My Burlap/Hessian project

I love all the natural projects which are making the rounds at the moment.

I fancied trying one myself and decided on a window pelmet for my little kitchen diner.

A visit to my local fabric store was in order but they didnt have the color I wanted    :( 

Not phased by this I wandered into the fabric dye ailse.

 

 

In the past Ive dyed everything and anything you could think of using Dylon Dyes for the washing machine, but as im in a new country with new appliances I was a little scared.

After deciding against the washing machine ones I went with the Rit Teal color to do in a bucket. :)

 

 

This is how it went

 

I followed all the directions Step by step

 

 

 

 

I added the salt and water....the color looked great and I left it to steep for a little while

 

 

After taking it out and drying it off, I noticed it was a little patchy (note to self....dont leave it in the bucket when you go to collect the kids from school)

 

 

 

 

The pelmet project was now a non starter...what could I use it for now ?????

 

 

This is what I decided on

 

 

 

 

I have enough fabric for maybe a couple more...Ill see how it goes.

The Big Old Brown Dresser/Console

Well ...theres a Habitat for Humanity moved in next to my local post office, it would be rude not to pop in for a look so thats what I did.

I was looking for an old mirror or frame but this one piece caught my eye. I even queried the price as I thought it may have had the wrong sticker on, but no... it was right, so it had to be mine.

I borrowed a tape measure and measured the space in the car.

It fit with inches to spare.

Not thinking how I would get it out of the car once I got home, it was loaded into the trunk by two big burly men.

My thought was that this would be my first piece I would redo and resell.

My lovely neighbors helped me unload it from the car...

its heavy !!!

It had definitely seen better days and looked like a cat had maybe used it as a scratcher. It was also missing a handle from a drawer

( I was hoping it would be hiding in a drawer, but no such luck )

After a little light sanding, I gave it a good priming, I wasnt sure whether it needed it but did it just to be on the safe side.

The hardware all came off and I swithered whether to paint them or clean them up.

After giving the feet a good sanding I used some wood filler to reshape them back to how they were (before the cat got them)

A couple of coats of paint later and its starting to look good.

I decided to spray the handles black, thats when it started looking like it belonged in our house.

Im always a little cautious about distressing but I just went for it, and I love it.

The question now is can I bear to part with it ???

This was my first project ever and the start of my new addiction.

www.facebook.com/ditsydecor

The kids bathroom

We moved in our new home in Florida nearly 4 years ago...but it was very different to what we had before in lots of different ways.

This is where all my new projects are evolving.

This is what the kids bathroom looked like when we moved in

before

before

  

 Our house is full of varnished wood and although its nice Ive been desperate to paint some somewhere.

The kids bathroom was an ideal tester area to practice on.

I also did my first dumpster dive and collected some trim from my friends skip (which im sure she was mortified about haha). The mirror had no frame so after filling holes, sanding and painting it my hubby helped construct a frame for the mirror.

We installed it together.... you can see the technical stuff we used like my daughters purple duck tape to hold it in place while it was drying. 

      

 I think it looks great, much better than before. I gave it a satin coat of poly just for a bit protection and that was it....

All stuff I already had so it never cost a penny....even better

There also was a small matching laminate splashback which I tiled, a messy project but not hard and didnt cost much either.

So here we go, I removed the handles and started to sand the cabinets, I did really like the look of them when the varnish was removed and wondered if painting them was the right decision.

Unfortunately, it was too hot and humid outside to paint so I had to keep them in the bathroom.

Next came the primer, then the paint.

Choosing the color of the paint took 3 attempts, the first was too light and didnt contrast enough with the counter....the second was too dark...yuk

but third time lucky, I was looking for something neutral and decided on a color called Tea Stained from glidden.com

I also gave them a few coats of poly to protect them.

Inside here will be a completely different project altogether haha




Well this is how they turned out, its so bright in their bathroom sometimes its hard to get a good photo.



So this is the before and after....the new tiled splashback, mirror and painted cabinets (and now tidy countertops)

after

before

Hope you like it, we have since redone the countertops and Ive refinished the cabinets again in Annie Sloan Old Ochre and Dark wax, I will post pics soon. 

Look what someone left at the beach last night....

Well the Olympics are over but someone has been very busy from before they even started. Look what was hanging at the beach when my mam went to visit.



Victorian cable cars till in working order

Nice ride down to the beach

The pictures were taken at Old Saltburn, an East coast seaside town and a british National Trust area. No-one knows where the athletes came from they were hanging around attached to the pier for all to see at the weekend.

Cool eh ???

Gold Medalist Mo Farah doing his famous MOBOT dance

So who was it??? nobodys knows

The secret knitting graffitti groups work was definitely the main attraction !!!