Incorporating antiques is great way to add personality to your home. However, most of us haven’t inherited family heirlooms so, if you want to buy a special vintage piece for your home, here are some tips for going antique shopping on a budget…
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With Black Friday approaching at the end of this week, and many sales already in progress, it can be tempting to succumb to those deals. You might end up spending more than you intended to (and just before Christmas too) when a deal sounds too good to miss but Black Friday isn’t the only way you can get a bargain on furniture…
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If you’ve never bought from an auction house before it’s a fun, action-packed second-hand shopping experience that could save you ££s so here’s how to start buying at auctions without – & here’s the best bit – leaving the comfort of your own home…!
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Timeless decor items will be different for every person, but once you find them it can give a sense of comfort and permanence to your house. Plus, I’m a firm believer in ‘buy well, buy once’ so it’s a good idea not to follow interiors trends with your bigger investment pieces, such as the sofa, storage, tables etc. You can, of course change up your style over the years using soft furnishings and paint colours, but having those classic pieces as the basis for your future designs will save you money throughout your lifetime. Here’s how to figure out your style before you invest…
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After decades of use and sun exposure in a conservatory many classic Lloyd Loom chairs are faded or damaged. While it’s still possible to buy the originals (I picked these up at a car boot sale) it’s likely that they’ll need a little care and attention to bring them back to life. Here’s some simple tricks to renovate vintage woven chairs and bring a touch of retro design onto your patio this summer…
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If you’re planning a party for New Year’s Eve, why not make it a retro one? Step back in time to the 70s and recreate the cocktail cabinet that all mid-century housewives wished they had. We’ve styled up this G Plan Fresco cabinet with vintage barware and snacks so here’s how you can do the same…
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If you long to create the home office of your dreams but have been shocked by the price of office storage furniture, today’s DIY project could be the solution. Here’s how to upcycle a rusty old filing cabinet so that you can add castors for a flexible office configuration, or turn it into a desk with built-in drawers…
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If you need a cabinet in your bathroom for all your beauty bits ‘n’ bobs here’s an easy DIY cupboard you can make in a day using pallet wood. It’s a great way to recycle an old pallet and mirror, and you can make it any size to suit the space you have in your bathroom…
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Today I’m sharing an expert guest post about antiques and, in particular, the ways that you can help to preserve their value – and what not to clean them with..!
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Ahh isn’t it nice when the sun shines? Don’t you just want to sit out in the garden and watch the world go by? Here are some ideas for making your own bench (using pallets – a big win for upcycling!) and finding lovely garden furniture if you’re on a budget…
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I’ve been DIYing again this month and I’ve come up with a fun upcycling project to turn an old MDF shelving unit into a LEGO play table and toy store…
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Today I’m sharing an easy project to make a DIY wheeled coffee table. My husband made this within an hour, while I was painting another of our DIY furniture projects so I’m sure it’ll be simple enough for any enthusiastic DIYer to make for themselves.
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Since moving into my home and starting to renovate room-by-room, I’ve realise just how expensive furniture can be. I’ve been especially surprised by the cost of chairs and have therefore only had an ancient folding chair (that was my desk chair as a teen) to sit on at my kitchen table since we moved. I […]
Read MoreOur world is changing and it’s more important than ever that we find new and innovative ways to help make it a better, more healthy and restorative place by putting less in our landfills. It only takes a little creative effort to find some amazing ways to recycle the things we already have in our […]
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I’ve made my own Hollywood mirror – well, if you can’t feel like a star in your own home, when can you, eh?! It took a bit of planning to get the right size of fairy light bulbs for the mirror frame, and to the find the correct diameter drill bit to cut out the […]
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Out of all the places in our home, the garden is probably the most easily forgotten area, especially during the colder months. Sure, we might hire a gardener or we might drag ourselves out there in order to get some work done, but it’s easy to forget about the garden and, sooner or later, it’ll […]
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It turns out that moving house is the perfect time to clear out your wardrobe. Digging out those items from the back of the cupboard lets you really see what you need and rediscover things that you’ve not worn in ages. Plus, it’s easier to see why you’ve not worn something and can give it away so that you […]
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Space-saving design is incredibly popular as it helps people get more out of their home. If you save space, then each room has more room to breathe and looks far less cluttered and compact. Not only does this improve a room’s functionality, but it also improves its aesthetic appeal. When space is tight – as […]
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The New Year is a great time to think about freshening up our homes with new indoor furniture, updated colour schemes and a few of the hottest accessories in line with the latest trends. It’s also the time of year that trend forecasters pull out their crystal balls and announce the home décor trends coming […]
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Tomorrow is one of the most exciting dates in any thrifty blogger’s calendar – 24th June is National Upcycling Day. If you have any plans to do up a piece of furniture or have been pinning sewing ideas on Pinterest for months, tomorrow is the day to start that task! I’ve always got a handful of […]
Read MoreRefurbishing your kitchen does not always have to be a costly venture. By picking your finishes wisely and by planning and doing certain things yourself, you can really cut your expenses right down. The beginning of the year is the perfect time to revamp your kitchen, as many DIY stores will still have New Year […]
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Whether you’re working in an office environment or you’ve got your own personal space at home, keeping your work area neat can sometimes be a tricky task. I know I struggle to keep that stack of paperwork under control! Throw in numerous cups of tea and lunch at my desk and things are starting to look […]
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After packing away all the Christmas decorations, this time of year always gets me thinking about having a good old clear out and a bit of a tidy up. I often take a look around my home in January and pick out the things I haven’t used over the past year. With space at a […]
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With the festive season just around the corner I’ve started to tackle some DIY projects to get ready for the big day in advance. After finding a cute little kitchen trolley at Wayfair, I was inspired to create a Christmas cart – a place to store all my festive ingredients for hot drinks and somewhere […]
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In the summer I work in my caravan. I spend hours in that little tin box, writing, sewing and drinking tea. The birds are singing and a cool breeze is blowing through the open windows. I love every minute of it and I can’t wait for the start of ‘caravan season’. In the meantime – […]
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Last week I shared photos of my ‘new’ piece of furniture for the caravan. It was a tiny little desk unit, which I bought from the carboot sale. It had clearly been unloved for years, with peeling wood and scratches and stains all over it. I spent a lot of time sanding it down, cleaning […]
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When I first heard about the Renovation Sensation project my mind went into overdrive – so many ideas went whizzing around my mind and I was super-excited to get started. The challenge was set by Direct Blinds and I knew straightaway that it was right up my street: I love the thrifty nature of a makeover […]
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As you probably already know, I’ve been decorating my bedroom on a budget and have been trying to ‘get the look for less’ over the past few months. I hope that you’ve been inspired by some of the sewing and DIY projects I’ve shared and will be trying out some ideas in your own decorating plans. Not […]
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If you’re looking to create a welcoming, stylish and homely look in your living room, giving your home décor a retro twist is a great place to start. The versatility of the retro look means that you can make your interior design as subtle or as all-out as you want. Plus, as it’s easy to […]
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I am starting my new caravan makeover project with a clear out. If you didn’t see my first blog post about my new caravan please read back over my blog post a couple of days ago on 14th August and you’ll know why I need to begin with an excavation project! It’s a real mess […]
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Guest post by blogger Eva Stephen, author of fantastic interior decor articles for House to Home, DIY by Design and Mad About Pink. In our part of the world winter tends to get too long and depressing. We can’t wait for spring to come, sun to shine and butterflies to start fluttering in our belly. […]
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Happy Saturday! I hope you are having a great weekend, we had some more snow here yesterday so its chilly again – it’s supposed to have been the coldest night of the year here so we wrapped up warm with lots of extra blankets and duvets and were nice and toasty! I thought that today […]
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As many of you know, I have been researching design ideas for my living room and have already started collecting together furniture, art and soft furnishings for my new room. Here’s a reminder of my original mood board: In my research travels I have recently come across Danish architect and designer Finn Juhl – one of […]
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I am pleased to say that I’ve got another freebie for my retro living room design project – an armchair that was on its way from a vintage furniture shop to the dump. It didn’t exactly look like this when my hubby brought it home to me; it had a cream damask patterned cover over it which […]
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As many of you know, I’m collecting together a few pieces of furniture, amazing art and lovely soft furnishings to create a retro-inspired, if a little garish, living room interior design project. If you’ve not yet seen my mood-board here it is again: And how’s this for a pretty similar sideboard to the G-Plan one above? […]
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I desperately wanted a princess chair for my dressing table but the chairs I’ve seen in places like Laura Ashley and Dunelm are way out of my price range – so I very politely asked my husband to help out with the renovation of an old mahogany dining chair. We chose a dusky blue Crown paint […]
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Here’s a little DIY project that my husband and I did over the weekend (well, he did it and I ‘helped’ by saying yes to the fabric choice!). He took the cushion pad out of the stool frame and lightly sanded the legs before painting with a chalky blue wood paint. Then the fabric was […]
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Do you remember this? Think back to your school days – was there one in your art classroom?? Did you have a drawer to yourself for your valuable prints and sketches? I certainly remember trying to squeeze my work into a plan chest like this when I was at school, and again when studying art […]
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I’ve spent a bit of time for myself and have had fun repainting an old wooden mirror, and I am very pleased with the result! I now have a lovely pale pink ‘shabby chic’ style mirror with a pink vinyl Fairy motif. Although I am planning to move soon and should be getting […]
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