The Interior DIYer
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To paint or not to paint?

For my birthday earlier this week I was gifted this little gem of a curio cabinet from my parents. It’s an adorable piece with lovely details. It has a faux mahogany finish on the shelves but as you may or may not be able to tell, the back panel hasn’t been finished to the same standard and the shelves are chipped here and there. But my question – do I paint it or leave it as it is? To my surprise, my parents immediately suggested “it would look lovely painted black!“. I was surprised by their suggestion considering they’re forever trying to steer me away from black to, well, practically any other colour in existence. So when they suggested I paint it black I was pleasantly surprised. 
What pretell will I be filling said cabinet with? I mentioned a little while ago making the move to becoming a Level Nine Crazy Cat Lady by having a collection of Sylvanian Families kitties. As it happens, I got not one, but TWO SYLVANIAN KITTY FAMILIES for my birthday and I was so excited that I cried [they’re just so cute and I get emotional over cute stuff. Please don’t judge me]. I can’t wait to fill my cabinet with them. And for all our future visitors think I’m insane. 

So what do you think? To paint or not to paint? We’re expecting a lot of rain this weekend [yay] so a little painting project could justify being indoors all weekend. Now I can’t stop thinking of its gothic potential! 

As for my birthday; Robert surprised me with a stay at Powerscourt Hotel for the last night of my 20’s [seriously fancy], then on my birthday we ate black forest gateau, played Cards Against Humanity [thank you again, Kimberly!], drank way too much sangria and spent the day in inappropriate levels of hysterics. It was amazing. 

Also featured – waxing moon painting – gold tumblers – #DirtyThirty
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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!


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House and Home – #PetsAndPieces

Back in May, House and Home called out on Instagram for people to share their #PetsAndPieces – showcasing our furry friends alongside [or in my case, on] our favourite furniture and pieces around our home. I couldn’t resist, so I tagged this photo of Juniper, among others.

Fast forward to present day, and who did I find looking up at me in the current House and Home magazine? Only just our little Juniper! …

“Alex, The Interior DIYer’s mischievous cat Juniper,
hanging out on the shelf.”

Thank you Anna for including our fur baby! I couldn’t resist sharing Juniper’s little feature here as well, as I already shared it elsewhere online. That curious face kills me every time. I also couldn’t resist sharing for the sake of a hashtag – #MyPussyIsOnPage6 – not many people get to write that while keeping their dignity wholly intact. Happy Friday, friends!