Quick Saturday DIY

I couldn't bear to throw out 2 cute little cardboard boxes that were in the goody-bags at Pia's book launch, so today I decided to decorate them using the large letterpress letters I bought in Sydney. I'm still not quite sure what I'll do with the boxes, but I like that it's not a his and hers set. Process below:

Before And After with mixed results

I've had these two baskets sitting around in a cupboard for ages since the wood colours don't really work with the rest of the decor. I finally decided that I would paint them white and use them.

I didn't give it too much thought, just grabbed some left-over wall paint we had from painting our unit. I thought this would be perfect so that the whites match. Well... It seems that the cane on both of these had been dyed with some sort of colour that dissolves when I tried to paint over them. Hence the below result of ghastly pink and yellowy whites:

I was somewhat disheartened with this horrible outcome, but I thought well, I can either chuck them or try to salvage, so I bought some satin white spray paint and had a go with that. Upside: no dissolving of colour. Goes on SO easily. Downsides: Even with a large area cordoned off with cardboard and newspaper I still had to scrub the balcony down with methylated spirits afterwards. And my fingers (after the first can I used gloves - good move!) Also, drippage. And I used 4 or 5 cans on the 2 baskets. So not sure how environmentally friendly this whole exercise was; probably not at all. Alas, here is the small basket at night - for Ton to store his crap in he brings home at night:

I didn't finish the larger one until weeks later, and I now us this to store various little styling items - linen, cutlery etc. It's not perfect, but at least the colour works.

KK xx

Crafting Lite

A few weekends ago we headed down the Gold Coast to see my goddaughter and her siblings, whom we haven't seen in quite a while. We did a little craft project to start the day off - a set of pre-cut wooden blocks to stick together into 3-dimensional objects. My goddaughter and I worked on this jet fighter.

Before & After: change of colours...

I am not really a crafty, DIY-kinda person, but I was inspired by this post about improving some moccasins with block colour.
I bought this pair of shoes on a whim in Sydney after walking in high heels for a couple of hours, so I needed something flat, comfy and soft. The colour doesn't really fit into my wardrobe, and I find them difficult to keep clean, so I decided to give them a make-over.

 

The end result:

 

The process: Lots of cling wrap, and two coats of each colour...

 

 

 

The colours:

Enjoy. KKxx