Friday, October 12, 2012

Weeding

I learnt a lot from my Chief gardener - Grandma. My garden have been neglected ever since we took over this place and the grass patch is full of this weed - La Lang. It's not long enough yet to start sprouting flowers, but it's bad enough to be killing the nice grass that was originally there.

I don't know what other names they call this plant and I only know the local name of "Lalang". This is how it looks when fully grown.


My Chief gardener weeding the chaos.

She was explaining to me that the full grown lalang when you pull them out, the roots can be cleaned and boiled with water and rock sugar to make "Liang juie" (Cooling drink to reduce "heaty-ness" - Chinese concept of the body being Ying and Yang). It's the first I heard of - ancient herbal remedies using Lalang. However, these Lalang in my garden are way to small too harvest any meaty roots and their sprouts have sharp pointy tips, so they are a hazard.


I helped with the weeding too!  :)


This was before. The army of young Lalang.


This is the remaining grass left after exterminating the weeds. I just realized that these grass were the carpet type of grass used on the golf course. The Lalang killed most of it!!


I feel like a kid again. After the job is done, I went to play with the millipedes infesting the nearby shrub. I didn't really like the weeding. Somehow touching the moist soil with bare hands irks me...


I wonder how will the future garden look like? I hope I won't kill any of the plants that were given as a gift...


O_o"

Mission Impossible (Part 2)

Day #02 & #03 of Dismantling

I took 2 days break to rest my poor fingers & hands. I had stiff fingers and muscle cramps in my fingers after day #01. First time in my life ever! Usually it's muscle cramps on major muscles if I suddenly start exercising vigorously after a sedentary lifestyle. I think callouses will start forming soon... Urg!

Remember I got stuck the last time? It's really not that hard. The joining were hidden underneath the foam sponge. So to get to them (un-stapling at joining), I just had to remove the foam sponge. Take a look at the process:

There it is!!


I started off by pulling out the fabric from behind (back rest cover) to the front to get ready and yank it off. Before that, the back rest cover was also secured by buttons, so I un-staple them behind. Lots of work have the be done on the back before removing the fabric on the front. 


Buttons are out!


I realized that the foam sponge is glued on. Both seat cushion and back rest. Take caution if you want to reuse them. If the foam is stuck on too strongly, it may rip if you use force. I had a cutter in handy to release areas that got stuck too much.


Now the back rest foam is also gone. See that back rest lining? It's probably some scrap material that the previous upholsterer had and used. That has to be un-stapled as well.


I set these aside as reference.


After the back rest cover was removed, I realized one thing. There was another fabric lining the edges of the wooden frame. They were in fact the previous material that was used as the sofa cover. My assumption is that this sofa had been upholstered before. The previous upholsterer didn't bother the un-staple the edges. He/She just cut it off and stapled over them. 

Bummer, which means more work for me!!


I've already unstapled the original first layer. See the edges? Clean.


Next, un-staple the lining on the seat section. Now revealing the support below.


This is really right to the bone. Seems that the support below is still strong enough, so I'll be keeping that. Perhaps I'll add some webbing weaving through it to re-enforce the strength. Lastly, I'm also considering changing the webbing on the back rest. They are made of rubber, so some has already started to disintegrate. 


All the covers & sponges kept as reference when I change to a new piece.


That's it for today. I'm beat and my hands and fingers feel sore again. Plus with all the bending and squatting, it's really bad for my back and knees. This time, I have to source for some professional upholstery tools. I'm not going to invest in a staple gun and compressor just yet, so the traditional method - nails and hammer, will be preferred now. 

Worse case, I may purchased these professional tools online if I can't find them locally. 

Wish me luck again. I need lots of it!  :)


xXx

Tuesday, October 9, 2012

Tapestry

It's more like a look-a-like tapestry. I fell in love with it when I've decided to upholster the 3-seater sofa for my room. It fits in the Victorian look well.


My mum had this book for a long time. It's put to good use now. Yes, it was from the library and sometimes the library sells their really old books for cheap, so my mum got them. We didn't steal it!


I've been working on this for a few weeks now. I do it during the evenings when I feel up to it. It can be therapeutic, but you know, cross-stitch is not my thing. After this, I'm not going to start on any cross-stitch projects anymore. The book has nice big prints of the grid patterns, and I still make mistakes!

These are the 2 that are in progress. Mum's helping me on one of them. I'm sewing this one .


Mumzie's doing this.


It's too labour intensive. This is the progress after a month plus work (mind you, I only sew when I feel up to it in the evenings & nights). Still a long way to go...


Stay tuned for the finished work... note that it'll be a long while.


O_o"

Monday, October 8, 2012

Mission Impossible (Part 1)

Remember this? Dingy old 3-seater sofa?

Just a note, I'm not a professional. In fact, this is my first attempt to re-upholster a 3-seater, Victorian chair. You'll get to see my progress, and I hope this turns out well. I think it'll take me sometime to complete this. So bear with me. Worst case if I fail (cross my fingers), I'll send this to the upholsterer.


Yes, it's time to re-upholster it. I've not bought any professional tools yet. Reason being I'm unsure what's underneath when I take away the exterior. I was hoping that the materials inside are still in good condition so I can minimize working on it. It seems that I was wrong...

These are the tools I'm currently using.


Anti-clockwise from top:

  1. Pliers for pulling out the staples
  2. Pair of working leather gloves
  3. Hammer (I need buy a magnetic one soon, but it's so hard to find!)
  4. Cutting pliers
  5. Flat headed screw driver (aid me in removing the staples)
  6. Tack/Nail remover

My fabric has also arrived. Somehow my camera doesn't capture the pale blue background of the fabric.



Mission Impossible Day #01

The exterior cover has to go, so I went & work on it.

I'm taking out the staples from the front cushion part so that after the back cover is removed, I can un-staple the lower back part to completely remove the cushion cover.



I've removed the back cover. This is the inner piece covering the framework behind.


Ok, now the inner piece is removed. I was expecting webbing lining the inner parts, but I was surprised to find rubber strips instead. I doubt that it can last for the next 5 years. Which also means I have to tear it down to the bone & start from scratch. So much for wishing... This calls for professional tools... O_o"


I have to un-staple these parts in order to remove the cushion section.


See there's two sections? The top one is for the back rest section of the sofa and the bottom one is for the cushion section. Un-staple them.


Ok, cushion cover is off.


 Now to remove the bottom layer to see the construction of the sofa.


Huh? This is their spring system? Looks similar to the mattress types.


It's also a good idea to track the parts, so I labelled them and kept a record.


The sales person told me that the sofa's frame is made of teak wood. It's one of the hardest wood around, so it'll be tough to work on. While un-stapling, you cannot imagine how filthy this sofa is. I was wondering who are the people sitting on this chair. Piles of dust and dirt gather in the corners and areas not exposed. I found dead mini leaves, beads, a coin, a pill, a hair pin, and probably dead insects.

That's it for today. I have a feeling that my fingers will get a muscle cramp and be sore. Uncovering the back rest is a challenge for now. I'll have to do some observing and research.

Stay tuned for part 2.


xXx

It's A Tight Fit!

Wanted to change the light bulbs from a florescent to a LED one. My other half was commenting that the price I paid for the LED bulbs compared to the "benefits" of saving on electricity bill will take a long time to break-even. Yes, it's $28 for one bulb, which consumes 5W. My kitchen needs 8 of these bulbs and currently, each florescent tube consumes 13W. Anyway, I need to change them to white light, so might as well...

Honestly, I must say I have a lot of patience BUT fixing this really tested it. I had to take breaks in between to cool my temper before the axe comes out to SMASH IT!!!

Ok, this is the downlight that I've worked on. It requires 2 tubes with a snap on connection.


Now look at the size difference for the bulbs.


Already, the florescent tube is a snug fit. Try fitting the LED one in. It's really a super tight fit. So this calls for slight modifications. This is the "before" picture. The aluminium piece is the reflector and it is absolutely needed to reflect the light out. Due to the tight fit, I had to try various combi before arriving at the best solution. Now, remove all of these including the reflector.


See the original shape of the reflector? 


I had to cut off the centre divider to make space for the LED tubes (my fingers could hardly move with that minimum space). For some downlights in my toilets, due to the odd corners I couldn't reach, I had to cut a bigger hole!


Ok, time to fit the pieces together. It took me a few attempts to snap it in. Apparently, the connection point's "female" parts are just nice to fit in a tapered "male" part, BUT the new bulbs I've gotten are trouble! The "male" parts are not tapered!! (See above for the picture of the bulbs - look at the difference in the "male" parts)


Finally, I got them in! I'm pretty happy with the new bulbs, they are brighter than the previous 13W ones. I don't want to think about changing them in the near future... they really are a hassle. Maybe by then I'll change to new downlight casings that require less effort.

For now, I'm taking a break from these!


O_o"


Sunday, October 7, 2012

Refreshing Wardrobe Knobs

I've been searching such a long time for you.... oh my beautiful... knobs!

Yes, I've been finding suitable ones for some time now. I know that this brand - Gainsborough, has nice ones, and they cost quite a bit, so I've been looking for other options.



Eventually, I gave in and bought 2 types. One for the master bedroom and the other for my mum's room. It has a 10 year guarantee which I'm quite happy about. Even the sales person who worked in this industry for a long time assured me that the print will still be there at least 10 years. If you're interested, you can check their website to find out more. I got mine for $10 bucks for one, changed the base plate for a gold one. Cool!

http://www.gainsboroughhardware.com.au/default.aspx



These were the initial knobs I bought. They are cheap and they look cheap. So, those went into the storeroom...

This is for Mumzie's room:

And for moi:


 The "Before" knobs in my room:



The "before" knobs in the rooms are a mismatch to my current theme. Mine's Victorian/French and mumzie's is floral. So these new knobs fit right it. It especially fits my mum's curtains that is also in blue and white floral.






The only thing that irks me is the tiny holes you see on my wardrobe doors. I've yet to try the wood putty, but I doubt it works as the wardrobes are just laminates, not solid wood. 

Gainsborough also sell ceramic door knobs, and there's more selection compared to the cupboard knobs. Well, my room doors are still working fine, so there's no need to change them. There are other brands out there but so far I've not come across one that gives a 10 year guarantee at the same price I've paid. It's a good buy and worth checking out if you fancy them.

xXx