The Interior DIYer
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Things I daydream about that most people don’t

As a renter, there are many things I daydream about. Robert and I have been living together in rented accommodation for 10 years now and as time has passed, the more projects I’ve worked on along with projects I see so many talented bloggers and designers undertake, it makes me daydream about all sorts of things. Most of them the type of things I wholly accept most people don’t even think about. It’s become a substantial list these days, so I thought I’d share my embarrassing confession of the types of things I daydream about being able to do one day … 

– To tile a bathroom and / or kitchen. And I’m not talking about hiring someone to do it. I want to do it myself. With the One Room Challenge that’s happened over the past few weeks, I watched a few bloggers on Instagram stories share their newly laid tiles and I yelled at my phone when I saw they weren’t laying them themselves. I understand them not doing it themselves as the ORC has a really tight deadline, but I would just die to have an opportunity to do it myself. Regardless of how messy it is. 


– Add wall paneling to a room or multiple rooms. Design, cut, measure and do it all myself. See same reasons as tiling above. 
– Have a toolbelt and power tools. I asked for a toolbelt for my birthday last year (ie – this one from Woodies), but I guess it was too boring of a gift. I was 8 months pregnant at the time too so I guess they thought I shouldn’t be doing anything to warrant using a tool belt. That didn’t stop me though.

– Have an area of our home, a shed or a garage as a workshop. Somewhere to keep saws and drills and organised jars of nails and power tools. I’d also love to go to a series of beginners classes to learn how to use different tools so I can make use of all my imaginary tools.

– Have proper work wear for doing bigger projects. Work trousers or overalls, a toolbelt, steel-toe boots [these from Engelbert Strauss look exactly like the shoes I wore in high school!] and even a hardhat when necessary. They’d all stay in my dream workshop area and I’d Mr. Dressup my outfit as I walk through the space. 

– Have the opportunity to update a kitchen and be able to build storage that GOES ALL THE WAY TO THE CEILING, because nothing bothers me more than seeing kitchen cabinets that stop a full foot from the ceiling. No wasted space will be had in my grown up home.

– Put down flooring of some type. This goes along with my tiling and wall paneling fascination. I just want to see if I can do it. Regardless of how long it takes.

– Remodel a kitchen and / or bathroom and do it as eco-friendly as possible by sourcing as much as I can secondhand, especially using unexpected things. Have you ever seen Victoria Elizabeth Barnes‘ blog? Specifically, the time she turned an old piano into a kitchen island? My actual dream. 

I’ve even been daydreaming about building storage under our sink for the bin and recycling for years now, but I don’t mentions it because that’s not what most people want to talk about over dinner. Are you like me and have things you’ve always dreamed of doing, but think other people just wouldn’t get it? Or they’d think they’re weird things to daydream about? Well, you’re safe here.

Image sources … 
1. Image by Lucyna Kolodziejska 
2. Image by Victoria Elizabeth Barnes

DISCLOSURE – this is a sponsored blog post from Engelbert Strauss. 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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2015 in review

The end of most years I’m not too keen on the idea of a roundup post. But if you make the mistake of scrolling through the past year of your blog, it’s near impossible to not pick some favourites to write about. I’ll try to keep this brief, so I’ve picked a handful of my favourite memories and projects from this year. 
2015’s game started strong with the completion of the Canadian man cave office I designed for my Broseph [above]. I really loved taking that theme and running with it. I still spot pieces I’d love to add to his office, but I really have to stop myself. I still have serious office envy.

We traveled near and slightly less near this year to Edinburgh, Scotland and San Sebastian, Spain [also Bilbao]. I love seeing new places and crossing new countries off my list, but I’m also not the best with traveling so I’m a bag of emotions at the best of times. Over the next year I’d love to visit Iceland, Netherlands, Poland and Japan, but we’ll see how far my nerves get me.

One of the biggest, most time consuming and monotonous projects I took on this year was conquering the disgusting yellowed doors and skirting boards throughout our entire rental and repainting them white. It may not seem like a big deal, but to us it made a huge change [you should really see the before pics]. I’m still deliriously happy with how much it’s changed our home. Projects like this don’t make an impression on anyone else but you. I like those changes though. When people eventually go “Oh! I just noticed the ugly yellow is gone!” Clean and fresh and not gross.

My mind was fairly blown this year by the people that got in contact to work alongside with. I teamed up with Woodies and created a huge variety of DIY tutorials for them, I became Image Interiors & Living’s DIY Expert, conducted interviews and corresponding blog posts for Colortrend paint twice, wrote for the Irish Independent and the Sunday Times, created some fun posts for Harvey Norman’s blog and partnered with Wayfair.co.uk again for some Star Wars goodness to name a few [all of these and more can be found here].

But if I’m honest, my favourite projects this year [and TBH, always and forever] are projects where I upcycled and updated otherwise unwanted or unloved pieces. For example, the upcycled vacuum cord pendant light in our spare bedroom and the updated faux marble bedside tables in our bedroom. Things like that will always be my passion. That’s what gets me really excited and wanting to scream from the roof tops that style and the contents of your home don’t have to come with a hefty price tag. And sometimes, no price tag at all [if you wanna see all my DIYs, check out my DIY Tab]. And if you’re stumped about upcycling or upgrading a piece and want some help, get in contact! I would just die to help other people out with making the most with what’s already available. I’m hoping 2016 will be the year everyone becomes a bit more conscious of where their stuff comes from and at what cost. 
At the very least, I hope you had a lovely 2015. Even if not all of it was perfect, it got you to where you are now. And from me, a massive thank you. If you’re reading this or ever read any of my blog posts, thank you. I know it won’t be translated fairly well through a screen, but it really means a lot to me xx
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Father’s Day gift bucket

For Father’s Day, Woodie’s asked me to put together a DIY themed gift basket [or gift bucket as I like to call it] filled to the brim with handy repair items from their store suitable for DIYers of all levels. The idea came about as Dad’s more often than not are tough to buy for. So we thought why not get him a bucket load of little things he loves or needs? 

I also shared a really simple tutorial with tips for how best to make and display a gift bucket of your very own. You can of course fill it with whatever you like! I find the best thing is to choose a theme and run with it. For example, a couple of DVDs, a bag of popcorn, some chocolate treats, a Netflix subscription and his favourite drink for a chillaxing evening or two on the couch. 

Check out Woodie’s Facebook and / or Twitter to see how you can be in with a chance of winning this gift bucket INCLUDING a 100 euro Woodie’s gift card! But the piece de resistance – you also get a tiny piece of chalk from my very own curated collection to write whatever you like on the bucket. I know. I don’t know how I do it either. 

xx A