The Interior DIYer
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Desk lamp update – moar tassels

When I saw Kat von D’s handmade Victorian lampshades back in August, I wanted all of that action to happen in our home. And I wanted it five minutes ago.

I already had quite a collection of black lampshades [case in point, desk lamp], so all I needed was some overly dramatic tassels. I searched Dublin high and low and couldn’t find any. I was becoming desperate. So desperate in fact that one day when I was going through my closet, my eyes stopped on my sheer black summer kimono [kinda like this one]. All I saw was how well the tassels on the bottom of it would look on my lamp. And so I attacked said kimono with a seam ripper and applied it to our lamp. All in the name of DIY. 

I’m really very fond of the moodier feel to my desk lamp alread [you can see it’s original transformation here], and I can’t wait to find some awesome artwork to hang over our new old mahogany desk. Though, I’m thinking I may just have to paint an oversized piece of art myself, as I unfortunately have something very specific in mind, and haven’t been able to find it. We’ll see.

For the day that it is, I would like to wish you a happy Halloween! As it happens, I didn’t style my desk especially for Halloween, I’m afraid it’s just Halloween every day in our home. I hope you enjoy the night. 

xx A
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Guest bedroom bedside table – updates

Have you ever decorated part of your home and once it was finished, it didn’t exactly look better? Yeah, that happens around here more often than I’d like to admit. 
Case in point, our spare bedroom earlier this year [below]. I painted our bedside table black and accessorized it with pieces I wasn’t particularly fond of and it was all just BLEUH. Everything needed a bit of an upgrade, so on Monday night I repainted the bedside table with leftover Dulux Exterior SatinWood ‘iron clad’ paint that I used on our living room stools. This paint is meant for front doors, but it works like an absolute dream on furniture. 

Upgrade step 1: complete! Now onto step 2: in keeping with my current a bit less IKEA phase [ie – our new old desk], the next step was to find a replacement lamp for the IKEA lamp we had. Yesterday I took to my well-worn Dublin charity shop route and I spotted this absolutely lush gold lamp in Second Abbey …

Phwoar. Isn’t it well lush? I headed to Dunnes Stores and picked up a small black pleated lamp shade to bring it out of the early 90’s, and I’ve got to say, I’m ridiculously pleased with how it turned out. Just LOOK at it …

All shiny and gold and pretty. I next upgraded our rescue kit for unexpected guests box [psst – you can also see what the bedside table originally looked like in that post]. I had a spare white KASSET box from my DIY holiday memory boxes, so I added the contents of the rescue kit to the slightly fancier box and added an old school Dymo Omega label to balance out all the fancy. And damn straight, I am mixing gold and silver. 
And last but not least, I decided to jazz up the bedside table by doing something I almost never do – I bought flowers. I love flowers in our home so I don’t really know why I’m always hesitant to buy them. I will admit part of me thinks it’s a bit of a waste of money. I know that sounds harsh. I tried to curb my opinion by buying these pretty pink roses which were reduced yet absolutely perfect [WINNING]. I trimmed them into one of our gold tumblers, et voila. 

When I showed husband the new getup in the spare bedroom, the first thing he said was “are you sure you want to keep that lamp there? It’s really nice and we’ll never see it in the spare bedroom … “. He makes a good point. Yes, he may be critiquing my styling placement, but I’ll focus more so on the fact that he thinks I made a kick-ass Frankenstein lamp 🙂 xx A
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Thrifty things – a clowder of teapots

No, do not re-adjust your screen. This is not a vision into the depths of your nightmares, it’s just my new cat teapot. And may I add with pride [quickly followed by a hint of shame], I now have a cat teapot collection. A clowder of cat teapots, if you will.

I suppose it all started way back when Emily and I visited the Merchants Market for a blogger feature of hers. That’s when I spotted my first cat teapot; the little portly lady-cat teapot who looks like she rather enjoys sausages. Then the other day I spotted this gentleman-cat teapot in the window of NCBI Charity Shop. It was after hours so the shop wasn’t open, so the next day I cycled over and scooped up my purchase.

“Do you have cats?“, the lady at the till inquired. “Oh I do. I have two kitties“, I said. She then looked me up and down with a puzzled look on her face. “You aren’t covered in cat fur though“. I laughed and I told her my anti-furry-clothes tip … 

PRO TIP – run your hand under the tap and using the palm of your hand, begin to brush your clothes. The water on your hand will collect any fur. When your hand stops collecting fur, simply run it under the tap again. Repeat until all the lonely people glitter, I mean fur, is gone. Voila!

I’m not entirely sure where I’m going to keep Mr. and Mrs. Cat Teapot, but I quite like where I styled them on our shelves. Not too bad. And please don’t tell me I’m the only one with a porcelain animal collection? Don’t leave me hangin’.

xx A