My Wardrobe Makeover, Sweet Results!

I've been busy again! Still finishing off my bedroom, and if any of you saw the before pics you can see just what a transformation it has been. The time has been well spent finding furniture at rock bottom prices and the look is most definitely vintage inspired! I think it looks classy and expensive and obviously I love it, I hope you like it to!

My latest piece of furniture was the 1930's ladies wardrobe that I posted about last time. I decided not to use chalk paint on this project, though I'll probably try it on another piece at some later stage. After a few coats of white limewax it now has that French shabby chic look that is very on trend. Its a wonderful soft colour and the wax has made the piece smell beautifully fragrant. I bought the wax from an ebay seller for about half the price of the retail shops around town (I even stocked up on an extra pot for future projects!). It took three days to complete after an initial light sand. Well worth it!The finished piece works in well with my neutral grey colour scheme and the vintage styling of the room.

So onto the next project....I'm not sure what I'll be up too next. There is still a kitchen, lounge and a hallway with stairs to get stuck into. I'm still really lusting after a vintage dressing table for my bedroom to complete my storage needs but its hard to find good pieces and they can be quite pricey so I may have to keep that on a back burner and just move onto another room. Whatever I decide I'll keep you updated! Hope you have a wonderful Bank Holiday! I'm not sure what Mum and I will get up to as our funds are low after the birthday last week( which was great fun and the cake WAS delicious after all that and Il Pirata was a lovely dining experience!)

Other than that we may see a few more bicyclist about the city in the next week or so as the Giro d'Italia rolls into town, very exciting and  passing right in front of us!

Bye for now,

S

Easter Weekend, Sunny Skies and a Birthday Surprise!

This weekend is shaping up pretty nice here in Belfast. Sun, at last! and I've managed to tidy up the garden and I've been busy around the house too.

Nyah making an appearance now the hard work has been done! Typical man!

Being bold on my knee

 I was really lucky and picked up a Ladies 1930's wardrobe for £25 from our local mission shop. Such a steal! The plan is to indulge in some very trendy chalk paint and to limewax it. Sort of excited about it, I've heard so much about chalk paint and it is wildly expensive! Needless to say I'm going to make my own and save a small fortune because thanks to Pinterest (again! where would I be without its endless supply of ideas and 'how to's') I have found a recipe for DIY Chalk Paint. Stay posted on that one.

Deco wardrobe ready for a refinish 

This obviously had to be throughly investigated on arrival!

Gorgeous Bakelite art deco handle detail

Investigations afoot!

I think we now have an idea what it is pussycat!

But what really makes this a BIG weekend is the Easter Break and my Mums' 79th birthday. To celebrate we are meeting up with family and a table is booked at Il Pirata, a restaurant on the outskirts of Belfast that has an awesome reputation and has been hotly tipped as the place where the chefs go to eat! Can't wait, it's going to be such a treat! 

To celebrate I've made Mum a birthday cake. Its the first time I've ever baked but I'm happy with the results! I hope it tastes as good as it looks. It was immense fun to create and I felt like a little girl getting a chance to play with the fondant. I hope you like the pictures! xox

Samantha :)

Red Velvet Cake

Strawberry jam :)

Cream cheese buttercream 

Basic white fondant

Green fondant leaves

Yellow Fondant Roses 

And how it all came together! :)

The cocktail sticks were taken out after I was sure the fondants were securely attached.

Pretty cake for Mum. Happy Birthday Joyce! All my love always xox Samantha

                         

Deluxe Dreams Guaranteed in my Beautiful Bespoke Boutique Boudoir :)

Finally I have my finished upholstered headboard in place and boy does it look glamorous!! I couldn't be happier :).
And so without further ado, let me show you my boutique style bed!
Ta Dah!

It compliments perfectly my re-styled vintage cabinet.

It was a tough project simply because of the delays for materials....and it took up space once it was put together but so very worth it in the end because wow, what an impact!
Price wise it cost less than £40 as the sari fabric was given to me years ago and stashed away for something special. All the wood was cut in store at my local B&Q for free, and believe me I think that was the biggest bonus as it made everything so much quicker. I even managed to mount it on the wall myself (although it would've been much quicker with another pair of hands I was able to prop the headboard on a chair to fix it in place!). I think if you were luckier than I was with supplies you would realistically be able to complete this project in around four days.

I left the headboard flat overnight to let the
adhesive dry

Amazingly they did all stick first time! I left 3 pads off on the sides
 and at the top for my fixings

These are the fixings, only a few quid.

Attached securely to wall and headboard, then glued the remaining three pads in place so no fixings are visible!

And here it is once again, bespoke and beautiful! 

so Sweet Dreams folks, until the next time,
take care,
S

P.s. the chevron cushions on the bed are from Dunelm Mill and the black cushion was a wee steal from Primark for £3!!
:)

The Hard Work that Went into The Assemblage, Tears and Stapled Fingers (the less said the better)

So Barry cut the boards and they were perfect, very professional! And I got them home and got stuck in, I was very excited at the start but there were a lot of squares and of course the issues stated in the previous post. You may be able to tell by this stage of things my initial enthusiasm has faded somewhat, and this is probably another cardinal blogging rule broken by moi, that you should always be 'up' and 'perky' in your blog style so that any unfortunates who happen to see it are happy when they read it rather than depressed. Easy peasy!

The squares 6 mm ply

The wadding before it ran out

The staple gun that hurt my fingers

ONE completed pad

More pads!

I started to stack em up! My fingers were SORE !

The Assemblage......stay posted for the full reveal where I show you the WHOLE THING ON A WALL!!! 

Unbelievable Progress Made on DIY Upholstered Headboard!!!!! I Could Not Be More Amazed......It was taking FOREVER!! featuring Barry from B&Q

Too many foodie posts folks so here's a sneaky peek at the Headboard I am working on for my bedroom. The delays have been ridiculous! I started, had to stop as I ran out of wadding, the haberdashery ran out, 10 day wait for more wadding. A creative pal Jo 'Drapes', who works behind the scenes on costumes and drapery for Game of Thrones on the Northern Irish side of things, I know that will impress you, POSTED me some of her leftover wadding, which I missed and had to arrange redelivery. Two weeks after all this waiting I got started again, then ran out of staples and I had bought 1000, thinking that would be plenty but no. Had to reorder staples on line as B&Q didn't stock them, another 5 day wait :(. (btw check out Jo Loves Midge on Facebook, my smart lady pal makes all sorts of lovely things for sale :)).

Eventually I was restocked and ready to go and as we speak I am waiting on the adhesive drying before I mount the massive thing I have created on the wall behind my bed. I then started doubting my blog....a huge confidence crisis after following an American blogger who lives in LA and has a glam job for one of the studios :(

I cheered up a little when I realised I am actually writing the Anti-Blog of Blogs. I am irregularly posting and this is a cardinal sin in the blogging world and my titles suck too. Basically everything not to do when

 blogging I appear to be doing. Anyway back to the headboard.....

Its huge!

It is small in its components but when assembled it has a BIG impact!

So here are a few wee pics of Barry from B&Q who did all the cutting and a few more of the stages it took to get the thing together.......expect a proper reveal when I get it on to the bedroom wall. Think of this as a teaser post......which is probably the WRONG way to blog it but I'm past caring now!! :)

Massive machine cutting tiny squares  280 mm x 280 mm

Smiling even as I asked his permission to post his pic, otherwise
I would have blurred his face like a Crimewatch person!

St Paddys Foodie Fix Belfast Style - Guinness and Black Treacle Loaf

Guinness and Black Treacle Loaf :)

Well its over for another year but I had to give the blog a touch of the Irish! So a bit late but here we are none the less with a lovely dark loaf from one of my favorite cookery books. We had it as a starter for a meal I planned over St Patricks with Trout Pots and it was delicious. I'm not going to post the recipe, I'll just suggest that you buy the cookbook, I can honestly say I have never had a bad show from any of the recipes I've tried from it and there are many favourites in there. It's easy to follow and very pretty just to browse through when you feel inspired! It's also a very lovely shop to find pretty things in though I'm afraid out of my minute budget range these days :( I can still enjoy the tasty grub though!  http://www.avoca.ie/home/

Scrummy Saturday Spinach, Watercress, Lardons and French Brie Quiche, with Mustard and Fennel Seed....nothing fancy :)

This is ALWAYS a great way to clear out the contents of your fridge before grocery day and the ingredients tend to vary accordingly in my house :). Sometimes it turns into a frittata if there is chorizo and potato leftovers but today I had baby spinach and watercress that had to be used and some french brie that we have been using on toasties. I grabbed some bacon lardons from my freezer and a half a block of ready made pastry (shortcrust on this occassion, but it could be flaky pastry, it just depends what's in there. I also freeze my own leftover pastry in dough form if I've made surplus to requirements!) and pulled together a quickie lunch for me and mum. As usual my quantities were for 6 servings so enough for a snack later tonight and half for the freezer! Nothing goes to waste!

Melt butter in a medium sized pan added 2 chopped cloves
of garlic and 3 small sliced shallots then cook until softened.

Add about a cup of bacon lardons and lightly fry.

Meantime prepare the pastry. Line a medium oven proof dish with the pastry
and blind bake for 20 minutes at 190 degrees. 

Add two handfulls of spinach and two of watercress to your bacon
lardons and shallots, cover the pan with a lid and let them wilt.

 This will only take a couple of minutes!

Take six eggs and whisk lightly until combined.
 Add a tablespoon of mustard, I used French mustard but you can
 use Dijon, Colemans, whatever takes your fancy.
 Add a teaspoon of fennel seeds and season with
 black pepper and a generous pinch of salt.

Once the pastry is ready cover the base with the savoury spinach and lardon mix.
Transfer the dish onto a baking tray as this will make it easier to
 transfer  back to the oven once the liquid ingredients are added.

Now arrange the French Brie on top. This helps prevent the savoury mix and green ingredients from rising to
 the surface and burning

Pour the seasoned egg mixture over the contents of the Quiche.
Now place in a preheated oven at 200 degrees for around 40 minutesuntil thoroughly baked and golden on top
.If you are unsure that the egg mixture has cooked take a metal skewer and poke into the Quiche around the central area. If the skewer is wet your Quichemay need a longer cooking time, adjust the oven temperature accordingly if you feel the colour is turning too dark. If the Quiche IS cooked properly you will feel a spongy resistance when you poke it! 

And there you have it! A luscious lunch :)

 I honestly can say that previous to my addition of mustard and fennel seed I used to sometimes find a Quiche, no matter how delicious the ingredients a little too eggy and a little too bland. The secret to making it so sensationally savoury is the seasoning and absolutely the 'secret' ingredients I added today!
Bye for now,
S