Marktplaats – Tse Moana

Cupboard

Monday, March 21, 2016 by Tse Moana Leave a Comment

Now that Nienke has moved, the need for a new kitchen cupboard has become rather more urgent. I’ve been scouring Marktplaats for a while now looking for a good match. But I’m pretty picky and hadn’t found anything yet. I wanted a white cupboard, with an open space in the middle, at least two drawers, a shelf with glass in the doors in the top part and tall enough that it sort of matches with the bookcases. Oh, and also affordable and requiring little work 😀

I saw some that matched most of what I wanted but weren’t quite it. I found a gorgeous cupboard that structurally was exactly what I wanted. Except it was of this brand that has the stupid, stupid habit of putting their brand name in flowy letters all over the piece. Why the fuck would I want furniture that says Riviera Maison in giant ass letters! I could sand it off, but then I’d have to repaint probably the whole thing. So, not worth it.

Other cupboards were too short, or had no drawers, or no glass doors at the top, and so on. Eventually, however, I stumbled across one that was perfect. Except it wasn’t white. But, based on the image, it seemed the wood was mostly unvarnished so it should be easy to paint. I mailed back and forth with the seller and he confirmed it wasn’t varnished. If the only thing I had to do was paint, I’m good. So we agreed I would come pick it up Friday Morning.

The night before I went out with Kim to eat at Subway and then see Allegiant. Which is not a very good movie. Taken separately as an independent scifi, it’s okay. As a part of the Divergent series, no. It has veered so far off track it looks nothing like the book. And what they replaced it with…

The next morning my Uncle, whom I ‘d chartered to drive and help, and I headed for the rent-a-trailer place in town. I’d reserved one the day before with a hood on it in case of rain. Once trailered-up, we headed to Friesland to pick up my cupboard. And it is glorious.

It splits up in two pieces and it isn’t very heavy so it was easy to transport and get it inside. I spent the rest of Friday and this weekend painting. So. Much. Painting.

I bought standard white paint for the exterior. I also snagged a jar of deep red base paint from the sale bin. I didn’t know what I would use it on, but I loved the colour. In the end, I decided to use that for the interior of the cupboard. Which turned out to be best decision ever 😀

Table

Thursday, February 25, 2016 by Tse Moana Leave a Comment

I have acquired a dining table 🙂

With Nienke going away soon, I need some new pieces of furniture. Well, new to me anyway. Priority pieces are a cupboard for my plates and other kitchen stuff, and a dining table and chairs. So, I have been browsing Marktplaats quite frequently lately. A few days ago I stumbled across a beautiful table. Large, massive legs, real wood, in a nice pattern and a good dark colour. I bid on it and nothing much happened for a bit. Then I got outbid in a fairly serious way. I could outbid that person, but I felt she would continue and I might end up paying more than I wanted. So I mailed the seller directly, asking her to sell it to me for her asking price. And she agreed!

20160225_103247 Eva had offered to help me get the table so after some contact with both Eva and the seller, Wednesday afternoon was agreed upon. Eva came shortly after I’d gotten home from work. We had a cuppa first and then drove a few towns over to get my baby. The table is one piece and the legs cannot be removed. We had no other options then but to put the table in the back of the van with the legs pointing up. We strapped the legs on one side to the car seats. Then we tied the van doors around the legs on the other side so they’d keep still while driving. The doors couldn’t close, so we drove home gently.

We got back without incident, and with a little help from my Uncle the table was inside in a flash. The cats, notably Monkey, approved. Now to get chairs for it, although that will be a while as the ones I want are not yet in the budget.

20160224_220525 We then decided to check out the thrift store and turned the rest of the afternoon in a fun little shopping trip, taking Nienke with us. I almost bought a jacket, but didn’t like the fit enough. I did find a nice wooden decorative box and a reed basket. And books. Because I cannot leave there without books. It’s usually children’s books as they don’t generally have a lot of English works.

Nienke pointed out a Dutch translation Indiana Jones tie-in novel to me which I scooped up as I already have another one in this series. I also found a good, English, copy of Alice in Wonderland and Through the Looking glass and what seems like a fun youth book about a 19th century family emigrating to the USA.

Then I came across a rare find, at least for our local thrift store, a complete science fantasy trilogy in English. With them being only 30 cents a book, I got my grabby hands on them and did not let go 😀

Red

Saturday, October 24, 2015 by Tse Moana Leave a Comment

I love The Martian. I went to see it with Gert yesterday and it’s a great movie. I found it to be very realistic, in so far that is possible. Matt Damon portrays a very ingenious and likable main character. It’s intriguing to see him struggle in trying to survive on a hostile planet like Mars. I definitely want to see this again, and I can’t wait to read the book.

Today I went to pick up my new folding bike. I’d been thinking about getting one for a while now to help me when I travel to people or places that are far from public transport points. I can’t always walk those ends and I also don’t always want to rely on others to pick me up or drive me. With a folding bike I can take, for example, a bus or train and then bike the rest to go see Eva instead of hoping she can pick me up.

I started looking at Marktplaats last week for a cheap, but good, folding bike. I bid on one on offer a town over but got outbid. That turned out to be my luck as I came across a beautiful bike. One of those tiny models, in red and grey. And even better, it was in perfect condition. The previous owner used it for her commute and had it serviced every year. Because of a job change she didn’t need it any longer so she was looking to sell. I bid, and it got accepted.

It was a bit further out of the way than the first one, so Mom drove me there to pick it up. We made a first stop in the town before to go to the Action. I’m in need of cake plates for birthdays and such. I’d checked at Blokker and online but couldn’t find some that were both pretty and affordable. I need about twelve so no way I’m buying sets of four or six for € 15,00 – € 20,00.

The Action came through as it usually does. I found gorgeous glass plates with a design in them that made them almost look like crystal. And, even better, they also had serving plates in the same design. So I got me twelve cake plates and two different sizes of the serving plates. I love pretty things 🙂

20151024_153458 Then we went on the pick up the bike. It was just as cute in real life as on its picture, and it fit in the back of the car perfectly.

Once home, I took it for a little practice round around the block. It’s felt a bit odd at first. It’s so small and the front wheel and handle react very fast. Especially compared to the heavy front end on my regular bike (I have a crate on it). It’s low enough so I can put my feet on the ground, though, so if I need to pull an emergency stop, I can.

Later, I made a new centerpiece for the coffee table to celebrate the fall. A good end to a good day!

Metal and Wood

Wednesday, September 2, 2015 by Tse Moana Leave a Comment

Now that most of the boxes have been unpacked and things are mostly where they’re supposed to be, I’m starting to make my ideas and plans for this house more concrete. I can’t do all of it at once, or right now because I don’t have the money or the space for it, but I also don’t want to rush it. I want to take my time and get a feel for this place and for what my personal style really is. In my first house I just bought whatever I could find that was cheap and useful. So I ended up with a lot of Ikea and a lot of hand-me-downs and thrifted stuff. And those where then often items that were okay, but not really things I loved.

Then, over the past two years in the previous house, I started acquiring furniture pieces that I loved. I bought a sofa set (Ikea’s Ektorp), a bed (from the local hardware/interior store) and drawers for the bedroom (from Ikea’s Hemnes series). As I did so, I realised my style had also changed. From being really into white and light wood and fairly straight lines with country elements to a more rustic style and darker woods with nature elements.

20150828_144103 I now have a whole new house to work with and shape to my wishes. I’m very pleased with the bones (layout, light floor, dark wood kitchen) and I have ideas for the various rooms, but I’m taking my sweet time to see if it will stick. I plan to get a lot of things from Marktplaats and/or thrift stores, so that demands patience any way.

Last week, I struck gold, twice.

I was browsing Marktplaats when I stumbled across this really pretty low metal table. It was engraved with fancy patterns and looked like a sort of big display dish on legs. I knew I had fallen for it when I e-mailed the seller asking how sturdy it was. After getting her answer (pretty sturdy) I bid €25 and it was accepted. Friday after work, I headed to her work place, where we’d agreed to do the handover, and soon I was in the train on my way home with a small table.

It was kinda tricky getting it home while riding my bike as it was too heavy to drag alongside me, so I had to support it on one hip and hold the top 😀 I’m sure it must have looked funny to passers by to see me occasionally struggling with the wind. I made it safely home, though, and after cleaning and thinking about where to put it. I ended up with this. I’m not quite happy with the styling yet (I want a different plant and a different pot) but for now it will do.

Sidetable I’d also been thinking about what to do for a coat rack. My entry way has a recessed area before the electricity closet and the toilet. I have a free standing coat rack (which is awesome, I must say). However, I use the recessed area for one of the two litter boxes (the other one is in front of the electricity closet). This means I have no space for the free standing one. I could conceivably build a platform above the box and put it up there, but then it’s too tall.

This means I will have to use the wall. But I don’t want any random coat rack, or even just hooks on the wall. I want a little shelf to put something pretty on, and maybe keys or something. And I want pretty hooks. And I think I do want a little platform thingy above the litter box. Maybe to put a box with scarves and hats on, or to sit down and take my shoes off. *gears are turning*

I decided I wanted a somewhat rustic looking piece of wood to put vintage-type hooks in and then hang that on the wall. A visit to the local hardware/interior store, however, did not help. They had pretty, rustic, wood. Which was way too thick and heavy. They had thinner wood, but not wide enough, and the pieces that were wide enough, were too thin…

Then, the week before last, I went to the Action. And there I found the perfect thing. A ready made little shelf, with a sort of vaguely white washed look, and the cutest shaped wooden supports. Immediately I saw the potential, so I bought two. One to just hang on the wall as a shelf. The other to take apart.

I spent last week looking for hooks. At first I kept on the vintage tour, but it was hard to find something that looked like what I had in mind. I ended up browsing Bol.com, as I do, and decided to see what hooks they might have. After a few pages of fairly standard ones, I came across these and had to have them. I figured five hooks would be enough, so I settled on one set of three, and two singles.

The trio of hooks looking like branches are these, from Puhlmann. The other two are from The Zoo.

This morning, after I was done working, I decided it was time to build the coat rack. I had removed the supports from one of the shelves a few days before, and moved the hangers from the back of the supports to the back of the shelf. Last night I made small indentations where I wanted the various hooks. All I had left to do, was screw them in. The hooks have a fairly large screw sticking out of them at the back so I just started manually pushing down while turning them until they stuck enough to stop wiggling. Then I could turn faster and within ten or so minutes, I had all five securely screwed in. Except the deer. Due to some paint left overs on the top end of the screw, it wasn’t as solid as the rest. Fortunately it was nothing a quick unscrew, a few drops of superglue and a rescrew couldn’t fix.

So now I have a coat rack that is almost ready to be hung. That fairly large screw on the back of the hooks is of such length they are all sticking out at the back. I’ll have to go find my metal saw to get rid of that, and then it can go up the wall. The shelf is ready as is, all I’m gonna do is screw in a hook or two on the bottom to hang keys on.

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