home: made [ dipped baskets ]

home: made [ dipped baskets ]

We have come to see quite a lot of paint dipped items for the home over the last year or two. But this trend seems to be staying and where it has been really popular on furniture; chair and stool legs aswell as ceramics and vases, the big look carrying on through Summer into Autumn is dipped baskets.

This simple diy project uses very little extras on top of the basket itself. Pick the size and shape, decide on a paint colour – this could be a bright vibrant shade or classic white, also consider metalic shades – and grab a tray or large bowl to drop the basket into. [ another option is to use dye instead of paint ]

We have some tutorials below for you to follow.

Marthastewart.com
Dreamalittlebigger.com

Papernstitchblog.com

home: made [ terrarium ]

home: made [ terrarium ]

One of the most popular accessories for the home over the last six months has to be the terrarium. Bringing some plantlife in to the home in the form of a mini greenhouse. Terrariums come in all shapes and sizes with the basic idea that the plants / cacti sit in a glass bowl or vessel, with the most popular recently being geometric shaped [ look at Oliver Bonas ].

Instead of buying one already done, why not give it a go yourself and plant up your very handmade terrarium. Simply get hold of the glass vessel, this can be anything from a small round bowl to a larger hanging version, a selection of plants, stones, and soil. You can buy kits that give you everything you need if you want to make things easier [ Geo-Fleur have a great starter kit ].

Have fun when creating your terranium, use coloured stones or sand or perhaps add in some fun animal ornaments.

Below are some tutorials to get you started.

apartmenttherapy.com

Ikea.com

diyready.com

home: made [ concrete ]

home: made [ concrete ]

A material that has mixed views within the home is concrete. Some see it as ugly and lifeless, others see it as an interesting, even beautiful material with many uses.
We are much more the later so today we look at gorgeous accesories you can create in the home using concrete. There are loads of great tutorials and guides online showing how easy it is to make a concrete moulds for all types of projects.
A simple place to start is making tealight votives or a hanging plant stand. You pick the size and shape using plastic pots or old bottles and with a bag of cement mix away you go.
Check out sayyes.com and themerrythought.com.
If you’re feeling a little more adventurous try creating a concrete pendant lamp. Again using the same process with bottles, this time you will need the cable and light bulb attachments, and a little more patience, but you will have a stunning contemporary light after. Alternatively on a smaller scale try a table top lamp base. Head to brit.co and pastill.nu to be inspired.

home: made [ leather strap shelves ]

home: made [ leather strap shelves ]

A popular trend for the home at the moment is leather strap shelving. We all have ornaments, pictures and vases that we like to display, so why not make your shelf as eye catching as what’s on them.
This very simple idea is basically made up of three elements – a wooden board, leather straps and metal tacks. Use a board from an old shelf or maybe you have an off cut from some old diy project. The leather straps you can get hold of from eBay or just use a couple of belts.
We have found a selection of tutorials to follow, showing slightly different takes on the same idea.

Heywandererblog.com
Camillestyles.com
Burkatron.com

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Hannahs House

If you don’t fancy the DIY thing then we have found a great online shop selling handcrafted versions.
Hannahs House specialises in leather wares, selling quality made gorgeous shelves. Head to Hannahs Etsy shop to find out more, or follow her on Instagram for up to date product launches of this brand new talent to the makers market.

home: made [ paint drip vase ]

home: made [ paint drip vase ]

The monochrome trend is still going strong. A great idea this season is to start bringing in small injections of colour through accessories.
This subtle but effective idea of adding paint to a vase looks contemporary and is really easy to do.
You will need to find a plain vase, either white or a glass one you can spray white [ Hm.com & Ikea.com have a good choice starting from £1 ].
Choose some acrylic paint, neon tones are perfect for this season.
There are a couple of ways to create the effects, either dipping the vase and letting the paint run down, or splattering the paint and building it up.
We have found some tutorials to follow :
Homelife.com
Homedit.com

Another great idea to decorate a white vase is with a marker pen. Check out makeandtell.com

home: made [ wall decor ]

home: made [ wall decor ]

Sometimes choosing a wallpaper or wall covering can be difficult, finding the right design that fits with the room. If you have a small room or wall, you don’t really need to be buying a whole roll either.
Here we show you a couple of ideas of how to bring pattern onto a wall with minimal cost.

Why not try stenciling, using nothing more than some card, scissors and marker pens. Pick a simple design that will work as a repeat pattern, try not to make it too intricate. Abeautifulmess.com have recently done a gold cactus design and we think it looks great. This look works best on a white wall, but go bold with the colours you want to add.

Another idea we have seen, which could look really good in a monochrome room is using washi tape. Instead of creating a stencil use the washi tape to create the design – crosses, stripes or squares perhaps. You can pick up rolls of tape everywhere now, but to keep cost down head to ebay. We found designrulz.com for some brilliant ideas.

The main thing to remember when doing a wall like these is to roughly mark out the first line, with distance between each design starting in the middle of the wall and work out either side. Don’t worry if it’s not perfectly straight, it all ads to the look and charm of doing it yourself.

home: made [ hanging mirror ]

home: made [ hanging mirror ]

Mirrors have always appealed as a functional item yet able to fit into a room decoratively. A big trend at the moment is the hanging mirror, but as popularity grows so does the price.
[ We have a full trend post coming up next month showing some of the best mirrors around ]
Until then we have found some great tutorials to create your very own hanging mirror. To get a modern look pick leather as the hanging element – head to ebay to pick up strips in varying colours or why not try a leather belt.
Very simply you can use an existing round mirror or buy a standard wooden framed mirror. [ We found a couple at argos.co.uk for £50 and next.co.uk for £40 ]
With some additions of a few tools and metal tacks you can create an individual piece for any room.

Check out sugarandcloth.com / diy-decorator.com / theblog.net

home: made [ wallpaper art ]

home: made [ wallpaper art ]

Picture walls are really popular at the moment – collecting various photos, artwork and images together, bringing focus to a wall. A really cheap and easy idea to bring pattern and colour onto a wall is to frame wallpaper.
Either use old wallpaper left overs, possibly from friends / family, or order samples direct from the retailer [ these are usually free or at a small cost ].
Maybe there is a strong wallpaper you have used in one room and you want to use what’s left in a different way in another room.

For some great wallpaper choices check out John Lewis and Graham & Brown.

home: made [ storage boxes ]

home: made [ storage boxes ]

One of the most common storage solutions is the faithful cardboard box with lid – perfect for an office or bedroom. Finding the right size and colour isn’t always that straight forward so why not try making your own. You pick the colour and make it the size you want. Using simple techniques of folding paper or card, you can create your desired storage box in no time. We found some tutorials from designsponge.com, instructables.com and homemade-gifts-made-easy.com to follow.

home: made [ peg boards ]

You have probably noticed in recent years, peg boards have been seen more in the home than the tool shed. And this is due to their versatility and quirky style. The simple design and functionality of equally spaced holes in a large panel of wood with accompanying pegs is genius.
Most commonly they are used as notice boards for hanging items and photos, and of course still used for tools and utensils in workshops. But have you thought about what else can be created with peg boards?!

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We have found some great uses including multi functional picture and shelving walls, doors for cabinets and even kitchen splashbacks.
Check out apartmenttherapy.com for a cabinet revamp, craftandcreativity.com show us how to paint a cool cross-stitch image and decor8blog.com has some brilliant ideas to get you thinking.

If your inspired then head to amazon or ebay to pick up a basic peg board. London Graphic Centre also do some fun coloured boards, great to get started with. [ Look around to find a good price as some can be quite expensive ]