NordenBladet – School holiday is half way through. Estella Elisheva is indoors practicing the violin and also watching movies from morning till night, I do not allow her to go outside to train, until she is completely well again, because last time when she played football outside during a storm, she caught a proper cold. Ivanka Shoshana treasures her newly attained “The Loud House” coloring books like sacred relics and abstains from colouring the pictures. Today I went with her to the ceramics class and she made a nice named piece of ceramics that she plans to give away as a present.
I am taking with Ivanka Shoshana (13) individual private ceramics classes for many years already. She values handicraft and after our exhibition in the Estonian National Museum (read HERE and HERE), where, for all of Estonia, also the best of her handmade ceramics was displayed, she is putting an even greater effort in the activity. I like her artistic signature. Her ideas are very unique, exciting and original. I like the way how creatively she approaches each piece. In our home, also for several years, besides the ceramics made by me, we are also enjoying the pottery that she has created (clay plates, coffee mugs and small bowls). In today’s class she started preparing a present! What could be cooler than a handmade and named present! Today a great multifunctional container was made, its lid is decorated with a snowman-knob and a dedication TO OTTO FROM IVANKA! I can’t wait to see what colour she will paint it after burning it! Though I have not been very busy adding entries, still you can read more about creating ceramics and about our paintings from our handicraft blog that is accommodated by our family brand “Elisheva & Shoshana” web address –> ElishevaShoshana.com.
Arriving home, a DPD courier was waiting for me, bringing to my door the package I had ordered from MyLook. Lately I have been completing almost all my shopping and payments online – it is simply so convenient. A few clicks and the products are in the “shopping cart”, paid for, and on their way. Since competition between the web stores is tense, then, thank God, the goods are arriving more and more quickly. I ordered several face care products (my current favourite is Lancôme), shampoos, lotions and soaps! Yes… we do not merely use Elisheva & Shoshana handmade soaps and shampoos – first, because we also want to try out products of other brands, and second, because the skin needs a change. Using the same product all over infinitely is not good 🙂 From flowery scents I really like: gardenia, magnolia, jasmine, vanilla, lily of the valley, and peony.
This time I ordered:
Lancome Eau Micellaire Douceur – näovesi (400mL) €41.95
Lancome Mousse Eclat – näopuhastusvaht (200mL) €29.95
Byphasse Family Shampoo and Conditioner Multivitamin Complex 2in1 All Hair Types (750mL) €2.45
Byphasse Family Shampoo Jojoba Extracts and Keratin Coloured Hair (750mL) €2.45
Byphasse Family Shampoo with Egg* All Hair Types (750mL) €2.45
Vichy Beautifying Anti-Acne Moisturizer – aknekreem (50mL) €21.95
Vichy Aqualia Awakening Eye Balm – silmaümbruse kreem (15mL) €21.95
Vichy Purete Thermale Perfecting Toner – näovesi (200mL) €15.95
Joik Organic Noorendav Öökreem (50mL) €35.00
Hercules Sägemann Everyday Hairbrush Oval – juuksehari €10.22
Hercules Sägemann Everyday Hairbrush Oval – juuksehari €11.39
Fiorentino Soap Gardenia – gardeenia seep (150g) €3.70
Fiorentino Soap Jasmine – jasmiini seep (150g) €3.70
Fiorentino Soap Abbracci Floreali Lily of The Valley – maikellukese / piibelehe seep (100g) €3.70
And now about the renovation! Had I known that renovating is so much fun, I would have done it more often! As I wrote HERE, then I have decided that I will renovate on my own – how difficult can the painting of the walls be, huh?! Hahaaa… and it is not nuclear physics! The aim is to refresh children’s rooms and the vestibule – new wall paint, new big closets, new lamps, new curtains or shades. Currently we are in the place where we have painted the walls and assembled the closets… Now the lamps and shades need to be purchased and we need to discuss which painting will go exactly where.
Now how does one then renovate on one’s own? Here are my tips:
Tip #1: turn to those that know better! Therefore, I turned to Allan (who probably masters all things in this world) and said that I am about to renovate and am wondering where to begin. I wanted calm and plain paint instead of the current wallpaper. Did you know that you can paint the wallpaper? It is not even necessary to tear the wallpaper down. You will need: masking tape (for example MAALRITEIP VIBAC 219 38MM*50M – price ca 2-2.50 EUR), to cover the spots that you do not want to paint (plugs, base molding, etc), then two rolls for painting, a long roll handle, a large underlay for the roll, and wall paint. I bought 2 ten-litre mat colour Sadolin Bindo 3 white paint (cost of one can is ca 40-50 EUR), that we had blended with a different colour in Bauhof. You choose the amount, tell the merchant that you need a different tone, and they mix the extra colour into your paint can without service fee. The paint menu cards are available in every store near the paints section.
Tip #2: Covering the floor with newspapers as I had initially intended (for the sake of economizing, or perhaps even recycling) is not a good idea. Buy a proper large roll of broad kraft paper – it is inexpensive, will stick well on that same place and afterwards it is easy to clean up.
Tip #3: Taping must be cautious, since this is the most difficult part of the renovation and will take the longest. Once all the edges have been well taped, the painting becomes easy! Do not forget to carefully take the tape off as soon as you finish painting, because the tape will stick to the paint later and may tear the paint off! Heh, I am already talking like a professional painter 😀
Tip #4: Put three layers of paint on the wall, then the result will be smooth and beautiful and you may be sure that the wallpaper pattern will not show! Should the wall have little holes from nails od perhaps small cracks, it would be wise to fill those beforehand with white repair express plaster and putty shovel (or using own hand). Use for example: PENOSIL AKRÜÜL STANDARD VALGE 280ML (will cost a few euros). With the big roll paint in the center of the wall, however, the places that need more attention (edges of the wall and around the plugs), those would need to be painted with a smaller roll.
Tip #5: This one is probably the most important of all tips.. should your hand get tired (mine got tired quite soon ?), then ask your sweetheart if he would be kind enough to lend you a hand and proceed with the painting work 😀 Using this tip, we got our walls painted really fast! Hahaaaa.. We didn’t even wait very long to let the paint dry, and it wasn’t even necessary, because the paint dried quickly. After the first layer we let the paint dry just an hour, after the second layer ca 5 hours. We added the third layer on the same day in the evening, and the renovation of the vestibule as well as the children’s rooms was completed in just one day! Luckily the paint doesn’t have a strong smell, we were able to use the room already one day later.
We ordered from JYSK two large and massive closets (VEDDE 4-door closet, 219x197x53cm, total cost 798.- EUR). Again we thought, no outside help – we ourselves assembled also the closets. Well yes, the details that needed to be assembled were a million, but I must say, I have quite the head for this task – I am a good “map reader”. One closet came with a broken panel, but luckily they had a spare one in stock and we could replace it with a new one. We assembled two closets in one day! A cool experience! We get all kind of cooperation going well with Allan, any work and any undertaking just seems to pass effortlessly in our hands! 🙂
To finish it up, a few pictures from today’s dinner that I made: fresh salad, grated beet, mashed potatos and meat sauce. As always, it was very delicious 🙂
Today’s blog is already getting very long, so the training plans and the depression topic that I mentioned last time will remain for the next time.
Meoww-meow. Hugs!
Do read also my previous blog posts (all posts are available in four languages – Estonian, Finnish, Swedish and English!)
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