All Things Lovely

Chevron Bedroom Wall

I seem to be having quite a love affair with chevron, and it's near relative herringbone. I pulled out the herringbone pattern for the Ikea rug I recently painted for my kitchen.

I wanted to do something for one of the walls in my bedroom and after seeing a myriad of options on Pinterest of different feature walls such as patterns and stencils I settled on a simple chevron pattern, inspired by this amazing room.

So, just to give you an idea here's what I started back way back in the beginning. First step was to paint the entire room a lovely soft grey.

Now to the details. The pattern may look simple but my goodness, the work involved in prepping the wall took ages! I estimate it took about 8 hours over a couple of nights to measure out the walls and get it all taped up. I didn't want a dramatic V shape, so my vertical lines were further apart than some might like. From memory I think they were about 43cm (17") apart (apologies for the disgraceful iPhone photos!)

I started in the very middle of the wall and, using my level drew vertical lines up the wall and then measured down. Again, from memory it was about 23cm (9") down. Getting a perfect V with the tape was fiddly, but it's worth the work in the end.

This project is such a cheap one, for a sample pot of paint and some painters tape, it makes such a difference. The wall was already grey so I just had to do two coats of white, which is Dulux Antique White USA. The grey colour is Dulux Tranquil Retreat if you like it...such a beautiful grey.

I'm madly in love with the finished result. It was totally worth all the hard work!

Like the beautiful candle beside my bed? It's from Made It store Take Me 2 The Queen.

What are your thoughts on chevron? Hopefully it's a style that stays around for at least a little while longer.

Snuggly MacBook Case

I finally got myself a Mac! A pretty computer however needs a pretty little home to stay in when it's out and about. Enter; some pretty fabric, felt and a spare few hours.

I made this cutie with a layer of thick felt, some beautiful quilting fabric and a layer of quilting wadding popped in the middle, just for a little bit of extra padding. The three layers were just blanket stitched together.

On the back I wanted to add a little bit of personality so I appliqued a cute little bird and love, life, laugh. 

And some pretty quilting fabric inside.

Now just to get myself an iPad, so I can make a cute little cover for that too.

DIY Herringbone Rug

Like everyone on Pinterest it seems, I decided to also paint my own IKEA Egeby rug. It amazes me that for a $40 rug and a bit of time you can have something that is totally custom.

I did a lot of serching on blogs to work out what kind of paint to use. Everyone seemed to suggest latex paint, but it's not really known by that name here in Australia. I ended up settling on plain old interior low sheen wall paint and just used sample pots I had at home. Bargain! This rug is for my kitchen, so I decided on a colour scheme of grey, white and a pop of mustard yellow.

First step was to tape up the edge of my rug and paint it yellow. I just used a cheap paintbrush, and absolutely massacred it. Rather than paint straight over the rug, I kind of dabbed the paint on so it really got into the little holes. It takes a while!

Woah, that's a lot of yellow going on! Never fear. Next comes The.Slowest.Job.In.The.World. Taping out the pattern, I'm sure I could have used a vinyl template, but I find this works well, and I can just paint over the tape and not have to be exceptionally careful.

I love the herringbone pattern. I didn't want a very deep 'V' so after dividng the rug into 4 accross ways, I used 2cm wide painters tape, and measured up 8cm then taped. Each gap was then 8cm high.

Then comes the fun part. More paint! I used grey and white paint, and obviously just painted every second gap.

And voila! After the grey goes on and the tape comes off. I love it!

I was going to leave the border au natural, but a) I got a few paint marks on it (oops) and b) I don't think it looks as good with this colour scheme. So, unfortunately there was more taping as I taped the inside of the rug, and just used the same paint to cover the edge. Much better, yes?

Here it is in it's new home. I love it!

Have you guys painted a rug yourselves? I can't get over how easy it is, for so much impact.

Christmas Ornaments

I thought I would quickly show you how I made the clay ornaments that I'm hanging on my twisted willow tree. I'm not fully happy with these which is why they're not going out as gifts. But I'm happy enough to keep them for my home.

I started out with some Fimo air clay, lace and some Christmas themed biscuit cutters.

I rolled out the clay on a plastic bag. Warning, this stuff sticks to everything! Plastic or foil is recommended.

I wanted the ornaments to have a slightly textured feel, so I used some old lace curtains. I laid them over the clay and just went over it lightly with a rolling pin.

Once I'd done that, I chose my shape and wet it thoroughly. I feel like it made it slightly easier to get the clay out of the cutter. The heart and bell shape seemed to be the easiest.

I just used a skewer to pop  hole in the top. If I was doing it again, I'd probably use a straw instead as it would sort of take out the clay, rather than just press it through if that makes sense? Not to mention it would have been good to have a slightly larger hole.

Anyway, after a good 48 hours of dry time, including turning them all over half way through, my ornaments were dry. You could always lightly sand off the rough edges but I actually left them very 'natural' ie I was too lazy to do that! Just threaded a bit of twine through and voila! Done.

Christmas Craft

I've been busy making some Christmas crafts, which I can finally show you. I've wanted to do this for a couple of years and finally got around to it.

I used some twisted willow I've had sitting in the garage for about 5 years (!) and put it in a tall vase which I'd added some silver baubles to the bottom of. I needed to use floristry oasis but didn't want it right at the bottom. The baubls were a good filler. I then wrapped some hessian which I've frayed slightly, and some pink twine.

I'd originally made the little porcelain ornaments as gifts for Christmas, but I really wasn't happy enough with them to give away so used them on my little tree here. I'll show you later how I made them. What a shame when gifts don't work out and you just have to keep them for yourself... :)

Christmas Cards

Oh yes....I know it's only October!! But for some reason I'm very excited about Christmas this year. And, I'll be away for a fair bit of November, so I'm trying to be Little Miss Organised this year.

I love to put lots of thought into my theme, and wrapping for Christmas, and of course the gifts. There's something so special about the planning, isn't there? So, I went for a homemade, doiley and brown paper kind of theme for this year and I really love what's come so far.

These are my cards. Very simple, far from perfect but pretty. Usually I'm quite a perfectionist, but I think the imperfections are what makes them charming.

Brown card, a cute doiley, some alphabet stamps and thread. I'm so happy with them. The stamping took me forever though, and unfortunately the white ink just didn't come out as well as I'd hoped. Oh well.

I decided to use some lines from Christmas carols as well, rather than the plan 'Merry Christmas'. I think it's fun. Now just to count down to the 1st of December to post them out!

Have you started any Christmas crafts yet?

Cross Stitch iPhone Case

Today the world has lost an amazing man. Steve Jobs, you definitely changed the world and inspired many.

The iPhone is definitely one of my favourite Apple inventions, and I love these new cross stitch iPhone 4 cases! Possibilities are endless and I can't wait until they're available to grab one for my phone. Now, just to think of the exact right design to stitch.

Tamryn's Decorating Dilemma

Tamryn is one of my lovely readers and she emailed me this week to ask if I had any ideas of what she could do with two areas of her house. I gave her my thoughts, but I also thought she'd be so much better off if she had some ideas from all of you!

Here's what Tamryn had to say; "I've sent a few pics of the awesome wooden panels (note sarcasm in text :> ) While I am sure they would look gorgeous in a Swedish Log Cabin with a fire crackling during Winter - they just don't inspire me and make the house extremely dark.

 

I have also attached a photo of a very useless space in the house which I would like to make a feature wall and perhaps use your tutorial and recover the settee I have in the 'Space' with some bright fabrics.. Ideas would be welcome! I saw a lovely large vintage clock which I was thinking of using or alternatively a large mirror..."

Here's a picture of the wood paneling and beams.

 

And 'The Space' as Tamryn calls it.

So lovely readers, how can we help her? Let's hear your ideas!

Cute Little Tile Coasters

Happy Monday!! How was your weekend? Did you get up to anything fun, or creative or new? I had a lovely weekend, but I'll share more of it throughout the week.

I did however finish off this project, finally! I've been wanting new coasters in my living room for ages and so thought, what the heck, I'll just make some. Now, I'm sure there's a gazillion tutorials on the net on how to make them, but what's one more?

Start off with everything you need. I've used four 10cmx10cm glossy wall tiles, some Mod Podge, sealer, a sheet of thin cork and some sheets of scrapbooking paper. For this project I've used a sheet of Crate Paper Dreamy and Gathering.

Start off by measuring and cutting your paper out. Given my tiles are about 10cm square, I cut my paper about 9.5cm square since I wanted a bit of the tile to show through. It's obviously up to you what you want to do.

One you've got it all neatly cut out, apply a good dollop of Mod Podge to the back of your paper and spread it all out. Make sure you clear out any air bubbles, and get your paper all lovely and centred on your tile.

Then it's the boring bit for a little while to let it all dry. Once dry, paint over with some sealer. I've used Plaid Folk Art Outdoor Sealer. I will admit, this was the only sealer I could find when I was looking so I'm sure there's possibly better sealer to use. Let it dry between coats. I've gone for three coats and I'm happy with that, but if you want to do another one, I won't stop you.

Once all that is dry, it's time to finish them off. Cut from a sheet of cork squares about the size of your tile. I've tried to cut mine as close to the size of the tile as possible as I really don't want to wreck my furniture. However, my sheet of cork is very thin. The thicker you go, I guess you could make it a bit smaller. 

Get out your trusty Mod Podge again and smear some over the back of the cork. Carefully stick it to the back of your tile, and you're done. New coasters!

I thought I may as well make some for a gift as well. Very cheap, and too easy!

The Kitchen Renovation - Part One

I've finally started doing some renovations to my kitchen which I'm pretty dam excited about! I really have done nothing to it since I moved in except change the handles from very ugly wooden ones to silver ones. Here's an idea of the before.

You may remember a while ago the lovely Nicole from Making It Lovely kindly did a photoshop mockup for me to have a look at what it would be like with new benchtops and a few other little changes.

 
So, with that in mind I looked at my options. New benchtops in Australia aren't cheap, but another option for the interim was White Knight Laminate Paint. I'd never really heard of anyone using it on benchtops but I did some research and found people who had used it along with another product by White Knight, Bench Top Clear. I thought I couldn't stuff it up too badly, so I'd give it a shot.

So, preparation is key! First of all, everything needs to be well and truly cleaned and sanded lightly. Taping up is one of my least favourite jobs!

Then, a laminate primer is applied. This just goes on with a brush and is dead easy.

 
Once primed you're ready for the first of two coats of laminate paint. I chose the colour Spicey Pepper, but they have heaps of colours. The can says to apply this paint with a brush, which I did for the first coat. The paint is very forgiving so brushmarks aren't a huge problem, but after a light sand in between coats I chose to do the second coat with a gloss roller. I was much happier with that finish.

 
It almost looks like a granite bench...if only! Once it's all dried for about 24 hours, the Bench Top Clear is applied. This is all done with a roller and gives a nice protection to the paintwork. This needs about 7 days to really harden up, and it also takes away the glossy look.

So, here it is!  
 
 
I could almost leave the cupoards grey, but I won't. I've started painting them all white so hopefully I can get that finished soon. I'm pretty happy with it. For under $200 on paint, it's a pretty dramatic change for the time being. I can't see it lasting more than a few years, but when I have new benchtops put in, I also want a new oven and sink so it's a big expense.

So, there we go. Part One of the renovation done!

Yes, it's Pink!

I've been wanting to do this for quite a while, but finally got the time to do it. Paint my outdoor setting. I bought it about a year ago, but it's been bashed around a fair bit outside, and started to look pretty dodgy. Inspired by Nicole at Making It Lovely, I took the plunge and painted it.

Here's the dreadful before so you can see what I was working with!

I decided to use Wattyl Solagard to paint it, they have a fair few colours, but I chose Fig Sweet.

And here you go! Yes, it's prety bright. I think I'm happy with it, but I'm happy to incorporate some charcoal into my garden to kind of tone it down a bit.

 

Cute Covered Magnets

I'm sure you've seen these around but I decided to have a play at making my own magnets to go in the new studio. If you want to play along at home, I thought I'd do a little tutorial.

First up, gather your materials. I've used self covering buttons, some 15mm magnets, you'll need some pliers, really good glue and fabric scraps. I'm using scraps from the chair I covered and pillow I made so that it all matches.

Unless you can get buttons with a flat back to them, you will need to grab your pliers and cut off the little bit on the back.

Once they're all done, it's time to start covering your buttons. Line up your fabric if you're fussy about what you want centred on the button, and then push the button cover and fabric into the special little doovalacky that they give you. Trim all your fabric down so that the back of the button will fit in well.

Press the button back in and make sure you push firmly so that the button back is secure. Then dab some glue onto your buttons and magnets. Don't make the same mistake I did and glue the wrong side of the magnet. Who knew that magnets are only magnetised on one side sometimes? Not me! My glue says to let it sit for about a minute until it's a bit tacky, and then press together.

Then press your magnets and buttons together and voila! Cute little magnets.

I put them on my new whiteboard in my studio. Oh, the calendar is from Etsy seller Ola Design. I bought it last year, and I've framed some of the gorgeous pictures.

Don't forget to enter my giveaway as well! It ends this Sunday night.