Creating My Reality » D.I.Y. Diehard

More On My Chalkboard Obsession

Chavah Kinloch — Tue, 31 Jan 2012 23:31:03 +0000

I’d been going on about a giant chalkboard calendar for my home for the better half of a year, so for Christmas my husband decided to make my wish come true and together we created this awesome purple masterpiece. It is so handy and each person that’s seen it has paid it compliment. I think the comments about how fantastic it looks from the random power metre reader lady were the best.

You can find a variety of chalkboard calendar options on Etsy.com. I didn’t have the patience to wait for shipping and I wanted something slightly bigger/different to fit the space I had, so I created mine by painting with coloured chalkboard paint which you can pick up from specialist paint & decorating stores. Definitely check out all the colour options they have out nowadays.

During

Finished

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Half An Hour to DIY – Recovered Lampshade

Chavah Kinloch — Mon, 05 Dec 2011 02:55:40 +0000

Earlier today I posted this on my Facebook status:

The problem I have, is that with my youngest child now growing up and being more independent I sit around looking at things for my home and come up with random ways to change them. It’s probably a good thing we don’t have a tonne of excess money or otherwise my husband would come home and wonder if he was at the right place.

I have so many little projects I can do around my home. It doesn’t really need anything done (well a new kitchen, new carpet and converting the garage to a family room would be great) but in reality, it’s fine how it is. We purchased it because it covered our list of must haves – room to play basketball, fully fenced, two bathrooms, four bedrooms. We don’t have much ‘need’ for anything materialistic, I’m grateful for that but I personally have a need to create… All the time.

Originally today I really wanted to paint something. I have this huge blank canvas sitting there but I’ve dedicated that canvas to a project that will happen ‘eventually’ (read: it’s a really good idea I haven’t made the time to create yet) and so I don’t want to waste my $120 canvas on something that I may or may not like…even though I really wanted to. Sometimes I hate that I restrain myself to be sensible financially.

So anyway, from the painting idea I went outside to fiddle around with the log that’s been drying for months. When I realised I couldn’t be bothered working on that project either I decided to move onto the lamps in my living room that even though in the photo’s appear to be fine, are actually kind of grubby after being around my kids for years.

Juggling through my ever growing fabric collection I came across a certain fabric I received from fellow artist Karley Feaver and was absolutely delighted with the way the pattern looked on a lampshade so knew I was onto a winner.

With my trusty glue gun, scissors, fabric & old lamp I set to work and within half an hour (it may have even been 15 minutes) I modernised these out of date lampshades.

Easy peasy. If I had patience I would probably mod podge the fabric on & line the inside where the fabric overlaps with felt. Those would be my tips anyway for anyone wanting to have a go at recovering a lampshade but seeing as these are just for my home, I’m happy! The kids think it looks great too. I’ll finish the matching lampshade tonight.

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Now You Can Look

Chavah Kinloch — Sat, 29 Oct 2011 00:44:17 +0000

It’s another fun filled weekend here at the Kinloch residence – well, for kids at least. As one of the two adults that will be present while 7 kids take over till tomorrow, I’m not exactly the most excited person in the world but a parent’s got to do what a parent’s got to do.

We found ourselves hanging out in Miss V’s bedroom as we monitored ‘bedroom tidying’ in preparation for sleepovers and I realised that I’ve never actually given you an update on the space she’s got right now.

Her bedroom isn’t finished, art isn’t on the walls, curtains aren’t up, furnture is still missing but it’s still such a fun space to hang out in…hence why we all ended up in there hehe.

Take your first glimpse into what’s happened in the bedroom makeover so far.

So much colour and fun! Memories and activities everywhere. No wonder she’s started disappearing into her bedroom more often. P.S. I apologise for the quality of the photos, I was snapping away on my phone.

Check out the rest of Miss V’s bedroom makeover so far here:

DIY Lampshade Makeover

I Spy With My Little Eye

Metallic Table Makeover

In the Beginning

You can see my own bedroom one day makeover here:

Bedroom Organisation

Then you can check out Boston’s Bedroom Makeover Progress:

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DIY Metallic Side Table

Chavah Kinloch — Wed, 01 Jun 2011 00:12:09 +0000

If you know anything about me, you probably know that I love all things shiny. If it glitters, sparkles, shines, is over the top with bling and catches the eye, I’m in. I love it, it makes my heart sing. I’m like a magpie.

Well this is how I felt when I spotted these side tables below:

I saw them and I instantly thought “Ooo shiny”. Now, I have no idea where you can purchase those barrel like tables and even if I did, it wouldn’t be in my budget; so once again I decided to set off on a DIY adventure to create a shiny side table for Miss V’s bedroom.

Using what I had on hand I grabbed 1 x small square black table, a can of primer, a tube of silver paint and a tube of black paint. I sprayed it white, painted it two coats of silver and then made a black glaze to finish it off. It gave an antique silver result. I really like the way it highlights the texture on the under corners of the table.

The whole process didn’t take very long at all, maybe an hour or two. The longest parts being waiting for the layers of paint to dry. I was going to try a DIY with tin foil for this project but it appears our household doesn’t really use tinfoil – there was none in the pantry and we haven’t noticed there hasn’t been any for months hehe.

On a side note: as I finish writing this I’ve just had another idea on how to make a different sort of metallic side table. Hmmm!

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Stag Head Cushion DIY

Chavah Kinloch — Mon, 30 May 2011 04:03:40 +0000

I spotted this on Pinterest a while ago:

I wanted to add the link to the original post but it seems the blog has been deleted. I don’t know if someone DIYed this or if you can purchase it from a store somewhere.

Totally inspired by the look of this stag head I figured I could use it as an idea for my daughters room! I wish I was capable enough to do appliquéd patchwork type of stuff but that’s a little out of my realm of creativity. Maybe one day I’ll give it a go. If I ever get together with you Joanna, you can show me how it’s done.

For now though, this is my take on the idea:

Total cost = $1 (That’s how much I paid for the cushion) Everything else was on hand.

I made this while I watched The Shining last night haha.

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DIY Lampshade for the Bedroom Makeover

Chavah Kinloch — Wed, 25 May 2011 23:35:59 +0000

So in 2008, yes 2008… I bought this:

I only know I bought it in 2008 because of this blog haha. I posted here the weekend I got it.

Anyway, Miss V’s room needs a new lighting fixture. All it has is a light bulb because the boys one day threw something in the air and managed to smash their bedroom light shade. Can you see me shaking my head? I am. I have a million stories like this lol.

What I want for her bedroom is this:

I saw one for $99 last year and knew I should have scooped it up. It’s pretty affordable anyway but right now my budget is close to non existent so for now I have to make it work with what I got. Challenge accepted.

The lampshade I bought in 2008, I originally intended to spray paint orange. Never quite got there though because I fell pregnant that month with Boston and the exhaustion from the pregnancy kicked my butt.

So here we are years later and a few months back I found this. Pretty sure it’s from one of my favourite blogs because I recognise the room it’s in. It just happens to be one of my favourite kids rooms ever. EVER. Eh-Verrr.

Don’t you love that huge bulb? I die. I’m going to find one. As for the lampshade I figured, I can do that! I had a lampshade just sitting there waiting and I knew I could find the fabric to cover it so off I went and pulled my gear out of the studio to get to work.

Big thanks to Karley Feaver who sent me some fabric last year. I finally got to use some of it! I’ve been wanting an excuse to use that fabric.

I rummaged through my fabrics and pulled out four samples. Here’s what I was inspired to do:

Steps one and two.

Steps three and four.

Hopefully I can get my hands on one of those large bulbs and I can get Miss V’s room looking half as good as the one above. I’m still considering maybe adding some flowers or beads to the shade. If I do I’ll update you.

Total cost = Free (maybe $1 for everything)

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Making Over a Cork Board

Chavah Kinloch — Wed, 25 May 2011 00:41:24 +0000

If your kids are anything like mine, they’re constantly making little creations and sticking them on the fridge or on the bookshelves… basically on every spare surface they can find. I have been through multiple systems to keep things in order; some worked, some didn’t. We’re not even moved into the new bedroom yet and my daughter is already making things that she wants to put up in it.

Her dream (for now) is to be a fashion designer. That is music to my ears because I love fashion and design so of course I’m all in to help her. She’s got the attitude and the desire for it. She makes little sketches and cuts things out of magazines to keep so I figure this budding little designer needs her own inspiration board! I’m sure she’ll put it to good use.

Here’s what we did:

Step One: Take any cork pin board. We had this one lying around.

Step Two: Make some glue & grab a brush. We just make a really simple paste out of water and flour but here is a recipe for the same glue with a couple more ingredients.

Step Three: Cut out scraps of paper into rectangles. Ours are about the size of two playing cards sat side by side. You could use fabric instead of paper if you like. We just used some of my daughters scrapbook paper.

Step Four: Brush the paste onto the cork board (as my 1 y/o so enthusiastically demonstrates) or onto the back of the paper then stick the paper down onto the board. Layer it however you want to. I just let my kids figure out where to place the pieces!

We haven’t painted the frame yet but I will be painting it white. I’d recommend painting the frame first, I didn’t because this was a spur of the moment “Look we’ve got half an hour to spare, let’s do something” type of activity. It only shows two children in the photos but they all got in on the act. It’s a really simple activity for everyone.

Total cost = Free (we had everything on hand already)

Update: Last night Vahnija ran over and pinned this to her board. I had no idea what she was up to. I love it. *Gush*

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A Growing Girls Bedroom Makeover

Chavah Kinloch — Mon, 23 May 2011 23:53:40 +0000

It’s no secret that I have four children, one girl and three boys. It’s great! It really is but there are some huge differences between my sons and my daughter and they’re made very apparent through the state of their bedrooms. It only takes one glance in the door to see how different they are.

So first of all I’ll give you the rundown on how things work in our household.

We live in a 4 bedroom home, two boys in 1 room, 1 girl in one room, another boy in one room and then of course mine and Andrew’s bedroom. When we first moved in we just had 3 kids, the bedrooms were slightly dated but in great condition. I set each child up with plenty of storage and new linen. I especially loved my boys’ matching duvet sets.

Now we move on a couple of years and this is what we get:

This isn’t from lack of trying to keep it respectable. It’s just my boys. Love them to bits but like every family, we definitely have our moments. Lectures, time out, removal of toys and other consequences just couldn’t keep this from happening. As soon as you take your eyes off them this was inevitable…. For example, see those doors in the photo? That’s the double wardrobe. The doors are tied up because Davis used to silently wake in the middle of the night, turn the light on and destroy the room by pulling out every single toy and book we owned; so they’re hidden away in there.

I’m praying they’ve outgrown this stage seeing as it’s been over a year and a half since we’ve had any major incidents. The wallpaper ripping is definitely an age thing with my kids. I only have one little person left to go through the ropes. I’m crossing my fingers that with just one at that young age now, it’ll be easier to handle. I won’t have to have my eyes and ears on three people at once. Or I could just get lucky like I did first time around and have another child that chooses not to destroy anything. I live in hope.

Now about this post. Yes, the title of this post does read A Growing Girls Bedroom Makeover even though it’s clear this is my boys’ room. The reason behind this is the room my daughter is in currently, is bigger than my two big boys room. It only makes sense that because my number of son’s outnumber my number of daughters – they switch rooms to make the living situation more comfortable. They’re growing so fast, those boys need somewhere to tumble around!

When I talked to my daughter about switching rooms she was ok with it. She’s a happy-go- lucky kind of girl. All she asked is that it stopped smelling like the boys lol. I’m with her on that!

My daughter has been promised a sleepover with friends for her birthday. She needs a bedroom for that. That gave us a time frame of 3 weekends to get the majority of the room done. Two weekends have passed & we’re on track. One weekend left! I’m going to have to haul butt this week to get furniture pieces finished so it looks half decent. I’m still working on the basis that I will reuse furniture we already have in the home and bargain hunt for the rest while throwing in a couple of higher (and by higher I mean more than $30 lol) priced feature pieces.

We won’t get it all sorted by the weekend; once again we’ll be lacking curtains that match the new style of the room and my idea for the wardrobes won’t be done, plus of course some accessories will be missing but I’m so excited to be done with stripping walls and seeing another room getting made over. What I’m most excited about though is getting into that closet and getting rid of all the excess junk that’s made it’s way into the house over the years. Nothing feels as good as purging things you no longer need and simplifying!

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B is for Boston

Chavah Kinloch — Tue, 10 May 2011 03:43:51 +0000

This is one of the little accessories in Boston’s bedroom. It’s from a bag of letters I picked up from a second hand store for $4. Score! I did this B sometime last year and just never got around to posting it up. I have a thing for words/text/letters/initials/monograms. There is one more 40cm B that I’m working on for Bostons room. I’ll share what I’ve done to that one as soon as I’m done this time around.

I still haven’t bought the fabric for his curtains (insert eye roll) but he’s been living in his room for a while and is sooo cute every time he’s in there. Every time he wakes up he has to open up his curtains. Every day he asks to be lifted up to touch his photo mobile that hangs above his bed. He looks at the photos and names the people in them, “Haaas(Nas), Aya (Vahnija), baby (him)” it’s gorgeous. He jumps on his yellow chair (which still needs a little bit of work too) and plays with his brothers and sister in there. It’s no wonder we call him Boss, that’s exactly how he walks around. He really suits his name.

To go back and see Boston’s room process you can visit here (scroll down to see the list of posts) and here.

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Before and After Drawers

Chavah Kinloch — Thu, 07 Apr 2011 00:48:09 +0000

So who remembers this DIY project?

To refresh your memory you can see the progress work in these posts here and here. If you look closely in that last picture you can see that what I actually went with is completely different. I changed my mind when I was 2/3′s the way through. I’m really good at doing that.

I finished one set of these drawers sometime last year but was going to save the reveal until they were in their place in my daughters room. Seeing as I’m a hundred years away from getting her room up to scratch I figure I may as well just show the finished product now and then eventually… hopefully this lifetime, I can share a photo of them in a space that will do them justice. They’ve been getting a lot of use, a girl can never have enough storage. So without further ado, here’s what I ended up doing with them:

I love the blue! I totally need a team of people to make all my ideas happen faster because in my head the space they’re in rocks. In reality the space they’re in should be quarantined. Damn you fantasy vs reality.

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