Real Homes: Finally facing my Waterloo

When I was 19, out of work and still living at home, a friend of my mum's said she'd heard about some summer jobs going at Wimbledon, driving tennis players around during the tournament. 

She knew someone involved with the hiring and suggested to my mum that I apply.






Above: the downstairs loo got painted black

Incredibly, none of us considered that this prestigious job would definitely

Object of the Day: pre-painted radiators

Have you ever tried to paint a radiator? I hate doing it. The one in my hall, which I thought I'd done so carefully, using the right type of brush and the right paint and everything, is a disaster. 

Every time I pass it which, given the position, is all the time its brush strokes, gloopy bits and weird brown lumps shame me. Which is what drew me to these beauties...





Quite apart from being

#cheaphometricks: table pimping for less

Last week I wrote about the new Pretty Pegs table legs that you can buy to transform your ordinary Ikea table into something extraordinary. 

This week, it's still my most read post – and the legs are lovely, clever things. The downside? They aren't cheap. So if you're cash-poor but DIY-enthusiasm-rich, here's some inspiration for taking on the home-made version of that project.







Despite

Hinge sprucing #cheaphometricks

We've just redecorated the bathroom, and you can see from the cracked paint below how badly it was in need – but that's a story for another day. 

Because today I just want to focus on one tiny change we made to the room that cost just a few quid, a bit of effort and – in my opinion – has given our bathroom door a bit of a new, design-y lease of life (plus it's a more positive DIY story than last

Real homes: when DIY goes wrong

It was meant to be a cheap, quick way to give the shower room a spring spruce-up. 

We had a leak in there, and while I was shopping for grout and silicone to fix it, I was dazzled by the grout reviver on sale nearby (everyone else gets excited and over-shops at DIY stores too – right?). A sparkly new bathroom for just a few quid? Yes please. Only things haven't gone quite to plan...





This

Introducing... Durido

Isn't this a nice idea for brightening up a dark wall?

These colourful, graphic designs are the work of Mojca Dolinar and Marko Durini, AKA Durido, a new design company based  Ljubljana, Slovenia.



The pair explain online at their Etsy shop that "a lot of energy and positive vibe" is what goes into their work, and say that they hope it will "contribute to your happiness and joy". Nice!

Please excuse a brief absence because...

...we've got the builders in, and my computer's covered in plaster dust. 









We're having the teeny tiny en-suite bathroom made into a more useable sized room, the downstairs loo fixed up and, on Sunday night, we decided we'd simultaneously reorganise the shelves under the stairs completely...



Agh! Their contents are now filling the kitchen table and – due to today having been spent

A bathroom cupboard makeover for £30

We have a lovely, very tall, cupboard unit in our bathroom that holds all our towels and other bathroom gubbins. 

It was actually two units (a wardrobe and drawers) from Ikea that my handy husband stitched together and, hey presto, perfect height storage...






Alas, a joyous union MDF and steam do not make and so after a few years the doors got blown and warped and generally looked pretty