2015 - year in review

Well, this is it. Another year draws to a close. I thought I'd do a little reflection of 2015 and what it meant to me.

A little (lot) of time wasted on Instagram

I LOVE instagram.

Christmas time, mistletoe and wine...

Or, hot chocolate, for me anyway!

Skiathos - possibly my favourite destination!

I love Skiathos. I L O V E Skiathos!

Winter Survival...

Ugh, Winter.

2 Years On...

On Saturday we celebrated Halloween, which marked 2 years since I got the keys to this house.

A little taste of Spain for dinner!

I'm always looking for new recipes to try.

Living Room / Dining Room Tour

If you've been reading this blog from the beginning, then you're probably getting the gist that I'm quite house proud!

A life without Lactose...

So, those of you who follow me on Instagram may know already, I’m Lactose Intolerant and since finding out at the age of 15 my life has been changed.

Project hallway

The hallway. In my opinion, one of the most important rooms in a home.

A little tour....

I absolutely love seeing the room tours that Charlotte does on her blog, The Home That Made Me.

A little crafty Garden Decor

I love having a garden.

Finishing the Pallet Sofa

Hopefully you've seen my original blog post on the Pallet Sofa. If not, check it out before reading this one!

Pallet Sofa - a DIY project

I’m sure you’ve seen the pictures of pallet sofas on various internet sites / social media. I loved it as soon as I saw it, it fits in with my whole upcyling mentality and I have the perfect corner in my garden for it!

I spent ages scouring Gumtree and eBay for some pallets. All of the ones I’d found were about £15 each, I was really struggling to find any that were free to collector. Then one day, I found an advert for 8 pallets – perfect!

The lovely lady that was advertising the pallets had started her own project but never got round to finishing it. The pallets were already painted white and she had some old sofa beds that she was using for cushions.

Another posing dog...!

After collecting the pallets and arranging them in the shape I wanted (corner sofa on my terrace) I began to size it up and work out the next steps. I trimmed the pallets to the right size (lots of people don’t, but I found them to be a bit too deep to sit on nicely). I used a simple saw (slightly rusty!) to cut the pallets down to size. I then touched up the rough edges by sanding them lightly (no one wants a splinter every time they sit down!) and painting the newly exposed wood.

I used the bottom pallet to rest on as I cut the bits off that I didn't need. Once they were all the same size and sanded, it was time to paint. I used Cuprinol Garden Shades in Pale Jasmine.

Once I’d got everything to the right size, I then set about trimming the foam. I used a bread knife to cut the foam as it was by far the easiest way I’d tried! I did have some rough edges, but they were easily sorted with a bit of careful trimming.

Now on to the covers. I knew this was going to be hard… I’m not a natural seamstress and I lack all logical thinking with sewing! I measured each size of the foam, the height and the depth to work out the fabric that I needed (9m for my sofa) and then ordered.

I went for this stuff from Point North Fabrics – I wanted a deep slate grey, but I didn’t like their particular one, so ended up going for black.

I’ll do another post shortly on how I made the cushions – but seriously, if I can do it, you can too!

Em x

My first furniture upcycle

I always see such gorgeous photos of everyone's upcycled furniture. I try to recycle and reuse where I can, and consider myself quite 'green', so this totally seemed like an idea for me!