15 lockdown achievements

I read a blog post the other day over at dulltodesirable.com about what she had achieved during isolation. It has inspired me to reflect on our time in #lockdown and what we have achieved. I feel like we are coming out of lockdown now and life is going to get busy again. I want to document our lockdown achievements so we can look back on this and remember what we got up that time when we weren’t allowed to leave the house.

1. Upholstered chairs

This is something I had been meaning to do for a long time. My first ever upholster project. I will blog about this eventually but for now, if you want a quick step by step guide on how I did it check out my Instagram upholstery highlights.

2. Kept a journal

March 21st was the first day of us keeping ourselves to ourselves and staying in the house for the weekend. I decided to journal about this strange time so I ordered myself a positive journal to document our time in lockdown. It was good for me to check in and see how I was feeling and also document my day and feelings. I actually got to the end of the planner and stopped journaling. I wish I had carried on but I’m definitely glad I documented the first 10 weeks of lockdown.

3. Had a virtual hen and would be wedding day

Like lots of other people we had to postpone our wedding this year. I was very lucky and still had a virtual hen and a small would be wedding party. Now the countdown is on again for next year.

4. Completed toolbox upcycle projects

At the beginning of lockdown I finally got round to upcycling two toolboxes that I had been wanting to upcycle for ages. I wrote a blog post of toolbox upcycle ideas which include a quick step by step guide on what I did.

5. Spent time flower arranging

Not getting married this year means I have more time to prep for our wedding. I have had time to practise flower arranging ready for our wedding next year.

6. Started my propagation journey

I'm very much enjoying my propagation journey. I am having the most success with my tradescantia plant and I have also recently grown succulents from succulent leaves. I have just potted them so crossing my fingers that they grow successfully.

7. Made my first set of shelves

Proud to say I cut and sanded these all by myself and I’m so pleased with how they turned out.

8. Cycled to the beach

I am so lucky to live in Pembrokeshire. It’s an absolute dream. I have always loved where I live but lockdown has made me love it more. During the time when we were only allowed to drive if it was essential we dug out the bikes and cycled down to our local beach. It was only a 10 minute cycle. We love going to the beach and spend a lot of time down there but I never knew it was so close to cycle to! I’ve especially enjoyed my morning beach cycles. Riding down the hill to see high tide and an empty beach might just have been the highlight of my lockdown.

9. Baked a banging banana bread

Were you even in lockdown if you didn’t bake a banana bread?! My sister in law to be sent me an awesome banana loaf recipe so we definitely made a few too many of those during lockdown.

10. Discovered observer books

We all had a bit of a sort out during lockdown didn’t we? I discovered observer books online during lockdown and just before I was about to hit 'Buy it now' on eBay I text Mum to see if she had any in the attic. Much to my excitement she had been sorting stuff out and found them a few days before so she knew exactly where they were. This was very exciting. So now my Dads observer books sit on the mantlepiece. They aren’t really books that I would sit down and read but they look good. My Grandma also had some and I did order a few on eBay.

11. Made a new lamp

Using one of the Needcraft lampshade making kits and an old demijohn bottle I made my first ever lamp. Highly recommend this lampshade kit, instructions are so easy to use and they have videos on youtube too.

12. Upcycled my old toybox

This upcycle project still isn’t finished yet gah! I wanted to upcycle my old tooklbox that my great grandad made (I think). I decided to keep it simple and match it to our furniture in our bedroom that we had already upcycled. I still need to put the hinges and handles back on. I'll get it done soon.

13. Worked from home

Working from home was not something I enjoyed at the beginning of lockdown, in fact I really struggled! But now we are very much in the swing of it I like it. I think I could happily WFH a few days a week in the future. It would be nice to have a few days in the office as I have found email communication hard to keep up with at times but generally I am enjoying it. We are lucky to have a home office where I can shut the door at night and forget all about work.

14. Purchased more plants!

This image is too true! I'm actually concerned that I won't be able to maintain these babies when I go back to work properly!!

15. Started our project garden

Finally, our latest lockdown project has been our garden. We wanted to live in the house for a bit before we decided what to do with the garden. We've spent time thinking about what we want to use our garden for and where the sun is at different times of the day. Here is our moodboard of our initial ideas for the garden. Here is also a link to our Garden Inspiration board on Pinterest.

This project is definitely going to be ongoing but I'm so glad we have made a good start :).

I hope this blog encourages you to reflect on your own lockdown time.

Thanks for reading.

Kath

Ladder decor ideas

I have two old ladders in our house, one was found in the attic and another one was given to us by our builder. I have been doing some research on ladder decor so thought I would share some of the ideas that I really like. After doing this research I now need to go and find a few more ladders I think!

Plant hanger

This is absolute goals! I would LOVE to have something like this in our house. I am thinking about doing this in our bedroom as I really want to feel like I am sleeping in a jungle and I think this would add to the jungle vibe :). In love with plant hanger that u/Mporium has put up and the story behind the ladder is lovely too.

Ladder shelf

This is also a great idea and I love this shelf. I really like how it still looks like an old painting ladder that has been well-used. Head over to olive on blonde to find out how to recreate this shelf.

Photo frame ladder

Amanda over at crafts by Amanda has done up her old ladder in a shabby chic way using decoupage. I love the variety on this ladder and all the different bits and bobs she has added to the ladder. Amanda has a step by step guide on her site if you want to do the same.

Towel holder

This is something that I decided to do in our bathroom. I had nowhere to hang the hand towel so draped it on the ladder and also use the ladder to store our bath mat. The little macrame plant hanger is a nice addition too.

Lights on

Definitely going to do this over Christmas this year I think. Love how simple the ladder looks just with the lights on.

Floral display

Lastly this is one that I have wanted to try for ages. I have been thinking about doing something like this for our wedding but also could just have a bath and admire this beauty. I went to the local sunflower field and picked up some wildflowers too and attached them on to the ladder with some string. For a first attempt it's not too bad. Think I'm going to need some more practise though, oh well! I'll just have to go and pick some more flowers :).

Thanks for reading!

Kath

DIY IKEA Tarva Hack

I love a DIY project and this Tarva hack was so easy to achieve I thought I would share it.

The original Tarva unit was untreated solid wood so perfect for an upcycle project and allows everyone to have their own piece of unique furniture. It also wasn't too expensive which is also a bonus. Here the Tarva is on the IKEA website.

So how did we do it? Well, first we obviously built the unit we then decided to paint the unit with a natural wooden stain and Dulux Chic Shadow paint. We wanted to add a bit of colour so decided to paint a few of the drawers with the grey paint. We had different opinions on which drawers to paint so we decided to paint our own units and painted different drawers which I'm glad we did as it adds a bit of variety. That's the luxury of upcycling your furniture, you can just do what you want .

For the handles we bought some wooden dowels from Wickes, cut them to size and painted them with the same wood stain. We measured the distance between the holes that were already there for the handles and just drilled the dowel to the drawer using the holes that were already there.

We also added a hook on the side of the units for us to hang clothes on. I've got to be honest, I regret it because it means I always leave clothes out and it looks untidy.

So there we have it, our IKEA Tarva Hack. I follow #tarvahack on instagram so hopefully if you are looking to do a tarva hack I'll see it :).

Thanks for reading!

Kath