Wise Words

We have been in our flat for almost three years now and it is finally beginning to take shape. Due to budget constraints progress has been slow and we are always saving for the big DIY projects with not much to spend on the little accessories that make a place feel like home. One of the things that is currently missing is art. Apart from our freebie map and Mr Crafty's treasured framed Empire Strikes Back poster, our walls are very bare and sad. We have our families coming over for Easter and I really want to get a few nice prints up on the wall so I was over the moon when I found Advice to Sink in Slowly, a collection of fantastic prints with a message, a sense of humour and a very reasonable price tag. I will most certainly be snapping a few of these up to bring a bit of life to our white walls:

We'll Meet Again

We spent Saturday night taking a step back in time to the 40s at the Blitz Party. The organisers had done up a venue in the arches under a railway line in East London to look like an air raid shelter complete with sandbags and the night is meant to evoke the spirit of the Blitz with swing music and silent re-runs of black and white war movies projected onto the walls. The evening kicked off with Fitzrovia Radio who recreate 40s radio plays to great comic effect and then progressed to live big band music and swing DJs. All the party goers had made a tremendous effort with guys in uniform and gals in tea dresses with rolled hair. Mr Crafty and I enjoyed getting dolled up in our best utility wear:



(Terrible photo quality I know - my phone's "night mode" was tested by the low level lighting in the "shelter")

All in all it was a spiffing evening and my new resolution is to learn swing dance as I was green with envy watching the seasoned dancers strut their stuff.

Is this love?

I have just spotted these on Rockett St George and I think I may be in love:

Ten tiny toes

A good friend of mine has just had a baby girl and she has decided to give her the same name as me. I wanted to send my namesake a little gift but this is my firend's second child and she has already got all the basics. I decided that something homemade might mean a bit more than yet another babygro and so I had a little look through the craft blogs I follow. I found the Stardust Shoes cloth baby shoe pattern on Homemade by Jill and decided to give it a go. I am really pleased with the results and hope that my little namesake will enjoy wearing them although her feet may have to grow a little bit first:

Street art

I had wanted a giant map to hang on the wall in the dining area of our reception room for ages when I spotted the perfect thing outside someone's house by the rubbish bins round the corner from our flat. It was a bit battered but I was sure it would scrub up a treat. It looked like they were leaving it out as rubbish but I didn't want to just assume that was the case. I was a bit too shy to knock on the door and ask so I walked on by and went back to the flat kicking myself all the way. When I went home I told Mr Crafty and he immediately went round to the house and knocked on the door. What a hero! It turned out that they were more than happy for us to take it away and it is now proudly displayed on our wall:

Apologies for the picture quality - roll on May and camera phone upgrade!

I particularly like the fact that the map is slightly old, pre the fall of the iron curtain. It's like a relic of the political history of the 20th century. When we picked it up it had map pins in - someone had obviously charting their travels and I almost left them in because I felt as though they were an integral part of the map's past but in the end aesthetics won the day and I removed them all. Perhaps Mr Crafty and I should start charting our own travels...

Our fine and dandy telephone table

Remember this?

Well it now looks like this..

Hope you like it as much as I do!

Brighton Rocks

Last weekend Mr Crafty and I popped down to Brighton to pick up yet another eBay project. We happened to catch a day of glorious sunshine and decided to make a day of it with fish & chips for lunch at Bankers followed by a stroll on the beach and an ice cream:

Brighton is wonderful at any time of year but at its best in the sunshine and we had a lovely relaxing day. I find that being by the sea, even for a day, is the best antidote to the stresses and strains of London life. Both of us have been running around like headless chickens recently and any moment at home has been spent DIYing so it was a joy to have a day off to simply spend time with each other and meander.

Sadly it was back to London for us at the end of the day with the new addition to our furniture family four G Plan chairs in need of a fair amount of TLC (picture from eBay):

It would probably be considered sacrilege to paint one of these if they were in their original teak state but personally I think that the shape would look really suit being painted in Farrow and Ball's All White. Seeing as someone has already done the unthinkable before me I don't feel too bad not attempting to strip these back to the wood. I am also hoping to reupholster the back rests and seats in abother Marimekko fabric:

But the projects are stacking up so it will probably be a little while before this one gets completed.

Mmmm Marimekko

I am very excited about the Marimekko fabric I have bought to upholster the seat on the telephone table (see previous posts):

At the risk of being a bit too matching I wanted something that would sit nicely alongside my lovely Union Jack doormat and I think this will look so pretty on the seat once I have finished painting the table white.

I have also bought a ceramic knob for the draw from Glass Doorknobs and Furniture Pulls on eBay which I am really pleased with:

I can't wait to be able to post the finished product!

Progress

Well it has been a tiring but very productive few days. Mr Crafty and I took three days off work to try to get a bit further with our many ongoing DIY projects. He was dealing with the stairs to our second bedroom in the attic conversion which needed painting and I was back on my hands and knees sanding the hall floorboards. After a lot of elbow grease I have got the first coat of floor paint down and the results are below although you can't see much detail on the pic:



I am really pleased. The hall looks airy and bright. I can't wait to get the coat hooks up and doormat down.

I have also got the primer coat on the hall table (see previous post) and it is also looking good so far. I am hoping to re-upholster the seat in some Marimekko fabric and I want to find an intersting knob for the drawer. I will post the results once it is finished and in situ.