Study Nook Complete.

Although I have already celebrated with a giveaway to coincide with one year since handover and my 200th post, this is officially my 200th post! That's an awful lot of babbling on for the past 3 years!

I can finally say another 'section' of a room is finally completed. I'm sure you remember the tired old looking pine desk in the 'planned' study nook in the family room:



Pretty unattractive, huh? After a trip to IKEA for some floating shelves, a Barometer lamp (although that's already sitting proudly in the photo above), a few accessories, a new Ingolf chair to match the bar chairs in the kitchen, a can of Zinsser BIN Primer, some paint and new handles, and we have something a little more pleasing to look at and work on!



Looks a bit different, doesn't it!



I spent roughly $17 on the primer and $21 on new handles. I used the left over paint from the bookshelf make-over previously and it's completely transformed it. Sure beats spending over $500 for a new desk!



I couldn't resist this gorgeous Union Jack paper weight:



Another bargain! Target were selling these apothecary jars for $20. When I bought mine, it happened to be on sale for $14! Inside I have vintage sheet music I rolled into scrolls and tied with cotton twine. I bought the large book of vintage sheet music for $5 at an Antiques shop! Plenty left for many other uses.



Apart from transforming furniture, I've also been working on some more of my frames (butterflies and keys!), and also my vintage look tags. These ones are made from a sheet of French ephemera wrapping paper:





So quick and easy to do, but I won't make too many more until I know they will sell!

I can't believe it's December this week! I'm looking forward to setting up the tree, dressing the banisters and tying up the front doors!!!

Long time, no post.

As the title suggests, it has been a while...quite a while in fact!

I have been incredibly busy with life in general, not helped by being unable to download photos from my (dying) camera and onto my (in need of attention) PC.

I have been reading and occasionally commenting on all my favourite blogs, though. I have been saddened by the news that A-M from The House That A-M Built is going through a terribly difficult time at the moment. I have never met A-M, but have had the pleasure in buying some things from her through her old Armchair Trader site, and reading her blog updates almost on a daily basis for several years. Drop A-M a line and let her know we are all thinking of her if you haven't done so already.

So, what's been happening in my life? There has been Birthdays, a Ballet Concert, deck cleaning and staining, organising and running the school disco, butterfly frame making, furniture painting and 4 arson attacks on our little school in 4 weeks. The first 2 were minimal (bins and fences), the third was in a disused building (but emergency services arrived very quickly and saved it), and the 4th last Saturday was in the same building which has now been totally destroyed (and demolished as of today).

This low act comes on top of the devastating fire which took out about 40% of our school in 2008. Good news is that I believe there are 2 teenagers in custody regarding the recent incidents. May they rot in Hell...

Finally after completing the decking back in April, we were able to clean it and oil it on the only weekend we had free where it didn't pour with rain!





Not too shabby for a completely DIY project! It just needs some furniture and jazzing up a bit to complete it.

A while ago I posted about this book shelf that was also in need of attention!



The bookshelf itself I've had for about 20 years, and the only thing wrong with it was the colour! Pointless buying another, so I cleaned it, sanded it, used Zinsser BIN primer on it (previously stained and varnished so it needed a stain blocker) and transformed it with white satin acrylic (won't go yellow...). Looks a bit better, doesn't it?



With the inclusion of the CD's and my London Underground picture, it looks 100% better.







This area tended to be the dumping ground for school bags, so I bought a rattan trunk to fit nicely in the space. No more messy school bags lying around!





Sitting in the garage already undercoated is my 25 year old pine desk I was using in the study nook:



With any luck I'll have it finished this week to show you!

Last, but not least, I have been busy making things. I've had several butterfly orders to complete, including this one which is now for sale in a shop:





...and I've been dabbling in some vintage inspired tags:





...and some vintage looking keys:



All good fun!!