OMG GOLD KITCHEN SINKS ARE A THING NOW.

This is not a drill, people. Gold kitchen sinks are A Thing now and they are quite possibly my favourite home micro-trend ever. If I was living in a gaff that I owned rather than rented, I wouldn't be sitting here now writing this post because I'd be busy installing a blink (bling sink. OBVS) of my very own. Styled with marble accessories and pink peonies for maximum Pinterest points.

Apart from looking gorgeously warm and making the most unquestionably boring zone in the kitchen somewhere even the most washing-up shy of us (i.e. me) would want to spend time, I am also on board with gold sinks from a purely practical point of view. No more scrubbing tannin stains off your ceramic or stainless (lololol) steel sink when someone lobs in yet another effing teabag instead of just using the compost bin/tea bag caddy like you've asked them to do a hundred million times!

So yes. Beautiful, practical, potentially relationship-saving - what's not to love about gold kitchen sinks? I'm a fan. And because I'm determined to take you all down the plughole with me, here are some photos of them in action to give you the wants too.

Sorrynotsorry.

Swoonworthy's new kitchen (hearteyes emoji)

by Nesso

elinjormhage on Instagram

drommekjokkenet on Instagram

and the photo that started it all, via einteriors.design on Instagram

Side note: Himself has just rubbernecked at my screen and accidentally said "oh my God, that's gorgeous!"  out loud. What a trendspotter. I'm so proud of him right now that I'd nearly forgive his teabag chucking ways.

Dining Room Table Makeover, Part I: From Orange to Oooooooh

We are spending some of my maternity leave at home in Ireland (I had a baby! She's adorable! I'm so tired all the time!) and the house that we're renting here is a monster compared to the weeny one or one-and-a-quarter-bed flats we're used to in London.

We mostly huddled in one corner of the kitchen when we moved in, like agoraphobic bunnies freshly sprung from a cage, but now we've spread out and are slowly colonising the whole place and drying our underwear on the radiators, and slowly it's starting to feel a bit more like home. I'm taking advantage of the fact that we have a separate dining room (!!!) to makeover this new-to-us mega-orange pine farmhouse dining table that I picked up on DoneDeal for €70.

Fun fact: I also bought my dream Jenny Packham wedding dress on DoneDeal! True story.

Anyway, this beast of a table was obviously in need of a hefty dose of TLC but I reckoned it had good bones - just look at those sexy AF turned legs! - and to be perfectly honest I was in desperate need of A Not-Baby-Related Project.

The first item on the agenda was to sort out that varnished orange tone, and that was where I made my first mistake. I should have used a chemical stripper like the trusty Nitromoors I usually turn to for any paint removing work, but with a babóg in the house I decided against using anything fume-y and got sander-happy instead. I think I still have carpenter's lung as a result.

To add insult to respiratory injury, I managed to dig a couple of divots into the table lid in my power-tooled enthusiasm to get shot of some particularly pernicious orange patches, but when my sanding frenzy was done I showed the affected areas some love with a handheld sanding block and they were barely noticeable.

Having eventually achieved this paler tone to the wood and cooing over it like it was an especially cute new Pomeranian puppy, I initially thought that the next step would simply be to lacquer it to protect from stains and water damage and the like. However. A quick Google informed me that due to the peculiarities of pine, it will apparently always tend to orange. So over time that hard won lighter finish would invariably revert to the colour of my fake tan circa 2003. As the bambino would say, WAAAAAH.

One Google later and I had the solution: this video, complete with almost unbearable background buzz, from a crew called Finney's Wood Finishes. I mixed up a semi-translucent stain using white wood dye, acrylic lacquer, and some water as instructed, and buffed it into the wood using a soft cloth. Ok, ok: using a pair of decommissioned knickers. (What the hell else can you repurpose old knickers for? Seriously. And they are perfect for jobs like these.)

The idea is that this whitewash will act like a long-term real life Instagram filter (Hudson, maybe?) counteracting those pesky orange tones as they start to reappear.

The next step in the table's rehabilitation will be to paint the apron and legs grey and then wax/lacquer the whole thing, all of which I hope to get done in the course of the long Easter weekend. After turning my nose up at Annie Sloan chalk paint like a total elitist DIY snob for the last several years, having extraordinarily limited time to dedicate to furniture do-overs means that I suddenly find a paint that needs no major prep work very appealing indeed. 

I've got a shiny tin of Paris Grey all ready to go - teething permitting...

New interiors obsession: Decorative logs in fireplaces

You'll be not at all surprised to hear that I'm still wrangling with our big-ass fireplace. Instead of wondering what to put on top of it, though, I'm now pondering what to put in it.

 

Cheapy brass gas inserts ain't really my bag, so I'm trying to come up with a way of disguising the landlord's delightful choice of hearth heater with something a little more attractive.

Like some fake logs, for example...

images via Swoonworthy // Brume // The Hunted Interior // Vogue Australia on Joyfolie // decor8 // House To Home // Dottie Angel

Get bent: Inspiration for a curvaceous chair makeover

Several weeks ago I acquired some new-to-me bentwood chairs to use around the dining table (and put the pair of pink plastic Tam Tam stools we had been perching on out of a job.) They were eBay finds and a bit of a steal, but they weren't exactly in tip top condition: some had been sloppily half-primed and the curved wood had cracked and split in places.

Still. I could see their potential. Their potential to look less like bits of broken junkyard crap and more like some of these lovelies.

After some DIY fixing upping and a lot of dithering in the paint aisles of Homebase last weekend, I'm now exactly half way through making over my bentwood beauts.

I think you might be surprised by the colour choice but, two chairs in, I can confidently say that they are going to be AWESOME.

images via: 1. sfgirlbybay // 2. sfgirlbybay // 3. restore // 4. the design files // 5. urbis magazine // 6. the interiors addict // 7. remodelista

A mini kitchen makeover

It just occurred to me that I never showed you a before and after of the kitchen presses I pimped in our old flat! Which is London for "apartment."

In the last place we rented, we had a huge open plan hallway/living room/dining room/kitchen thing going on. This was obviously excellent in some ways and I could potter about most of the flat while continuing to watch the telly in the living room, but on the flipside it meant that any untidyness in the kitchen was permanently on display.

And thanks to the glass fronts on some of our kitchen cabinets, even when the kitchen was actually clean it still looked messy.

Who knew that stacked crockery and Crunchy Nut Cornflakes boxes could be such eyesores?

I lived with the glass for about six months and then ordered some window film to obscure it for a temporary, landlord-friendly fix.

Aaaahhhh. Much better. Also: pink kitchen!

Although it took a few hours to get it all on perfectly because I'm a loon and wanted to get it just right, as DIY jobs go this one was super easy.

Since the front of the glass was dimpled, I applied the film to the flat back which had the unexpected but completely excellent effect of making it look like we had opaque pink glass presses. And when we moved out at the beginning of this year, the film just peeled right off without causing any damage or leaving any residue behind.

This quick kitchen makeover was one of the best improvements I made in that flat. No word of a lie: the happy pink presses made me smile every time I looked at them.

Not too shabby for twenty quid and a few hours' effort, really.

Products used
Fluorescent pink cling vinyl from Purlfrost
Mini spray bottle of soapy water
Credit card as squeegee
Kitchen towel to absorb excess soapy water
Razor blade to trim edges

Somethings for the weekend

Just some little things I like that I thought you might like too. Happy Friday!

ONE // Our coasters have served us well, but they're looking more than a little battleworn after 7 years of service and these UK designed and made laser cut felt numbers by Donna Wilson (£14) are the front runners to replace them. I love that they look like doilies.

TWO // This actual gold and actual diamond bunny ring from Katie Hillier (£395) would represent a significant step up from my usual high street costume jewellery, but still. SO. CUTE. *Adds to Lotto list*

THREE // These brass sea urchins from US store Furbish are giving me The Wants and would look great mounted on the wall in our hallway. But since they're no longer available (and, er, I wouldn't spend a hundred quid plus shipping on them anyway) I'm brainstorming ways to DIY something similar.

Somebody pass me a paperclip, an elastic band, and a dodgy-looking bomber jacket STAT so I can get my MacGyver on!

FOUR // Last autumn I spent a small fortune on a faux leather sleeveless dress from Oasis, which was completely stupid because (a) I couldn't really afford it, (b) it didn't fit me properly, and (c) I had to spend all winter trying to find layers that would work under or over it so that I wouldn't freeze.

While I'm still a big fan of the leather look, this season I'll be sticking with more versatile separates on my bottom half that should be easier to integrate into my existing wardrobe. I've seen Penneys' / Primark's PU skirt (£8) in person and it looks plain awesome rather than plastic-y (which is probably why there were none left in my size the day I spotted it.)

FIVE // You might not know this about me, but I love stationary. I also love highlighters and products that look kind of like animals, so needless to say these adorable Paperchase bear highlighters (only £3!) are right up my street.

What's on your lust list at the moment?

My favourite corner of our new flat

We're still living in box city following our recent(ish) move, so I've taken to focusing only on this alcove in the living room when I need to not freak out about how much unpacking I somehow have left to do. It is my happy place.

Apart from being the only semi-sorted zone in the whole flat, it houses some of my favourite things: my For Like Ever poster (yes, it's ubiquitous now, but I still adore it. And I had it first), a posy of fresh flowers, and my latest and most awesome furniture acquisition.

This here is my mid-century modern G-Plan sewing cabinet, and houses a fully working sewing machine that hides behind the door on the right when not in use and swings up through a hole in the top when required.

It's basically a Transformer. That's right: THERE IS A TRANSFORMER LIVING IN MY HOUSE. Child-me and grown-up me are so impressed right now.

You can just see the seam of the false lid on the right in this photo.

The telly is in the alcove at the other side of the fireplace, but this corner is getting all the attention, even from Himself. 

Although he did comment at one point: "I never thought I'd have granny furniture in my house". What a heathen.

DIY interior inspiration for Autumn / Halloween

When we lived in Ireland, I used to go in for Halloween decorating in a bigger way than I do now. While it was never on a Martha Stewart scale or anything, I liked the little touches around the place that celebrated the arrival of Halloween and the arrival of autumn generally: hurricane lamps lined with red and golden leaves, fallen crab apples, pumpkins, and, er, bat silhouettes.

I'm tempted to revive the tradition this year, especially since we'll have guests over the Halloween weekend. We won't be having a party or anything, but it's fun to decorate for something other than C*******s and it might inspire me to have a bit of a (desperately needed) tidy-up.

Here are a couple of not too OTT DIYs and decorating ideas for this time of year that I've seen lately.

(FAO my fellow arachnophobes - two of these photos contain illustrations of spiders; one of them has hairy legs. I don't think it's all that bad myself, but you have been warned!)

{"Gothic" tealight holders (wrapped in black lace trim)}

{Autumn leaves bunting}

{Mini pumpkins! SO. CUTE.}

{Ehrmehrgahd. Charity shop find decoupaged into skulltacular serving tray}

{Tricked out black and white pumpkins, complete with spiders}

BEWARE!

HAIRY SPIDER ILLUSTRATION COMING UP in

3...

2...

1...

{Not sure I could bring myself to follow through on actually framing this}

{Painted and chevron pumpkins are a HELLS YES}

I'll be putting scads more pictures on Pinterest if you're in need of additional inspiration, but for now tell me this: do you decorate for Halloween?

{image credits: all images linked to their respective sources}

MonDIY: Kate Spade-alike dot jewellery dish

A lot of the American lifestyle bloggers I follow enthuse about pretty little dishes and trays like they're the Second Coming of Christ. Apparently they're only wonderful for corralling your home office supplies/perfumes/jewellery/hair ties/bobby pins, and while the overuse of "corral" in these situations makes me want to punch someone I have to admit that these dish and tray evangelists might be on to something.

There's no doubt that piling your crap into neat bundles does instantly make a place look tidier. And it's quicker than actually putting the stuff away, and it makes things easier to find the next time you need them if you're like me and would forget where you left your elbow if it wasn't attached.

Win win win!

I thought I'd try my hand at DIYing a dish for hairclips and the like, inspired by this gold confetti dot sprinkled Kate Spade Ticker Tape plate.

It turned out so well that I decided to share the process in case anyone else has ephemera that's in dire need of corralling.

You will need:
- small white dish (I upcycled a soap dish the last tenant left behind)
- hole reinforcement stickers (these were surplus from a previous nail project)
- metallic gold nail polish (this is an old H&M duo) 

(Please note that the end result will not be food safe.)

Stick the hole reinforcers onto the dish in your desired pattern. I followed the distribution of the gold Kate Spade dots as closely as I could.

Apply two thin coats of nail polish to the inner circles of the hole reinforcers, leaving 15 minutes between coats. (I'd recommend brushing one coat on in horizontal strokes and one in vertical strokes to help disguise brush strokes.) To minimise pooling and help ensure a crisp, flat outline, begin and end each brush stroke on the sticker rather than the dish.

Let the final coat of polish dry for 15 minutes.

Begin to get excited that your new dish is going to look all kinds of awesome.

Carefully remove the hole reinforcement stickers with tweezers. (This is a classic case of do as I say, not as I do, because I couldn't find my old tweezers and used my nails like a twit.)

Add a gold rim freehand to the edge of the dish if desired - any wonky bits can easily be corrected with a bit of nail polish remover and a cotton ear bud.

If you want to create overlapping dots, repeat with a second round of stickers but remember to lessen their tackiness first by pressing them to your fingertip a few times. You don't want them lifting that first layer of gold paint when you take them off.

The end result:

Nice, right?

Dress up your zero quid new dish with some jewellery or whatnot (because it's clearly too lovely to use for boring old brown hairclips) and enjoy!

{top image via Sears, all others by me}

Nice legs!

The latest IKEA catalogue arrived in my postbox today, so of course I had to have a flick through it.

I'm very taken with the curvaceous new ISALA line, and this cute little granny chic laptop desk (£149/€169) in particular.

Does the colour remind anyone else of Kelly Osborne's formerly lilac locks?

Pimp my gaff

This weekend, I shall mostly be trying to obscure the contents of our glass-fronted kitchen presses.   

Being able to see all our cups and cereal boxes even when the doors of the presses are closed really isn't my idea of a good time. I have bought me a roll of hot pink opaque window film (from these very nice peeps) and I am NOT afraid to use it. 

If my home improvements humour holds out, I also intend to do this to the back of our front door.

{photo credit: Lisa Barrett}

And it shall look amazeballs.