Repurposing: Craft By Using What You've Got

Sparky and I are still very much in the furnishing and decorating phase of the renovation (not to mention the painting phase...ahem) and we're on the look out for quirky bits and pieces to adorn the walls. Proviso: we don't have a lot of cash to spend on this stuff at the moment, so we've been looking at what we already have and ways to reuse and repurpose it into wall 'art'(?).

I subscribe to frankie, and every issue they include a pretty wall poster by an emerging artist. Last issue was a world map, which I loved. I'm kind of past the whole "stick posters to the wall with Blutac" thing - it just reminds me of my high school days way too much (Jonathan Taylor Thomas, I'm talking about you in particular) but I wanted to see it on the wall somehow.

I dug around in my project box (where I keep odd photo frames, cardboard, paper and fabric offcuts etc) and found some old white frames that I've lost the glass for. Perfect! I cut the map to fit and presto! I already had another white frame decorated with felt offcuts, which coincidentally matched the map colours well, so I think I'll hang these three together somewhere.

From these...

...to these!

I did something similar with more felt offcuts a few weeks ago, and while the photo is craptacular, I'm actually really happy with the result. I showed the mirror repurpose a few weeks ago, and these pieces are just continuing the theme.

Isy helped me with the top right-hand piece, hence the reason it's much more beautiful than the others.

I really love being able to pull things together from scrap and leftovers. Sure, it's not high art. It's probably not even art at all. But I love it nonetheless.

Repurposing: Art by Repetition

via design*sponge

A few weeks ago, I spotted this amazing piece of art featured on design*sponge. It was made using bus or train tickets (admitedly very cool and colourful tickets from San Fransisco, but tickets nonetheless) and it got me thinking about what I could put together, using otherwise unused multiples.

I have a bajillion plastic bits and bobs in the storeroom, left over from my Trove days, and these white plastic squares were perfect and easy to put together. I just used tiny balls of Blutack to stick them to the kraft paper, so I was able to reposition them if need be.

Obviously, this one and its twin still need to be hung on the living room wall, but I was so taken with the idea of using everyday or unused items in multiples to create a piece of art or a wall hanging, that I had to share. 

Other possibilities are:

- train/ferry/bus tickets
- buttons
- ribbon
- wool/string
- drinking straws
- bottle tops
- corks
- confetti

via Sharon Whelton on Etsy

Apologies for no Meat-Free Monday yesterday. I've been struck with this tummy bug again and the last thing I wanted to consider was food. It'll be back next week though!!

Crafty Tutorial: Pom Pom Wall Garland

A while ago I mentioned how enamoured I was with pompom garlands, and over the past few weeks I've been slowly working on my own version. I finished the mini one last night and thought I'd share a quick how-to (they're super dooper easy though - you may not need a how-to!) and some of photos.

You'll need:

- a few balls of wool
- some scrap cardboard
- a compass or various sized tins/drinking glasses
- scissors
- time

1. Using the compass or tins or glasses, trace two large circles on the cardboard, with two smaller circles inside. Ensure that the smaller circles are in the exact centre so you get nice, even pompoms.

2. Cut out the outside circle, and then the inside circle on each of your pieces of cardboard. This should leave you with two cardboard doughnut-type shapes. They don't have to be beautiful, don't worry!

3. Chase your little helper around and retrieve your cardboard rings.

4. Measure out a length of wool (I usually do about three armlengths at a time, to stop it from getting too tangled) and start wrapping the ring.

5. Keep doing this.

6. And doing this.

7. Until you can do it no more, or until the wool won't fit through the middle of the ring.

8. Using sharp scissors, separate the wool to find the cardboard rings and carefully cut the wool, making sure your scissors stay in between the two rings. Cut all the way around.

9. Cut a length of wool and wrap it around the centre of the pompom (between the two rings) several times. Tie it off nice and tight. Be sure to have enough length on the wool to be able to form the garland later.

10. Carefully cut the cardboard rings off the wool and remove them.

11. Trim any long bits of wool, fluff up your pompom and presto!

12. Repeat for as many pompoms you would like, or for however many episodes of Kell on Earth you wish to watch.

13. Using the lengths of wool attached to each pompom, tie them together in whatever way you wish, leaving some extra length at each end of the garland to attach it to your hook/nail.

14. String it up and admire your handiwork.

There's something cozy about these little fluff balls, cozy and homely. I'm working on a bigger one for maybe one of the hallways or our bedroom, not sure yet. Maybe both.

Small Touches: Herb Bouquets

I love love love cut flowers in the house. Love. Them.

But for two reasons I don't often buy them: 1) I don't have the extra cash and they are definitely a luxury and 2) I'm a bit iffy on the environmental impact of producing them and the pesticides used in growing them. But they're so pretty.

A while ago I came across the sweetest show, called The Edible Garden. In one episode, Alys the quirky-girl host gave her friend a delightful edible herb bouquet as a house-warming present. I don't have enough herbs to do that but did try an oregano and rosemary bunch in a vase near the door. And, lordy, does it smell good and earthy and herbacious in our house. This is definitely something I'll keep doing.

Oregano and rosemary in our hallway. Smells loverly.

Some more herby inspiration on this dreary day:

Herb and Chilli Bouquet from Tregothnan Shop

Gorgeous greens from Mermaids and Martinis

From the Natural Wedding Company

Love me a good wreath too, from Natural Home Magazine

Crafty: Pom Poms!

Part of the Lavender Experiment, for me, is to decorate our home with handmade things, things that have a little piece of us in them, things that mean something.

I'm certain I could go and buy loads of pretty knick knacks all at once and have the decorating finished in a matter of days, but A) there's no fun in that, B) there's too much money in that and C) that doesn't express a great deal about us as a family.

I'm a big fan of quirky garlands at the moment and have been working on a woolen pom pom garland for the past couple of days. I forgot how long it takes to make pom poms the old-fashioned way, but I do find the repetitiveness therapeutic so I don't mind.

The progress on my own garland will be slow, I'm sure, but these gorgeous examples keep me inspired:

From Honestly...WTF

From Small Bird

From Millalove

From Honestly...WTF

Green Product Review: Organoil

When Sparky and I were looking at products to finish our house, we tended to look for products that were safe for our family, with less impact on the environment. I've already mentioned the interior paint we chose, but I thought I'd review the floor finish we ended up using, as when I was researching online I could find very little info on it.

We have cypress pine floor throughout the house and decided to get the old floors (which were finished with some kind of estapol or polyurethane finish) sanded back and treated at the same time as the new floor in the extension. After talking to a few people and doing some reading online we opted for an oil finish on the floors and decided to go with Organoil.

THE PROS:

• The smell was not only bearable but actually pretty pleasant. Citrusy/bergamoty kind of thing.
• It's non-toxic - great for Isy and myself (I was pregnant at the time)
• A matte finish on the floor - good for a family home where spills are frequent and varied!
• Scratches are apparently easy to fix, with just a quick reapplication of oil required.
• The installer recommended only mopping once a month (score!) as the matte finish means scuff marks don't show up readily.
• The matte finish feels really nice underfoot, as you're essentially just walking on the polished raw timber.

THE CONS:

• It's expensive to install (it's more time-consuming apparently) but it was more than double what a poly-finished floor would cost.
• We're found it to be not very durable. Things that wouldn't have scratched our old poly floors have left noticeable marks and scratches in the finish (these aren't gouges, just surface scratches from things like the high-chair or the kids' pram)
• Things like chalk or crayon, which would wipe off a poly floor easily can leave a mark.
• Very very very susceptible to water damage in the early days and weeks. Obviously water and oil aren't great friends, which means we had to walk on cloths for the first few days, to avoid getting any water from our shoes onto the floor. Even socks wouldn't do as any sweat on your socks will affect the finish. We had a million people in and out of the house at this stage and as a result, have tradies' footprints, what I think is an Esky mark and water rings in the finish already.

Scratches in the surface from the high chair.

The beautiful, silky matte finish on the floor. Feels nice underfoot!

The water damage (whitish marks) from a tradies' Esky and drink bottle.

THE RESULT:

Despite all the cons, and the fact that we're both a little disappointed in the durability of the finish, Sparky and I would still choose Organoil if we had our time again. The smell factor is huge for me, and I do like the more rustic, matte finish of the floor. It's a little more on the Scandinavian side, which is what we're after in our house overall.

Basically there's a reason that some products have both a green option and a traditional, commercial option - often there's characteristics of the commercial option that people don't want to compromise on (durability/hardness, shine, etc). In this case we're happy to compromise as the pay-off is a much greener, friendlier product in our home.

The Painting. Oh, the Painting...

As I mentioned in the last Renovation Nation update, we have millions of square metres of painting to do now that we're back in the house. Which is wonderful because I (seriously) love painting. I find it therapeutic, satisfying and fulfilling. I even enjoy cutting in (I had no idea what this phrase meant until we started renovating - the things you learn in the University of Life)

One problem. I quite often have a very small human being attached to my breast for stretches of time and he is none too pleased if I try to do something other than this whenever it is that he feels like lunch.

So while I help where possible, painting is currently Sparky's domain. And he's doing a damn fine job.

Where I come in is in colour choice and researching paint products. Which is awesome as it combines two interests of mine - interior design and green products. So I thought I'd share what we're up to.

For the majority of the living areas and hallways we're going for a white ceiling (natch) with mid-grey walls, white trim and timber floors. Some inspiration can be found:

Source: bigboyalready.com

Source: Mustard and Sage

Source: Furnnish

So we've decided on the colour we want, and I've done a lot of research into paint brands and products, trying to find the greenest, healthiest product option that is still durable and washable.

Sparky and I painted our bedroom in 100% natural paint not long after we moved in, and I have to say it really is a terrible paint. It marks if you look at it sideways, is entirely unwashable, is incredibly streaky and has a horrible feel to it. So while I applaud those who do use it successfully, we weren't prepared to spend the next 5 years looking at walls that were a filthly, streaky, scratchy finish.

So I kept researching and finally came to choose Wattyl ID for all our interiors. Many professional painters use it, because it has a good finish and excellent coverage, but I was keen on it also because it is a genuine low-VOC paint. It's low-odour and had less than 1g of volatile organic compounds per litre, where the up to 65g is still considered 'good' in environmental terms.

I understand that there are greener options out there, but for us they've never held up when compared to more commercial options. And I'm all about making practical changes where you can, and would rather use a very good low-VOC paint once every five years, rather than a very-good-for-the-environment-but-terrible-for-actual-painting paint every six months.

We've used it to paint the kids' rooms so far and have been really pleased with it. Plus it really doesn't stink.

Now, all we have to do is actually do the painting!