Bobbin hooks

While thinking of ways to make the most of our space for our hallway transformation, I came across a selection of old wooden bobbins - some of my Mum's and some of Jim's Granny's - that I had put on top of the front door frame. As they weren't serving any specific purpose, and I needed to clear them out the way of any potential painting to be done, I took them down and put them on top of a tallboy in our living room, where they happened to sit right next to a long length of wood (that also had no current purpose) and suddenly I had a light-bulb moment...

I lightly sanded then painted the wood with some white primer, and followed with two coats of the same mocha paint that I had chosen for the stripes in the hallway.

Then I spaced the bobbins evenly apart along the wood and drilled long enough screws into the bobbin holes so that they reached the wood on the other side (but didn't poke out of the back of the plank).

Again using the trusty drill and rawl plugs I attached the hooks horizontally to the wall:

See Hallway transformation Part II to see the hooks in action!

Hallway transformation Part I

So the hallway in our flat has looked fairly bare and bland for a good year now... It really is a completely functional space used solely for traveling between the bedroom and bathroom, and the kitchen-living area, and nothing beyond that.

I thought it was about time to try and spruce it up to look a bit more attractive, and also see if there was a way to make the narrow space a bit more useful. However, at about 4m long by 1.5m wide with 5 doors (including one for a handy giant cupboard) coming off it, and a small radiator on one wall, it was limited in terms of being a canvas for creativity...

I found the below plant stand/table at a junk shop in Crystal Palace for £20. It was in a bit of a rickety condition and needed much TLC. Rather than sanding it down, enforcing the loose legs with nails and screws and repainting or waxing it, I decided to go completely the other way and literally take it apart...

 

 

In the meantime I had started measuring out and penciling in the lines of wide stripes on the inside of the external wall in the hallway. I found a selection of paint left in the handy giant cupboard by the previous owners, which I thought I'd make good, thrifty use of. I masking-taped the borders of where I wanted to paint, and cracked open a tin of Dulux "Mocha":

Halfway through (having temporarily run out of masking tape), I assembled the halved plant table and played around with different positions for it to work best in. The mirror below was already up in the hall, and with some Annie Sloane "Old White" chalk paint still left over, I thought that would be the best way to go with the table too.

The stripes are now finished in hallway, and manage to add a bit of depth and excitement already! Part II to follow...

Quick and easy window blind

It doesn't seem an obvious time to make a window blind for the bedroom now that the days are getting shorter and the mornings and evenings darker. However, we have an annoyingly bright streetlamp right outside our bedroom window and very measly thin white curtains, so for a while now I have had one intention and one intention only - to block out the light as much as possible by making an easy window blind.

Before:

Granted, it is daylight coming through the curtains there, but it's not too dissimilar at night!

Having never attempted a blind before I Googled some techniques and came up with the following equipment needed:

• 2 identically sized pieces of contrasting fabric 2-3 inches larger round each side of the window you are fitting the blind to
• needle/sewing machine, thread, pins
• 4 x strips of ribbon the length of the window
• sticky velcro strips slightly longer than the width of the window
• doweling (I used a bamboo stick from my Dad's garden) 

And this is the rough method:

1. Cut your fabric pieces to size (remembering to allow space for seams) and pin the patterned sides together (face to face).

2. Sew along the bottom and down each side of the materials and then turn the fabric the right way out before ironing all the edges flat.

3. Sew along the bottom edge of the blind (about 1-1 1/2 inches from the bottom) for the doweling to slot into later:
 

 4. Pin your 4 bits of ribbon to the front and back of the top (the un-sewn edge) of the blind, about 1/4 of the way in from each side:

5. Then pin your furry (not the scratchy) part of the velcro strip to the front of the blind...

 

...before folding the pinned velcro over and pinning the fold so the velcro strip is now on the back of the top of the blind:

6.  Using a strong needle sew the velcro and ribbons into place:

7. Unpick a few stitches on one end of the inch strip you sewed at the bottom of the blind and gently slide in the doweling:

 

8. Unpeel the protective tape from the scratchy, sticky bit of velcro and stick it to the wall or frame where you want to hang the blind, then simply attach the blind with the furry side of the velcro:

Ta da! It's doing a great job as Jim has struggled to get up for work on two consecutive days in a row due to not being used to it being so dark in the bedroom in the mornings!

Ikea kitchen stool transformation

This basic stool from Ikea has clearly seen better days, so I thought it was time for a little re-vamping. I lightly sanded it before painting with primer:

...and then adding two coats of Farrow and Ball's Ball Green, letting each coat dry in between:

Charlie likes it!

Rustic stamped wooden hangers

I recently found these hangers in a charity shop £1 for 6 so snapped up a dozen immediately!

I've always liked the idea of having a long row of hooks all the way across one wall with personalised hangers to hang things on, in a hallway or bedroom, as well as straightforward hooks:

 
The hangers were all in excellent condition, but to do anything with them I though it would be best to start off by giving them a light sand:

Then out came my trusty inkpad and alphabet stamp set, which I recenty bought from ebay and am now obsessed with:

I played around with some homely words and phrases that would fit nicely on the hanger arms and practised with the stamps (it's fairly fiddly)...

...and then I got stuck in:

I love that they look a bit scruffy and rustic - it gives them a bit more personality somehow! I'll need to varnish them at some stage so they last, and I should also work on the hooks that I plan to hang them on...!

Customised sunglasses

Hello!

It's been a while. I can't believe the amazing summer we've been having in London so far - I hope it lasts!

 

On a summery note, I absolutely love these Tommy Hilfiger retro pastel sunglasses, they epitomise summer for me - such light, fun, care-free colours (similar to a Fab ice lolly) while of course, being super practical!

I have loads of pairs of sunglasses at home - some nice, some fake designer, some free with magazines - so I couldn't really justify buying another pair. Instead I set about transforming a plain black pair with the simple and wonderful thing that is nail varnish.

I created a guide for a straight line by covering up the bits I didn't want to paint with sellotape:

...and the attacked the top half of the glasses with a light icey blue nail varnish:

Once that was dry, I painted the inside of the frame with a contrasting bright coraly orange:

Et voila, as easy as painting your nails!

Chest of Drawer Handles

This has been the sad front of the chest of drawers we rescued from freecycle nearly a couple of years ago, sanded down, and left handle-less after I successfully rusted all the orignal brass drawer pulls...eeek.

I had spotted the idea of using an old belt as handles so scouted some used leather belts on ebay for a couple of pounds each.

I cut them into identical lengthed strips and made holes where I wanted the nuts and bolts to go once the strips were positioned in a bent handle shape on the drawers: 

Using these industrial "machine screws" I attached the leather handles to the drawers through the original handle screw holes and tightened the nights on the inside of the drawers:

Handles at last!