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Posts Tagged ‘DIY’

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Comments Off on ON TARGET LAMPSHADE MAKEOVER

ON TARGET LAMPSHADE MAKEOVER


2019
03.21

Tags: craft in ten, DIY, DIY lampshade, Habitat, lamp, lampshade, marble design, marble lampshade, Reinvent a lampshade, Target, The Paper Place
Posted in love'it&covet, paper&ink, scissors&glue, update&decorate | Comments Off on ON TARGET LAMPSHADE MAKEOVER

This quick (okay, maybe not “in 10”, but certainly faster than you think) DIY lampshade makeover elevates a budget buy to bright new heights…

You would think that the fact that a pair of Habitat lamps we scored years ago at 75% off would give us carte blanche to get spendy on the shades, but that really isn’t any fun, and kinda negates the amazing price. So for years they were topped with a simple Ikea shade.

But since moving Social Nesting HQ to Canada and having to rewire the bases, the old shades no longer fit…

Step in Target, and this simple Project 62 rectangular lampshade. Chic in shape and divine in price ($19.99 USD), but a bit plain for us.

Admittedly, the steel-blue lacquer bases were tricky to accommodate. White was too bright, woven neutrals were too “country”, and from a sea of blues, none were quite right.

We needed to add a bit of drama, and aimed to do so with to this stunning marble paper from The Paper Place on Toronto’s Queen Street West.

To cover the shade, we tapped into our dry-mounting skills. Dry mounting involves spray-glueing both the surface you want to paper-cover, and the back of the paper you want to use, waiting for them both to dry, and then carefully sticking them together. Because in this process, when they are stuck, they are stuck.

The paper was only wide enough to cover the front and two sides, but had enough depth for us to cut and secure a cover for the back. The pattern doesn’t match at the back, but they are against a wall so no one will notice…

Plus people will be too busy in awe of the stunning results…

Comments Off on DIY TABLETOP UPDATE

DIY TABLETOP UPDATE


2019
01.09

Tags: adhesive foil, Cricut, DIY, DIY in 10, easy update, gold adhesive paper, gold foil, Habitat, matte gold, Tabletop, tabletop update, Update in 10
Posted in love'it&covet, paper&ink, update&decorate | Comments Off on DIY TABLETOP UPDATE

Top a tired table with a bit of punch in less than 10 minutes!

This plain tiny purple table has been kicking around Social Nesting HQ for a long time.
A Habitat bargain (I think we paid £10 for it on sale), it served us well, but was suddenly showing signs of age… a bit of scuffing and a chip here and there. Not enough to kick it to the curb, but enough to warrant a facelift.

Newcomers to the Circuit phenomenon, we don’t have a Cricut machine but we love the adhesive foil, and we are currently obsessed with (and covering everything in sight in) the Matte Gold.
And you don’t need a Cricut machine for this project. We simply cut a few pieces to cover the tabletop, going at it with a craft knife to create a jagged centre. This may look a bit weird as we craftily cut it out of scraps (waste not…), but you get the picture.

A few minutes to carefully apply and the tired tabletop gets a bit of comic book punch in chic matte gold…

…and becomes the perfect resting ground for some fellow gold trinkets.

Comments Off on HE KINTSUGI… CAN YOU?

HE KINTSUGI… CAN YOU?


2017
05.03

Tags: DIY, epoxy, gold repair, kintsugi, Kintsugi Kit
Posted in love'it&covet, update&decorate | Comments Off on HE KINTSUGI… CAN YOU?

Kintsugi-DIY-in-ten-banner

Turn broken pottery into a whole new aesthetic experience, or better yet, get your partner to do it for you by making them a DIY Kintsugi Kit!
(that’s what I did)

Kintsugi banner

So one half of Social Nesting periodically mentioned kintsugi several times over the course of 2016. Kintsugi is the Japanese art of repairing broken pottery with a gold lacquer, turning a damaged piece into something new and equally beautiful.

He would show me cool images or videos of carefully repaired pottery veined with liquid gold streaks that did make the once-broken pieces not only unique, but also stunning in a whole new way.

So when Christmas 2016 rolled around, I decided to gift him the chance to do some home Kintsugi-ing by putting together the Barry-San Kintsugi Kit – a wooden box decorated with gold streaks and filled with everything he would need to learn and hone the technique.
I even went so far as to smash a small plate and include it in the kit, so he could get cracking (as it were).

DIY Kintsugi kit

Inside the box was speed-set epoxy, two different gold powders, a mirror (on which to mix the glue and dust), a mini trowel to do it with, and of course, the pre-broken plate.

And before he could get to practicing, this happened…

DIY Kintsugi kit

One of our favourite Rob Ryan plates fell off the wall and broke.

It was was Kintsugi Kit to the rescue! But only once he had some free time and we could open the windows wide to air out the epoxy smell.

And once he started, he couldn’t be stopped. He carefully and majestically repaired both plates with perfect, gold-lustred precision…

DIY Kintsugi plates

…and we were lovingly able to get the  Rob Ryan plate back to the Social Nesting HQ stairwell, where it brings us so much joy.

DIY Kintsugi fixed plate on wall

Comments Off on GETTING LIT UP

GETTING LIT UP


2017
03.14

Tags: bar table, DIY, Homesense, Hook & Stem, IKEA, lamp cord, light-up bar table, Michael's, plant stand
Posted in update&decorate | Comments Off on GETTING LIT UP

DIY-in-ten-banner-bar-table v2

 No room for a bar cart and a lamp and a side table? Cheers to a hybrid of all three! We Frankensteined together a collection of parts to solve the a lack of space issue while turning the home bar into a beacon… 

Light-Up Bar Table

It started with the beautiful plant stand (below, far left) from Hook & Stem… We knew we wanted it but secretly we also knew that we needed a plant stand like a moose needs a hatrack. So it was destined for an alternative purpose.

The pink wire basket (far right) was a Homesense find that smacked of the Ferm Living basket tables we longed to own but are way out of the price range.

The IKEA Sekond cord set came next – again, purchased without a final use in mind, but destined for greatness, especially surrounded by a vintage-look wire bulb cage left over from a previous project…

Light-Up Bar Table components

In the centre (above) are a perfect wooden circular platform and an embroidery hoop – both from Michael’s – that were morphed together to create a lid that fit snuggly into the rim of the wire basket. The embroidery hoop was trimmed to size and glued securely with Goop to keep the makeshift lid from sliding around.

We then covered the top with a bright and brilliant floral scrap from our stockpile and secured it with Mod Podge…

Light-Up Bar Table covered top

And then it was literally a series of slotting things together:
The legs of the plant stand, the cord set through the basket, the basket into the plant stand, the lid onto the basket and another wireframe basket that was holding our booze stash on the credenza, now sitting atop the whole thing.

And on or off, this takes up the perfect cozy corner of Social Nesting HQ…

Light-Up Bar Table

Comments Off on CHAIR BACK HOME

CHAIR BACK HOME


2016
06.06

Tags: alternative ways to hang art, chair, DIY, IKEA, James Larsen, wall art
Posted in update&decorate | Comments Off on CHAIR BACK HOME

Embrace an easy, damage-free way to get more wall art space, without a wall! (And use leftover IKEA hardware while you’re at it!)

DIY-fix-in-ten-banner

Sometimes the solution you have been waiting for does pop out of a sealed plastic bag at the bottom of an IKEA garden chair.
But we get a head of ourselves…

Long have lugged this wooden chair around –

Chair into a gallery space

…found on the streets of London and, though seatless, sturdy and perfectly (naturally) distressed.
This beauty has served as a makeshift shelf and home to books and objets. The intention was to weave a new seat, but then our intentions sometimes get put on hold.

We always knew, though, that there was more to the chair than a simple shelf life.

Chair into a gallery space

We loved the simplicity and strength of the back, and tested ways of putting it to use beyond the ordinary, but nothing stuck.

And since moving into the new HQ, this wonderful James Larsen painting has been kicking around looking for a home.

James Larsen painting

James Larsen is a talented Australian artist who we first met in Spitalfields Market circa 2002 and took to following around London until his departure for Germany in the mid-2000s. We collected as much as we could afford before James left, but this painting – the first we ever acquired – is a treasured piece that needed a cool spot.

And then last week, our IKEA garden chairs arrived and included is this bracket (for bolting two chairs together) and we kept thinking that it would come to use somehow.

Chair into a gallery space

Then we realised that the bracket, if screwed to the right thickness of shim, would fit over the chair back, where the shim could support a painting…

Chair into a gallery space

Maybe this is easier to show than explain…

Chair into a gallery space

And now our James Larsen painting magically hangs from the chair back and looms lovely over the chair seat tableau.

Chair into a gallery space

 

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