The Interior DIYer
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Amara Interior Blog Awards – European Blogger nominee

If you were brought here thanks to the Amara Interior Blog Awards, welcome! My name is Alex and as you will soon find out, I am very awkward in these situations. 

For the second year in a row, I got an email from the IBAs to say my blog and I had been nominated for an interiors award. This segues nicely into an introduction as to how awkward I am because I don’t even know what to write after that sentence. This year I’m in a different category [Best DIY Blog last year vs. Best European Interior Blog this year] and I’m kinda not sure why the change as there are fellow Irish bloggers in other categories. Regardless, I know I haven’t a hope in fresh hell of even making it to the shortlist [just being realistic]. But in the spirit of awards and all that comes with them, I will attempt some annual self promotion / light begging so here goes. Please, only if you want to … 

Genuinely without this trying to sound like a stereotypical speech, it is very humbling to even be nominated under such an award like the Amara’s. I’m happy enough to have just been nominated; end of. Thank you for your vote [that is if you did choose to vote for me – you should check out the rest of the nominees – srsly talented bloggers], and thank you to whoever nominated me in the first place.

Normal sarcastic and unprofessional blogging shall now resume as normal. 

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Lately + a bit of a rant

It’s been so long [for me] since I last blogged. It’s been 6 weeks since I last published something here and considering I’ve been blogging at least twice a week for the past 5 years, going 6 weeks without doing anything has been weird and a little scary. Work has been really busy as well as most of our spare time in general these days, so by the time I get home I usually have zero cares left to work on anything. 

Actually, truth be told, the reason I haven’t done much blogging is because anything I want to do around our apartment I can no longer do by myself. Which is a world of frustrating levels of bullshit. Yes, I realise I’m pregnant and I have to be careful, but I’m not someone who has ever had to wait for someone else to help me before jumping into a project [bar electrical stuff]. I’m not dainty and I don’t value my looks very much so in the past if something needed to be done, I’d get stuck in regardless of the physical harm that may come my way. I mean, when I swapped the two beds in our apartment, one of the beds [now in our bedroom] weighed, I shit you not, about 300lbs. Maybe even 400lbs. It’s solid wood and it needed to be turned on its side to be able to move it down the hallway. I did all of that solo. But now. Now that I’m with child. Oh sweet baby deity … Never have I been treated so much like a tiny injured bird and it makes me feel a spectrum of useless. I do realise I have to take it easy for the next few months, and I’m trying, but I really cannot wait until I am allowed to move something really heavy or do something by myself. It’s tough as when I get an idea I have to stop myself and say, “No, hold on. I have to wait for Robert to come home to move that for me.” So that’s partly why I haven’t been able to do much around our apartment, and subsequently, not been able to blog much. 
It’s a big learning curve for me so I’m trying to get used to asking for help. As of this week I’ve had a burst of wanting to get things done so the mahogany mirror that’s been sitting in the corner of our bedroom for more than a year [as seen here] is finally up and hanging in our hallway! Special thanks to Dad DIYer and Robert who hung it up earlier this week [I wasn’t allowed to help as it’s very heavy]. I’ve also been taking some pictures for a very exciting feature coming up so I’ve bought a few new things I’ve been eyeing for a while. One of them being this brass candle holder from Article, a few peonies from Appassionata and some new bedding … 

ME –          “I want to look at new sheets for our room today.”
ROBERT –  “We need new sheets? But we already have sheets and a duvet on the bed.“
ME –          “We need new sheets. Sheet-sheets.”
ROBERT –  *Total confusion*

We got new sheets in the end.  

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Make It Yours – Meet the Bloggers

First up, a behemoth thank you for all your sweet comments and messages on our little announcement last Friday. All the feelings were and are happening all up in here (on top of a healthy dose of hormones = mini sob-fest! :P) xx 

This month I’m featured in an exciting mini magazine by Rust-Oleum included with the May edition of Your Home magazine; their Make It Yours mag all about fixer uppers and the people behind them. Yours truly is featured in the Meet the Bloggers section along with details on our basic secondhand bedside tables which I gave a faux marble makeover late last year.

It’s been 5 months since I updated our bedside tables and they’re looking as good as the day I painted them. I’ve repainted a number of pieces of furniture in our apartment to date using a variety of brands, and honestly our bedside tables have held up the best. Better than that actually as they’re still in perfect condition despite our level of wear and tear. I don’t feel obliged to say this because of the nature of this blog post; this is my honest opinion. I genuinely wouldn’t say it otherwise. I find their furniture paint exceptional and as I still have a bit of paint left over, I’ll be updating another piece soon.


You can find the Make It Yours mini mag along with the Your Home magazine on shelves in Ireland and the UK [and possibly elsewhere?] from now! And thank you again Rust-Oleum for featuring me 🙂