Ikea Hack

Hello ,
For todays post I thought it was about time I revisited the livingroom for a few more details on how we put that room together.

One of the most satisfying projects for me was an Ikea/ eBay bargain that I transformed in to our TV cabinet.

We have a rather complicated TV setup with a computer instead of a tv freview sky whatever box. As such it is larger and uglier (my husband will baulk when he reads that!). Whilst I love the freedom this gives us to record tv for free and to have the x box connected to the tv and to browse the internet from in there too I hate the cables and wires associated.

So I wanted a cupboard that wouldn't show all these bits. The budget £35.00.  It also had to fit nicely in the alcove that was already designated for the Tv , and be deep enough for the pc.

So I came up with this

An Ikea Leksvic tv Cabinet £129.99 - second hand on Ebay for £30 and about 5 miles from here for collection. Its deeper than it looks and the proportions were spot on.

Whilst I loved the glass doors the whole point of having doors on it was to hide the junk inside. Plenty of images like this lurking on the net which showed me what it would become with the doors as glass.

So On went the paint and I cut and stapled 2 rectangles of fabric that I have had for at least 7 years waiting for me to do somthing with it!

A simple transformation really. All I did then was replace the handles with some new brass ones from Relics of Witney - my fantastic local hardware store.

Still plenty of cables sticking out the back to the subwoofer - Still waiting to get that inside the cupboard too - Hubby is going to cut away some of the base shelf so that it stands on the floor. We also took the back off the cuboard so that the cables from the tv can get in there easily.

Thats it for now. Off to serve up dinner.

Happy Monday xx

Crafty Creations

Hello! How are you all? Enjoying the chance to catch up on some blogs?
 Lately I have found myself slightly obsessing on pinterest. It seems to me there are more amazing ideas and images collected on that one site than anywhere else.

I wouldnt say that I am an arty person particularly but I certainly have that side to me in my love of crafts and photography. So with Pinterest as my inspiration and some fab projects already under my belt I thought today I would show you a little bit of what I have been up to lately. Well not too lately. This last week I have been full of cold - I'm trying not to feel too sorry for myself so have been distracting myself as best as possible on my pc.

Anyway on to the pictures.

 This is my current window display in the Kitchen. I try and update it seasonally. I am blessed with lovely deep window sills. The house is made from cotswold stone and the walls are VERY thick. This one is deep enough to sit in so when we re-do the kitchen I may plan in a window seat. Although it is a little high at the moment.

The paperwhite peonies are made from coffee filters and are ridiculously easy to make. I sold some at the village craft fair at christmas and sat and made them at the stall.

All that you need are white coffee filters, stiff wire, florists tape, scissors and a little PVA glue.

The link for the tutorial is here

They are really fun to make and very realistic. I have seen pictures of them in pink but I love the white. Once you have done a couple they take maybe 3-4 mins each.

So for my winter window I wound the wire stems around some rose branches from my garden. I have a lovely english rose that grows like a bush and it has goregous dark red stems. They need  trimming back before the new year anyway so before christmas I headed out to the garden and snipped some good long twiggy branches.

Then I arranged the branches in a jug - this one a beautiful blue willow pattern with roses and a peacock that I have inherited from my husbands grandmother who died last year. I love having it out as she used to use it to display the flowers that we took every week when we visited her. It stands on a matching plate - on to which I have piled some pine cones that I collected at the same time as I picked sloes in the Autumn.

The coffee pot on the right is rusted and not fit for use. I bought it from a fantastic Antiques shop in Chipping Norton. I fell in love with the shape of it.

Want to make some for yourself? You betcha do!

Link again in case you missed it is here!

See you next time x

Yummy Pintrest

Hello,

Hope you have all been keeping busy. I am approaching a serious period of change in my life at the moment. I seem to have spent the last week doing paperwork and applications. Including a full planning application - very scary. We are approaching the time when our lovely house gets split in half. My husband and I bought a house with my parents that we have spent the last 2 years doing up and splitting in half. Well come the end of March they will be legally split.

Very exciting but this is causing an absolute shedload of paperwork to land on my desk!

Source: http://acccbuzz.wordpress.com/2011/08/08/too-much-paperwork/

Whilst I take a break from all that detritus I like to wander on over to Pinterst with a cup of cappuchino and look through some of their amazing images
I'll share a few that have got me drooling at the moment

Currently dreaming of an organised and clean desk!

Source http://www.massuccowarnermiller.com/images/residential/sanfran/17-office.jpg
 

Or Like this one - beautiful colour accents.

Source : http://images.meredith.com/bhg/images/2011/03/550_101632751.jpg

Source: http://samplehomedesign.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/DIY-desk-project-by-martha-stewart-shared.jpg

My office is definitely lacking in storage at the moment which is silly really as it has plenty of space and we spend a large amount of time in there really!

Like many things it just hasn't reached the top of the "next to do" list.

Now I don't mind sharing it with you if you promise not to judge me. There are lots of "To do" sections in here. I'm still not happy with how the desks are joined (a poor Ikea hack!). The patch behind the stove is waiting for retiling or somthing similar that will take the heat. But when its tidy I quite like it. Its definitely due a coat of paint. It was white washed by the previous owners as they never used this room. For them it was a second sitting room and it has no central heating (and 3 external walls) so it was always cold and damp. Its taken us 2 years to get it properly dry so its about ready for some new wall treatment.

Below is Before we moved in

I should say that this is my Husbands room (he gets one room and a single drawer in the kitchen). He will be making most of the design choices .....

Coming along hey?

Til next time.