How to transform your old drawers.

I have been wanting to do this for a good while and I finally found the time last Saturday evening. This was one of my favourite diy projects to date. I didn't spend a single penny and it took all of 45 minutes! 

If you want to give it a go here is how I did it.

These are the two drawers I used, they were hanging around the shed for yonks. 

I sanded them down and stained them. I always use Colron wood dye, it soaks in really fast and is easy to apply with an old cloth.

        

                                         
            Wear gloves when using the die! I know this but I never learn, freshly painted nails n'all :)

I picked a nice bright paint from my selection that would pop with the dark brown. And painted just the rim of the drawers. Drilled two holes into what would have been the front of the drawer and found some rope to tie through as a handle. I really wanted a natural brown rope but I also wanted to get it done there and then knowing if I left it it would never get done. I found some orange rope and actually I think it looks pretty cool with the turquoise paint :)

Ta dah!! The finished result. I love them, alot :)

I got these amazing graphic animal prints from Stencilize I am a big fan of her work.

I have these hanging over my bed so I made sure they where pretty secure for obvious reasons. However I was still clocked in the face by the giant light bulb the next morning, I will be sticking that down :)

I am so happy with how they turned out. There is potential in everything!

If you decide you are going to try this out for yourself I would love to see your finished products. You can share them with me here Style 25.

Dee x

How to personalise your furniture.

I spent the whole day Sunday at the most amazing DIY workshop OhMeOhMyDIY. I was privilaged to have been asked to be a mentor on upcycling. I had to get my thinking hat on though as I don't hand paint furniture, I spray paint it and I didn't want to knock everyone out with the fumes. So for one of my examples I decided to create a stencil on a small table so I would only have to spray a small section. 

A regular stencil won't do when using spray paint as the pressure will cause the paint to spread underneath. So this is how I did it... 

 Firstly I sanded and stained the piece. I found an image on google that I liked and printed it out on A4 paper. Then I covered the area I wanted to stencil in masking tape, stuck the print out down on top & used that as my guide. Using a scalpel I cut out the lettering. You don't have to put much pressure on the scalpel it will easily slice through the paper & masking tape together.

This is the most time consuming part but totally worth it! Just make sure you choose something that isn't too intricate. 

Once it is all cut out remove the remaining printed paper. At this point you can see how it is going to look & tidy up any little bits.

 Cover the rest of the piece well so it doesn't get any spray paint on it. I also took the legs off to save me wrapping them up.

I decided to spray the edge of the table as well to tie the whole thing together. 

Now you are ready to get spraying :) For small projects like this I just use a can of spray paint which you can get in Vibes & Scribes for €5.50.

 Once dry peel off all of the masking tape, buff with wet&dry paper & add a few coats of lacquer.

And here you go, the finished result! A simple, virtually mess free way to personalise a piece of furniture.

If any of you decide to give it a go I would love to see your finished products. Share them with me here: Style 25.

Happy painting!

Dee x

Little projects.

I haven't really been as good as I hoped with this blog. I have been pretty busy lately, lots of stock delivered to the warehouse the past few weeks which means late nights loading up the van and getting everything out in the shop. To top it off the storage unit I was borrowing for the past year was let so I had to clear all the furniture I'v collected over the past year and fast! A spring clean was well needed though and my guns got a good work out :)

Things have settled down a little bit now so I had a chance to do a few little bits around the house. This is one of my little projects and it only took 5 minutes!

I have a good few of these candle jars left over from display candles in the shop and I couldn't bring myself to throw them out. So I used them for some pretty cactus.
I don't know how I manage to make such a mess, even with small simple projects. This pic doesn't do it justice there was soil everywhere including my mouth! :)

I had some stones and pebbles hanging around so I added them at the bottom since there is no hole at the end of the jars these act as drainage. Cactus obviously don't need much water but you would definitely need to use something as drainage if you where to use a house plant.

A cute addition to my bathroom and they only cost me €3.99each. 

Dee x

The perfect day off

After the move I decided to be good to myself and give myself a day off over the bank holiday weekend. Days off are a rarity for me. If I decided to take a day for myself while living in the city I would still end up working as I could never relax knowing there was work to be done but the change in environment has helped me chill out and prioritise things. I love what I do but balance between work and play is vital. I realise that more so now after spending St Patricks day pottering around the house and getting to know my new neighbours.

After breakfast I decided to tackle the outside bench. This bench was screaming HELP! from the moment I saw it and it stayed with me, so I knew this was going to be one of my first projects. Now some of you would argue that this is work since I paint furniture for a living but it is very different when you are doing it for yourself or find the time to do it for yourself even. Plus I love painting so I was happy out :)

This was it before. I have actually cleaned it a bit in this image, it had moss growing all over it and bird poo! :( It was pretty far gone and the wood was damp and raw so I didnt even bother sanding it I just cleaned it up with a scrapper. I had a look at my arsenal of paints and found 2 oil based colours, pink & turquoise. I decided turquoise to prevent George(my house mate) getting a heart attack! :) I only use water based paint when upcycling furniture but out doors it needs to be oil based. The paint I used was satinwood with a built in undercoat. The timber was so raw an undercoat wouldn't have needed to be used anyway, once the paint went on it soaked it right up.

                   TAH-DAH! Doesn't that make some difference and only took an hour start to finish.
I had a few curious neighbours pop by to see what I was up to, one of our resident peacocks and a flock of guinea foul :)

Its just amazing to have this on my doorstep :)

Once the bench was finished I decided to make some brownies. I love baking but it has gone on the back burner since I opened the shop so today I treated myself.

We still don't have phone reception, tv or broadband so I lit the fire, put on a record and settled down with a book in my paint covered tracksuit pants. Not having any contact with the outside world is kind of refreshing, it definitely gets you up off your arse and doing things you would usually put to the side. 

 All in all a pretty perfect day!

Here's to many more.

Dee x

New Home x

Yesterday was a long but exciting day. We packed up the van (took 3trips for my stuff alone) and set off to our new home in the country and I couldn't have asked for a better day to move.

Thursday night: Collecting the keys & signing contracts before a celebratory drink in paper cups (coz we're classy like that) followed by some James Taylor on the record player and a visit from our new neighbour asking us to turn it down...oops!
She popped in the next day with wine and a beautiful bouquet of tulips, she will be invited to the next party :)

Our gorgeous country kitchen, completely hand made by a local carpenter with Belfast sink and slate floor. Over on the back wall there is an original stove from 1726! After a bit of unpacking yesterday and an over load of fresh flowers this room has probably become my favourite. I will share what we have done to the place soon, once the packing chaos has calmed.

Our first night staying in the house consisted of more wine and records being played in front of an open fire. Pizza for dinner, as we don't yet have anything to cook with. Plenty of good conversation and diy as we don't have broadband, tv or reception....yet :)

Went to bed last night to the sound of the river, woke up to a chorus of birds,and this view!

I have to admit I was a bit apprehensive moving from the city but I think I will love it here. How could you not love waking up to that view?
I have the house to myself tonight so my mum and aunt are popping over with take away and inevitably more wine (I don't usually drink this much). So there will be a cleaning frenzy once I get home from work today :)

Looking forward to sharing some before and after pic's with ye.

                  Have a wonderful bank holiday weekend & Happy St Patricks Day!
                                                               Dee x

Coming soon!!

I have finally hopped on the blog train! :)
Since Style 25 will be open a year in April and I am moving house this week, from the city to the country. I figured now is a good time to start blogging. God knows I don't have enough going on at the moment :p

I am not really counting this as my first post, my first post will be over the weekend(during the chaos of moving). I am moving with two of my current house mates into a beautiful country house built in 1726! And it is on a nature sanctuary! I know!

We are renting the house and since I own a interiors shop and am obsessed with looking at other peoples houses I have decided to dedicate a large amount of this blog to my new abode. It will be full of before and after pics so you can see what I(we) have done with the place(but mostly I) :D It will also show you how to make a rented home feel like your own. This is something I know people find hard to achieve there is always that one room or corner that bugs you.

There will also be design tips, diy, gardening and the odd bit about my life, in other words my business.

Here is a pic of my new home,a screenshot in my phone so the quality isn't great.

Very exciting times ahead and I am really looking forward to sharing them with ye.

Thanks for popping by,
Dee x