garden supplies, and I'm going to revamp it into a stylish potting bench.  I want another low cupboard (there is another leftover kitchen cabinet that I've had dumped on the verandah which I plan to use, but there is a chance it will fall apart and I'll have to find a replacement).  I'd like to have its top be available as a working surface too.

In the next area, I want a place to sit and have a cup of tea while pondering seed selections or to take a break with a glass of water in the middle of a project. Because it won't be a general entertaining area, I will only have one or two chairs, and a small table.

Between the door and the end of the verandah, I'll be storing those things that are staying, such as the bike and scooter. I'm planning to construct a mobile screen with plants on it - I'm still torn over what form this will take. This screen will go some way to obscuring the gas meters, given that they need to be accessible and I can't wall them off entirely.  I also want a plant stand next to the door. Currently the dresser is in this position, and the gap between the dresser and the vertical support doesn't give a nice approach to the door. So I don't want the plant stand to come too far out.

At the front of the house is a small front verandah which has some nice terracotta tile work, as does the step to the front door. I can't have this area tiled, but I'm planning to paint the concrete floor dark green and add a stencilled pattern in cream and maybe also blue - I'm torn between using just a border pattern to keep it simple or going for a all-over faux tile pattern.  I suspect I'll want to paint the green on first and then decide.

The finishing touch will be plants, lots and lots of plants. Initially they'll be small, as I don't have the budget for really large plants right now, but in a few years I'd like it to look lush with greenery.

Week One Action

Apart from planning, the work for week one has been clearing the space and preparing the concrete for painting. Sadly, because Sydney is on water restrictions, high pressure hosing is right out (we aren't supposed to use any hose on a hard surface), so I've been cleaning it with teeny tiny bucketfuls of dilute concrete cleaning liquid and a lot of scrubbing. I'm also attempting some minor concrete patching, which is a new DIY attempt for me.

Cleaning in progress. It looks so much bigger cleared off. 

In terms of timing, these first two weeks are going to be the slowest parts of the challenge - it is school holidays here, so not only am I spending a lot of time with my son, but we also had some holiday plans scheduled before I decided to sign up for the challenge. The work and progress should accelerate in week 3 when school starts up again.  The to-do list involves but is not limited to:

• prepare the concrete for painting
• paint concrete
• stencil concrete
• upcycle cabinet into potting bench
• build movable plant screen
• find and maybe paint chair, table, cupboard, plant stand
• find and maybe paint lots of plant pots
• source and pot plants
• source or make cushion for chair

I'm so excited to see this space get transformed, and I hope you'll stick around and see how it turns out.  Just a reminder, you can check out all the other transformations, whether the 20 Featured Designers or the many guest participants like me,  via the One Room Challenge blog.

Joining in on the vintage cover fun

Last year, when Tanith and Nicole launched their #myvintagecover challenge, I had so many ideas which for one reason and other never came to anything. This year, I was determined to get at least one entry done. 

Browsing through Australian Women's Weekly covers on my phone for something I could do with available resources, I saw this one from May 1936:

Cover image, May 23 1936
Australian Women's Weekly

I knew I could do those elements, so I tacked white collars on a dress, tried pin-curling my hair, added some makeup, and went for it.  While the original has solid collars, I have these vintage lace ones which I've been wanting to use on something for a while. The curls looked good, and while I do have make-up on, it hasn't really come through in the photos, so I may have used too light a hand.

Hair: on point. Makeup: apparently way too subtle. Cap: angled wrong way

I took so many photos and could NOT work out why they all looked subtly wrong - I eventually convinced myself it was just because of the selfie angle and that they needed to be flipped. I finally noticed that my cap was angled up, not down. By the time I had worked that out, my hair had done its usual trick of exploding into frizz.

I added the backgrounds to look like the original cover, and added some bad poetry to counteract the mawkishly bad and patronising poetry on the original too!

I have plans for a second cover reproduction, but that one will involve a little more work, so fingers crossed!

#anAWWyear - June 1948: Fashion

It won't take even a lot of attention to notice that I skipped April and May. I could write out a long list of excuses, but I will simply say sorry and launch straight into June with a short post on fashion. June wasn't a very inspiring month, sadly.  Lots of very high-fashion dressed which made little favourable impression on me.

As June in Australia is winter, there are quite a few coats featured, but I included so many coats in my March post that it was getting a bit repetitive. I am including this image from an advertisement, though, as I adore the colour combination and the collar.

Detail from a Cadbury's Bourn-vita advertisement,
Australian Women's Weekly, June 12 1948, p 16

The green of the coat with the pink of the hat and gloves is perfectly suiting my mood at the moment. Also I swear someone in my life has a collar similar to that, but I cannot recall who!
I'm also appreciating this image for the surrounding chorus of people with colds. Going outside at the moment is exactly like that, although I don't have her glowing aura of health to surround me. I just side-eye all the coughing people.

Looking at clothes - whether at vintage images in the AWW or modern pieces in the shops - can be a strange experience (for me at least, and I assume others have the same feelings) because my imagined body and life have some disconnect with reality.

I'm still set on making something with a plaid/check - but do you have any idea how hard I'm finding it getting one with no red or black in it? Spoilers: quite hard  - and so I was caught by this image in the Fashion Patterns service.

Detail from Fashion Patterns service advertisement
Australian Women's Weekly, June 19 1948, p 39

Lots of features I like - the contrast collar and cuffs, an open neck, etc, not to mention the cute little boy in overalls next to her.  I was in a hazy dream world where I found a lovely green/brown check and made such an outfit and the four-year-old wasn't complaining that his dapper dungarees were 'incomfortable'.  But the reality is that even if I made that outfit, it wouldn't look like that.  

With modern clothes there are an increasing number of retailers using plus size models in their images, and there is a wonderful world of plus sized fashion bloggers, sewing communities and others that means that there are images out there of women my body type in clothes I might consider wearing.  For vintage clothes it is trickier, particularly in media rather than personal photos. So the occasional pictures of styles for larger women, as in this advertisement ('larger fittings', 'mature styles', 'matrons', 'older women' - all of these can be code) are a nice if dream-bubble-bursting find. 

Detail of Grace Bros advertisement
Australian Women's Weekly, June 19 1948, p 30.

I actually like the blue - the sort-of cross over on the bodice, the way the waist line isn't a straight line, and the shoulder shirring helping with bust shaping. I don't know that I would want to make it though - shirring isn't my favourite thing to sew! 

#anAWWyear - March 1948: Food

March has several themed food features, each with bright and attractive photographs, but the real winners this month were once again the reader recipes. 

It isn't simple or easy to transport picnic food, but it does look impressive.
Australian Women's Weekly, 27 March 1948, p 33

I was initially attracted to this picnic feature, as my four year old is extremely fond of picnics, but none of the recipes were going to work for me this month. I was intrigued by the 'salad croquettes' (more misuse of the word salad!) combining cold meat, veggies and mashed potato, but these are deep fried, and I don't have the set up for that. 

Australian Women's Weekly,  6 March 1948, p 33

Another feature is this one with a variety of chicken meals, none of which I tried as they were either salad/dainty style meals which my husband wouldn't eat, or were styles for which I already have favourite recipes.  But I do like the ramekin holder illustrated here holding individual serves of chicken a la king.

There was a reader recipe for carrot marmalade which sounded good

Four large carrots, 4 lemons, 4 pints water, 41b. sugar. Wash and scrub carrots, do not peel. Grate on coarse grater, place in large bowl. Wash and slice lemons thinly, remove seeds. Add to grated carrot. Cover with the water, stand overnight. Turn into preserving pan, cook quickly 1½ hours, or until lemons are quite tender. Add warmed sugar, cook quickly until it "jells" when tested on cold saucer - about 1 hour. Pour into hot, dry jars, seal and label when cold.

Sadly even if this turned out well, I knew I'd be the only one eating it!

In the end both recipes I made were from the same issue's reader recipes, one winning the first prize of £1 one a consolation price of 2/6.

I made the oatmeal gingerbread the first time when my son had a friend over, and they'd reached the not wanting to share toys stage and needed a distraction. As a result, a few  ingredients were skipped or substituted, a few things went awry, and while the end result wasn't amazing I felt it had the potential to be better if I made it again properly.

OATMEAL GINGERBREAD

Two cups flour, 1 cup oatmeal, 1 teaspoon ground ginger, 1 teaspoon mixed spice, 1 teaspoon baking powder, pinch salt, 2oz. margarine or butter, 1 teaspoon grated lemon rind, 2 tablespoons sugar, 1 tablespoon golden syrup, 1 tablespoon treacle, 1 egg, good ½ cup milk.

Sift flour, ginger, spice, baking powder, and salt. Rub in margarine or butter, add oatmeal and lemon rind. Beat egg, add treacle, syrup, and milk, stir into dry ingredients, mixing well. Pour into greased slab tin. Bake in moderate oven (350 deg. F.) 40 to 50 minutes. Turn on to cake cooler, when cold top with vanilla-flavored warm icing. 

By a 'good' ½ cup milk, it means that plus another teaspoon or two to make it mix properly - I mixed the ½ cup in with the other wet ingredients, then added a tiny bit more at the end. It won't 'pour' into the tin - I ended up with a dough that I had to flatten out in the tin. I also found that I didn't need to bake it for as long as it suggested -mine only took 30 minutes to be cooked through.
I really like the texture given by the oatmeal, and I found that the children liked it. It isn't as heavy or spiced as proper gingerbread, and so is more of a "mild gingerbready slice". I used the lemon I'd grated the rind from to make a lemon icing which I thought went very well.

The second trial of the oatmeal gingerbread. 

The prize-winning recipe this month was Prune-stuffed steak, which I made for my husband and I. (The boy won't eat steak at all.)

PRUNE-STUFFED STEAK

Two pounds topside steak, cut in one thick piece with a pocket cut deeply into one side, 1¼ cups breadcrumbs, ¼ teaspoon mixed herbs, 1 egg, little margarine or butter, salt and pepper to taste, 1 teaspoon chopped parsley, good pinch grated lemon rind, pinch nutmeg, 1 lb. prunes, three rashers bacon.

Trim steak and wipe with damp cloth. Place a layer of stoned prunes on bottom of pocket. Mix all seasoning ingredients with melted margarine or butter and beaten egg. Press a layer of stuffing on top of prunes, and then arrange another layer of prunes on top. Fasten together with skewers or sew with strong cotton. Place in baking dish with hot fat, cook in moderate oven (350deg. F.) 1 hour, turning meat several times. Place rashers of bacon on top, cook another half hour or until meat is tender. Serve piping hot with vegetables and brown gravy. 

I was not going to cook one giant two pound steak, so I made this with two smaller steaks instead.
I made up the same amount of stuffing, and just didn't use it all. I did not use anywhere near a whole pound of prunes, and I obviously adjusted the cooking times to allow for the smaller size of the steaks.

The prunes and stuffing in the pockets. Looks strangely like I've put oreos in the steak.

The final cooked steak. 

It was really nice and we enjoyed it, although we both decided that it needed some extra flavour in the stuffing.  We made it again the next week, adding some mustard to the stuffing mix, and trying this time with chicken breasts. I liked this version too, but somehow the prunes and chicken seem a more expected pairing? The prunes and the steak together are still the winner for me.

#anAWWyear - March 1948: Craft

At the end of my last post, I said that the fashion would be continuing this month, and that is because  March 13 1948 was a Special Knitting Issue. 

To start, let us look at the outfit on the cover of this issue, because I'm going to confess that 1940s would not have been my first guess for the decade of this outfit. This could easily pass for several later decades, and I love having the reminder of what really casual outfits could look like. This sweater is the 'Swagger Sport Shirt' by Pierre Balmain, who we are told is "famous in Paris for his casual sports clothes". 

Outfit on the cover
 Australian Women's Weekly, March 13 1948 

It is also a good example of how colour and styling can change one's opinion - the same sweater, styled differently, and in a black and white photograph, has far less impact and I would have passed straight by it. 

Believe it or not, the same sweater as above
Australian Women's Weekly, March 13 1948, p 37

There are instructions for about ten cardigans and sweaters in this issue, several of which are quite standard. I like this checkerboard design, although wouldn't wear it myself.  Of note, the 'New Yorker' twin set, shown here in the yellow top and rust coloured cardigan over it in the (the middle and lowest photos on the right hand side) is designed for the "not-so-slim" and has a bust measurement of 42", which while still terribly inadequate for me, is unusually large for the free patterns that tend to be in vintage magazines. 

Just some of the knit patterns in this issue
Australian Women's Weekly, March 13 1948, p 9

There was no craft I actually tried this month - partially because I've been having a renewed attack on unfinished projects in my stash, and partially because nothing really appealed. There was one crochet project, this unusual purse with a cord decoration, but said decoration was a little too snake like for me (I have a phobia) so I'd never include it in my collection.

Australian Women's Weekly, March 6 1948, p 37

There was also instructions for this embroidered cushion, but I suspect if I made another cushion my husband might complain. We have... quite a few already.

Australian Women's Weekly, March 20 1948, p 36

I've actually been surprised by how many issues don't have any craft projects. If I get the time, I might see if there is a seasonal pattern to when they have them. Or maybe the editors were well aware that their 1948 readers had a limited amount of time!

#anAWWYear - March 1948: Fashion

As I'm typing this post, outside it is overcast and drizzly, reminding me that March is the start of autumn.  The Australian Women's Weekly has our back, with Mary Hordern offering up a beautifully illustrated two page feature of coats and other outerwear. Winter coats are an area I've struggled with, because so many long coats make me look very square. I'm rather partial to the hip-length coat - it is called a 'loose jacket' - and its interesting collar. 

Australian Women's Weekly, Mar 27 1948, p 8

This cap and muff in leopard print detail (from the same feature) is a smart set, and I know several people who would adore this!

Australian Women's Weekly, Mar 27 1948, p 9

 Being a plus-size woman, I'm always curious to see what is being offered in the more 'matronly' styles, which while ostensibly aimed at older women also tended to be illustrated as a more solid silhouette. I quite like the shaped yoke detail on the floral frock. Although I'm sad to see that even in 1948 they were putting pockets in the bodice of larger sizes. Please don't.

I'm paying attention to SHOES at the moment as I need more.  While these are rather nice, and I'd love a pair to wear with jeans, I do love the advertisement headline's attempt to appeal to everyone. 

 "Bedggood Mocassina"  advertisement.Australian Women's Weekly, Mar 13 1948, p 13.

This selection contains several I'd wear, particularly the blue ones! Not enough blue patent leather shoes around. I suspect they'd actually make me trip, though, as I'm out of practice wearing any kind of heel.

Australian Women's Weekly, Mar 6 1948, p 14.

One issue of the Women's Weekly from March 1948 is a knitting special, and so my craft post this month will also have fashion in the form of knitted sweaters, so keep an eye out for that next week.