Moving Boxes

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Where to get moving boxes???  Money is a bit tight at the moment, so hubby and I have decided on principle that we could spend money elsewhere instead of on moving boxes.

So where do we get boxes that are free? 

When we moved into this house 5 years ago, there was a removal company that offered free moving boxes, as long as they were returned within three days of the move in the same condition - and you didn't need to use them to move.  This same company offers similar service but you now have to use them for removals - they are not very cheap.

Here is my list of cheap/free boxes.
1. Freecycle.  This is a world wide website but you join up within your community.  People offer up goods they no longer want or need for free.

2 Friends. Ask around friends/neighbours/family/etc who have recently moved.  They may be happy to loan you some boxes or even give them to you.

3 Work/businesses.  Obviously depending on where you work, but many places of employment have various boxes that are just thrown out.  I utilised the local hardware store and the hospital where I work.  From the hospital, I got 30+ boxes all the same size (which is great for stacking and packing the truck), and although small, they were very sturdy and held our breakables and books.  The hardware store had some good quality bigger boxes.

4. Ebay or other secondhand sites. ok they may not be free, but they are cheaper than from the shops, and you can look for purpose built moving boxes.

We have one week to go.  Most of the packing is underway, and we have boxes coming out our ears!

Any other ideas of where to get free/cheap boxes from?

Lounge Cabinet

We have two more weeks before we move, I am now less stressed and more excited.  The house is looking fantastic, and we have a tenant lined up to move in when we move out (at a higher rent than we expected).  I think it is because of all the work I/we have done over the last six months.

Its funny that I have lived in this house for 5 years, and not really liked it.  Now we are moving we have the house looking great.  Its also amazing what a lick of paint can do to a room.

 Anyhoo, I promised I would show you one of my improvements to a cabinet.

 Below is the finished project.  Love it

 And here is the same area before.  Hate it...

There are literally a thousand tutorials on how to paint furniture, so I am not going to show you that.  However, this cabinet was goint to be painted white.

The only problem was, the drawers had chunks out of the bottom corners, not so noticable when brown, (definately noticable in person).  But if painted white, the missing chunks would have stood out.

Wandering the aisles of my local hardware store, I was thinking that wood putty or some sort of filler would do the job.  But then I came across this little beauty...

It is really easy to use (make sure you use rubber gloves) basically you cut off the amount you need, knead it until the colour is uniform and then mould it to shape.  I found it attached really easily and I was able to shape it in place.  And then it was dry in about 5 minutes.

After 5 minutes I was able to sand it smooth and shape it into a better corner shape

Apparently you can nail into it and drill it etc.  I didn't need to do anything further, other than paint the cabinet.  We then installed the tv, attatching the tie down strap from the tv to the cabinet.  I was paranoid the kids will pull the tv onto themselves, but that baby is not going anywhere.

Somehow, I got lucky and there is a solid piece of wood that I screwed the tie down strap into, not just the plywood backing :-)

Here is the finished project.  And a gold star goes out to the person who can spot the patched up drawers.  Heres a tip - I don't even know unless I look at the back unpainted side.

The before...

...and after

Linking to these fantastic blogs

Before and Afters

Yes I have been MIA, but I have an excuse (again).  We are moving house.  An opportunity came up for us and, well, you only live once.  We are moving to rural Melbourne on 9 acres.  We are renting at this stage, just to see if we like the lifestyle - and who wouldn't??  Consequently, we have been madly trying to get this house up to scratch (i.e. finish off all the projects I have started), ready for someone else to live in.

This is just a quick post, with some before and afters. 

When I have a bit more time, I will go into a bit more details about some interesting repairs I have done along the way.  Bear in mind I haven't had time to stylise the photos (not that I am much good at that - yet), and I am still in the midst a lot of other projects.  Here is the up date so far.

Laundry

Laundry Before

Laundry After (with new freezer)

Tiles Before

Tiles After (using tile paint)

 Lounge Room

Ugly Messy TV Cabinet and brown dresser with chipped drawers.

Newly Painted Cabinet (with hubby's new tv - I have hidden everything in the drawers and the DVD player is under the cabinet)

Ugly brown lounge suit that seemed too big for the room, plus cream cushions and cream walls, all seemed too brown. (forget that the room is messy)

Rearranged furniture has opened up the room, and the purple walls have toned down the browness of the lounge suit.

Looking from our front door, this is the sight you used to see.  That room through the arch is the kids playroom, and the toys just overflowed into the lounge.

Now looks much brighter and there is a place for the kids to put their toys away.

Just another picture, looking from the playroom back to the front door.  The entrance, I have painted virtually white (Dulux Antique White USA - for the Aussies), and it has just lightened and freshened the place up.

There are other projects going on, including packing and cleaning (which I am sure you don't need to see).  More updates will come about the remainder of the house tidy up, when I have a spare moment.

And if I am not back before 26th January, Happy Australia Day everyone. :-)