Just DIY it : Hot Wheels

Hello!

It's an exciting day as I am currently being aired on Australian television on the Great Interior Design Challenge, Series 2, Episode 6.  If you have watched the show here are 3 further links to previous blogs I posted when the show was first aired in the U.K last November. Hope you enjoy the show!

All a bit a bit bonkers on the Great Interior Design Challenge

My Wee House

On Air: The Great Interior Design Challenge  * spoiler alert *


So to celebrate 'Doing it Yourself', this weeks post is a upcycled project. 

Skill Level: Easy
Equipment required:
Old suitcase or trunk.
4 casters, one with a stopper
Enough screws for each castor.  My castors needed 3 screws each therefore 12 total.
A drill, drill bits and drill screwdriver attachment.  All suitable for the size of screw needed.


Most of the time I can't sit still and I'm thinking up a new project.  This one came to me while sitting on the sofa reading.  I had made a cuppa, set it on the old travel trunk and my arms couldn't quite reach across from prone position to lift it.  Life is tough, and so a solution had to be found.

This old travelling trunk was given to me by my Uncle Kenneth.  Its great for storage as well as a coffee table.

I had driven past the CastormartLTD store located in Belfast's University Quarter many times, but had never called in. 

 I love how castors are so practical and colourful!  There was no point just buying cheap ones, they had to work with the trunk colours. 

 

After a visit to the best hardware store in Belfast, Dawson Wright Hardware on the Creagh Road to get the perfect size of screws I was ready to fire up the drill.

A very pretty paper pattern on the inside.



Even the drill matches the castors.

I would have preferred brass and blue to match with the trunk, but these were not available.



Screwing on the castors was complete in less than 10 minutes.

 

Plenty of room underneath to store my slippers, and much easier to bring the trunk table to the sofa.

 

Have wheels, will travel.

 

Thanks for reading and I hope I have inspired you to get your wheels on!

 

Next week I will be back blogging on sewing, and how to transform a silk blouse into a skirt.

 

Till again,

Have a great time creating, reinventing and Doing it Yourself

 

 

 

Just DIY it : Champagne styles for lemonade incomes

This week I am feeling very inspired to write.  Usually I like to talk a lot, so this  allows me time to think, reassess and focus on  future plans.

I love Spring time! The conception of new ideas and creativity. Today I have been up with the sunrise springing into action.  I tend to procrastinate, a lot!  I'm enjoying a cup of detox tea in my favourite mug which my brother in law bought me many years ago. 

Last year I turned 40 and 2 big things happened...one of which literally turned my world upside down, and in 3 months I am flying to the Southern Hemisphere to Australia.  The second big thing is that I was on the BBC Great Interior Design Challenge Series 2 viewed in the U.K in November 2014.  My episode will be shown on April 21st and 22nd on Foxtel in Australia.  I am going global!  

The Studio Lambert television crew were fantastic.  Sophie, Daniel and Tom were inspiring to be around and we all had so much fun.  In this image, Rich, me and Luke await our fate.  All will be revealed next Tuesday 21st April on LifeStyle TV Australia.

 I have always loved interiors and since buying my home 10 years ago, I have drilled, painted, upholstered, assembled and varnished nearly every surface.  I bought my home by myself so everything was done on a budget.  My mum has always sewed and my dad is a D.I.Y whizz kid, so I have learned my skills from my parents.

I came across this article called 'Brilliantly Flawed' and the page of how to get the look for yourself. 

 

Big sheepskin rug and a real fire.  What more would you need?

 

 

I had bought a wooden milking stool like this for £5 at a car boot sale a few years previous,  The legs were much longer.  I was stunned by the price of this stool, so got to work on my £5 one.

 

 

I own a drill and a well stocked tool box, but dad has a range of electrical saws so this job required a trip home to dad's tool shed.

 

Steady handed dad chopping off a few inches. This is a great saw and I use it to cut wood for my fire.

 

 

I'm sure I can think of some use for these legs!

 

The hand sander was used to smooth off the bottom.

 

It makes a perfect little meditation stool or for resting the singing bowl on.

At home in front of the fire. I have a real love for circles, textures and natural materials in the home.

 

This is what I did with the legs.  I attached a double ended screw and they are being used to hang my bags in the living room.  The end needs waxing to match the colour, that's on the list!

 

If the swing tag in the Interior Magazines is out of your league there are always other ways to recreate the look for less.  It usually requires a little elbow grease, but the satisfaction comes from knowing you have done it yourself and saved a lot of money!

 

Enjoy the GIDC in Australia on Foxtel.

 

I will be back blogging next week

 

 

 

Just DIY it : Kitchen Chaos! Kitchen Calm

My kitchen has had more make-overs than I have had hot dinners. 

After 9 years of painting and re-painting, I feel I have finally made it my own.  It might not be everyone's cup of tea, but it is where I feel relaxed to have mine, and feel inspired to get creatively cooking.

When I moved in to my home in 2005, this is how the kitchen looked.  It had been featured in the October 2005 House Beautiful publication.  The interiors were all the previous owners style.  Unfortunately they didn't turn off the stop cock link to the washing machine and when I came back from celebrating my move in, I found myself wading through a water logged kitchen floor.  The positive being a good reason to replace the laminate flooring.

  

In 9 years my kitchen walls have been painted cranberry, light pink, yellow and mint green.  That does not include the current shade. 

  

Looking slightly sugary pink and very cluttered.  Still, I liked it at the time.  The laminate floor has been replaced with tiles.

Cupboard doors still on in this photograph, but surface space very crowded.  No room for cooking!  The back door has been replaced by a half window...(I will go into that later when I blog on my dining room)

Ok so what has changed...added hanging saucepans to save cupboard space.  Glasses have been  shelves and replaced by groceries.  And of course, a different wall colour!

 

Cupboard doors taken off and a new place for recipe books and a cocktail cabinet. Still a very busy workspace though.

In July 2014, I was off to London to film Series 2 of the Great Interior Design Challenge, once the 3 day filming was over I spent the next four days with a creative cousin, friends and family visiting museums, exhibitions and the Anthropologie store.  

I fell in love with this one tile and it became the new colour scheme for the kitchen. So it was back home to paint the walls.

A trip to the local paint shop 

 

No need to clear the decks, mask anything off or stash away the glassware...just get stuck in!

With one wall nearly painted, I decided on a whim to rip out the units (they were covered in grease at the top and beyond a deep clean).  So armed with hammer, chisel and lots of elbow grease I got stuck in.

One unit off the wall.  The long central spot lighting was also taken down.

The second unit off, and reveals the history of paint jobs in my kitchen, some of which I take no responsibility for.

There was a lot of precarious balancing going on during this project as these units were very heavy and it was a 1 woman job.  Lots of poly filler required for this wall!

Always time for a wee cup of tea and gaze out the window!

The deep cupboards were replaced with more of the drawers I had from the Belfast linen factory. Click here for another blog post on how I used these drawers. These were free of charge.  I picked up a vintage first aid kit in the local car boot sale for £1

These glasses and cups are used so frequently they have no time to gather grease.

Who needs cupboards that go back for ages and you can't find a thing?

A gorgeous glass light which I picked up for free! My dad helped out with the wiring ... he is a whizkid.

2 Armagh apple boxes (my home County) for £20 drilled into the wall hold the plates, bowls, saucers and 'special coffee' glasses. £6 glass holder from ebay sits neatly underneath.

With all the perishables now visible on the shelf, it makes grocery shopping so much easier.

I need a kitchen with everything visible on close at hand, and love butcher's hooks for hanging utensils. Possibly influenced by my dad and granddads butchery business.

Wooden clipboards sprayed with blackboard paint make great menus shopping, or things to do lists.

New drawer handles from silver plated spoons found at an outdoor Edinburgh market. 

 Wow, what a mess! I love having dinner parties and home cooking, but I really am a very messy chef!

Every room in my house continues to evolve, items come and go, get modified and recycled.  The kitchen was completed in August for a grand sum of £50, I forgot to mention the paint! It might not be to a lot of peoples tastes, but it is totally me.

An interior article in February 2015 Psychologies publication, called 'Brilliantly Flawed', writes of 'embracing imperfection in your home and with it, an authenticity'.    The article is taken from the book 'Imperfect Home'.  I have been doing this all my interior journey, and I love creating rooms and homes from a very small budget.

 I should have really written this book!!

A few additions since the kitchen was (nearly) completed....

A Christmas Cockerel painting by my friend Grace. Love Grace's strong colours and bold brushstrokes. 

Excuse the bad lighting.  Once the tumble drier was sold this left an area for the coal bunker and other unslightly things.  It needed to be screened off.

I had just enough William Morris print fabric to patch together and make a screen.

Looks so much better.

The only thing left to do in the kitchen is make a table, it has a table, it just needs to be made bigger! That will be in a few blogs time.

Till again, keep creating, crafting and DIY-ing

Christine x

Hung up on you

I love sewing and I especially love all things vintage sewing. 

I'm a real fan of the beautiful wooden thread spools from way back when.  Even the thread colours seem more alive and more vibrant.  So imagine how happy I was when I received a big bag full of these...it was like being given a big bag of colourful sweets!  Many of the threads were too dry with age to use so I decided to make some hanging storage for my scarves, patterns and bags.  Here's how it was all done.  

 

Big bag of treats!! And a small section of skirting board left over from the wardrobe post last year. http://colourandcloth.blogspot.co.uk/2014/01/new-year-new-wardrobe.html

 

Look at those wonderful labels and print colours!

 

 

Borrowing my dads hand sander and getting to work on the skirting board.

 

My dad's shed.  Full of wonderful gadgets!!

 

The depth of these Clarks spools called for a longer length of screw, and an electric drill. 

 

 

 

Somewhere to display all my coloured scarves.

 

 

These spools were attached onto an old bunk bed slat that was no longer needed.  Very handy for hanging all my dress patterns on.

 

 

Here is the skirting board one...distressed and white. Perfect for my boudoir to hang my evening bags on.

 

I thought I would have a look for some spool related music and came across these dudes!! Click on the link to hear some of their tunes!  Spools of Dark Thread. 

 

Until next time, Happy Creating!

 

Christine x