I know I promised pictures of our living room for last week but somehow everything takes longer than I actually planned. The bunny hutch is nearly done but still not really that safe and finished that the Hezleins could move in. And I’m still thinking if we should just bring the old armoire and the old Billy shelves to the landfill or store them in the basement. Or if we should just keep them, although I really can’t stand them anymore. But at the same time we still need some storage for a few folders and textbooks which didn’t find their place in the bookcase. And as long as we’ve got the shelves and the old armoire in our apartment, I can’t continue to fix the baseboards and as long as the baseboards aren’t fixed, I can’t paint the walls in our corridor and can’t put the other living room furniture where it’s supposed to be, and so on, and so on, and so on.

At least I managed to rearrange my fabrics the day before yesterday and took a pretty picture:

I definitely need more green fabrics. And I should make a decision regarding the old furniture. By tomorrow sounds quite good.

New project: granny square blanket.

Coats Lyrics 8/8 cotton yarn, made for crochet hooks size 4.

And the first finished squares. I’m so curious how the whole blanket will look like. And the best thing is that I don’t have to decide how big it is going to be but can just keep on crocheting until I think I’m done.

May I introduce to you?

This is Dr. Apel. He belonged to my father when he was a little boy and then I got him when I was a child. Dr. Apel used to wear a white baby undershirt that looked like a small doctor’s overall. So what would have been more obvious than naming the teddy after the only man I knew that wore a white doctor’s overall, my pediatrician? Dr. Apel is even christened. My sister and me were relatively old when we got christened, I think I was five and she was three years old, and we both brought our dolls and teddies with us what led to the fact that our dolls Julius and Lucie and the teddy Dr. Apel were christened as well.

Originally I didn’t want to tell you about Dr. Apel but about our living room that gets more and more homey. There are still a lot of things missing until I can show you the whole room. Today the ordered photographies by Yvette Inufio arrived and I already hung the four smaller ones, for the bigger one I’ll need a new mat.

On the picture you can already see the new chest of drawers I bought off eBay. It was glazed in a horrible dark blue, so I decided to paint it white and staple the top with another GreenGate oilcloth and now am quite happy with it. As soon as I’ve hung the other photographies I’ll take a bigger picture of the chest of drawers.

Apart from that I really have to pull myself together that I will not start to paint our corridor, althought I would really love to. Nevertheless I don’t really have two unfinished projects in our apartment. Not only because of this fact I really want to hurry up with the living room and I hope I’ll can take a few more pictures by the end of the week.

The second display cabinet I bought on eBay a few weeks ago seriously worried me. First of all it was in a really, really bad condition. Three out of four legs were broken off, the surface had several dents, scratches and holes and it looked as if the cabinet had been standing in the rain for weeks. In addition the surface somehow extremely marked off. I tried to paint it white but every single coat of paint turned from white to somehow-yellow-brown as it dried. I therefor first needed something that is called “Sperrgrund” in Germany, it’s a sort of paint that, once dried, protects the underground from shimmering through the paint. And as I didn’t want to take any risks, I didn’t use the Sperrgrund based on water but the one with syntetic resin, which stinks and takes hours to dry. And then I had to paint coat after coat after coat and … phew.

When I bought the cabinet on eBay for only 30 Euros I actually thought that I got it for a really cheap price. Compared to the work it needed to be done, I don’t know if it really was a bargain buy. Nevertheless it’s always a great feeling to have something individual that you have (re-)designed just the way you wanted it to be. And in the end all the work of the last five evenings really payed off.

And that’s it, in its second version. I laminated the back board with a green-white gingham wallpaper. After I had painted the cabinet in an off-white from bottom to top, I actually did like it but as well thought that it was totally colourless. And as I had thought about painting it red before but didn’t really had the guts to do it, this time I just gave it a try. So I spontaniously bought red paint and put on three more coats of paint on the outside. I have to admit that I wasn’t sure about the colour until I put in the books and put away all the newspapers and dirt around it.

I am so relieved that the outcome is such a beautiful eyecatcher in our living room. I’m totally pleased with my decision and now think that all the work was worth it. Sometimes you just have to take risks, give things a try and trust your instincts. And maybe this 100-year old bookcase will now survive another 100 years.

Step by step our living room gets back to normal. There are still a thousand things missing but it’s not this complete mess anymore. Still to do:

• fix the TV cable
• adding another electrical outlet
• fix the baseboards
• sandpaper and paint the display cabinet
• build the bunny hutch

I just recently added the last point after we had decided that the old hutch was a) ugly and b) not really practical. So this is going to be our third try in building a bunny hutch and this time we don’t only want to build one the Hezleins are happy about, but we as well. I already got some ideas in my head which we will (hopefully) bring to life this weekend.

Apart from that I changed the “colour scheme”. I originally wanted mainly shades of blue and green in the living room, but I actually really like the white/red of the arm chair in combination with our new floor and the grey on the walls and will probably go more in this direction.

Today arrived to cushion covers I bought in the GreenGate sale.

I hope I’ll get the smaller one a second time as the back of the cushion is just as lovely as the front.

© derder.etsy.com

And I ordered the Keep Calm And Carry On poster, but not in lime but in red. I hope I’ll like it, I am still a bit unsure about the colour, but I’ll just give it a try.