It's FREE!

I've had a really good run with Freegle lately and now I've expanded to Freecycle and Gumtree. 

The latest acquisition has been an amazing ladies bike with not a damn thing wrong with it aside from a clunky gear.   Good brakes, good tires and it's pink!

So happy. 


Before that, I drove to some place called Yateley (more like Poshland) to pick up a sofabed with a thick foam mattress.  Remember how I said that getting seating or bed foam was really hard?  I had to take the whole bed but I now have enough wood to finish my guinea pig hutches AND harvested enough foam to re-stuff our couch cushions! 

Just in case I haven't mentioned it before....  our couches, (a major bone of contention with my partner and I), are extremely well built, big, solid and heavy quality furniture BUT they're old.  The fibre cushion filling is lumpy and flattened.  I would like to buy new couches but alas, we don't have the budget.  I once priced out having the cushions redone at £80 per cushion!  We have 8 cushions!  To hell with that....   so I've been searching for free upholstery foam or bed foam off and on for about 3 years.  

So please believe me when I say, there was nothing in the world that made me happier on that day when I cut up a load of foam and re-stuffed our couch cushions.  You have no idea. 

I've also got enough decent cushion cover material, miles of zipper and lumpy fibre fill to make a couple really nice pet beds.  One for Frankie and one for Mia.  Plus, possibly, a couple more smaller ones to donate to the RSPCA.  That would be nice. 


I've also scored a few more bits which will be the basis for the next couple blogs.  First, I got this....





Which I hope to turn into something like this.....  only with plexiglass doors.  I need the doors because I have Frankie, who would eat the guinea pigs....  as appetizers. 
I found this picture on Pinterest which came from a site called www.guineapigcages.com which is the thing that got me inspired to do my own.
 
 
 
The plan:
 
* Remove the drawers.   We are keeping the large cabinet-y bit on the top to store guinea pig stuff.  Food, hay, toys etc. 
 
* Cut two or three shelves out of the sofabed base I got from Yateley.  It's thick MDF so should be perfect.  I will have to run out and get some more shelf paper to line the boards so the pee doesn't soak in.  (ew.)
 
* Cut ladder holes in said shelves
 
* Use existing drawer hardware to hold the shelves in place.
 
* Caulk around the shelves to prevent transfer of anything yukky from one level to the other or to the floor.   (The dresser/cabinet has no "floor" under the bottom drawer)
 
* Cut plexi to fit across the fronts of the shelves. 
 
* Screw plexi to the shelves.  I have purchased some little u-shaped bits with nails which I will use to hold the plexi onto the sides of the dresser.
  
* Cut more plexi for the doors. (if I have enough left!!)   Affix to the dresser with hinges and attach "hook and eye" fastener to keep it closed.
 
* Use slats and offcuts from the sofa bed as ladders between the levels.
 
* Add guinea pigs. 
 
I will post some pictures as we go.   Wish me luck. 
 
 











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