The Interior DIYer
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Products We Love feature – DaWanda

A little while ago I was asked by DaWanda to compile a list of some of my favourite DaWanda treats to take part in their Products We Love page. So I did {any excuse for me to get lost in the what ifs}. As I was going through their site picking out some dream pieces, I noticed a bit of a home office theme going on so I went with it. 

Below are the 10 pieces I picked that would give my home office a little face-lift. You can of course head over to my DaWanda feature to gawk at the full feature. 

1. Table leaf by Antica Ebanisteria Gambella – such a beautiful desk. Love how the black paint has given this antique a modern feel, while keeping true to itself. 

2. Ceiling lamp black / gold by LI-SHOI – big time feeling the gold these days. This would be the perfect in our apartment. 
3. Grey felt ball rug by Felt Ball & Rugs – I don’t know about in high traffic areas, but this rug would be perfect under my desk. My feet get happy just thinking about it. 
4. Glass Straws by everstraw – I have these! They’re so neat, so I had to include them. 
5. Felted cat cave by Gabbybykitty – SERIOUSLY. Look at it. Our cats would loose the plot completely. 
6. Ceramic white and silver handmade cups by ENDEsign – oh, these cups are amazing. They kind of remind me of teeth. They’re so unusual. 
7. Moroccan pouf gold ski leather by MarrakeshStyle – I’ve wanted a Moroccan pouf for a long time now, and this gold one is seriously on. 
8. Skull Victorian pillow with stripes by The bat in the hat – this pillow was in stock when I chose my 10 DaWanda pieces. It’s unfortunately out of stock atm, but will hopefully be back on virtual shelves soon. I need it!
9. Eames Chair DAW from Zuffa Home – Eames chair. That is all. 
10. Harris tweed grey satchel by Breagha – I’m a sucker for a sturdy, practical bag. I’d really love to get my hands on this grey and white tweed bag. It’s just what I’m looking for. 
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Sneak peek – bolder shelves

Two years ago {I can’t belive it’s been that long!} I wrote about updating the shelves in our living room. They’ve changed a bit here and there over the years, but over the last few weeks I was feeling it was time for a bit more oomph. I had some ideas floating around since before Christmas, so I bit the bullet and started to make the changes this weekend. And like most projects in our home, I wanted to reuse pieces we already had, as well as keep the budget to close to zero as possible.

I’m still adding the final touches, so it’ll be next week before I share all of the deets for simple ways to update your shelves. Keep your eyes peeled! xx A

UPDATE – Shelves are updated, woop! You can check them out in all their glory here. 

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‘Tis the season

I asked my mom the other day if I was ever a princess for Halloween. “No, never. You always wanted to be a witch or something scary. You never wanted to be a princess“, and so it stands. I’ve always been more comfortable with darker Halloween costumes, and darker colours in general – not just at Halloween time. Case in point – I’m naturally blonde, but I dye my hair black because I prefer darker colours and I think it suits me better. Husband however, disagrees. Strongly.

I’m a firm believer in scary Halloween in my house. Not cute and bright – not to say any of those things are wrong in any way, I always find when I decorate my home, out comes the creep. All the old books, my swelling decanter collection takes the spotlight, and more stuff from outside comes in. I’ve almost always decorated from pieces I already have. I’m sure in time, when I produce spawn, the cuter Halloween will come out. I’ll cross that bridge when I come to it … 

Something that irritates me to no end around this time of year is bad fake blood. It’s either believable and I’m going to faint, or it’s such a high-pitch red ain’t nobody believing that. A good few years back I came up with a recipe for good fake blood, which I use to this day. Mix a couple spoonfulls of instant coffee with a teaspoon of regular red food dye, and dilute with around 5 cups of water. You’ll more than likely need to mess with the coffee / red dye / water ratio, but it’s minimal effort for what I think to be convincing results. Keep in mind this is red food dye, so don’t be mixing it over your 3,000 count Egyptian sheets. Unless of course you’re looking to add a blood stain to a costume,  then by all means, drip away. 

This year I decorated with mostly pieces we already have. I got fancy on the shelf over our TV and taped a Blair Witch style stick man in our cloche {that movie still terrifies me. Please don’t judge}, I added some discerning labels to our decanters, an awesome skull wreath my dad found at Home Store + More {it was 50% off – and still is!}, and a smattering of skulls here and there – most of which were already out. Because in case you’re new here, I like skulls. 

So that is what I’ve added to our home so far this creepy season. I’ve been pouring all my spare time into making my Halloween costume. To go along with the creep factor, I’m dressing up as Lydia in her red wedding dress {which has about one million layers of lace that I’m sewing by hand}, and hubster will be Beetlejuice, obv. I cannot. Wait! What are you guys being for Halloween? And do you try your hand at making your own costumes? xx A
NOTE: no kittens were harmed in the making of this post.