The Interior DIYer
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It really tied the room together

Me and rugs don’t have had a great history. First, there was the ethereal IKEA Stockholm rug I lusted after for so long. Being in a high traffic area and having two cats meant the rug went downhill rather spectacularly fast so I repaired it and sold it as it was not a rug suitable for our home [the rug was definitely the issue, Dude].
Then there was the dainty pink rug. I got it cheap. Real cheap. Second hand. From an online site where you advertise stuff you want to sell. Especially dirt cheap if you want to get rid of it fast. Yes, it was a bit small for our space, but it was cute! At first. Then it gave up on life and fell apart. It was cheap. I learned from my mistake. That rug went straight into the bin as it would have been of benefit to no one.

With the most excellent of timing, Wayfair.co.uk got in contact to work on another project this year [I worked with them last year on my lumberjack pillow tutorial that was featured in my broseph’s Canadian man cave office]. In return for my upcoming tutorial, I got to shop on the Wayfair.co.uk site and low and behold, their rug range is immense. 

Since I already have a lot of burgundy in our apartment and I’ve had a [failed] black and white rug, I wanted to go for something different yet would work with our apartment. I spied the Fusion Green Rug and thought about it for a couple of weeks. It was an incredible green with an imperfect navy pattern on it. It was a bit of a leap as I wasn’t sure exactly what colour it would be sans a sample, but my fingers were crossed on a deep viridian. It arrived yesterday, and boy did I luck out …

I am not just saying this because I am now the proud owner of it, but it’s an exquisite rug. It’s painfully luxurious and soft under foot. It’s also a very solid rug so it won’t warp like the IKEA Stockholm rug did. It passed the cat test and doesn’t shed or pull or distort like our disaster of a pink rug either. MASSIVE. SIGH. OF. RELIEF. I’m still up in the air as to flipping the rug 90 degrees so it’s running the other direction, but for now, it’ll more than do. 

Disclosure – Wayfair.co.uk sent me this rug free of charge in return for an upcoming project I’m working on for them [keep your eyes peeled as it’s a good one and involves a certain new movie being released next month!]. As always, all words and opinions are my own. I only work with companies I like and of course, think that you will too. Thank you for supporting the companies that support The Interior DIYer. 
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Updated curio cabinet

This past weekend we were gifted with some truly horrific weather here in Ireland. However, sometimes it’s nice to have such a solid excuse to stay indoors in your pj’s all day and contemplate striking one item off your never ending list of things to do. I was in such a mood this weekend so I finally rolled up my sleeves and repainted my little curio cabinet the blackest of black. As a reminder, here’s what it looked like up until this weekend … 

Not bad, but not great either. The finish was chipped all over, not to mention most of the panelling had no finish at all [as seen two photos down]. I began by disassembling the entire cabinet. As my dad showed me when it was gifted it to me for my 30th [and suggested in the first place that it be painted], you simply unscrew all the knobs along the top and bottom and that allows the entire piece to be taken apart, and fairly easily.

I laid the cabinet flat on a drop cloth on our dining table and began disassembling it. As I was taking the cabinet apart, I made a quick note of the order in which I took it apart [accompanied by a couple of rough sketches for the fancier pieces whose name I didn’t know. ie – the very top piece I called the tiara bit]. This note came in immensely handy when it came to reassembling the cabinet at the very end as it turned out to be trickier than I thought, even with the list. 

I took the cabinet apart, lightly sanded [in the direction of the grain] each piece, cleaned it with a damp rag and lightly painted two coats of black paint [again, in the direction of the grain]. Since removing it, I have yet to put the glass door back on as I’m in the process of replacing the hinges [I steeped them in coke to remove the rust, but alas, they were beyond repair]. Now that there’s no door, I’m actually kind of liking it. It doesn’t look too out of place sans door either …
Now that it’s painted, my exciting [for me] decision is that I’m hoping to fill it with succulents! Yes! Living things! I was originally going to fill it with my Sylvanian Families cat collection, but I’ve managed to keep a certain succulent alive since I brought it home from Dublin Design Night, so one day I thought how lovely it would look filled with little succulents in glass jars? It would look lovely, past self! And it would make the cabinet seem a bit less … daunting, too. 

I’m not however sold on where the cabinet is now hanging. If I’m to fill it with succulents, hanging it over a storage heater probably isn’t the best start. The cabinet’s also kind of fighting with the white shelf over our TV. It looks not too bad in the above photo, but in real life they look like two grumpy old men having to sit next to one another for the duration of a long bus ride. For now, I’m thinking maybe over my desk would look nice? We’ll see. Chances are, it’ll take another two months for me to make my mind up. 

and Juniper looking rather confused
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Ideal Home Show – autumn 2015

Let’s not focus on how haggard my hands are. #DIYproblems

For the second time this year I was asked by Colortrend to conduct video interviews for their Interior Design Forum room sets as part of the Ideal Home Show. I did the same interviews earlier this year during the spring exhibit and found it great experience to see the goings on behind the camera. I was more than happy to help this autumn by interviewing some exceptionally talented designers and of course, oogle at their room sets. 
I couldn’t resist sneaking in a photo [or twelve] between takes of the fantastic room sets this years’ show had to offer … 

The Dust girls did not disappoint with their dark design, pops of colour and jungle of faux flowers. Ladies after my own heart.

My college wife Catherine Murphy and her beautifuly whimsical nursery. Check out the laser-cut wood flooring and  the bespoke giraffe night light. Srsly.

Nina Kati‘s feng shui living room had shades that did not disappoint. 
There were also room sets by Ciara Drennan Interiors, Noelle Interiors, State of Grace and Thelma Henry Interiors, but I didn’t have the opportunity to take some sneaky photos before the doors opened to the public. 

I also had the opportunity to interview Roisin Lafferty of Kingston Lafferty Design about the DFS show house her and her team designed. Roisin took me on a tour and I proceeded to tell her how much I hated her and her mad wizard design skills. This is a show house, people. The entire set was built from the ground up in just 2 weeks …

Kitchen, study, bathroom and bedroom. That bathroom in particular needs to happen in our future when we grow up and have a real life home #Goals. I’d strongly suggest you check out the whole process from start to finish on Roisin’s blog here. 
The autumn Ideal Home Show was a real treat. I find it so inspiring for getting the creative brain juices going. When you’re among such incredible designers, it’s really hard not to. 

p.s. I was armed with only my phone for taking pictures, so please excuse the shoddy quality. My pictures don’t do nearly enough justice to all the room sets. Trust me, they were all amazing.