Bedside Cabinet - Make do and mend

When we moved into our first flat we knew it required its fair share of renovations and we knew we couldn't afford to furnish it from top to bottom. Luckily some very generous friends and family members donated the majority of our furniture to us, negating the need to sit on a bucket while staring out the windows for entertainment. While we were extremely grateful for this generosity and do love a bit of mix and match interior, this led to quite an eclectic / charity shop look so we decided to get creative with some paint and staple guns to create a more cohesive look. Being very much an enthusiast when it comes to re-upholstering / upcycling / experimenting with furniture, Lorna thought it would be interesting to share with you the challenges she comes up against in the hope that you can learn from them when tackling your own projects.

Next up on the 'Make Do and Mend' agenda are two bedside cabinets that Lorna’s sister and her used when they were wee girls, sharing a room.

As evident from the before photo, these have been much abused / loved over the years and were in need of a bit of TLC. (Lorna has a flashback memory of hiding alcohol in this bedside cabinet at their Millennium New Year's family party.) 

Materials Required:

sandpaper

1 tin of white gloss paint

1 paint brush

1 can of bronze spray paint

masking tape

butter knife (optional)

Step by Step process:

1: Sand down the existing paint for several hours (resort to using a butter knife to get in behind the paint and catapult the paint across the garden as it is much more satisfying.) Disclaimer, not a recommended 'safe' method of removing paint.

2: Paint coat one of white gloss all over the cabinet (make sure to leave the door open so you don't paint the cabinet door shut and have to prise it open with aforementioned butter knife).

3: Paint coat two of white gloss all over the cabinet.

4: Wait until very dry so you don't mess up step 5.

5: Using masking tape, create a geometric design over the door of the cabinet and cover the rest of the cabinet with dust sheets.

6: Spray paint door with bronze spray paint. 

7: While paint is still tacky, remove the masking tape carefully otherwise it will smudge / crack (lesson learnt on previous project).

8: Let cabinet dry.

9: Place in bedroom and show off to anyone who visits (though don't let them look too closely if you were impatient in step 7 and as a result, smudges can be seen to the more eagle eyed / critical viewer).

10: Repeat steps 1 to 9 for the second cabinet (several months later when you have mustered up the strength to sand again for several hours or invest in an electric sander!).

Gallery Wall

Lorna has the habit of picking up prints and pictures from the various places she has visited without any real thought of where she is going to put them. Sound familiar? The idea of having art in the home that reminds her of a special time and place or is customised and makes her smile thinking of a moment is simply too appealing to resist. This method of curation did leave her with a bundle of eclectic prints with no home that sat about in a pile in our spare room for a good few years and was definitely not 'sparking joy', much to Neil's dismay.

Enough was enough, so she decided to put all the prints in black frames to ensure her diverse hoard would pass as a curated collection and have a go at a gallery wall in the living room. Despite completing step 1 and 2, the thought of actually hanging the frames on the wall was a tad overwhelming as she was worried the end result would be terrible if she just started haphazardly hanging the prints with no forethought. However, after mulling it over for a long while and consulting google, she settled on a method which led to a gallery wall that she is pretty pleased with and makes her smile when looking back on that living room.

If the thought of hanging your own gallery wall is also sending you into a panic, have a read through of this pretty fool proof method and hopefully you will be admiring your own gallery wall in no time.

Happy hanging!

METHOD

1:  Gather all the prints you would like to include in your gallery wall. 

2: Put your prints in photo frames.

3: Choose a location for your gallery wall.

4: Using paper, create templates of all your frames and label them.

5: Stick the templates to your wall using bluetac, playing about with the arrangements until you have settled on an overall layout you like. (It is a lot easier to remove a piece of paper than a frame that is nailed to your wall).

6: Once you have a template layout you like on the wall, recreate the layout on the floor using your actual prints. This allows you to see if the overall colours and prints are also working together.

7: If something looks off, have another play about with the layout until you are happy with the overall design.

8: Start hanging. Lorna started with the central column pictures as she had an oval shaped gallery wall on a large blank wall and wanted to ensure the overall gallery wall was centered on the sofa.

9: Keep hanging until you have added all your prints.

10: Enjoy!

TIPS, TRICKS AND LESSONS LEARNED

• If you prefer a theme over the eclectic curation you could choose a colour scheme (shades of blue, pastels, bright colors, primary colours etc.) or a subject (animation, portraits, quotes, drawings, animals etc.)

• You don't need to stick to one frame colour or frame type. Choose coloured frames in different sizes to add interest to basic prints or scour the charity shops for a collection of antique frames for a vintage vibe.

• If you don't want to put holes in your wall or live in a rented flat, use the hanging strips like these. However, just make sure that they are compatible with your frames before purchasing a lot as they were too wide for Lorna’s Ikea frames.

• Lorna used traditional picture hooks as she found this was a tad more forgiving when trying to line up the frames and make sure they were straight.

• You don't need to use all your prints if the layout isn't working for you. There will be another perfect spot in the house for those prints that just aren't clicking with the rest.

• You can add blank frames in to get an overall layout you like and fill them in later once you have found the perfect print to add to the collection.

• You can ignore all these tips and just start hanging for a wilder, more carefree look.

Hall Drawers - Make do and mend

These hall drawers used to reside in the spare room of Lorna’s mum and dad's house and she always loved the ornate design of them therefore she was delighted when they were generously donated to us and fitted perfectly in our hall. Unfortunately Neil didn't share Lorna’s enthusiasm therefore, as a compromise, Lorna agreed to try and modernise them so he would love them just as much. It wasn't long before she was gathering pinterest inspiration to figure out how she could renovate them into something that would act as a focal point when you enter the flat.

Inspiration found the tricky bit would be getting it to look anything like how Lorna imagined in her head...

Materials Required

Sandpaper (level of roughness depends on how much sanding is required)

1 Paint brush

Screwdriver

Furniture Wax

Cloth

1 tin of matte white paint

Drawer handles

Step by Step Process

1: Remove all the drawers from the carcass.

2: Paint first layer of paint onto carcass.

3: Move onto the drawers while waiting for the first coat to dry.

4: Using the screwdriver, remove the existing lovely, but slightly dated handles (keep in case they may be useful in the future as you can't bear to throw out a perfectly good set of thistle inspired handles!)

5: Sand the front of the drawers until all dark varnish is removed and the grain of the wood becomes prominent (Lorna left the edges to create a frame effect around the drawers however feel free to sand the edges too).

6: Wipe off the excess sawdust and apply a couple of coats of furniture wax using a cloth, leaving time in between for the wood to drink it up.

7: Screw in shiny new handles.

8: Waiting to dry between coats,paint another coat of paint onto the carcass (or as many as required to get a flat colour to offset the wooden drawers).

9: Once dry, position carcass in desired space and place drawers back in their position.

10: Add interesting objects to the surface, position dog in front of drawers as he matches the lamp and admire!