The Interior DIYer

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Dublin in December

There’s something about this time of year – the dark nights and twinkling lights – that turns me into a tourist. I can’t help it. I’ve acquired quite the library of Christmas pictures on my phone over the past few weeks [mostly Instagrammed], and I thought there’s no better time of the year to share them. For me, the ultimate destination for Christmas lights – in and around Grafton Street. Photo dump commencing …

Regardless of the unseasonably warm December we’ve had, Robert and I went skating at the Point Village. Me on skates is about the only time I can show off my Canadian-ness. I have to say, for an Irish guy, Robert is a much better skater than me. He grew up obsessed with The Mighty Ducks so he roller-bladed throughout his childhood. 

Then there’s the Hole in the Wall pub on the perimeter of the Phoenix Park. They took the term deck the halls pretty literally, and every inch inside is covered in garland and fairy lights …

This photo does it zero justice. If you’re around, I strongly suggest you check out the Hole in the Wall for a well deserved drink after surviving the holiday mania. Speaking of which, I just finished our holiday shopping this morning and am ready to slip into hibernation. I hope you’re all much more organised than me and have been chillaxing for weeks. xx A
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The halls are decked, ‘berry style

Christmas has finally settled in our home and we’re on the cusp of enjoying the holidays. I decorated for Christmas back in November for the Sunday Times supplement, and even though our tree’s been up for almost a month, I’m still really happy with it and don’t want to tear it down! Yay! Yet. Maybe because it’s not in our line of sight but behind us when we’re on the couch. It seems a bit anti-social of us, but it’s nice to have the holiday focus evenly dispersed throughout our apartment this year. 
This Christmas I kept it relatively straight forward with the decorations; tree, mantle and a couple of alternative decorations here and there. 

I only got around to properly decorating our mantle this week as last week I basically had the plague and was house-bound for 6 days. That seriously cut into my holiday prep time, but I managed to make up for lost time this week. I picked up this garland from Dunnes Stores and it’s the absolute perfect length for the shelf over our tv. I personalised it by adding some upcycled baubles and a heap of lights. 

Other than that, I took a rather lazy approach to the rest of the decorations. I just hung shit up. 

My favourite being husband’s Christmas sweater and the Star Wars advent calendar that hangs next to his side of the bed. Because let’s face it, no matter what age, all men are basically children. 

We have almost all of our Christmas shopping done and dusted. It just needs to be wrapped, and I love wrapping presents. And let’s be honest, I’m totally one of those people who carefully unwraps presents too. Recycler 4 lyfe. 

Happy Friday, friends! I hope you all have a relatively stress-free weekend before the holidays, and remember, it’s called the Christmas season, so chillax and treat yourself. That’s an order 🙂 xx A

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Canadian man cave, office edition – progress!

There’s been a bit of headway with the Canadian man cave office I’m designing for my broseph and I thought today I’d share some of the progress we’ve made. For a little reminder, you can see the before pictures here!
We first had to decide on a colour for the walls. I’m a huge fan of grey, but too dark of a grey would have been harsh in here. 

I had some Crown Paint test paint pots from when I repainted our living room years ago, so I thought they would be a good starting point. As it turns out, Crown Paint’s swan’s a swimming was a great fit [you can see it in the above picture: far left swatch as well as top right swatch]. My phone picture doesn’t do it justice, but it’s a warm, frothy latte-grey hue. Accompanied by some serious tunage, broseph and I painted his office in one afternoon and moved his furniture to better suit the space. 

I hung up an old map of Canada we had as well as my brother’s flag. As a temporary lighting solution, I hung up an IKEA Jara giant shade, but I’m not in love with it. At the moment I’m thinking B&Q’s angular Colours Tuck or Colours Keynes ceiling light for a serious statement. I’m unsure if we’ll hang curtains or not [there are wooden blinds in place already], but at the very least there’s a skylight that needs a blind [possibly a blackout blind] that we’ll be ordering from roofblinds.co.uk. 
I’d like to get more artwork and personal items up on the walls too. We have yet to do anything with the largest wall in the room [which is to the right of the above picture], and I’ve been brainstorming some better ideas for wall storage, so the shelves will be changing. But for a better and sleeker not only look, but layout. 
There are of course loads of DIYs and upcycling in the room that I’ve been documenting as we go, as creatively and cheaply as we can. I’m hoping to have the office ready for my broseph for the new year because everyone loves a fresh start after the holidays and he deserves a great one. 
I’ll be staying with my family for a couple of days over Christmas so I have no excuse. That is, unless Netflix and a bottomless tin of chocolates aren’t within reach! xx A