The Interior DIYer
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New plummy painting

Yesterday I woke up and decided to make my life a living hell, so I immediately dove into scrubbing the oven at 8am. Did I mention I haven’t thoroughly cleaned it in 4 years? I didn’t? Probably because that’s embarrassing and it means I’m a bad person. I also decided the Christmas tree and all the decorations had to come down, and they had to come down now. Whilst in the middle of cleaning the oven. Because I like making things difficult for myself. Oh, and I wanted a new painting for the living room. Are you noticing a trend? I had a very short attention span yesterday. 

The black and white painting on the left – I repainted that canvas nine times. Nine. So you can imagine I was happy when I sat down and in 20 minutes managed to paint my new burgundy number, and then I actually liked it the first time around. Said black and white painting is the only thing I’ve really painted in the 10 years since I moved to Ireland. I don’t want to sound emo, but once I moved here my interest in painting died. I used to paint a lot in Canada, and I’d paint huge behemoth paintings. So I really enjoyed my little painting stint yesterday. The picture above is the closest representation to what it actually looks like. I’m quite happy with it and its nummy colours and drippy drips. It’s giving me hope to start painting again. I know. Barf. 

Also featured – black and white painting – DIY Scrabble monogram – faux hydrangeas {spray painted since} – Karlsson flip clock. 
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From me and mine to you and yours …

I still can’t believe Christmas is only days away. I’m happy to say all our Christmas shopping is done – well, with the exception of some last minute ingredients for treats I’ll be making over the holidays {like this peppermint chocolate bark by Ketty of French Foodie in Dublin. DROOL}. I got all our shopping done on my lunch hours last week, which means I only had to endure an hour of wading through the retail madness each day. It’s been all go, go, go the last couple of weeks, so I can’t wait to chillax and slow down for a few days.
I only got to take pictures of our Christmassy bits over the weekend. I didn’t go as overboard as I had hoped this year. I did however fancy up some mantle swag by using yarn in my favourite colours, made some tassels and taped them up with clear tape. As you can see, there are no more edible ornaments on the tree. Those suckers were devoured weeks ago. 
And below – we don’t have a fireplace in our apartment {massive sad face}, so husband simply downloaded one for me this year …

So from me and mine to you and yours – I hope you have the happiest of holidays. Don those onesies, get comfortable, and turn on the movie marathons with a box {or six} of chocolates within reach. ‘Tis the season  ðŸ™‚ xx A

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Five steps to a festive table

Last weekend we had some dear friends over for dinner. As per the usual, the table was one of the last things sorted. I’m the kind of person who over-cleans for guests; I end up cleaning areas of our apartment that I’ve never even seen, never mind our guests. Because you know, in case they find themselves on top of the cupboards in our bathroom, I’d like it to be presentable. You never know.
When I finally tackled the table, I kept it relatively simple, but I wanted some impact so I went with some bold colours. With Christmas fast approaching, the decor for this table doesn’t necessarily scream Christmas, but it can easily be adapted and customized to whatever time of year you want – birthdays, Easter, Thanksgiving or set for two for Valentines Day. So here’s what I did … 

^ Step 1 – keep it basic with a table cloth and runner. I have a plum table cloth I stole borrowed from my parents years ago because it’s my favourite colour. I didn’t have a runner so I cheated and put two IKEA LJUDA placemats together and added them to the centre of the table. If you don’t have a table cloth – no need to panic. The same goes for a runner – just use what you have – some unfolded napkins, a scarf or even a section of wrapping paper will do the trick. Think outside the box.

^ Step 2 – napkins, cutlery and plates. Keep it simple. I went with plain white plates, some LAGLIG grey and white stripe napkins we already had {which tie in with the striped ‘runner’}, and I used our really standard cutlery. No need to faff about with the good cutlery.

^ Step 3 – glassware! Normally I wouldn’t add tumbler glasses to a table, but I couldn’t resist bringing out my gold tumblers while I was taking these pics {they usually lay dormant on our bar cart}. Otherwise we’d just have wine glasses. Because just, well … wine. No explanation necessary.

^ Step 4 – a centre piece. I kept it really easy and used what I had at my disposal. I had a little red cake stand and some fruit in the kitchen that matched the table. I bought these pomegranates the other day as they were reduced to clear {€0.60 each}, I loved their colour, and to be honest I bought them ’cause they’re pretty. I piled on some plums and there’s a centre piece for under €3. You like my plums?

^ Step 5 – tealights. Confession: I’ve hated tea lights for years. They’re so tiny. What’s the point? But recently I’ve started rooting for them and they’re especially handy for decorating tables. What I did with my tea lights was add some gold striped washi tape to each tea light {thanks Pinterest} and popped them into clean jam jars. I think it’s a perfectly quirky and a bit of a rustic addition to the table.
You of course can add as much or as little stuff as you want, but I found sticking to these basic five steps really handy when I was decorating our table. So there you have it. Happy entertaining! xx A