The Interior DIYer
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Hybrid moments

For Christmas this year Robert was particularly shnaky. He delved into the search history on my laptop and found my over-zealous creeping of all things iBride [pronounced like the French for hybrid]. Back in June of 2015, two particular items Robert found were ibride’s Rosita and Isild trays. There was much clicking. Fast forward to Christmas morning and what did I spy under the tree? Only just these two birds. Without sounding too dramatic, I think it took a full 3 days for me to realise these trays were in my possession and that they were for real.  

I don’t like the idea of gloating about things I got for Christmas, but these are too damn fabulous to not [p.s. Robert and I got just one present for each other this year. Well, mine was actually two, but you know what I mean. This year was very paired down]. In a strange and not-so-strange way, these two trays have a very special meaning for me. They’re reminding me to get back to what I love about interiors and that’s about having fun with design and to take things less seriously. I think back to how our apartment was before I started putting it online, and how my past bedrooms in my parents place looked before then. They were unusual, a bit fun and had unexpected things dotted around the place. They weren’t too dissimilar to what I have now, but I have noticed as of recently I’m missing the fun. I’ve gotten too bogged down with the “will this look good?” side of things. 

So here’s to Rosita and Isild – reminding me to get back to the fun side of design and to be less serious [as if I even was all that serious to begin with]. 

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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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New second hand stool

Last weekend Robert and I wandered around Mac’s Salvage Warehouse to quench our my thirst for vintage markets in lieu of the no longer Merchant’s Market. I was originally on the lookout for an old wooden ladder with some character for our living room [for blanket and throw purposes]. Unfortunately they didn’t have any ladders, but Robert did happen upon a behemoth stack of bar stools. Originally, I had my eye on some dark red stools, but Robert insisted there were some ‘lovely green ones‘ [vom]. See, gentlemen, he didn’t use the correct annotation. He should have said there were some ‘fabulous viridian coloured stools‘. I was sold. 

We settled on this stool as it had the least ware on the legs and zero visible ware on the upholstery. There was a minuscule issue with the fabric as the pattern had red, blue, yellow and pink details. “Not to worry,” I said. “I’ll just fix that with a Sharpie when we get home“. And fix it I did.

Not the most professional of fixer-uppers, but more times than I’d like to admit I’ve used a Sharpie on a project or two. Or seven. I use them to touch up loads of things [nicks on black picture frames etc], so I simply used my black Sharpie to colour in the colourful dots. 

TIP – if you decide to do this, make sure you don’t use the seat / fabric for at least half an hour after colouring it in, otherwise the ink may transfer. 

Something I am a bit stumped on is what to do with the wood legs. I quite like the dark finish that’s on them. It needs to be touched up in places, so I’m thinking of getting a varnish to fix the little scratches. But what do you think – would you just repaint the legs something entirely different? I was thinking black, but I like the colour of the wood too much. At the moment the wood doesn’t match anything in our apartment [other than our desk], but I keep reminding myself that we won’t be renting this apartment forever. I guess I’m still waiting to inherit that Victorian full of mahogany finishes. 

But for the moment, our new stool has been thoroughly approved by Juniper and Toshi. They take turns sitting, clawing and sleeping on it.

UPDATE: I painted the legs black! I was hoping to do it in high gloss black, but changed my mind at the last minute and chose mid sheen. I think it looks so much better. Except now I have my eye on updating my imitation Eames chair legs too. It’s a slippery slope, I know. But still … Can you imagine it with black legs?! Swoon!