Vintage Treasure! :)

Today has been a great bargain hunting day! I am so excited and happy about my treasure finds that I had to share the 'befores' just as soon as I got home.
Well, what I have found is a great little cabinet, it's perfect for my bedroom with a cupboard on top and three good sized drawers below!
I think what I will do is take the shelf out of the cupboard and then use that as a TV cabinet for my bedroom. When I close the doors it will just look so sweet, and practical!
I have some pics for you all, use some imagination, it just looks brown and old at the minute ;)

And even better, it was manufactured locally in Northern Ireland many moons ago (at least 50!) in Lisburn, which is on the outskirts of my home town Belfast. How great is that! As for the price it was a fabulous £20.

Mum is  helping! You can see it's perfect for a TV hide away cabinet, and the drawer space will be so useful.

A pretty scalloped edge to the cabinet doors is a nice detail.

Curvy feet :)

Homemade!

Bargain Price.

We got a lot of attention from the local shoppers, they were all very curious about my purchase and very positive about my plans for it!

Bargain number two is a bit of a give away because it hints at the colour scheme for my bedroom but not to worry. I was lucky to get a pair of jacquard grey full length  lined curtains, in great nick for the absolute steal price of £7.95 for the pair! Whoop! 

The jacquard is an elegant peacock feather, so I couldn't resist and although I won't be using the full length 

(simply because Nyah my cat likes to sleep in the bottom of pooled, full length curtains and I know this thanks to experience!) there will be plenty of fabric left over to make some tie backs and maybe some other accessories also.

What a result! Really pleased! I hope you have a great weekend, take care folks, S :)

Mini Make-Over

I found this little cabinet, it was about to be binned. I'm thinking that it would make a great accessories chest for all my costume jewellery, bracelets, earrings etc. Its made from laminated white MDF so it's very solid. I think a little revamp will bring it back to tip top condition and I'll have gained a lot more dresser table surface space and a pretty cabinet to boot!

You can see there is some damage to the top

Four drawers will make this very useful for all my bits and pieces.

I will replace the handles with something more glitzy!

So give me some time and I'll be back with some fab 'after' shots.

BTW, I have been getting on with my bedroom too! The coving is now caulked and painted and I put up a smallish but very pretty ceiling rose so expect more pics soon (well soonish!).

In the meantime hope everyone is well and happy :)

S

Painful Progress (and cat updates) on my Perfect Paradise!

Ok, slowly but surely, that's the way I'm doing it. At present the bedroom that is mine remains a bit of a 'no go' zone but things have been difficult.
My mum has had a bit of a hard time just recently. To cheer her up we went shopping for bits and bobs and she had a haircut at her favourite hair salon in Belfast with a yummy lunch at Brights restaurant, nothing fancy but it was tasty grub.
I'm posting some 'during' pictures for you all to take a peek at, as evidence that I have been getting down to the nitty gritty :) even while doing all the other stuff!

As you can see the RED IS DEAD, this at least means it's a little easier on the eye and I have almost finished putting up coving! Small steps towards the main goal but when all the ground work is done the end result will be (hopefully!) a beautiful room to sleep and relax in :).

Other news is that Nyah my cat has been out killing the local wildlife. I had bought a collar with a bell to try and save some of the critters from his bad ways. Unfortunately this has not worked as well as hoped. The number of birds and mice he brings home in a bloody mess HAS diminished. However he still manages to bring home around 2 kills a week. Is it because he loves me?

So, here is a pic of a SURVIVOR! Yup, the little froggie below played dead and eventually hopped past me into the kitchen where I scooped him up and rescued his little butt into a neighbours garden hedge! Hurray! What a cutie <3

And the culprit, well he is still busy getting in the way and disrupting the general public and me and mum too!

Even laundry is an act he has to get in on!

So, 'Bye' for the minute, have a fun week,

S :)

Some random household moments

My new doormat, to help keep my freshly cleaned carpet in a decent state and hopefully inspire visitors generosity ;)

My Irish Soda Bread, made to go with soup I forgot to take a picture of.

Home Gym, now that I am a full time carer I needed to quit my gym membership and get busy at home 

now the rain is back I like to bring as many flowers inside from the garden to enjoy :)

A little beaut! Bargain price and it folds up too, Home Gym.

And so we move on to the REAL problem area.

Ok so this looks bad, it is bad, it will only get better by being focused and motivated!

Step One.
I have a carpet cleaner, cleaning solution and about 2 weeks to clean high traffic areas like the hallway and stairs and also my bedroom and lounge.
Step Two.
Finish stripping wallpaper in hellish bedroom (see below).
The worst of it is that I have to paint the back wall to get rid of the red :( then remove all the junk, computer Nyahs' massive scratch post and those huge, heavy wooden blinds. Hefty heavy work.
Feel sorry for me :(

Yuk right? Well I did warn everyone it wasn't going to be an easy thing to see. Depressing, beige black dull awfulness.
BUT, stay posted it can only get better ;)

S

The 'Tah Dah!' Moment :)

It's finished, finally! One month on from the heat wave and I have one completed room.
Its completely neutralised, but given a bit more girlie glamour with gold, bronze, brown, black and butterfly accessories.
I'm very happy with it and I am sorely tempted to sleep in this room myself (except for one thing, I have very special plans for my own bedroom. Oh I can't wait! There will be plenty of refurb pics of vintage furniture and more!) , however Mum has the priority on this room with Nyah and his 'fit for a king' cat basket taking up the rest. Enjoy the pictures!

Sari fabric from my fabric collection dressed the bed and made a focal point of the bed.

I made this with left over sari fabric from the canopy

I reused my existing main bedroom furniture in this room, I have plans for vintage pieces in my own room.

This is an abstract I painted a few years ago, I love to paint when I get the time

I used more sari fabric scraps to dress the bed frame and some pearl beads with glass beads from an amber necklace I no longer wore to create some interest.

Another amber choker necklace dressed this little butterfly lamp.

Matching butterfly shade for the ceiling light.

BBQ :)

my garden folks, a place i completely love  to hang out in. expect  plenty of outdoor projects in the future :)

So here is my excuse...LOOK at this weather! First hint of rain I swear I'm back to striping walls, til then enjoy!

Before We Start

Giant Nyah, tiny mummy

Burgers stuffed with Mozzerella and Chili Ketchup

Green Salad with Almonds

Jamie Oliver - Lamb Kebabs

Dishwashing Inhibitor

During

Pear Tart with Whipped Cream and Salted Caramel