I’ve only recently started watching walkthroughs – lacking the consoles – and it’s only with FFVII Rebirth that I identified the thing that seemed odd but couldn’t place as it wasn’t out of place.
Collecting items and breaking things while “ignoring” the people in the room.
Obviously this isn’t odd while I’m controlling the character, it’s part of playing. But watching it is funny π
People patiently waiting while I rifle through their stuff – ke ke ke
Though, I do miss exploring the world and panning over the scenery I like best.
Last year I decided I wanted to get back into Japanese. My motivation for many things took a serious down turn in 2020…
Work then start off hot on 3 January and hasn’t slowed down, making my study plan stay as a plan. Also, training new staff has added to the general press of the work day.
But today I took a step in the direction I planned for January – I got my books out and dusted them off. It’s a step forward and it’s still in January so win win.
A while ago I made a very basic table from the left over wood as a cat feeding table – it’s didn’t work out, way too wobbly for the late night leaping to free after eating.
I moved it into the lounge and painted it with Magical Marina by Tjhoko Paints and added little corner pieces with No More Nails.
And I became obsessed with the colour.
All white furniture had to go! Magical Marina was IT!
And some bronze stencilling. I did this project last as the table and stools were high gloss white and I anticipated a sanding struggle. I was right and I still didn’t get it all… The stencilling on the stools only occured to me when I saw the stencil in the shop. Came out better than I thought.
My greatly improved office space.
But I was not finished the green.
Due to loadshedding, I needed a UPS for my router. I’d been undecided for years! Mainly due to expense of installing an entire alternative supply system, but then I discovered router UPS (but still took some time to buy…)
UPS works great even though it has the shortest possible cables – 10cm is all you got to work with. I needed a table to put it on.
Unlike the years it took me to get the UPS sorted, the table was the next week at a charity shop.
Sanding and painting. The shelf was included as it had been on the list for a while but I hadn’t found a colour I wanted from the paper on the back. But when I saw Maestro on TikTok, that was the shelf colour, the table was thrown in to make a pair (and be less Magical Marina overload).
The corner stencil was from an earlier project, a coffee table, and the centre stencil addition to create a border.
But I was not finished with my ‘remove all white furniture’ blitz.
The white of this cupboard was painted Lourianβs Cream, same as the kitchen dresser.
And this chest of drawers went from to Simply Siphiwe, same as the footstool.
There is still sort of one piece left – my wardrobe. I’ve been undecided and am still undecided. I kinda think I’m going to keep the black and white but redo the white to a matter white so it’s not so reflective. While I’m deciding, I did put bronze stencils on the front π
I found this cute footstool but it needed an upgrade to fit in with the rest of the home vibe – leather and wood needed to change.
Charlie approved.
The leather was in a good condition with only a side seam undone.
Apart from some dirt, the base wasn’t bad. A light sand and some Tjhoko Paint – Simply Siphiwe with Granny B‘s matt arnour.
Added some felt for cushioning under the fabric.
Right side down, I lined up the fabric and pinned the side seams for a snug fit. After stitching the seams, I pinned it in place again to prevent movement when securing on the underside.
I no longer have a staple gun and wasn’t going to buy one for a single project so I used panel nails to secure the felt and fabric in place.
I did know there was a bit of water damage to the chipboard – didn’t anticipate the nails not holding. Wasn’t sure how to correct this but a load of wood glue on the damaged part and some screws worked in this case.
Used my scissors to stab some holes in the fabric to secure the base back on and added felt feet.
Of course, I’ve redone this footstool for the cats…
When I did my bedside table, I was inspired to redo my chest of drawers.
This first redo was raw pine with a cherry wood stain and ceramic knobs. It was… okay. I had no feelings about it and it stayed like that for years (since 2019 – when we moved).
Before painting it I added a lip on the top with No More Nails. Sherif’s Stone again and new ceramic knobs to go with the decoupage of the bedside table.
Recently on TikTok my feed is full of Kingdom Hearts things. I’m very out of the loop and what’s happening in the KH world – KH, KHII and KHCoM is all I actually know with bits of character design here and there. If there’s something new in the KH world that’s coming out to cause the hype, I don’t know what it is.
But I will never forget the first time I heard Dearly Beloved. I had put the disc and was about to step back to sit on the sofa when those first notes hit and I stilled. I was completely captivated by it and stared at the soft drawing of Sora for ages. I don’t know how long I listened to it before hitting new game but it was a few loops.
It often takes me back to that afternoon standing in the lounge and, to this day, it is one of the pieces that makes me feel calm. It’s been my phone alarm since the days I had to convert it to .ogg – the softest way to wake in the morning. I would say I like KHII’s version more but it doesn’t hold the same power over me.
The bedroom chair for clothes that aren’t yet dirty enough to wash and a place to cats to sit and watch you while you sleep.
Perfect for cats and clothes. The fabric was faded and thin with age – the boys shredded it within minutes of it arriving home, and my fingers went through the one side when I picked it up. I knew this when I bought it and that the leg was a repair, I was going to recover it anyway and the price was worth it.
But I was in for a proper suprise when I started to take the dead fabic off…
It needed professional repair. And the recover was looking to be beyond what little reupholstering I’d done in the past.
Took it to a local upholstry place for repair and recover. Then I painted the legs black and added a green fringe.
Cream the butter/full fat marg and sugar until smooth and creamy, add eggs then milk, cococnut, flour and baking powder.Β Do not over mix the batter but it should be blended nicely.Β Bake at 180C for, usually, 30 β 45 minutes.
With this bedside table, I tried my hand at filming instead of only photos then forgot the photos part… Filming takes more planning than I want to do for a hobbies π
Screenshots of video – two tone wood is not my vibe and I really don’t like yellow toned wood.
I wanted to try decoupage for the drawer front. The knob didn’t come off so I had to work around it but working with podge was quite simple. The colour is Sherif’s Stone from Tjhoko paints. I kept the dark wood first with the option to paint over it if I didn’t like it but it came out well.
Nantalith Teglan 