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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Winter is coming; the right way to tilt your blinds

It may be a distant memory for some [ahem, me], but some of you may remember that in day one of science class in primary school we are all taught that hot air rises. This may seem like a passing thought, but when it comes to keeping your home warm in the winter this is an important thing to remember. Believe it or not, the direction that your blinds are tilted will either help keep your home warm or act like a giant wampa and steal all the hot air and life from a room.

It’s a very simple trick – one that we’ve been doing for years. And while I cannot guarantee a substantial increase in the temperature of your home or a difference in the cost of your heating bill, I can say that it’s a small step you can take to keep your home warm this winter … 

BLINDS TILTED DOWN = BAD

If you tilt your blinds down, as hot air rises from your heaters it will be drawn to and encouraged to escape through the gaps in your blinds. From here, it will meet a fast and painful death as it hits your cold windows and will never be remembered. Ain’t nobody wants that. To somewhat better explain what I mean, see my badly executed diagram below … 

BLINDS TITLED UP = GOOD! 

However, should you tilt your blinds up as shown below, as the hot air rises from your heaters [or if you’re a lucky bastard, from your underfloor heating], and having your blinds tilted in this direction will continue to direct the hot air up and keep it circulating within your home. Yay! o/

I know it’s not a groundbreaking tip, but it’s one of those things I think of far too much and when I see people’s blinds tilted the wrong way, especially leading into the colder months, I scream internally and want to knock on their door and help them. We then have a nice hot drink by the fire and share stories about our cats. We then become lifelong friends and go on skiing trips together. 

So there you have it! A minuscule change you can make to help keep the hot air in your home this year. I hope it helps in some little way. Happy heating 🙂 
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The internet and I this month

October was a busy month for me [not complaining] and while I wasn’t able to stick to the unhealthy level of pressure I put on myself to blog 3 times a week, I was busy so I’m going to make like Taylor and shake it off and possibly cut myself some slack. October was great as I was given the opportunity to be part of a wide variety of features and blog posts. I thought there was no better place to share them than here …
– I [somehow] made it onto Plumworld UK’s 100 Interior Design Blogs you MUST Read! list. There are proper people on that list. Emily Henderson is on that list. Design*Sponge are also on the list. I don’t know how I managed to get in there, but I am excited to be on it.

– I was interviewed by Floor Coverings International based in Alberta, Calgary, over on their blog. They asked me a quite tough question that I’ve never been asked or had to think about before. Until now – how would you describe your design style? I had to enlist in help to answer that because brain fart. 

– Then Me and My Home were featured on the Image Interiors website including all sorts of little details about our home and how I like to put my spin on it. It’s crazy to see how much our apartment has changed since I submitted those photos! Also, in my interview you can see which Instagrammer gives me the most interiors inspiration, and it’s not someone you’d immediately think.

– I was asked to team up with Harvey Norman for a trio of posts for their interior design and tech blog. Yes please! My first post was about 6 of my top tips for how to Love Your Rented Home, as it’s safe to say I have a few tricks up my sleeve for making a place feel less rented. I then wrote about Using Colour to Update Your Space where I created a collage of 3 different looks – bold and bright, country cottage and retro geometric. Which would you say is your favourite? I know I probably shouldn’t pick, but the Country Cottage combo was for sure mine … 

If I could start my design all over, I wouldn’t hesitate to go for this style of decor. I grew up in cottage country in Canada so this colour palette mixed with natural accessories really hits home for me. Fishing on the lakes, skiing along the local trails, lazing on the beach in the summer in the park and general just being outdoors. Very different to how I am now, but it’s a huge part of me growing up.

– And last but not least, I was asked by the lovely Nathalie for my thoughts on hygge in yesterday’s Sunday Independent business supplement [hygge – the Danish concept of comfort. And lord knows I love to be comfortable] …

I haven’t been able to blog as much as I’ve wanted in October as I had a few plans and projects on the side as well as some ghost writing gigs too [unfortunately, it’s not as spooky as it sounds!] It’s been a while since I worked on a DIY project of my own for our home and I can definitely feel it. I’ve had a couple of ideas for projects rolling around in my brain that I’d love to make [one of which = knitting a hat], so fingers crossed that in November I’m back in my usual swing of things.