From one side of the world to the other.

Don't you love stopping by other peoples blogs just to see what is going on in their neck of the woods? I love the fact that I can be sitting in my living room on one side of the world, and can, with a click of a button visit another blog on the other side of the world just to catch up with a home re-design or diy project that some one is doing.

I had an email the other day regarding The Better Homes and gardens Network, they have a home improvement website for all do-it-yourselfers, and wanted to know if I Would be interested in sharing it with my lovely readers, well at first I wasn't sure of it because I'm blogging from the UK (a tiny Island called Jersey to be exact) and the website is for the US, but after considering where you all pop up from, (alot of US readers) I thought I would share it with you, so here you go, the site is DIYadvice.com and is the go-to home improvement website for all do-it-yourselfers, from the novice to the experienced, containing step-by-step detailed instruction on such lauded topics as:

plumbing - detailed instructions with photos and illustrations for making repairs, such as fixing clogged drains, installing a water filter, and of course installing a new bathroom.
Home electrical projects - instructions for hundreds of electrical repairs projects, along with detailed directions for new electrical installations, including fans and heaters, lamp sockets, and light fixtures.
Interior/exterior painting - instructions for painting the exterior and interior of one’s home; everything from removing wallpaper, painting interior windows, sliding doors, shutters, sidings, and even painting fences and gates is discussed.

For up-to-the-minute information on do-it-yourself home improvements, follow DIYadvice.com at twitter.com/DIYadvice.

Please Note: this site is a US site and there fore the imformation may not be suitable for UK uses!

Flower arrangement.

Flower arrangement no. 4.

This is the creation made last night at my flower arranging class, and I am pleased with how it turned out over all, although it was meant to have a candle sticking up out of the middle, but I decided to take it out as the one I had just was not big enough, and was looking a little lost amidst the flowers. I'm loving having fresh flowers in the house every week, and most of the time the flowers come from small country side shops or from honesty stalls along the road side, I think the most I have spent on the flowers so far is £5.00, and I got two dispalys from this little lot!

upholstery obsession

The source of this chair escapes me

I have become ever so slightly obsessed with all things upholstered of late, this being down to the short course I have enrolled on, which is part of my grand plan to some how get into interior styling/decorating/design or maybe stylist photography not sure of the correct term, but any hows, I'm constantly looking for inspiration and ideas for projects to do, so here are just a few that have popped up in my google reader this week, you may have already seen them about but I think they are worth a second shout about. I love the the chairs from Spruce if I can turn my Little chair that I intend to do into something like these chair pictured I will be very chuffed with myself. I do like the idea of using traditional methods and updating with modern colours and fabrics.

Via Dwelling and Decor from Spruce

Design Sponge
Design Sponge

The head board from Design sponge is great! and if you pop on over to the blog, there is a step by step video to help you along the way, another thing to add to my to do list of projects!

Chair update. To paint or not to Paint.

If you are a regular reader you may remember that as of this Monday coming I will be starting an upholstery course, and the piece of furniture that I hope to breath new life into will be a chair that has spent the last 18 or so years in the attic, well here is a little up date for you, its been stripped of its tatty seating and padding, (by me!) sanded back and is now ready to be painted. Although if the men in my life had there way (and by men I mean my Dad and Brother) it would not be painted black! " its a lovely piece of wood" said my Dad, its just spent the best years of its life in the attic with no one bothered about it! So Yes I want to paint it black and add bright bold fabric to it to give it a fun lively young feel.

So one trip to B&Q later and here is the primer and paint to start the transformation, I have chosen a Matt black for wood so hope this does the trick, probably be starting this over the weekend.
What are your thoughts on painting furniture? love it or hate it....

Upholstery inspiration.

Making it Lovely

This week I have been showing more than a passing interest in upholstered chairs, as you may recall , I intend to start an upholstery course in September at my local College. the lovely orange chair caught my eye over at www.makingitlovely.com and the other one I think I spotted on Apartment Therapy.

The chair below is the one I will be working on, and I pulled it out of the attic over the weekend in preparation of my fast approaching course start date. Its in a real sorry state, and I'm not sure what is going on with the underside, but it looks like its been shot with a shot gun three times! Nothing to do with my family, it was in the house when my parents moved in. Its also been attacked by woodworm at some point in its life, and I'm wondering if when I repaint it, the holes should be filled in, or if I should keep them as a celebration of its life or something like that.

I'm thinking of painting it a black, or may be a charcoal colour, and a bright vibrant colour on the seat.

Whats your view on woodworm holes, fill them in or keep them as part of the history of the chair.

By the way, is when you are reading this blog post and you spot that the chair in question is a really valuable antique worth thousands of pounds, do stop me before I paint it and render it totally worthless wont you! ( who am I kidding, chance would be a fine thing)

Girls tool kits.

Rolson Tools 36802 25pc Lady Tool Kit

Having recently taken up the make do and mend mantra of late I have found myself trying to prise the tool box off of my Husband. Its like some kind of sacred box that females have to go through an interrogation process before being aloud to handle these precious items, " what are you doing with it, do you know how to use this hammer/screwdriver/tape measure" Then when you do get to use them, said Husband hangs around like a bad smell, giving directions on how to use them! Well enough I am on the hunt for a tool box of my own, and to make it clear that its MINE I think I'll get one in pink with matching accessories. I'm loving this one above.

Ikea curtain cut off's.

Ikea curtains always come really long in length which is great for getting just the required drop for your windows, just measure cut of excess, iron on hem and bobs your uncle, perfect. But what do you do with the material left over? Well how about turning it into some extra pillows for your bed? That's just what I did in my bedroom, ans I think it looks great!

If you are not sure what to do I have thrown together this little how to, below to give you a general idea of how to make a simple pillow slip. Hope you can see that, need to figure our how to make a pdf down load for you all.

Any questions feel free to leave a comment below this post, or even share you own ideas with us all.