The Interior DIYer
Uncategorized

Desk days

I’ve been channeling my inner Carrie Bradshaw these past couple of weeks. I’ve been spending a lot of time at my desk writing, creating, researching, and attempting to look sophisticated as I gaze into nothingness while a witty narration of my day plays in the background. Or so I like to think. 
Having sat here so much recently, there was no better time to give my desk a little nip / tuck. I like mixing things up, and as they say, variety is the spice of life …

A couple of weeks ago I treated myself to this adorbs pennant from the Stay Home Club, which suits hubby and I to a T. Yeah we go out, but for the most part, we are home birds cats and take no shame in preferring to stay in with Netflix, a beverage and cuddles. Too legit to quit. 

I also couldn’t resist this whopper of an amethyst which I picked up this week. Seriously, it has to weigh about 3 lbs. At €13 from TK Maxx, I couldn’t not buy it as it was twice the size of my first piece, and for a the same price.
In reality though, the below is more what my desk looks like today. I counted myself lucky for not contracting husband’s man flu, but last night my allergies were so bad, I sneezed my way to a sore throat and today I’m wading in tissues. If you guys can’t see them, then they don’t exist. Right? 

Before I forget, happy 4th of July to my State side readers! I would have organized something much more relevant to blog about today if I wasn’t so gooey. I hope you enjoy the celebrations wherever you are, and chillax to the max 🙂 xx A
Uncategorized

A la carte

This is a story about a sad bar cart, laden with trinkets, looking for love. Our eyes met in Debra charity shop last weekend, and despite sporting no price tag, I brought this baby home for an absolute steel at €10. A good scrub and she was good as new. And may I say, I am pleased as punch it’s a part of our home. I feel like such a fancy grown up. 
As I wrote before, I’ve had a hankering for a bar cart recently. I was so very close to giving up my charity shop search and in fact was close to buying the IKEA Raskog kitchen cart, but I wasn’t willing to part with €60 for it. As they say, patience is a virtue. 

When it came to styling our new cart, I found it a bit of a challenge. When I first started, it kept looking way too feminine. It did look lovely and pretty, but that wasn’t what I was going for. I appreciate all things dainty and pink, but I can only handle a certain amount of it. I found a happy medium by making it as monochromatic as possible, while including a couple hits of red and plum to fit in with our living space. One of my favourite details – our mini skull cocktail skewers placed in a clay pigeon memento from when we went shooting years ago. All I’ll say is I am worryingly good with a rifle. To which I can probably thank our PS3. 

I’ve tried getting my head around what colour our cart is. I think it’s half way between a rose gold and silver. It’s definitely not straight up gold or silver, but it’s a perfect neutral hue that compliments both gold and silver accessories.  
It’s exactly what I was looking for and couldnt’ve been luckier. So much winning with this thrifted find. I can’t wait to decorate it for the different seasons and as Janine suggested, a tea cart. I have so many dainty porcelain pieces waiting to get all up on it. Keep your eyes peeled. xx A

Uncategorized

Lately …

… We couldn’t have asked for more perfect weather. Waking up to blue skies and sun and not have to go to work makes for a very productive weekend. I headed into the city centre and visited the amazing Talking Tables in Daintree for the first time. I couldn’t resist their adorably detailed table accessories, especially all the black and white goodies, and I had to pick up a little something for our new … wait for it …

BAR. CART. Literally 30 minutes after I blogged about wanting a bar cart for our living room, I spotted this baby in Debra charity shop on Camden Street. There it was. Three tiers of lovely. Lonely, covered in trinkets and without a price tag. The manager was surprised to hear of someone inquiring to buy it, but she was more than happy to sell it to me for €10. What a steal. Two bus journeys and countless chats with strangers about how awesome charity shops are, the cart is home, scrubbed, styled and dripping in decanters. I’m literally bursting to blog about it guys. Yeah, I’m going to do that annoying blogger thing and tease you with a nondescript picture for now.

Suck on that, Daft Punk. I didn’t have to stay up all night to get lucky.



We took advantage of every minute of this ridiculous weather we’ve had and ate breakfast, lunch and dinner al fresco {sorry Janine}. I snapped some pics of my runner-up favourite flowers over in Farmleigh; wisteria and lupines – which always remind me of one of my favourite books growing up, Miss Rumphius {the lupine lady}.

I still can’t believe what amazing weather we’ve had. Us pasty Irish will be ODing on vitamin D before we know it. xx A

p.s. Thanks guys for your support and lovely comments on my post last Wednesday. I’m so hesitant when it comes to writing about real life stuff – especially if it makes me cringe, but you guys are the sweetest. And it was nice to know I’m not alone when it comes to lack of job opportunities! As a lovely lady I met recently said “maybe the universe is trying to tell you to stop working in offices, and start working in design“.