Time for a catch up…

So, I’m back, after a ridiculously busy end-of-term: 4 nativities, 3 school plays, 2 office moves and a mildly fun staff par-ty (sing to the tune of ’12 days of Christmas’). All I want to do right now is sleep til the New Year!

I’ve also realised, writing a post everyday is a little unrealistic, so I’ll reduce & combine them, and stop inundating you with mundane ramblings (like this one!). Another reason being: my lovely little computer is still having hissy-fits, so it is taking ages to write a single post, may as well combine them all into weekly posts.

Back to something that may be of interest: I’ve finished two of those chairs I was updating and I love them! The third is still waiting & will go with my dressing table (another bargain buy). I’ll have to put better photos up soon.

I got a brilliant steal in a local charity shop the other week: a huge mirror for over my fireplace for £20 – bargain!! A friend came round today to secure it to the wall – I don’t want to know how many years bad luck I’d have if that thing fell

I’ve also painted some charity shop frames & mirrors for my ‘NOLA eclectic’ hallway, so that’s coming along, too. I’m going to put a gallery update up on those sometime after Christmas (hopefully)

Not much too say on the recipe front. I’ve not been 100% the last few weeks, so my appetite has been zero and I haven’t been able to taste much anyway – rubbish! Not exactly incentive to get in the kitchen 😦 I have just baked some biscuits for tree decorations though. I’m icing & hanging them (on the tree, not as some sort of punishment – they’re not that bad!) tomorrow, so I’ll add them to the gallery update & put the gingerbread recipe up soon.

I’ve also got a jambalaya recipe and a red beans & rice recipe to go up. I can’t taste much at the moment, but turns out Cajun-Creole food has just enough spice to get through my thick skull 🙂

If I can’t get back online tomorrow…

Happy Holidays xxx

 

 

Project: various…

I’ve been a little A.D.D. this week & ended up with 3, no… 4, half-finished projects

My spare room currently looks as though a decorating store has thrown up in it!

Although, by the time I finish this post, the paint on that mirror may have dried enough to sand & hang it. We’ll see…

Project: Dining Table Part 2

Before…

So… last week I told you about the drop-leaf table I re-homed when I saw it on it’s way to the skip.

I mentioned that I like the ‘country farmhouse style’, with cream/white bases & varnished tops – so that’s where I was headed.

I didn’t want it to look too ‘clean’ though – I didn’t want people to think I’d just gone to Next & bought it. Safe to say, thanks to my epically bad painting skills, there’s no fear of that 😉

Well… a little bit of sanding, and a whole lot of varnish stripper, later and I have a gorgeous new table for my living room…

Song for the week: Jonathan Coulton’s ‘Ikea’

Not what I was expecting to find when I googled Ikea, but brilliant all the same 😀

Project: Dining Room Table

My Gran used to have this drop-leaf table in her house, that I spent a lot of my childhood playing under.

We found one exactly the same in work a few weeks back that was heading for the skip, so I asked for it to be detoured to my place instead – waste not, want not 😉

Now.. it’s solid enough, but the dark varnish is worn & the fold-away chairs that should be stored inside have gone AWOL, so it’s a bit of a fixer-upper.

Anyhow, I’ve tried it out ‘as is’ in my living room, but it just isn’t right, so I’ve decided to strip it back & see what’s under that varnish.

I’ve seen a lot of images of tables with cream/off-white bases & clear-varnished tops which I quite liked, but seemed more country kitchen than French Quarter vintage. I want it to look a little more distressed – just not as traumatized as it did originally!

So… I’ve got the Saints game on & I’ve started with the furniture stripper already – the timer is ticking away in the background & I’m itching to scratch off the old varnish (no pun intended!). The problem is, I’m not sure I have enough solvent to do the whole table tonight

Of course, that is a good excuse to head to the local decorators store tomorrow 🙂

I might see if they have some liming wax or crackle glaze as well. I’m still not sure what direction this refurb is going to take, but I’m heading towards either antiqued paint or lime-wash, or both!

The nice part about up-cycling your furniture? The thought that if you don’t like it, you can start over without a worry. Whenever I buy something new, I hate if it gets damaged, or doesn’t fit in with the room anymore. So much easier fixing things up yourself!

Besides the table, I got a bargainous haul at the charity shops yesterday.

The plates & mug will be nice additions to my mix-match ‘dinner service’, and I can always find somewhere for the handmade fleur de lys – maybe Christmas tree decs?

The frame at the back will become part of a picture wall in the hall or on the stairs, probably painted or distressed somehow – I might event paint it gold, who knows.

As for the record, no…not my musical taste either, but the cover is cute and I like the title. I’ve seen record frames in Ikea, so they’re going on my wish list, along with some fold-away chairs for the dining table.

Oop! Timer just went. Yay!!! Now to see what was under that dark varnish.

I’ll have some photos of the finished deal next week hopefully. I wonder how it’ll turn out x

Let the renovations begin!

        I mentioned in a post last week that I am trying to bring a little bit of NOLA into my life back in the UK. This isn’t so difficult with the food & the music, but injecting my little rented house with a little New Orleans style is proving…challenging?

I love looking at images of New Orleans interiors online – unsurprisingly, I don’t fancy using the volunteer house I lived in out there as the template for my interior decor, although that does seem to be the direction my home is taking at the moment!

I’m definitely more drawn to the eclectic, distressed, reclaimed look (see images above which link through to a brilliant article), rather than the French-polished perfection that you see in some of the sites. This is a good thing, as my budget at the moment allows for charity shop finds, reclamation sales & hand-me-downs! Not that I’m complaining – if it wasn’t for these sources, my furniture would be limited to the odd bookcase and (thankfully) a bed. But I think it’s time to put a little more thought into my home, it’s looking a little studenty and that’s not good for a 30 year-old!

The problem is … I’m slightly limited due to renting my home – I doubt the landlord will take kindly to me ripping plaster off the walls, despite how much better the hall would look with bare brickwork! This means basically using furniture, pictures etc to make me feel like I’m waking up in the Crescent City everyday.

So… the plan is:

Bedrooms – old-world, vintage glamour. Muted golds, distressed furniture & lux fabrics.

Living room, hallway & stairs – eclectic, warm, colourful New Orleans. Tonnes of frames & mirrors on the walls, and any ornament I like the look of!

Kitchen & office – Industrial vintage. Chunky wood, metal signs and anything with rivets.

Bathrooms – tropical. White walls, wood & stone with bright pictures & lots of plants.

Wow! I’ve just realised that my house sounds huge! It’s not – it’s like a cross between the TARDIS & a dolls house. Cute little cottage on the outside – lots of little rooms on the inside. Not very NOLA.

Do we think I can turn this around? Yep, I’m not so sure either, but I’m gonna give it a shot. At least it gives me an excuse to shop 🙂

Wish me luck x