I'm going to answer some questions about my cabinet(s) because I often get questions about them.

Are they from Ikea?

No, I wish they were because it would have saved me a pretty penny. They are custom made by Jan from InterAntiek in Veldhoven The Netherlands. Yes that's Jan and Elvira's home on the main page.

How many do you have?

I have two, they are exactly the same. One is in my dining room and one in the living room. In one I keep books, cd's and the HiFi system in the other one my fancy china.

They look really big

They are. My ceilings are 3.15 m high so the rooms need something that goes up in height. The cabinets are both 2.45 m tall.

What's the material?

They are made from recycled old pine cabinets and doors. They are painted white with a thick water based paint and waxed to give it an old look.

***

Oh and yes yes I did yet another redesign but I just love doing it so much and this one suits my new landing wallpaper. I'm also working hard on the Housekeeping special, holy moly there's so much to tell. I keep writing little things down and in the end I'm going to put it all together. Thanks so much for the lovely response.

... just six?

Mary tagged me - oh dear, oh dear!!

1. I'm extremely scared of frogs, have been my whole life. I can't remember when or how it started. I even moved house because there were so many ponds in the neighborhood. I won't add people to my Flickr contact list if they have pictures of frogs. Period!!
2. I keep this picture of Edward Norton and Ralph Fiennes in my organizer because throwing it away or taking it out is not an option.
3. I used to be a thumb sucker for 21 years and a chain smoker for 15 years. I gave the thumb sucking up about 11 years ago and the smoking 4 years ago. It seems I passed my urge to suck or drag ... HA!!
4. Oh this one is embarrassing ... when I get out of bed in the morning the first thing I like to do is sit on the toilet while I talk to my mum on the telephone. She hates that I call her from the toilet and I don't blame her.
5. I run a load of laundry almost every day and we are just with two people. I buy laundry detergent and fabric softener in bulk because I'm scared whenever a disaster might break out I can't do the laundry.
6. I'm very emotional. I cry many happy and sad tears and I can't control it. One time I cried over an episode of The Flintstones. Fred and Wilma took an orphan in their home for Christmas and it was just too much.

I'm going to tag everyone who wants to play along. Don't forget to drop a little message so I know when yours are up.

"How do you keep you house clean and tidy?"

I do get that question a lot. This is the simple answer: I'm clean and tidy by nature. LOL, well there's more to it of course ;o)

"Pimping" your Ikea bookcase really made me laugh. Looks great too. And I am also envying your clean and tidy space! Could you do an "Yvestown housekeeping special" for the more slovenly members of your fan club?

From Claire

Because I love this comment so much (thanks Claire) I'm going to work on a special housekeeping page for the future. I was looking for something I could add to the site and this will make a fun project.

I hope you like this idea. If you have tips or suggestions or something you want to ask me, please do I'll add it all to the special housekeeping page. Stay tuned!!

I just found out about Ikea Hacker (via sfgirlbybay). It's such a fantastic idea because I love to hack my Ikea buys. I basically love Ikea but I don't want my house to look like an Ikea catalog so I keep pimping all the items I buy.

I submitted two of my hacks; the SKRUVSTA slipcover I did last year and the Expedit bookcase I pimped recently.

The bookcase (click the photo for a larger image) is in the study and I'm using it to file my favorite magazine back issues. I pinned the retro wallpaper, I found in Germany, on the back of the bookcase (quite a job) to create a fun backdrop.

I can't wait to see more hacks on Ikea Hacker!!

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Oh and thanks for the lovely pantry comments. Bo wanted me to add that he loves it so much that he wanted to sleep in it the night I finished it. Yes he's almost 40!!

One resolution I made for 2007 is not to be so easy anymore. Since I married Bo almost eight years ago I've become too easy. In easy I mean "oh sod it, Bo will do it when he gets home".

I've always been a hands on girl. My father passed away when I was only thirteen years old leaving three women behind and a boy with two left hands, we were forced to do everything ourselves. So by the age of nineteen I was quite the handy woman. Fixing VCR's, painting houses, trimming trees, driving tractors, sewing cushions, studying, working in a shop, cleaning two homes, participating in an amateur drama group and cleaning a whole Hall single handedly wasn't strange to me. I can't sit still very long and I'm really quickly bored. It's not that I'm not interested it's just that I want to get on with things but I've lost that a bit since I got married.

To get my old groove back I decided to start the year fresh with a new D.I.Y. project known as The Cupboard Under The Stairs a.k.a. my pantry. It needed a fresh coat of paint, some un cluttering and organizing.

This is what it looked like on Monday.

And this is what it looked like two days and a lot of pink paint in my hair later.

I did everything myself, even the drilling and the lightning fixture. I was pooped by Tuesday night but extremely satisfied.

For most of my life I've been hating it to have a birthday in December. You should know that the Dutch celebrate two gift exchange holidays in one month. On the 5th (one day before my birthday) Sinterklaas and between the 24th and 26th Christmas. As a child I used to be buried under presents in December but the best gift - having friends on my birthday - never happened. I used to have early January or late November parties instead. It used to be a month of mixed emotions and I've always been depressed about it. Until I started to let it go a couple of birthdays ago and I'm loving it. I now have a new found "I don't care if you don't come round and have cake" mentality and I love it. I feel free at last!!

So it was a surprise for me how thoughtful and giving people were this birthday. I even received guests for cake. My parents in law were really generous this year and I bought a dollhouse with the money they gave me. I also bought stuff for the dollhouse with the money my mother gave me. Honestly I'd give everything back to just have both of them on my birthday but that's just not possible with a globetrotter like my mum and people that have issues like my parents in law.

Blog friends were generous too this year. Marné sent me lots of goodies seen in previous posts (I used it all for Christmas decorations). She also sent me the two snowmen in the top picture, magazines and POPTARTS!!!

Kathleen sent me this beautiful handmade pin, I'm now wearing to keep my pashminas snug. Visit the Liquid Shop for more beautiful goodies and wrapping. She also sent me this fabulous suitcase.

It's good to know that I have found friends that consider me adequate to play with toys for ages 3 & up. That gives me a warm and fuzzy feeling.

Thanks girls!!

Most laughed at:

• The Ricky Gervais Podcast
• De Lama's (Dutch TV show)

Important questions learned:

• What is the best life possible for you?
• Stick with your old friends and value them

Most useful item(s) bought:

• Apple MacBook
• Moo MiniCards
• Pom-Pom maker

Happy New Year!!

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Thanks to Marné again for the chopsticks and magazines as a part of the 2006 Annual Christmas Swap. More seen here and here.