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

 

 

 

Recycled home haven and garden

In one week my life should return to normal working hours after 3 months sewing costumes for Game of Thrones season 4.  And while it is wonderful working on the hand stitched costumes, the hours are long and leave me pretty much with no time to do my own thing, and no time to blog about doing my own thing!
 
So this Sunday evening finds me comfortably sitting on my sofa, listening to Chopin's Nocturnes on Spotify.  My sofa being 1 of 4 things in my house that has not been salvaged, recycled or found in a skip.
 
This blog is the 1st of a few on the subject of recycling, upcycling, skip-hoking whatever tag name you wish to give it, for it has many.  Kirstie has made her own TV series about it, and I was interested to read that she has been labelled 'the pioneer of skip searching'.  Hmmm, I have been at this since art college when me and my friends Grace and Alison rescued a Denby tea set, a fish platter and a glass serving dish from a skip at the corner of Royal Avenue circa 1992.
 
Let me share a few of my finds, upcycles, recycles, re-thinks, re-fashions around the home.  Kirstie eat your heart out!
 

 

I found this old spade handle in a bag of firewood my dad gave me. I instantly thought that it had a purpose and could be saved from a firey end.

 

 

I visited my local DIY store and asked for a 'double - ended screw'.  I was given a strange look.  12p it cost.  I charged up my sisters drill and in less than five minutes had a new hook to hang my satchels on.

 

 

Leather + wood = LOVE

 

 

This satchel was a charity shop find at £7.50. 

 

 

 

An unwanted mirror with a solid wood frame becomes...

 

 

My new pin/black board.  Re-using all my corks that used to be strung up for curtain tie-backs.  I am still working my way through the paperwork!

 

 

 

Next we head upstairs to the bathroom where the towels have been neatly rolled in this rack for 7 years.  I scratched this 7 year itch, and found a use for a drawer which I picked up for free in an old closing down linen factory.  See my previous post DIY Stacking shelves for another drawer uses.

 

 

Upturned and upcycled drawer with added shelves.  Perfect for storing loo rolls.  The towels are now rolled up into a woven straw basket.

 

 

They are stacked here before getting hung on the disused spool.

 

 

 

 

 

And finally for this evening, into the kitchen for a before and after found on Gumtree.

  

 

Cast iron Tractor stool before...

 

 

Tractor stool after a coat of red gloss.  It now sits in my kitchen beside the frame of my great grandmothers Singer sewing machine.

 

 

 

 

I hope I have inspired you to look at things differently before throwing them out or giving them away. Keep following my posts to see new ways to furnish your space for next to nothing. 

 

Till next time...

 

Keep Creating and tell me what you have been DIY-ing

Christine