A hole-in-one

Nope, this is not a post about golf, this is about a dress I bought really really cheap because there were holes in it. And how I fixed it so it's as good as new.
Some inside information
In many clothing stores, there's a "B-choice" or "special discount" rack tucked away in a corner, where the store sells items that are damaged. Most common problem: broken zippers. They are really easy to replace, and if you don't want to do it, bring it to a seamstress and you have the exact same dress, usually for 25% of the original price.
If you find something that's broken, but not yet reduced in price, ALWAYS ask for a discount and don't settle on the usual 10%. It's broken, it's effectively worthless to the store, so make sure you get at least a discount that would cover the cost of having it professionally fixed (even if you'll fix it yourself)
On to the dress!




This particular dress had a more complex problem than a broken zipper: it had two holes/rips in one of the pleats in the skirt, made by a burnmark from a lamp in the store's display.








I loved it, it fit me exceptionally well and it was only 15 euro. If all failed, I could replace the entire skirt, but I had a different plan in mind. Brace yourself......




Yes, I gutted the dress, ripped it open, like a fish. Don't worry, it get's better. Because the skirt was pleated, it gave me room to move the damaged parts out of sight. I did stabilize the rips with iron-on fabric interfacing first before I started making new pleats. Next, I redistributed the fabric in two new pleats, hiding all the nasty parts.




Then, I measured the result and did the exact same thing on the other side.



Finally, I stitched every pleat and then restitched all the seams. And that's that! Nobody would ever know this dress was destined to be thrown away.


Now all I need is to wait till I finally go on holiday and the weather is nice enough to skip around in this dress in some gorgeous Italian town. Yay!!!!
Did any clothing fix-ups latey? I would love to see them.
Fleur

Office Space

I really love that movie! And it reminds me that being unhappy with your job is never worth the pay.
Speaking of work and especially offices: we have a room designated as an office at home, but we rarely use it. Back when we moved in, I was still studying for my MSc, and to save time on travelling to the university I would work from our home office. We never got round to painting any of this room, except a bad attempt with some left-over green paint (don't ask why). And we just put the old furniture from my student room in there. Since my graduation it hasn't been used as a study, but we didn't change a thing, except use it for storage. And, I'm ashamed to admit, we also used it as a guest room like that (sorry guests!).
But this has got to change, cause we've been working from home more and more these days, and the amount of workstuff and laptops keeps growing. This is all happening on our dining room table downstairs and it's far from practical or ergonomically correct. Not to mention how messy it looks.
Let's get down to business (haha): how about a bit of inspiration:
Nr 1




Nr 2




Nr 3




Nice huh, that's the look I'm aiming for (credit 1, credit 2 credit 3)
And this is what our "office" looks like now......








I already primed ALL the woodwork (which was dark blue or grey) and replastered most of the walls (one small wall was left because I ran out of time and we had a guest coming). This room has two built-in closets and there's a folding bed for guests, so wall space is limited. It will be a challange to optimize space and still make it a nice place to work/sleep in.
What needs to be done:
- paint all woodwork
- finish replastering, prime and paint walls
- add laminate trim to floor
- add molding to ceiling/wall
What do we need to get:
- office cabinets
- desk(s)
- chairs
- flatscreen monitors/keyboards/other devices
- shelving
- curtains
- storage containers
- art work
- cover for folding bed
I can't wait to get started!
Fleur

Here comes the sun!!!

We've had some seriously bad weather lately, and last summer was also very poor. See the frustration in my cat's eyes, it was thát bad!




But since last Friday the weather has finally taken a turn for the better and the entire country is behaving like we usually do when we win something with soccer (which we definitely did NOT this year).
Thanks to this sunny weather, I can finally post about gardening, because now I actually have some results.
This was the first year I've grown vegetables and flowers from scratch. Growing plants from seeds is really easy, but you need a bit of patience. You can do it on a budget, too. Seeds for basic veggies such as zucchini (we call them courgette) or tomatoes are cheap and so is planting soil. You can use any kind of container, as long as it's water-tight and not too shallow. Empty egg cartons are also good, but, put some plastic underneath to avoid leaking.
If you want a complete set, there are many available, here's my golden oldie




and a new set ready for next year. Actually, there are 4 in this package and I think I paid about 6,99 for them (I found them at the Lidl Supermarket).




Make sure you get good quality potting soil, that's what's going to effect your seedlings a lot. They need good food to taste nice.
Plant your seeds no deeper than the first didget of your index finger, then cover the hole you made with some more soil. Press lightly and water so that the soil is moist, but don't turn it into a mud bath. Cover with the lid or make one out (plastic wrap you have in the kitchen is perfect). Make sure the plastic is about 15 cm above the soil, so your plant can grow. Put the box/carton in a light and warm place, but NOT directly in the sun. Keep the soil moist. Within a week you'll see tiny two-leaved sprouts. In this stage most seedlings look the same, so make sure you know what is what. I keep the little packages the seeds come in and simply tape them to the outside of the box.




Next the seedlings will form the more distinct leaves and they will be big enough to go outside. Check the wheather forcast for frost and try and find a not too sunny, spring day to move them. Carefully dig them out of the box and plant them apart using the instructions on the seed package.
See, really easy and sooooo much fun. Why? Well, let me show you:
Here's the courgette plant I told you about, and I just followed one courgette as it was growing:




See, the courgette starts at the base of the flower. The flowers are also edible, stuffed with ricotta chees and herbs and then fried, hmmmmmm




Two days later....




And finally, this is what is looks like today!!!!!




Guess what I'll be eating tonight :). More courgette are growing as we speak, so it looks like I need to start digging up some more recipies.
Next up are the tomatoes, but they've had a bad start due to all the rain, so they need a bit more time.




I call these "the three pioneers" haha (bad ecologist word joke, sorry)




Oh, almost forgot to tell you, but you've probably seen it already: we have no real garden, only a roof terrace with big plastic planters covered in wood (made by my Dad, our neighbours and us). But it's really no different from what you would do a real garden, except you have to check on the water more and occasionally give some extra plantfood (while you're watering, easy as can be).
So don't let lack of space keep you from trying this. There are loads of websites and about small space gardening and amazing projects like This on in the UK and This one in Amsterdam (it's in English, don't worry)
I hope I've inspired you to develop some green fingers, as we say in Dutch.
Fleur

What I look for at the thrift /second hand store

Very simply put I have this little list in my head when I go bargain hunting:

1. Glassware, especially known design brands, for instance Iitalla or Marimekko.
Famous for their colorfull and clean cut designs, I have been really lucky already. My parents gave me this smaller Iitalla votive (in my favorite color, yay!!!)



And guess what I found a few months ago: exactly, the big, darker blue one next to it. Retail price: €16,95. Thrift store price tag: €1,50.
All ways check the brand name:


2 .Japanese / asian influence decorative stuff:
This small porcelain box is not high quality, but it's decorative and practical: we use it to store q-tips in our bathroom.



Definitely not anything rare or expensive, but there is a mark (it probably says: "hi tourists, you just bought a fake, lots of love from Japan") on the bottom:


3. Small practical furniture with lots of details:
Like the two cabinets I painted before (read about that here
Here are my newest finds:





More on their make-over in another post coming soon.

Happy hunting!
Fleur

A trip down memory lane: Husqvarna 3600

Look at this lovely print! It's the cover of the manual of my very first sewing machine. When I first started sewing (that was 2004, not back in the '70's), I was a student. I didn't have a lot of cash to buy clothes, and I certainly didn't have money to get zippers fixed or pant legs shortend. So I decided it would be very handy to learn how to sew. My mom only knew the basics and her sewing machine was broken, but she gave me her old sewing book and she knew a shop that sold second hand sewing machines. Despite my tiny budget (around 75 euro) my mom found me one by a well-known brand, although it was not exactly last year's model: meet the Husqvarna 3600.....




In uber-trendy orange and brown.




A closer look. This makes me appreciate the clear plastic cap to show you how much thread is left on your bobbin.




The casing's all metal and it's very, very heavy. All the accessories of this machine can be used on newer Husqvarna's and that saved me quite a bit of money when I upgraded to a newer model.




Isn't that a nice detail? (Husqvarna isn't made in Sweden anymore, it's made in Taiwan now (I think))
I fought a lot of battles with this machine, but it worked out and although I now have a more modern sewing machine (a Husqvarna Emerald 116) I'm never getting rid of my 3600!
You can see how much things have changed even within the same brand. My new Husqvarna is almost twice the size, but the weight is almost the same.








If you've got a small budget, but want to start sewing, go to a good sewing machine shop and try and find a "vintage" brand machine like this one. The specialist shops usually have a number of second hand machines for under 100 euro that have been serviced and checked. They work perfectly for beginner projects.
Fleur

alarm clock saga: a new hope

Yes, I've watched too much Star Wars, but considering the last post and the looooong silence afterwards, it feels a more like a sequel than just a new post.

I could give you all kinds of excuses why it took so long to post something, but let's say that this blogs needs to be a fun thing, not an obligation. And now the fun factor is definitely back!

The Philips alarm clock that was over budget and ugly, turned out to also be very bad at finding radiostations and making them sound good. And this was Philips radio nr.2 (you can read about that here.) So when I found a cute little square radio from Grundig on the web here with 2 alarms and a snooze button, I took a risk and bought it.


And it's perfect. It also has all the wires in white, so it really blends in with the dresser. No more ugly black cables, no more bad reception. The sound is actually quite good. And no, it's not a Tivoli, but at 10% of the cost, I'm very happy with it.


Fleur

The alarmclock saga's sad ending

Just so you're prepared.....there is no happy ever-after in this alarmclock post. I'll admit it: I caved, I gave in and I'm not proud of it, but you can't win em all.
After many nights google-ing and too many depressing trips to electronic stores (talk about a need for a bit of marketing towards female clientele there, OMG!!!) I went to my local Blokker store (they sell toys, houseware etc) and bought the most decent looking alarmclock they had for a decent price.
In my case that was this one:




As you can see, I stayed true to my bargain-hunting roots and from the outside it looks like a really good deal. Philips is an A-brand and the discount was almost 50%, and that made up for the "not so pretty looking" design. Although this was defenitely NOT the look I was going for, as you can see here and here Given the price and the brand name, I was willing to compromise a bit (also check out my new mirrow!)




This not-so-bad-looking radio also had a lot of extra features that seemed very useful, but that's where things went wrong.......




Automatic scanning, preset stations, digital tuning. But....see that "gentle wake up" funtion? Seems nice, right? Well, it tuns out that the reason these radio's are getting dumped is because the alarm starts gentle, but then gets loud very fast and I don't meam a little uncomfortable, I mean REALLY, REALLY LOUD. Imagine my "surprise", waking up to the highest volume setting right next to my ear at 07:00.
And there's nothing you can do about it. Basically, they're malfunctioning and I think Philips should have made sure these Aj3551 are not sold anymore. Even worse, Blokker is selling them cheap, but other stores, like Media Markt, are actually selling them full-price. This is a good lesson, not all bargains are as good as they look, but I'm still annoyed.
And so, the very next day after buying it, I returned the Aj3551, went to the electric store around the corner and bought a more expensive model. For the full 39,99!!! I still can't believe it, but the shock of the "gentle wake up" was so nasty, I lost my resolve. This is the result: the Philips Aj3231




Yes, it's bad and I know it. I blame the obvious brain damage from the Aj3551 sound torture. And now we have an ugly, too big and too expensive but practical (two alarms and a snooze button) and dependable alarmclock. I told you, this is an anti-climax post if there ever was one. It's up to you now: I dare you to find me something cheaper yet better!