The Interior DIYer
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Our (temporary) baby toy storage solution

For a long time, I’ve hoped to use an old coal chest to store Cora’s toys and an old coal bucket to store her diapers. They’re not what most people would think or want to use in their home, but they’re what I’ve wanted. 

I found a really well kept coal chest in an Oxfam a few weeks ago, but I was tired and wasn’t in the mood to lug it home [plus, I had Cora and the pram]. I went back a few weeks later and as you can guess, it was gone. 

Until now, we’ve been using a rather elite plastic bag to hold Cora’s diapers. As for her toys, they tend to stay on the living room floor or end up in a paper bag next to her crib. I can’t see either her diaper or toy bags from the hallway, but I know they’re there. Lurking. And they bother me. I know the mess is only going to get worse, so until I find an unobtainably pristine child-friendly secondhand coal chest, we can use my old storage trunk. I bought it years ago from Argos and it’s served us well, but the current colour is too close to the colour of our walls. I’ve kept it for sentimental reasons, but I’d like to update it and make it look a bit more sophisticated – if possible. It’s a basic wooden chest, but I have no idea what to do with it. I was thinking of turning the top into a padded seat [and even adding a buttoned chesterfield-style top], but the rest; clueless. 

I’m still on the lookout for a secondhand chest and bucket, but in the mean time, I really don’t know what to do with this one. The only colour I’m vetoing is WHITE. It can’t be painted white because of those god forsaken dicoloured Ikea shelves. White only magnifies how yellow our landlord’s shelves are [I’ve considered painting them, but that would be more hassle than it’s worth].

I’m kind of thinking painting it black and adding a chesterfield buttoned top, but I really don’t know. Any and all ideas would really be greatly appreciated. What would you do with it if it was yours?
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Updating a secondhand vase with paint

I’m not off to a great start with today’s post as I can’t find any ‘before’ photos despite having our swan vase for close to 6 years, it seems I’ve never taken a photo of it. I saw this swan vase in a charity shop years ago and bought it [probably for something like €5] because I’ve always liked swans and thought it had a really nice shape. Unfortunately, I only realised how aged and discoloured the vase was once I brought it home, but since I like swans so much, I kept it in our storage cupboard. For something like 6 years. 

Last weekend Robert bought me flowers and I went to our storage cupboard, picked up the swan vase, and as I was putting it back down as I’ve done so many times before, a thought popped into my head – what if I were to spray paint it black? Oh. Oh I like that idea.

I went for my can of Rust-Oleum’s chalkboard paint [this is not an ad – I’ve had this can for almost as long as my swan vase and I’m a genuine Rust-Oleum fan], put a plastic bag over my hand, held the vase upside down, put my hand in the vase and carefully spray painted thin layers onto the vase. I didn’t use a primer as I the paint adhered really well to the vase, but depending on the piece you’re painting, you may need to use a primer. I let the vase dry for at least an hour before using it to be sure the paint was completely dry.

I don’t know why it took me so long to paint it. I’ve always loved that vase, but the colour gave me such a stink-face every time I reached for it that I’m just glad I thought to paint it. There are many people who may say I’ve destroyed an old or vintage vase by painting it, and I’m okay with that, but I’m using it for the first time since I bought it so that’s a good decision in my books. 

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Desk update

I’d like to say I’ve spent the past week doing something really fabulous or important, but instead I’ve been scanning roughly 13 years worth of paperwork. I borrowed my brother’s scanner and as boring as it sounds, I scanned and recycled 90% of our bank statements, payslips, Revenue letters and Irish Water bills [I scanned them just for the craic] and it’s been such a mental and actual clear-out in our apartment. I went crazy the first morning at my desk and scanned about 200 documents while Robert and Cora were out for a walk. It was my kind of other-people-would-find-it-boring heaven. 

Since I’ve spent so much time at my desk lately, I took some pictures of it as I don’t think I’ve photographed it since we got our nearly new mahogany desk. I’ve gotten some new desk stuff over the past while but never got around to sharing any of it, so I figured today was a good time. 

For Christmas 3 [or more!] years ago, Robert got a Big Lebowski Kit solely for the rug mouse pad that came with it which is so perfect for our desk. It really tied the room together, did it not. Then roughly 2 years ago I picked up a nihilist’s screen cloth [because Lebowski theme] along with a load of other stuff one day in Dust [I wish I visited their shop so much more when it was open. Welp]. They no longer stock these screen cloths and I tried looking for one online but it turns out if you google anything nihilist, you’re going to find some weird stuff. I use the cloth a lot, especially since getting a touch-screen laptop for my birthday last year. My old laptop didn’t work unless it was constantly plugged in, it sounded like it was about to take off and it was always searingly hot. Robert convinced me to get a new one, “you’ll probably be relaxing a lot in your last month [of pregnancy] and when the baby arrives.” LOL on both accounts because that didn’t happen. But I do use my new laptop a lot and its matte black and rose gold-esqueness is completely okay with me. 

I love Paperchase diaries but not necessarily their covers, so my diary got contact-papered again this year. I haven’t bought much of anything recently, but one small thing I did impulse buy the other week was this pen from Sostrene Grene for -wait for it- €0.83. It’s a surprisingly good pen for that price and has a really cute crown and pearl detail. I keep it along with my diary in my handbag all the time and as boring and possibly snooty as it sounds, I love taking them out and writing down appointments, events and silly milestones.