DIY Lightbox
I’ve finally pulled my finger out and finished making my very own DIY lightbox.
All posts tagged: Crafts
The Million Dollar Floor Lamp
A couple of posts ago, I introduced you to my latest project, Sherwood Forest. Today is just a quickie to show you how something from that project has gone from “meh” to “sshwing!” In less than an hour might I add. See that lamp? Well, it needed some love. And what better way to love it than to take off that old shade and make it all warm, shiny and coppery. Luckily my clients love copper nearly as much as I do. Whoop! So with some sandpaper and can of Valspar’s Metallic Copper spray paint I got to work. Pic from B&Q After one coat. After two coats. And so with our new rather glamorous lamp base which in total had three coats for good measure, it needed a new shade. Initally I opted for the Grande shade from Habitat. A simple tapered drum in matt black with a copper interior to reflect the light beautifully. But the shape and dimensions were all wrong. The client also felt it needed a little pattern, so off I went searching …
Original Design with a Story
There are not many businesses out there that spend as much time and care sourcing unique and ethical design as these guys. Such & Such was founded by a brother and sister originally from the Peak District. Meet Ali, who in a previous life was a lawyer and Nikki who was a creative professional. In 2011 they both began to get itchy feet, feeling the need for a serious career and life change. Ali and Nikki with her daughter, Bessie After almost too many ideas, lots of research and a serious period of reflection, Such & Such was born in 2013. Nikki and Ali are clearly passionate about design, quality and craftsmanship. They offer a meticulously curated selection of homeware and lifestyle goods, whilst telling the stories of the designers and makers behind them. This is not a shop selling you “stuff” or a place providing a quick design hit. It’s a place to find those “cherished belongings that you will keep for a lifetime.” The collectables of the future. “Such & Such goals are to search for well-designed, cool …
Interactive Art #loveyourwalls
I picked these enormous gold frames from a charity shop for £7 each. Bargain. One was used one to reframe and update the look of my Ashley Percival poster. See… Et voila. I had one frame left but nothing else I really wanted to re-frame, so I decided to go maverick and make my own god damn art. Hell yeah. If you’re anything like me, then you might be a fan of a slogan or two, motto, life affirming quotes and general feel good fonts. I’ll give you an example of some of my faves: These are all either hanging on my own walls or have been used in one of my interiors projects. One of my favourites (that I don’t own yet) is by an artist called Ian Stevenson. I love the simplicity, the concept, the fact that someone would actually say that about that space. It’s interiors-y, but takes the piss. Right up my street. Go take a look at some of his work, makes me smile. And smiling is definitely a good …
The Blue Room – Final Reveal
This time last month, I had a consult for a loft bedroom. It lacked storage, colour and personality. There was some serious problem solving and creativity needed. You’ve probably caught a couple of my posts since then about how it’s been going and what I’ve been purchasing so I won’t chat too much. I shall fill your eyes with lovely visuals instead. I finally get to share with you all the finished room. And i’m so excited I could burst! **POP!** A reminder of where we started four weeks ago. Four weeks later, here is The Blue Room. The room has seen a total transformation in four weeks. Everything was taken out, the room re-designed and updated. The only things that remain are the carpets and window blinds. You can see some of the pieces from the Ikea shopping list here. Other pieces were sourced from charity shops, second hand furniture shops and Gumtree for next to nothing. The dressing table being the most expensive at £70. Plus, a couple of treat pieces to add …
Goodbye Ugly Wall
So recently I wrote a post about our recent garden sprucing, which included new furniture, splashes of colour and a home made planter. But I failed to draw attention to this ere eyesore above. The mingin’ concrete wall boundary wall. Luckily our neighbours agree it’s bloody horrible so they were happy for me to attempt to make it look a little better from our side of the garden. The driveway and patio are also completely knackered, but we are planning an extension down the entire side of the house in the next few years, so no point in paying to get the wall, patio and driveway re-done. So that’s why it looks so rubbish. All in all. This bit of the garden sucks. I was stuck with how best to improve this area as I wasn’t allowed to eat up any driveway space. It’s already tight to get the car down the drive, so there was literally no floor space to use. So I played around with some ideas: Ivy – Nowhere to plant it and takes …
I Can’t Decide
Earlier this year I wrote a post about my Geometric Desk Top. It was part of a mission to kit myself out with a home office without spending any (hardly any) money. I had loads of stuff sitting in the loft going unloved. In a couple of days I ended up with the space above. I was pretty chuffed with myself. But then as ever, I started getting itchy fingers and the shelf was annoying me. Should it be black? I wrote about possibly painting it. Then that stuck in my head. And then it stayed there for a while, hovering. And yesterday whilst I was messing about with my copper enamel spray paint, I just decided to get on with it and see what happened. And here it is. I’m honestly unsure. I’ve changed the picture as those white frames were not sitting pretty in my eyes (they were a quick bit of wall entertainment just because they were there at the time). This huge poster by Street Artist, Erosie is from this year’s Ikea …
Copper Top
I’ve had this can of Rust-oleum copper spray enamel for weeks now and have been meaning to attack my Arenite table lamp from Made.com which was purchased for the living room. I bought it knowing full well that I didn’t want a white base. It had a white base. But i’ve been building up the courage to do something about it, ie. spray paint it copper. Also known as “potentially ruining it.” I’d also seen these lovely copper dipped plant pots on Not On The Highstreet which I loved, but wanted to experiment to see if I could create something similar before splashing the cash. So a little trip to the Motherland (Ikea) for some supplies. One Ingefara terracotta pot and saucer. £2 for both bits or something ridiculous. And this lovely Dracaena Marginata which must have been priced up wrong as that was only £1 too. So a total spend of £3. Not much to lose should I be crap at this spray painting lark. The saucer was going all out copper and the top …
Play Tray – Mini Project
My son is obsessed with Lego. Lego and making a mess. So I planned to make this slightly more bearable by trying to keep said Lego (and mess) enclosed in a play shaped space. Bring on the tray which is about 18 years old and a bit worse for wear and the vinyl Chalk Board roll which was left over from the Mini Kitchen project. It only took about 10 minutes to apply the vinyl to the clean dry tray surface. Use a Stanley knife to carefully cut the vinyl into the very edges of the tray. Considering the tray was going to get thrown out and the vinyl was just sitting in the loft, it looks pretty cool. I think this little mini project is going to help maintain both my sanity and Charlie’s Lego heads. Chalk dust all stays in the tray too. Brucey bonus.
My MCM Geometric Desk
Behold. My new delicious work space. I have managed to design and produce this space with a few left over items from my capacious loft space, coupled in with a new lamp and Eames Eiffel chair as a treat from me to me. Thank you me! See that crazy mid-century modern inspired geometric desk top? “Yes, Karen we see it. It’s hard not to” Well that was about to get kicked to the kerb **finger snap**. A bit of old furniture board from a super ugly old flat pack desk. It’s actually the perfect size for my tiny office space. I don’t have clients visit at home and i’m only little. So for me, this space is pretty much bob on. Here is how it looked before: The offending piece of furniture board. There were bits of the “birch effect” foil surface missing. Some idiot had done their Christmas selotaping and used the edge of the desk as a tape holder. Face-palm! It all started when I wanted a rug. A black and white geometric …