Monthly Archives: November 2011

Box file magic

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Back when i was famous and people asked me to go onto the radio and stuff, i received a lot of love for the covered magazine folders featured in this post ,which were discussed on the salvage sisters ‘Saturday Morning Show’ radio slot. So here i am at it again, covering every white ikea file in sight including these ones used at the front door to organise all the messy pups living in this house (if you live here and are reading this – just saying that to make the task seem more important and necessary.)

Here are some tips i have learned along the way, for those who might be interested in pimping their very own box files. Step one involves cutting out the basic shape from some lightweight fabric, leaving a margin of about 2 inches all around. I like to mix up floral and stripes when doing a set of boxes.

The two key tools for the job are good quality spray mount, and micropore. They are both ideal for fixing material, especially the micropore which comes in handy for finishing touches. It is fairly easy for me to get my hands on, but if you are a non-nhs worker, you could try bribing your local doctor for some. (Note how i have laid paper on the desk whilst using spray mount. i won’t even go into what happened the first time i used the stuff without adequate, ie extensive, covering.)

Fix the material onto the sides, front and back. Cut the overhang at the top into 1 inch intervals, to allow you to wrap it around the curved edge of the box. Then fix the strips to the inner edge with spray mount. Its tricky to not get the sticky substance all over the inside, resulting in magazines becoming permanently attached to the side, but there are worse things in life that could happen.

Then, fold the material at the bottom in the way you might wrap a present, and fix it to the bottom using spray mount, then secure the edges with micropore. Oh, and do the securing edges thing to the material at the top as well otherwise the flux of important things going in and out of your box with eventually unstick the material. Here are some fine pictorial examples….

Voila! Your lovely set of box files all pretty and unique for your hallway. Not a sniff of ikea identi-kit round here any more.

Crate Sate

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Take a ‘sate’ as they say round here.

My guests have been doing just that, some with curiousity, some with glee, some with a frown!

Following my post ‘Pallet Hi’, I was tickled to see this pallet waiting for me round the corner from home where a builder had just finished with it. A nice new one.

Following a serruptitious tug at it and realising it was fimly stuck, I decided to take the legitimate path and ask the owner of the cast off if I could have it. This resulted in a good old chuckle for the two builders who offered to deliver it to my door!

The chuckle became a hearty laugh when my dubious other half informed them what it was for!

Here is the conversion so far.

Im toying with putting Caster wheels on for more height, however at the minute its perfect for just flopping onto and for the resident two year old to headstand onto at speed!

I looked into getting a piece of foam cut to size for the top, but an unsuspecting single mattress was saved from eviction, and was reduced to size by removing a few springs. A much comfier seat pad I’d say. Wish i’d seen your christmas decor idea with bedsprings before then Salvage Sister!

And the pallet wasn’t as new as i thought, bit faded.

Check out my new Penguin books postcard collection on the wall, a little birthday present from the Sis. They make a great colour block. Thanks!

And finally, in case you doubt me.. there’s a market for this! Check out this pallet table for sale here.

 

 

Idea-mania

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I’m not sure if its a good thing or not that i have recently been introduced to Pinterest, given the amount of time i have been spending on it. ‘A virtual pinboard’, it says. Time warp, i say. Its packed with ideas in all sorts of categories, and i find myself going down various internet rabbit holes via the DIY, home decor and photography sections. Because its just pictures, its easy to spend ages just browsing through and gathering ideas as you go. Here are a few of my highlights (with a significant storage theme).

1. Old window made into chalkboard2. Electrical cable reel becomes book shelf and handy wheely table

3. Chicken wire on frames for notice board

4. Cute tins turned into fridge magnets for storage

5. Suitcases as drawers – love!!

6. Old bed frames re-purposed for Christmas decoration

7. Flexible picture display

8. We did this in our back garden following the eucalyptus tree coming down. not sure it look sthis good though…

9. Funky little alphabet magnets.

Magpie Moments 3: Tea Tins

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Back to my little series on collections…and remaining in the tea theme, allow me to showcase my tea tins. Here they are stacked haphazardly in the cupboard. Shame to hide them away but one can only have so many things on display. As you can see one has to practical sometimes, and thus i have labelled them on the outside, though not aesthetically pleasing, pretty necessary in a busy tea-fuelled household.

Lets have some close ups. The easiest ones to find are the chinese style black and red tins, some older than others. Others have all manner of scenes and styles, check out the gold and turquoise number in the background! Very kitsch.

I recently came across these Jacksons of Piccadilly vintage tins. Definitely too pretty to actually use. I am currently bidding on a nice red version on ebay – wonder how many others there are out there to find?!

Desk Love

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I have been considering a new desk for a while, or rather another one given that until now malcolm and i have always shared one. Our first desk we found abandoned on Dalkeith road, a traditional oak school desk which was one of my first restoration projects, sanded completely by hand.

I fancied a wee corner in our bedroom for computer moments or journalling. My friends at Retropolis came good once again with this lovely painted victorian pine leaf table. One leaf is missing which is in a way ideal as we don’t have a lot of floor space, so the single leaf option means it can function as an occasional desk which is tucked away when not needed. In true lucy fashion, of course i couldn’t come away without some additional purchasing. More on that later…

I started with a test spot to see what condition the wood was in underneath. (i’m sure test areas are supposed to be concealed but in my creative haste i only think of these kind of things afterwards). My plan was to do the top only, as i find stripping turned legs too difficult, plus i was quite taken by the retro red/pink paint.

I then did 3 rounds of Nitromors on the top, taking off the red paint and 2 layers of sticky varnish.Time for the fun bit! Sanding down to the bare wood. This doesn’t take too long – maybe an hour. But essential to have an electric sander – i’ve tried the traditional method (by hand) but it takes days.The next stage involves one of my favourite household friends – a bit of good old bleach. The table looked like it hadn’t seen a cloth since the original paintwork was done, and needed some decent elbow grease to get the grime off. Most things in the house undergo an initiation rite of being bleached to within an inch of their life, so the latest recruit was no exception. The wood looks pretty ravished by this stage and definitely is in need of some love – enter beeswax and linseed balsam. The wood retains an unfinished look but takes on a healthy glow with this stuff, plus you get to enjoy the aromas whilst typing up your subsequent blog post.And here is the finished product in situ, happily relishing its new home by the window. (Sneak peek at my wonderful crochet blanket collection in the right hand corner – clearly a desk is no place to store blankets but they complement each other too well for me to care about the practicalities.)And you can see also in the picture a beautiful Ercol-style vintage chair, purchased as a set of 4 from the same place as the table. Makes the perfect friend for my pretty desk….