The Interior DIYer
Uncategorized

Living room makeover – update

Parting is such sweet sorrow. But in this case, it was well overdue. One Sunday morning I had had enough of our blackboard wall, so I painted over it. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not ruling out the possibility of a blackboard wall in the future. I haven’t tired of them fully just yet – it just wasn’t working in our living room and it was time to cut the cord.

After the elimination of the blackboard wall, I added a few pieces to our living room to make the scale of it seem less overwhelming. To give you an idea of the scale, our TV is 50″ and that bell jar is the size of my torso. Unfortunately medium sized objects get lost on our shelf and make it look cluttered. Go big or go home seems to be the motto here. 

I then tried my hand at painting for the first time in a long time {that is, ‘artistically’}, except I’m not happy with the result. Please, do not look directly at my painting. It is much like the sun and will burn your corneas right out of your head. I will be making changes to it for the better. 

I also managed to successfully fill our massive cloche / bell jar – yay! I stuffed it with a hookah I bought during our Tunisian travels, which had otherwise been gathering dust in our storage cupboard. For the moment, it’s a perfect fit.
An oldie but a goodie from our cupboard was this little gargoyle. I made him from clay as part of my final art project in secondary school, close to 10 years ago {oh god, I feel old}. I spotted him the other day and thought he aught to take his place on the shelf. He’s been waiting long enough.

And on a slightly different note, I’m hoping to invest in either a studio light or take a photography refresher course with the aim to take better interiors photos. I’ve mentioned before, our apartment is like a cave, which is why I avoid taking full room pictures because they look like they’ve been dragged through a puddle. And I’m getting tired of it. Fingers crossed I find something. In Dublin. And soon. 
Happy Thursday homies! Just one more day … xx A
Uncategorized

At home – I can’t be without …

Over the last little while, I’ve noticed a couple of things around our home that I’m always giving special attention. They’re silly things, but it’s stuff like this I like spending a little time on. In no particular order … 

Fruit that matches the living room. I know. I can understand how one would perceive this as ridiculous, but there’s something about a big bowl of yummy plums that makes my living room feel happier. Oranges, apples, limes and bananas get their own bowl on the microwave. Where I can’t see them. We’re not so fancy however to always have cherries. But they were there, so I was all like, that looks well played. 

Properly chopped pillows. Just a little je ne sais quoi to add some fancy to the couch region. You first floof out your pillow so it’s not squashed, and then you karate chop it down the middle. This takes your pillows to a whole ‘nother level.

Ooooh, candles. Of all shapes and sizes. It’s really silly, but candles make me feel fancy. 

Last and in no way least, our two babies – Toshi and Juniper. I  fully realize our cats are not home accessories, but they’re a huge part of what makes our apartment a home. They are the epitome of lap cats. The moment you sit down, they’re up for a snuggle. No matter how crap of a day you’ve had, or what you did or didn’t do, these little bundles of fur always make us feel a little bit better.

xx A

Uncategorized

Lately + ‘Less 365’ update

Last week I surrendered. I was in Marks & Spencer, nowhere near the home department, picking up something completely unrelated, when I found myself going up the escalator. I had to see if any Conran cloche‘s survived the sale. And there it was …

… and home it came {on the bus, meaning the most terrifying and awkward journey home}. All 52cm x 24cm of glassy clochy goodness. And if it means anything, this picture does it zero justice. I’m thinking some of the below action needs to be mashed into it {it’s temporarily housing one of our naff vintage vases} … 
Gold spray paint tutorial can be found right on over here. While on the topic of revamping,  I {with the help of parental unit male}, jazzercised our tie backs by replacing our existing ones {which were a bit meh} with some crystal door knobs. Much more lovlier me thinks, and for next to nothing, a smidgen of sophistication was added to our living room.

To balance out my cloche purchase, apartment got attacked over the past week or so thanks to my continued obsession that is Project Less 365. On Saturday I hawk-eyed our book collection and ruthlessly culled the unnecessary novels, all of which will be enjoyed by someone else. 

And our spare bedroom below, which now houses all my Project Less 365 items which are patiently waiting to be re-homed. It’s quite therapeutic the amount of relief you get from this de-cluttering process. We all have way too much shit, and this year {for me}, it’s all about back to basics. You’ve got to be cut-throat otherwise you’ll never get rid of anything. 
xx A