Our figgy wiggy turns one

For regular people, this is not a big deal. The fact that I’ve kept track of today’s date alone should prove how much of a deal this is for me. One year ago I bought and brought home our fiddle leaf fig and I’ve KEPT IT ALIVE FOR THAT ENTIRE TIME
Wow. That is in no way exciting. Thanks for wasting my time, Alex“, I hear you say. But for me, I’ve never been able to keep a plant alive for more than 6 weeks, maximum. In my entire 31 years. I stopped buying plants years ago for the plant’s sake as bringing one home was basically death row for them. Except I changed my mind when I saw a this fiddle leaf fig in B&Q Liffey Valley and I took a chance and brought it home. 
As I said in my original blog post, fiddle leaf fig plants are very trendy these days. I’ve always just liked the look of them so that’s why I bought one vs. their trendiness. Did I mention that fiddle leaf figs are some of the pickiest and most difficult plants to look after? Really great choice for old black thumbs here. But that’s why I’m so proud. I kept the pickiest damn plant alive for a year. And it grew! By 7 leaves! [but lost a few lower leaves when they got old and crusty and I ruthlessly clipped them off]. Dad DIYer re-potted our figgy wiggy yesterday [that’s how terrified I am of killing it – I didn’t even want to re-pot it myself] and it fit perfectly into our Uashmama gold paper bag [from Dust!]. 
My ‘secret’ to keeping ours alive? I water it every 1-2 weeks, more in the summer when it’s warmer, rub coconut oil on the leaves every 6 months, no direct sunlight and if the soil gets really dry, I submerge it in water then let it drain for a good hour afterwards. That’s it. There’s nothing more to this post other than the fact that I’m amazing and I kept a thing alive for a year. I’ve managed to keep Robert and Cora alive too, but they’re less picky. 

Second hand love dove lamp

I’ve been dying to share my latest second hand find. This morning Cora was compliant enough to let me take some pictures [while she kicked around on our bed], and I was even able to get a bit of a blog post together too. I am feeling very together and boss-mom. For now. I suspect this is a fleeting feeling.

A week or so before Christmas I stopped into Second Abbey to see if the gloriously kitsch dove lamp I spotted months before was still there, and luckily, it was [I’ve had terrible luck lately with things I’ve not bought being long gone the next time I go back to buy them]. The lamp was in good condition [meaning, it wasn’t broken], but it was in need of new paint as it was yellowed and scratched, and a new shade was desperately needed [the current shade was transparent red ribbon wrapped around the wire and looked terrible when the light was on].

First I cleaned and repainted the doves with white furniture paint. Robert wasn’t too keen on the dove’s anatomically correct beady red eyes that looked directly into his soul, so I painted them white along with the rest of their bodies. Don’t worry, they’re just sleeping! Very in keeping with their new bedroom environment.

I next focused on updating the lamp shade. The shape of the original shade really didn’t suit the lamp. It was far too narrow and made the lamp look very bottom heavy, so on Monday evening I headed to B&Q with crazy lamp in hand and tried a bunch of shades for size. It came down to either a gold glitter lamp shade [which I was very in love with but it unfortunately gave off a very strange glow when the light was on], or a rectangular black shade. As you can guess, the black shade won. The shape is so perfect for the lamp – it’s hard to tell but the size of the shade perfectly balances the oblong lamp base and anchors all the crazy going on below. But the lamp’s update is not completely finished yet. Because our bedroom is painted nearly black, the black shade disappears into the background. I’m thinking of maybe re-covering the shade in a different fabric and adding sassy tassels, but I’m going to take my time and think about what colours and textures might suit it before rushing into anything.

Yeah, it takes up nearly my entire bedside table, but I give zero cares. I just look at how amazing it is and then I get over it.

DIY Friday – contact paper table top

To backtrack a little, I had been thinking for a while about a renter-friendly way of updating our landlord’s coffee table. Importantly, in a way that could be undone easily in a matter of minutes. The wood on the table had a particularly awful orange undertone to it, not to mention hadn’t been looked after so it had aged rather disgracefully. I decided to cover the table top with contact paper to not only protect my eyes, but to also protect the table from being ruined further. 

There were two other changes I wanted to make to this area [paint the cat basket and table tray] which I shared a couple weeks ago a peek in a little gif mock-up … 

There was a resounding response to painting the cat basket black, faux-marbeling the coffee table and a majority of either painting the tray in either black or burgundy. I was the most unsure about the tray as I wanted it black and burgundy. Then it struck me – the inside was already burgundy, so I just sprayed the outside black. Boom. Thank you to everyone who shared their thoughts! It really did help. I am massively indecisive sometimes.
I painted the tray and cat basket, rushed out and got some marble contact paper from Woodies. I bought one roll of d-c-fix’s black and white marble contact paper and within 20 minutes, the table was covered. But I wasn’t happy. 

I really like the strong black and white marbling effect, but for some reason it wasn’t working in this situation. It was too strong in such a dark space. If our room was brighter it would work perfectly, but it kept catching my eye and in a bad way. It was fighting with our rug. It made the [ancient IKEA] TV unit look yellow. I didn’t like it. I went back to Woodie’s to see if they could order in a lighter shade of the marble paper [light grey veining vs. the darker black], but unfortunately they couldn’t. We checked B&Q and alas, they had the exact role I wanted! We went home and I peeled off the darker marble contact paper that was already on the table …

As you can see, some splinter-like pieces of wood from the coffee table peeled off with the contact paper. I panicked. Using a piece of fine sandpaper I lightly sanded the coffee table, wiped it clean and it was as good as before. PHEW. It was a damaged coffee table from the previous tenants to begin with, so I’d say that’s more so why the wood peeled off. It was incredibly minimal damage and totally fixable, so it’s not something I’m worried about, but for the sake of being transparent, I wanted to share this. I was hoping to reuse the darker contact paper to cover a couple of books, but thanks to the little flecks of wood, it was rendered very unsticky. Welp. It went in the recycling at the very least.
There was such a difference in the shades of the two contact papers [as seen below]. I waited for the coffee table to dry after I cleaned it, then got to work. Here’s how I applied it. For a second time …

What you’ll need …
– Contact paper in a colour of your choice
– A card to smooth any bubbles from under the paper as you apply it
– A pair of scissors to trim
– Something heavy to make sure the contact paper doesn’t scooch while you’re working [ie – a toolbox]

1. Remove the top of the coffee table and place it top-side-up onto something, like our storage box shown, so you can easily work on it. 
2. Centre the contact paper onto the table top and if you’re working alone, place something heavy like on top so it wouldn’t move. Peel back the paper backing about 6 inches and stick a strip of the contact paper onto one end of the table, smoothing the bubbles out as you go.
3. Continue in this manner by peeling the paper backing from underneath bit by bit, smoothing with the card as you go. If you encounter a stubborn bubble, just peel back the contact paper a bit and reapply it. Do this until you reach the end of the table top and trim the roll leaving a couple of inches overhang. 
4. When you’re happy all the bubbles are removed, flip the table top over and secure the edges underneath using your card again to ensure it sticks securely. Screw the table top back onto the legs of your table, et voila! 

I’m actually overjoyed with how it turned out. It doesn’t make my eyes want to bleed anymore and the softer marble effect really brightens and adds to our living room and doesn’t fight with anything. This is one DIY I foresee happening over and over again. And our landlord will be none the wiser.