Quick Wraps

It was another box that I thought could be converted to something useful, an Essence of Chicken box, ideal for storing CH's clutter that she refuses to discard (becoming a junkie like me?).

CH picked the remainder of a gift wrapping paper

while I used the left-over drawer liner for the interior.

Living without TV

Seven years ago, when we bought our CRT TV, the smallest LCD televisions still cost thousands of dollars. 3 years ago, we got asked why we had not 'upgraded' our television when nearly every household had an LCD TV.

"What do people do with their existing TV if they still work?" We had wondered. It was not like we needed two television sets at home.

Recently, our CRT broke down. Just like that, for no apparent reason. It just would not turn on. We needed to pay extras for the service man to check and possibly foot another hundred to change a part. So we waited for a good sale to come along. We waited 3 weeks.

On the second week, we got asked,"And you could survive?" Surprisingly, we did.

On the last weekend before the arrival of our new Philips LED TV, my brother in-law lent us an Avatar DVD. With HM's 24 inch LCD screen plugged into his laptop and sound system connected, we watched Avatar. That was our 3rd weekend without TV, and it felt even more exciting than it would have been if our TV had not broken down. Deprivation has its pros.

"Why do we even bother to buy a new TV?" HM had joked.

We had wanted to go for a LCD since a good 42 inch these days cost slightly more than a thousand dollars. But along came a Philips half-yearly sale for staff. With the help of some good contacts, we managed to get hold of a 40 inch LED that had not already gone out-of-stock. It is a HD 8000 series with ambient light, anti-glare, 100Hz, comes with USB socket, and is internet connectible! HM and I fell in love with the unique round corners of the TV.

Even the box that contained the TV was put to good use! The board is so hard and sturdy it would have been a shame to throw away!

Before

After - without any use of glue or tapes

Useful Bins

For some reason, the 'recycling men' have stopped their door-to-door pickups and we have to drop our recycling waste in the central collection container a few blocks away. Yet, separating waste has become a habit for us.

The accumulation of the recycling waste has become quite an eyesore, although it is tucked in a corner of my kitchen.

A recent find at IKEA brought such a neat solution that I decided to post a picture of it here. I use the lowest bin as my laundry basket and the top two as my recycle bins. The optional wheels also make it easier for me to clean the floor.

Love it!

Eye Sore No. 2

A nice biscuit bucket, a pity to throw away, but quite an eye sore to have around the house.

Found some unused drawer lining sticker in my storeroom and used it as a base cover. Came across the red, yellow and orange felt flowers and thought they'd look appropriate with the yellow handle. Picked up the checkered ribbon during shopping too, not knowing what to do with it, but looks good enough to cover the roughly cut edges at the bottom.

This is now my handy container for the scrap materials!

Materials from Daiso

And the new everything for S$2 branch has just opened near my place!

Eye Sore No. 1

This is our eye sore No. 1: the CD holders in our TV console. The compartment size makes it rather difficult for us fit in any CD holder, so we have been stuck using the trays. It's been creating scratches on the furniture too.

One fine day, I decided to 'improve' on the trays did some craft work with my daughter.

We use felt on the underside to protect the furniture and use gift-wrapping tapes to cover it. Here is the end result. Now, my husband thinks it is a worse eye sore for him because it looks 'too feminine'!

All materials from Daiso

Bluffed stiches

Rare large boxes that come only with big ticket items you buy - you just refuse to throw away cos the kids love them and you find them useful too. Here's what you can do with the sharp trimmed edges of cardboard boxes - double-side tape it with a ribbon to make it look like you've stitched it!


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