‘George’ the freestanding drawer!

Last year, I acquired some lovely old furniture from a lady, after meeting her brother one day on a train to Aberdeen… (You can read the full story here!) One of the pieces she very kindly gave to me was this vintage chest of drawers. It was really beautiful piece and had been extremely well loved, but some panels were missing, others were falling off, the beading was chipped and broken and the drawers were very stiff and heavy.

I made the decision to use the chest of drawers in a new way, and create things from its different elements. I had already made a big ‘Z’ for Ziggy out of three of the drawers for my workshop wall, but just recently I had the idea to make a piece of furniture out of one of the remaining drawers.

I love mid-century furniture legs, so I ordered a reclaimed set, then got to work sanding, drilling, screwing, 

cleaning, priming and painting… and in the end, I got this! 

I was struggling to think of a name for this piece, but Fiona helped me when we were installing the Pop-up Shop. A Wham! record I own (…guilty pleasure!) soon became the soundtrack to all our hard work, so Fiona wanted to dedicate a piece George Michael. So meet George, the freestanding display shelf! 

That's Armoire!

It's my last post from Venice and I've got lots of ideas for getting creative with cabinets!

Martha Stewart, domestic queen, you never fail to inspire me! Here she puts two different cabinets, striped back and painted the same, on top of each other to create a DIY armoire. 

image found here

And here's a lovely tutorial from Fresh Home Idea. It's a step-by-step guide with handy tips to keep us all on track! Have a look at the 'before' picture too... to me the diy effort gives the cabinet even more vintage charm!

image found here.

Now, if you're feeling handy, this might be the project for you! With a full on set of instructions, Ana White guides you every step of the way and literally shows you how to make a corner cabinet from scratch! I'm really keen on this idea... maybe add some patterned wallpaper and vintage door knobs into the mix?

image found here.

Then there is Miss Mustard Seed at Mustard Seed Interiors who has taken a new approach all together and painted the whole wardrobe with black-board paint... a lovely idea for storage to double up as a memo-board in a cafe, for example.

                    

image found here.

And, just for good measure, I've thrown in this image...  The colours, pattern, shapes are all just garishly brilliant!

 

image found here.

I probably wouldn't be able to sleep at night if this was the decor in my bedroom, but I think it would be fun in a dinning room or something. Bold can be quite brilliant!

Headboard benches

There seems to be hundreds of tutorials and ideas on how to repurpose an old headboard into a bench, but as they are all so different, I'm quite keen on the idea myself!

The great thing about 'how-to' tutorials is that they give you a basic structure and help with the technical aspects of the build, but there is so much scope for you to do it your way. Take this idea as an example- a bench from a headboard sounds like there would be a one-rule-for-all kind of system but, as headboards come in all shapes and sizes, your starting point will be unique and so there is no reason your whole project can't be!

This one is from Mallie + Posh- a clean and delicate structure with fun to be had in choosing fabrics for all the cushions! Interior designer Mallorie Jones has posted a simple set of instructions which are great as guideline. Find them here. 

image found here.

Moving on to The Lettered Cottage for a more in-depth tutorial!

Kevin at The Lettered Cottage has posted a step-by-step account of how he made a rather robust structure for the bench. There is even a little video showing how it was done. Find it all here.

image found here.

 And now for a slightly bolder approach- a lilac garden bench from Pretty Handy Girl. This blog also has a really helpful 'how-to' and pays great attention to detail. Find it here.

image found here.

And just one more link before you are able to construct one of these blindfolded! eHow Home have another list of instructions for construction here. Sadly they don't have any images but I suppose that will allow you to use your imagination!

I'm keeping my eyes peeled for an interesting, abandoned headboard now! Watch this space...

Off the wall!

I like a neutral wall- a clean, blank canvas that allows a personal injection of fun. Whether it's pops of colour, an eclectic mix of ornaments, vintage frames or, in my case, sets of brass flying ducks!


I've come across lots of inspiring and unusual approaches to wall art on my travels through the Internet and here are three examples that really grabbed my attention:


Whilst browsing Lonny magazine's wonderful website, I found this image by interior designer Lisa Sherry.

image found here.

A large frame (that would take up most of a wall) hosts little doodles of photo-frames in different shapes and sizes. Within these drawings found images, feathers and real photo-frames feature to create an opportunity for an ever-changing and personal mood-board and feature. It is a relaxed structurethat leaves plenty room for creativity.

Next up, inspiration from Funkytime.

image found here.

Inspired by Kari Herer's illustrations, Sibylle at Funkytime decided to make a piece of wall art for her bedroom. She literally only used 2 black pens, some faux flowers and a bit of glue. Find the 'how-to' here. It's a simple idea but it really adds a new dynamic to a plain white wall.

And last but by no means least, Payton Cosell Turner.

image found here.

Featured in ELLE Decoration's September issue, Payton Cosell Turner creates wall art installations from individual stickers! Click on the image and you will see that it's made up of everything from apples to ladders to bears! This was a commissioned piece for a bedroom and its a wonderful alternative to wallpaper... All you need to do this yourself is a crate load of pretty stickers, a steady hand and the patience of a saint! Payton, I take my hat of to you.

An alternative to wallpaper; these are quite literally 'off the wall'!

Wood you think of this?!

I've got a vision of the house that  I would like one day... and in this vision there is not a piece of wood veneered MDF or lino insight!

I came to terms with the fact that I wouldn't be able to make this dream a reality until I've made my millions, but maybe cheap wood effect panelling isn't so bad after all... Maybe all it needs is a little bit of character building!

image found here.

This is a picture of interior designer Sarah Tuttle's own kitchen. Apparently she was sick of living with a brown linoleum floor so she mapped out painter's tape to form 18" squares then painted the flooring with two coats of carport paint.


A nice, fresh twist which also makes the room feel more spacious.(I love the navy walls too!) 


Find a full tour of her beautiful house and insiders tips on iVillage here.

This, on the other hand is a design by Michael Iannoe and is made from organic kirei board which sounds to me like an environmentally friendly form of MDF... 

image found here.

Although I don't think I would buy something like this new, I am intrigued by the idea of stencilling a design onto another wise minimal, generic piece of furniture. (This is not to say Michael Iannoe's design is generic- I love the green choice of materials but the shape of the wardrobe would not be my first choice!)

I've taken note of how Iannoe has painted the 'negative space' white and leave the desired shapes untouched. The standard approach would be to stencil and then colour in your pattern but that wouldn't look as innovative as what we see here.

Now time for another Design Sponge revelation!

images found here.

Another Ikea special... but with a bit of sanding, painting and added decoration, all Ikea simply provides a basic structure then we can add do what ever we like to breathe some life into it!

Find the how-to here.

So maybe cheap can be cheerful after all... all you need is a bit of imagination!