More & More Cakes .....

I haven't posted any pictures of cakes lately.  To be honest, I did not have an opportunity to make many in 2016 due to my study, but I am pretty happy with what I was able to capture.

Happy learning peeps!

Old Bed Looks New

I inherited my grandparents’ lovely Queen Anne oak double bed frame.  It had sat in my Nan’s shed in Raglan for years without a bed base or mattress.  I asked my husband to create a wooden frame to hold the weight of a mattress and two people and in return Gig produced a slate base using some old wood and building strapping .. thingee, watchacallit.  It was perfect!  

The bed found its place in our spare room at Wiltshire, then it became Aaliyah's bed when we moved to the Ponderosa.  When we renovating Aaliyahs room (AALIYAH'S ROOM REVEALED), the bed went into our shed until we finished renovating the outhouse.

I loved the bedhead the way it was, but decided to rejuvenate it by giving a splash of paint. Colour of choice ASCP Antoinette with white wax.

Before

 

First Coat of Paint

Finished product!

The bed now serves as a daybed in the outhouse and I just love the finished product.  Whenever I see this bed, I reflect on it's history and stories from the past and of the different families it has been apart of.  

As a side note, I need to work on my dressing skills for my photos.  In my head I can hear my cousin Marian reviewing me and I am positive she would have a lot of say about improvement.

Happy loving peeps!

Moana Birthday Cake

I was asked last year to make a cake by a whanau member for their baby.  Unfortunately I was unable to accommodate due to my study, but when the tono came through for this year I was more than happy to oblige.  The brief was a Moana cake with buttercream.

As always, I am keen for a challenge and decided to do something extra special! 

The board was massive measuring 600 mm x 600 mm.  The sea, land and flowers were made with fondant, while the sand and texture of the cake was made with biscuit crumb ... and a whole lot of buttercream.

I was so excited with the project and extremely happy with the final result.

Happy learning peeps!

 

Coffee Filter Craft

I've been asked by a few people about the decorations that we used for my daughters 21st birthday last year; in particular the 21 sign. 
 
To be honest, the final design was nothing like the original brief that the girls wanted.

When I sat down with them to go over their plans, the first option was a feature wall totally covered with fresh white flowers.  Hmmm, unfortunately this did not fit within the budget, so they needed to be more creative in their ideas.

The second option presented was a feature wall totally covered with fresh hydrangeas.  I was pretty impressed with their case, considering the plan was to pick the hydrangeas roadside because they are everywhere on the side of the road were we live.  Unfortunately the birthday was in the middle of winter so hydrangeas via roadside was not an option.

The third option was artificial flowers, store brought ready to glue onto the feature wall.  Turned out, this was a more expensive option than having fresh brought flowers.

The fourth and final option was to create their own artificial flowers.  A much cheaper but more importantly, a more creative option.  Now to find the materials.

When we cleaned out the shed to make room for the party, we found an old sheet of chipboard and a piece of polystyrene which the girls used as the base and cut out the numbers.

With the help of their father, the numbers were secured to the boards, however not fully flush to the board because they wanted fairy lights behind the piece. 

Now for the flowers.  A quick search on pinterest was needed and they found an easy way of making the flowers using large commercial coffee filters, hot glue and existing paint that was watered down.

The instructions said to fold the filters into quarters and cut into shape, but the girls simply played around with them until they got the look they were after using approximately 6 filters per flower, then twisting the bottom of each flower to keep it all together.

The instructions also showed the girls how to dye to flowers prior to forming the shape, however the girls improvised, dabbing watered down paint onto the edges of the flowers.  As the filters absorb easily, there was very little paint needed.

The flowers then needed time to dry, which gave us time to give the chipboard a quick coat of black paint.  

Then it was time to glue them onto the numbers and add the fairy lights.

I have very impressed with the final product, and the effort the girls put in to making a creative, affordable option that went so well with all the other decorations for the party.

 Happy living peeps!

 

The Outhouse Gets A New Floor

In the quest to revive the outhouse and turn it into a relaxing living space, we had to tackle the challenge of the floor.  With my creative hat, the floor was lovely and textured, creating character however realistically it did not fit the brief of the vision at all.  It needed to be levelled because the idea was to add carpet and tiles.

Gig and I toyed with the concept of using levelling compounds that were on the market, but after consulting with a concrete specialist, we settled on a layer of concrete.  A challenge?  Yes!  Out of the question?  Never!

Before

Waiting for the floor to dry

From the front door

Add underlay and carpet!

The colour chosen is a greenish grey colour which was inspired by the wallpaper that I blogged about in RENOVATING HATE.

Happy learning peeps!

Vintage Jelly Moulds To Vintage Lights Shades

I have a few vintage jelly moulds that I have collected over the years, which stems from my wonderful memories growing up with my grandmothers collection of catering equipment.  The idea with the jelly moulds was to make some form of lighting.  Right now I can hear my sister Deanne groaning about hoarding all my collectables :-)

The renovation of the outhouse gave the perfect opportunity to put this plan into action.  I found the right light fittings to compliment the overall vision of the project and with the help of my fabulous husband - Gig, we got to work.  We utilised the smaller moulds for the fittings on the ceiling, and the slightly bigger mould for the shade themselves.  Luckily for me, Gig is an electrician so with a few holes in each mould, he connected everything perfectly and I am absolutely thrilled with the finished product.

I have recieved a few comments about not having matching jelly moulds for both shades, but I don't really have any OCD issues with them.  In fact, non matching shades adds to the character of the outhouse overall.

Happy learning peeps!

Renovating Hate

Over the years of renovating homes, there's definitely one job that I have discovered I hate the most; stripping old wallpaper - particularly when the wallpaper I am stripping is wallpaper over wallpaper over wallpaper over more wallpaper, which is painted.  Eeeek!

Imagine the horror when I announced to my husband that I wanted to wallpaper the back wall of the outhouse, with not just any wallpaper, but with vintage wallpaper.

The wall itself wasn't that big, so I figured that I would only need about 4 rolls of wallpaper.  I hunted high and low for the right design, then found what I was looking for on trademe.  An old interior design business was selling all their stock for a great price.  I ran the design past my husband Gig, and hit BUY NOW!

It is not quite everyone's cup of tea, but I think it looks wonderful.  Although the wallpaperers were not that impressed. 

Starting to go up .. believe it or not, this is over an hours work!

Finished Product .... 4 hours later!

With the painted walls and carpet

  
The photos do not give the wallpaper justice as the colours are beautiful which gave me inspiration for the rest of the decor for the outhouse.

Happy learning peeps!

Gorgeous Cabinet Gets Makeover x 2

Nearly two years ago, I acquired this lovely side table which was made out of a jarrah hardwood.  When I first started out with planning what I was going to do with it, I knew I wanted to paint the inside green.  Which is exactly what I did.  I painted the inside in ASCP Antibes Green and finished it with clear wax.

With the inside complete, I then went on to paint the whole exterior ASCP Graphite with dark wax.  When it was all finished, I was happy initially, but then realised that it didn't give this beautiful piece the makeover it truly deserved.  

I pondered on this for quite a while until I found this beautiful piece of vintage wallpaper that inspired me to redo it all over again.  I kept the top of the piece graphite, but change the exterior to ASCP Olive with the vintage wallpaper on the front of the door.

Before the first make over

Second makeover complete

The piece sits right at the front door entrance and I pretty happy with the final results.

Happy living peeps!