Weekend Projects: Re-upholstered dining chairs

This is something I'd never had a reason to try before, but since we recently moved to an unfurnished house, we decided to take a trip to a local antiques & junk yard to find salvageable pieces to fill the dinning room. We thought it'd be fun to have four mismatched chairs and each decorate our own... and here is mine!

Being the cheapo that I am, I picked this one merely for the fact that we could get a pair for £5. Bargain! Unfortunately, I forgot to take a photo of the original, salvaged chair, so you'll have to use your imagination - dark, chipped varnish with a sludgy green patterned seat, which probably wouldn't have been so awful, had it not been sat outside in the junk yard.

First off I sanded the whole thing down, dusted it off, then painted a base coat. I then spent an awfully long time wandering around the paint isles at B&Q, before picking out this Victorian 'Winchester Green'. 

The fabric I used to re-upholster the seat was found after rummaging around in the cut offs bin at my local fabric store - never under estimate the scraps! Luckily the original seat filling was still in good condition, so after pulling out the old staples and fabric, it was pretty simple to cover with my new material, folding the edges under to keep it tidy before stapling down.

We've also just acquired a pair Arts & Crafts style chairs, which I'm in the process of sanding, so stay tuned for the results of those. Enjoy your crafty weekends!

Weekend Projects: 'a' letter tote

My crafty friend, Alex Carruthers, always makes people the cutest birthday cards. So when I left it a little late to start on hers, I decided to make a belated birthday present instead. She's not one for fussy accessories, and lugging things around, so I went for a simple tote bag.

The letter 'a' is embroidered using crimson and dark plum coloured cotton, and is backed with two layers of fabric and appliqued onto the bag. I also made a little bow with left over fabric from my re-upholstered chair.

October Obsessions

Website
Thought Catalog
So many honestly written articles which make me realise how I'm not alone in my twentysomething worries. Particularly 'How to make friends after you graduate' and 'Why everyone needs to just accept that they're a creeper on the internet'

Exhibition
The Grundy Art Gallery's current exhibition 'Mass Photography: Blackpool through the camera' is so worth a visit if you're in the area. Full of nostalgic images from the early 20th century British seaside to present day stag and hen hotspot, it makes Blackpool feel a lot more interesting.

Tim Brown - Blackpool Tram (1990)

Music
Which leads me to...

Film
Drive.
I loved everything from the silky scorpion jacket to the brutal head crushing and synth pop soundtrack.

Decor Insipration
Apartment Therapy is so full of beautifully decorated rooms and jazzed up furniture. It's pretty much impossible to not find home interiors inspiration.

Fashion
Getting cosy for winter with my new chunky knits courtesy of the Topshop sale. I'm going heavy on the darks and wine red.

Design
I love these movie poster designs by Alien Corset, which I came across in the Richard Goodall Gallery in Manchester.
Nosferatu seems rather fitting.

Tea of the Month
Roobios - OK I only bought it the other day, so it was a late entry to the month, but I feel it was a good purchase.

Happy Halloween!

Determined to make a decent effort this Halloween, I've gone all out on my pumpkin carving, with a full graveyard scene. I will be sad when the time comes to throw this baby out. 

 

As self entitled 'head of decorations' for our Halloween party, I also made a huge family of bats and mice cut from bin liners to invade the house, along with plenty of spiderwebs and creepies for the bookshelves.

I'm now looking forward to cooking up a treat from all the leftover pumpkin insides...Pumpkin and pecan pie?!

Apparently it's National Cupcake Week. I had big plans to bake a batch of Earl Grey & lemon cupcakes, but alas, I no longer have a cake tray/tin thing, so I've had to settle on a measly - but oh so tasty - stash of cornflake cakes. The lack of hassle and longer life actually makes them all the better.

BUT, I thought this is a pretty good excuse to share the perfect cupcake recipe which I discovered after a trip to St. Andrews a few months back, where Hannah took my to Bibi's Bakery. I try to make an effort to sample cakes on every visit to a new place - mearly in the interest of research purposes of course - and have to say, this place currently takes first spot on my list.

Bibi's Vanilla Cupcakes, Butter Cream and Chocolate Orange recipe - pay attention to the tips as well, always handy for future baking sessions!

P.s. The butter cream is insanely good. I could eat it alone. No lie. 

Fear and Loathing

...Marina & the Diamonds.

When I was in early high school, maybe Yr 7, we were asked to write about our ambitions and how we saw our future.

Amongst other things, I wrote about a bakery that I was going to open. I was going to pay my workers £10 an hour. I thought that was pretty reasonable, all things considered. I would smell fresh cake an bread all day every day, and wear a pretty litter bakers hat and pinny.

Been Better

She's quickly becoming a new fave.

Walk Through Walls

...Kyla La Grange.

I always appreciate photos of other peoples homes, seeing all the little nic-nacs they've accumulated, lovingly displayed as part of the décor. It generally fills me with a mix of envy and inspiration, along with a gentle reassurance, knowing that my favourites are a combination of cheap finds and a bit of D.I.Y. that I can copy.

While I don't have the cute country cottage, or rough walled NYC style loft, we've spend the past few months trying to make a modern Ikea furnished flat feel a bit more like a home, with a touch of floral, a few antique finds and hand made bits and bobs.

Lady Daydream

...Twin Sister

I've been having a bit of a play around with various materials lately, taking inspiration from the likes of illustrators Kelly Smith aka Birdy & Me and Caroline Andrieu of Do you like my tight sweater?. Armed with a pencil, copy of Lula and a scanner, I started with the beautiful Eva Mendes, attacking her with a paintbrush and sewing machine.

Scans are a bit naff, but then my scanner is from last century. Literally.

I'm Sleeping in a Submarine

...Arcade Fire

I may be a bit late here, but hey, why break a life long tradition. Submarine may well have stopped showing in cinemas, as it only had a limited release, but if you get chance I'd say give it a watch. I liked it a lot. Particularly the sparklers.

Also - since I've been rather slacking with my blogging, I missed mentioning a lot of other films that I saw around the beginning of the year which were also rather great. So yeah, if you like good stuff (defined by the same as what I like) Alex also recommends;

Blue Valentine - yeah, it's kinda depressing, but it depends who you're empathising with. I watched it with the view that, yeah she [Michelle Williams' character] is right and justified. When I'd finished debating this with Sherree (who thought she was a bitch), I had a realisation that he [Ryan Gosling's character] may have unknowingly slipped into this situation, which can also easily be done. I hope I do not also slip into that accidental comfort. (This will make sense once watched)

The Kings Speech - it was genuinely a good film. Aside from which, I particularly liked the composition of the shots in the speech therapist's room. Yes, this was one of my actual thoughts while watching it - can't shake off those film analysis classes just yet!

127 Hours - I saw two grown men who were sat separately in the theatre turn away as he attacks his arm. I saw this because I was also half watching through my fingers. But that was really the only gorey part, the sunny setting, little stories and funky soundtrack made it much more bright and enjoyable than I was expecting. (I hadn't watched any trailers)

True Grit - MATT DAMON. It's cool, he can carry off the southern accent.

The Fighter - I just like Mark Wahlberg okay? I think he's good. His character was a bit quieter than his usual, which is fine, I particularly liked all the white trash talk from the female family members.

The end. Can you tell I don't read many film reviews?