The Interior DIYer
CIL Paint

Our Victorian pantry – before

Despite our new home being a Victorian, there’s no area of our house that needs to be worked on or upgraded with any urgency. Our home is very livable in it’s current condition, which is what gave me some design paralysis since moving in in September [nothing was urgent but I have 100 ideas for small-to-medium projects but how do I prioritize them when none of them are urgent, okay I’ll just sit here and overthink everything until I spiral out of control]. Aside from the basement, the only space in our home that was questionable was our kitchen pantry.

I will now take you on the grand tour that is the most murdery pantry you’ve ever laid eyes on. In preparation of viewing our pantry, I suggest acclimatizing yourself by first watching The Blair Witch Project, then The Thing quickly followed by Hereditary and you will find yourself in the right mindset for our pantry.

I trust you have gone off and watched said suggested movies.

You are now acclimatized to view our pantry:

It’s the only section of our house that hasn’t been updated [or cleaned, it seems] since 1948. It is a very functional little space under the kitchen stairs and we used it right up until yesterday morning, when I woke up and decided that was the day I was going to update it.

The shelves are supported by the bottom of the back of each step. I have no intention of replacing the shelves as they’re perfectly functional and I think it would be wasteful to get rid of them. Each shelf is made out of old floorboards, which at some point were covered in contact paper. I’m hoping to update them by simply recovering them in a new layer of contact paper.

As for the rest of the pantry, I will work on filling in all the cracks and gaps, removing the horror-movie array of nails and giving everything a fresh coat of [washable] white paint. Or seven.

I’m hoping to finish updating [and scrubbing and cleaning] our pantry by Monday morning, when I return to work after the Christmas holidays. Because I have achieved absolutely nothing over the Christmas holidays other than eat my own weight in soft cheese and chocolate while entertaining friends and family. This is the equivalent of me starting an essay the night before it’s due. Look! I was productive! See!

#DarkRomanticLuxe

Value Village #ThriftieNominee2019!

I do not like award scenarios whereby you have to ask friends, family and members of the public to vote for you. I don’t mind voting for other people when they ask, but something deep down inside of me turns inside out at the thought of asking people to vote for me in any way. It’s probably something to do with social pressure and me hating ‘popular people’ when I was growing up.

As I was perusing Instagram on Thursday morning, I saw an update from Value Village about their Thriftie Awards and I was immediately like, hold my drink. Value Village are having their first annual Thriftie Awards this year and to become a nominee, all you have to do is nominate yourself and share a post on Instagram about why you should receive the award. Where do I start and remind me again – who’s holding my drink?

I’ve always been aware of shopping secondhand. My mom would bring us on occasion thrifting, but the older I became and the more aware I’ve become of the environmental benefits of thrifting and the more I’ve consciously chosen to buy secondhand pieces.

I would confidently say at least 85% of our our home [including decor, furniture, clothes and accessories] is secondhand and a huge part of that is from Value Village and essentially, my entire blog is proof of that. My dream is to renovate a home of our own and all the renovations we make to be secondhand pieces we find online or on the side of the road or thrifted. Next to nothing new [within reason. I mean, mattresses. I won’t be running too quickly towards a mattress that I find on the side of the road].

Today I’ll be sharing on my Instagram stories ALL OF THE THINGS WE OWN FROM VALUE VILLAGE in an attempt to solidify and prove my nomination as a #ThriftieNominee2019. There’s a lot. So much that I had to record it all in advance last night while Robert was putting Cora to bed.

I hope you find it encouraging to go out and make your next purchase a secondhand purchase. It’s the main reason I share all my treasures. That, and to brag about what I found.

I’ll be spending most of my day manifesting receiving that tiny golden shopping cart. I already know exactly where it’s going to go.

#DarkRomanticLuxe

Curbside find – antique dresser

On my way home from work last Friday I saw something on the side of the road that caught my eye. It was dirty and dusty but beautiful and had the word “FREE!” written in chalk on the sidewalk underneath it.

I called Robert to help me carry it inside.

“And where is this going?”, he asked.
“In the living room. The TV is going to sit on it”, I replied.
“But we already have the TV on something. It’s on the hutch”.
“That hutch is going into the bedroom – where we need it more!”

Honestly, why don’t men catch on quicker to intricate plans that we’ve devised and formulated entirely in our heads over months and never shared with anyone? It’s really not that hard.

I mean look at it. There’s no way I was going to let it stay one moment longer on someone’s lawn. It’s beautiful! It has sweet carved flowers and scrolls across the dresser and on handles. It’s difficult to see, but in places the flower details are stained red and green, but they are long worn down and faded.

I have no intention of touching-up the scratches or distress marks for the time being. We all have our scars and shouldn’t feel the need to hide them. And for what it’s worth, I have absolutely no interest whatsoever in painting it.