Friday 26 October 2012

My week in Instagram

1. My future bathroom.
The plumber is starting on Tuesday so we won't have to wait too much longer.

2. Gingerbread vampire, his face made me smile.


3. Craft stand in Waterstones, i'll take one of everything please!

4. My morning journey to work. It's starting to look like Winter.

5. Snapple fact.

6. My Auntie's wedding at the weekend was simple but lovely.
7. A new craft project

Thursday 25 October 2012

Our house

I mentioned our staircase in a previous post and thought I would share some photographs. The house once belonged to my Nan, Ida, and I believe she last decorated it in the 1970s. Since then, not much work has been done to it at all. Here is what the stairs and hallway look like at the moment...


I know that retro wallpaper is back in, but I can't help but feel like this is a step too far. Here is a close up...



The curtains are also an interesting green and brown pattern, and you can just about make out the dark green carpet.
Despite the negatives, I have high hopes for this space. I love the chunky bannister and the dado rail. Behind those curtains is a beautiful original sash window and we revealed some original quarry tiles beneath the carpet downstairs. Once we strip the walls and get them replastered, I think a lick of paint will go a long way.

Monday 22 October 2012

Ikea favourites

Renovating and redecorating an old house is a big task, especially when you are doing it on a small budget. Ikea has therefore become one of my favourite stores to buy furniture and accessories that don't cost the earth. These are a few items on my list for the future. I love the bright colours, particularly against white walls...




1. RASKOG Kitchen Trolley
2. SIGURD Bench
3. PS 2012 Stool
4. DUKTIG Glass
5. LAPPLJUNG RUTA Rug
6. PS 2012 Coffee Table

Etsy Sneak Preview

Here is a quick sneak preview of the dresses that will soon be appearing on Minnie Vintage.

Sunday 21 October 2012

Twin Peaks


I am a huge fan of Twin Peaks and Audrey Horne in particular. She is fabulous! Here are some of my favourite Twin Peaks accessories from around the Internet;

1. Saddle Shoes
2. Audrey Horne Print
3. Tortoise Shell Sunglasses
4. Best Friends Necklaces
5. Twin Peaks Pencil Set

My first quilting lesson

My sister has been visiting this weekend and she agreed to give me a quick lesson on how to make my first patchwork quilt. I have been collecting vintage fabric for a while and thought it would be perfect to use for a quilt. I have started cutting out the squares, but unfortunately we had a technical hitch with the sewing machine and so haven't got any further just yet. I'll keep you posted on my progress.


I am hoping to make a half square triangle pattern similar to the one below, found here...



Friday 19 October 2012

Etsy favourites

One of my favourite features of our new home is the staircase that goes up and back round on itself. Currently it features an interesting dark green carpet and green patterened walls (photo to come!). When we finally get round to re-plastering and decorating, I want to keep the walls a plain white colour and then have artwork going all the way up the stairs. Here are some of my favourite pieces from Etsy...

 A Look Only You Would Understand
Nurturing

Buffalo
Bearded

Fortune Favors the Brave
Bandits and Arrows



 

Thursday 18 October 2012

Recent finds



Here are some of my recent thrifty purchases. The clock is a brilliant retro style flip clock, it cost me £4 from a charity shop. When I bought it the day didn't flip over but after a rather fiddly half hour I managed to fix it. This will have a home in my Minnie Vintage room.

The red, yellow and blue vintage glasses, the 1950s multi-colored shot glasses and the cute cat figurine will all be going in to my Etsy shop.

The two vintage duvet covers were £2 each, I am saving them and eventually I want to make a quilt. My sister has recently starting quilting and has agreed to teach me, although I'm sure mine won't be as good as hers!

Tuesday 16 October 2012

The Renovation Continues

We are slowly making progress in our home. One of the features that I really wanted in my house was wooden floors. I am not so keen on laminate flooring and real wood is a bit on the expensive side for our current budget, so we decided to hire a sander and strip the existing floorboards. Here is the rather garish 1970s carpet that featured in the spare bedroom before...

 
This is the room that I am turning in to my Minnie Vintage studio. My collection of vintage items was starting to take over in our old flat so I have been allowed to dedicate an entire room to my hoarding. When we pulled up the carpet we found that the floorboards were a bit of a mess but the wood itself seemed to be in good condition. I realise now that I had forgotten to take a photo of the floorboards in the spare bedroom, but they were in a very similar state to those in the master bedroom....
 

We hired an industrial floor sander and corner sander from HSS Hire for a weekend. In two days we managed to complete two bedrooms with both medium and fine sandpaper. The only drawback was that it created an awful lot of dust which seemed to settle all over the house. After sanding we covered the wood in three layers of varnish with an oak stain. This was the end result....


 
(and here is the main bedroom)
 
 
We are thrilled with how the floorboards turned out and would definitely recommend giving it a go yourself. It saved us a lot of money and you don't need to be a professional to get a fantastic finish.