Heart Wall

Since my spring clean in January, I've been wanting to start this heart wall around the new mirror in our bedroom.

As one of my April goals, I finally got around to it. We had these three around and they don't match but I love them on this wall and look forward to adding to it.

DIY no.1 done!

Isabella's Room

 For a while I've been wanting to do something to brighten up Isabella's room a bit.

There's not much space since she has a wooden sloped roof and a built in wardrobe.

 Also, I didn't want to go overboard with the budget. Last year, we furnished her room with IKEA children's furniture and I decided to use the colour from that.

I got one litre of pink paint and highlighted the flowers on the sliding doors of her wardrobe. They were wallpapered by the previous owners and it was easier to work with it for now.

Here are the finished doors. I'm really pleased with my morning's work.

Mirror

For months, I've been looking for a round mirror with a wooden frame to fill this odd shaped space on the wall in our room.

Finally, on a trip to Ikea with my Mum last month, I spotted this on sale for just thirty euros!

They have a funny system for end of the line products so it cost us in nerves what we saved in money but it was worth it in the end and I'm so pleased with how it looks. It really changes and completes the room.

Reading Corner

My Mum made a teepee for Isabella last summer. She didn't use it much at that point and then I saw this on Instagram somewhere - a mum with a teepee who added fairy lights, cushions and blankets, and made it into a reading corner.

As Isabella's getting more into reading, we decided to try it out and she loves it. She doesn't stay in long by herself but we've had a couple of cosy mornings and evenings reading or chatting in there.

Make It Monday - Fabric Noticeboard

Looking for something a bit different lately, I came across this tutorial. We invested in a staple gun and I stocked up on ribbon but everything else we had from other projects.

I've always wanted one of these noticeboards but I didn't know how easy they were to make.

This one is going to be a kind of inspiration board for our craft room and I can imagine making one for Isabella when she's a bit older.

Spices

On the topic of home improvement, Nico built his long planned spice rack in the kitchen. It looks brilliant, is more easily accessible and frees up essential cupboard space. It's fantastic!

Getting things on the walls!

After eight months in our new house, we finally got things on our walls in August.

I can't tell you what a difference it makes. It's just so much more homely.

 We changed those large frames with prints from our time together. Above is a landscape from our first family holiday to the Harz. That's hanging in our living room.

 In our dining area is this landscape from our honeymoon in Scotland.

 We framed this portrait of Pete for our hallway.

 Opposite is our world map. I love the way the gold foil ties in to the frame of Pete's portrait.

 I changed out the multi-frames and we hung them on the stairs (see below) and landing.

 For a long time I wanted to get something like this to complete Isabella's room. I showed Nico, we picked out this Dr Seuss quote and he used his programming skills to make this. I love it.

The stairs were completed with this family portrait on canvas. It was taken at Isabella's christening.

Make It Monday - Dream Catcher

Looking for a new project a few weeks ago, I came across this. I thought it made a nice change from knitting and sewing and would brighten up Isabella's room.

The longest part was actually finding the materials. I had a bit of ribbon but ordered some nice colourful ones from my usual online supplier. The ring I had lying around from a previous project. I've never used beads before but I bought those from Idee when we were in Bremen last week.

The ribbon was the hardest bit as I didn't want to staple them and wasn't patient enough to wait for glue to dry. I tied them at the bottom of the ring, weaved them around the ring and each other and tied them back off at the bottom.

I left the ribbon long for the beads but they were too thick to thread through so I dug out some matching wool and used that. I actually prefer the effect with the mix of ribbon and wool.

Isabella spotted the dream catcher immediately and still points to it a lot. It matches her room really well.

Make it Monday - Abstract Painting

I've had paints laying around unused for ages and one thing I want to get around to is filling our walls. This was inspired by my usual creative guru Elise and I'm really pleased with it!

I started with the yellow and orange to tie it in to Isabella's room and the bunting I made her. Then I mixed in a salmon colour, and finally added the green as a contrast.

I tried to fill in the white but I wanted to leave a little bit to tie in with a white frame later.

Excited to try more painting now!