DIY

  • First Aid Kit Essentials

    Having a first aid kit in your home or car probably isn’t something you’d classify as an essential, until something happens and you find your without it when you need it. I had one first aid kit in my house; there was one in my car but it needs replenishing. Here’s is one of mine: Fun but practical 🙂 I’ve been a qualified first aider for 3 years now, following…

  • Restoring a vintage wicker shelving unit

    This wicker shelving unit has been in my parents house for as long as I can remember. I’m not sure how old it is, but it was my Gran’s. It used to be in my parents living room, then when I moved out, made its way to my bedroom for storage. I’ve always liked it and was told take it or we’re binning it (!) – so I did. 🙂…

  • Dining room chairs restoration

    Remember the dining room chairs we reupholstered? We finally got around to re varnishing / staining them. 🙂 First we removed the seats from both chairs and sanded them down with a hand sander, we focused on the legs, front, back and sides. The details (e.g. the 3 planks of the chair back) were sanded with sand paper, which very hard and time consuming. It started to rain while we…

  • Reupholstering a vintage ottoman

    Our second project over the Bank Holiday weekend was reupholstering and restoring a vintage ottoman. The ottoman was given to us by my mum and has been in my family for at least 60 years, so approximately the 1940s. We learnt from the reupholstery we’d done on the two dining room chairs and I think we’ve gotten better at it. 🙂 To begin we removed one of the trims that…

  • Wooden storage box restoration

    Artur and I have been busy this weekend with two restoration ‘projects’. Here’s the first: This storage box has been stored in Artur’s previous garage for years, it was damp and cold. As a result, there was water damage! My mum nicknamed the box ‘Rover’. Before picture: First we removed the door and sanded down all the damaged areas. Both on the box itself and the door. Once sanding was…

  • Reupholstering our Dining Room Chairs

    Artur has had two dining room chairs for a number of years, the seat covers desperately needed maintenance and the wood needed a re varnish or staining. We got some quotes for the work on the two chairs (always best to shop around 🙂 )but ultimately decided to do it ourselves. Artur has a project in mind to build his own motorvan from a van and this is a good…