Making my home

Today I thought I would share with you some of the things I have made for my house.

I live in a little 1950's terraced house. We have lived here for three years now. When we moved in we had a decorative project on our hands as the poor little house had had any architectural personality wiped out of it in the 1980s leaving us with brown yuk doors and a plethora of beige, beige and questionable wallpaper. With a limited budget and a desire to live life creatively we have played with the aesthetics.

I know that some of my 'tasteful' ideas you will find questionable, but that isn't really the point. The point is we are having fun making this our own unique home and if some things don't work it doesn't matter because this is an on going project and everything is subject to change, time and finances permitting.

 The kitchen was beige and brown. We painted the tongue and grove white. Then added colour and more colour. The candelabra was sprayed copper and magnetic butterflies added and you can't quite see the shelf that has my collection of coloured glass.

 The spare room was a very dark red. It's now white with a collection of picture frames. The cushions are covered in my fabric designs, although the butterfly cushion is tapestry and took me what felt like eons to make.

 What to do with my fabric samples? Sew them all into patchwork curtains for the window at the top of the stairs.

 This was fun! We ripped up the old disintegrating fluffy blue carpet. Stripped the old paint off the stairs and painted and stained them. The bookcase was an old wooden ladder that we screwed with brackets to the wall and now has our childhood book collections. Then displayed family photos and a few old lovely children's wooden puzzles.

 The entrance hall was a problem with the ugly double glazed plastic 80's door. Not being able to replace it at the moment we have embraced it's questionable design using sign writers vinyl to enhance the glass design. The curtain is original 60's bark cloth and the bench is an old brown wood 40's chest painted with chalk paint and contains Alfred's dressing up costumes

 Paintings, postcards and illustrated children's books I love.

 Paint chips from the DIY shop makes a playful impact in one of the kids bedrooms.

Little details can make all the difference! The bathroom desperately needs renewing but until then we stained the grout, stained the light pulls and added wooden beads.

I took these pics on a dull old winters day, when the sun shines the house is full of light.

Can you tell? I like colour!