Posts about: home decor
27/10/2019
This is a paid collaboration with Gorilla glue. (Ad)
I'm a big fan of rainbow motifs, in fact, I'd go as far to say I'm a little bit addicted! My love for rainbow decor began with Gabe's nursery but it's not just for kids. Unlike the bright multicoloured rainbows of our childhood, the recent trend for using a more muted rainbow palette means you can easily introduce this playful decor into even the most 'grown-up' home.
I've teamed up with Gorilla to make some cute polymer clay magnets that will bring a touch of childhood whimsy to your fridge or noticeboard. (The good news for minimalists out there.. you can make these designs as colourful or as paired back as you wish!)
Materials needed.
Craft knife
Step 1.
Take 4 complementary shades of polymer clay. I'm using a simple light to dark gradient for my rainbow with white, grey and black clay. Warm the clay between your hands and form each colour into a ball.
Step 2.
Roll each ball of clay into a long sausage shape approximately 5mm thick. Line them up with the darkest shade at the top and the lightest at the bottom.
Step 3.
Gently press the clay together before bending the length into a rainbow shape. You can make this rainbow any size you wish. (Mine are 2 1/2" x 2")
Step 4.
Take a craft knife and trim off the ends for a nice clean finish. (Continue bending and cutting the remaining clay to make more rainbows.)
Step 5.
Once you have made all of your rainbows you need to bake them to permanently harden the clay. Pop them into an oven (follow the manufactures instructions for the cooking time and temperatures.)
Step 6.
Once the clay has cooled you can attach the magnets. I've chosen to use Gorilla Super Glue Brush and Nozzle for this project (I like the flexibility of being able to switch from using the precision tip to the handy brush applicator.)
Apply a small amount of glue along one side of your magnet, I opted to use the brush applicator as it's nice and easy to work with.
Step 7.
Place the magnet glue side down onto the rainbow and firmly hold in place from 10-45 seconds while the glue bonds. (I always use neodymium magnets for fridge magnets as they're really powerful for their size.)
The magnets are now ready to use, go forth and stick those to-do lists to your fridges immediately!
back soon!
caroline x
caroline x
21/09/2019
this is a sponsored partnership with creative rox.
hey guys, i've been meaning to share this project for a while (i can't believe it's almost october... gah!) if you didn't already know i'm totally having a moment with clay, it's such a versatile material and i'm a huge fan of both polymer and air-dry clay for my projects.
i have a big collection of plants at home and i love to make my own decorative planters for them (especially for my cacti and succulents which don't need much tlc)
today i've teamed up with creative rox to show you how to make this cute textured planter that you can pop your plant babies into for some instant style! plus, to celebrate the launch of their new website you can grab 10% off the materials to make your own using the code BURK10 until sept 30th.
materials needed:
rolling pin
ruler
step 1. roll out your clay using a rolling pin. (you want the clay to be approx 5mm thick once rolled.)
step 2. take a craft knife and using a ruler cut a rectangle into the clay. (i cut my rectangle to measure 5 x 12 for my planter.) remove the excess clay and put it to one side.
step 3. roll the excess clay back into a ball before rolling it out once again. next you need to cut out a circle for the base of the planter, you can either do this freehand or use something round like a coaster as a template.
step 4. cut out your circle and put the excess clay to one side (keep it wrapped to stop it drying out whilst you work.)
step 5. take your clay rectangle and wrap it around the circular base. smooth out the joints with a little water.
step 6. take a small piece of spare clay and roll it into a long thin sausage shape.
step 7. place it inside the planter where the base meets the sides. you're going to use it to bridge the joints, use your fingers to smooth the clay into the joints to seal the planter.
step 8. roll out the remaining clay and cut out lots of small rectangles with your craft knife (you could use other shapes like circles or stars if you wish!) wet the shapes and stick them to the side of your planter by pressing them into place in a pattern of your choice.
leave your planter to dry out fully (this can take a few days.) you can seal it with some spray varnish or paint it if you choose. as it's a decorative planter you can't really afford to let it get wet for long periods so i recommend cacti or plants that don't like too much water (or just leave your plants in their original plastic pots so you can easily remove them when you need to water them!)
if you try making one let me know!
back soon
caroline x
04/02/2019
I love storage DIY's, especially in the new year when I'm trying to get more organised and streamlined at home. This trinket bowl project is a great solution for storing smaller items like desk accessories, jewellery ..or in my case baby paraphernalia! Whether you decide to use the bowls in your entryway to stash car keys or your bedroom for your earings this easy project is just as pretty as it is practical. (Marie Kondo eat your heart out.)
Most rope bowls are traditionally made using a sewing machine but I've teamed up with Gorilla to show you how to make your own no-sew rope bowl in a few simple steps!
You'll need:
10mm white cotton rope. (I've used a 10 ft length of rope which made two bowls.)
Scissors
Step 1. Shake the super glue gel well and apply a few drops of the glue to the ends to stop the rope from frying as you work.
Step 2. To start the base of the bowl run drops of super glue gel a few inches along the rope. Thanks to its gel formula this glue doesn't run so you have more control on the application. (it also works on ceramics, leather, and wood to name a few so it's a good all-rounder for your craft and DIY kit!)
Step 3. Start to coil the rope into a tight spiral.
Step 4. Keep gluing and coiling the rope until you create a flat rope circle the width you want your bowl to be. The glue bonds quickly (from just 10 seconds) so press the rope firmly into the glue as you work. I found it easier to do this with the rope on a flat surface.
Step 5. Once the base is finished you can start to build up the sides of the bowl.
Take the rope and continue to apply lines of glue as you wrap the rope around. Go a little higher each time you work around the bowl.
Step 6. Continue building up the sides until the bowl is deep enough.
Step 7. Trim the end of the rope with sharp scissors and apply super glue gel to stop the rope fraying.
Step 8. Run some glue along the final inch of rope and firmly press down to secure. The glue dries so quickly you can use these babies right away!
How simple is that? You can use different sizes of rope to create bigger and smaller bowls plus there are some other great rope DIY's from rugs to baskets and coasters all made using the same technique.
I hope you'll try this DIY too!
Caroline x
*Sponsored post with Gorilla, thank you for supporting the brands that help make these projects possible.
27/01/2019
hey guys, it's been a little quiet over here because we've been quietly working away on updating the rooms in our home over the last few months. nothing too ambitious just repainting, streamlining, baby proofing and adding in some new pieces of furniture.. small changes but they've actually had a big impact! i thought i would share some of the changes we've made by posting a few updated tours on here!
since gabe arrived we've had zero time for decorating so i'm beyond happy to finally tick off a few house to-dos! first up was updating our study where james' works. i've never really been a big fan of his office, i've always liked the desk but the previous artwork was outdated, his desk chair didn't match and james' had a tendency to collect clutter on his desk. we both felt it needed to be stripped right back before adding things back in until we found the right balance.
james had a big display cabinet that we got from ikea that was definitely going to stay, however, we removed all contents and were quite strict about what went back in (mostly james's architectural models) lots of holiday souvenirs and memorabilia didn't make the cut so they're now boxed up under the stairs for safe keeping -we couldn't quite let them go!
desk (ikea -old)
rug (john lewis -old)
lamp (sainsburys-old)
one of the biggest issues we had was the desk chair, our previous one was vintage and although we liked it the style and upholstery didn't work. when this slick concept chair* was kindly gifted from cult furniture we knew it would be the perfect solution as the dark wood tied in with our floorboards and the cork of the desk. (fyi it can be really hard finding furniture to match darker stained floors!)
the chair is comfortable with it's curved back, it's probably more intended for use as a dining chair but I personally like having a wooden desk chair! once we had the chair everything else just seemed to fall into place.
we took down the old artwork which was quite colourful and switched it for some monochrome prints i had been gifted in a previous collaboration. i much prefer this minimal look, there can be a lot going on with desk accessories so i think the backdrop should be quite muted!
we moved some of our plants back downstairs to add some greenery (pro tip they're also great for hiding extension cables!) so far gabe has been really good with all of our plants and doesn't tend to pull at them which was a big concern for me once he started crawling.
we had a marie kondo style declutter of james's desk accessories and now have just one box (from the ikea x hay collab) for all of his stationery and a few plants. it always amazes me how much paperwork you can accumulate on a desk... god it's satisfying to finally get rid of it!
i love this area now, it feels a little mid-century masculine and james is pretty happy that i bullied him into changing it! we just have the alcove in the bay window to paint and then our study/downstairs office is complete hurrah!
do you like this workspace? i've given my office a reshuffle and i'll share that soon too!
back soon
caroline x
19/12/2018
there are a million ways to style a shelf and it's easy to get a bit lost along the way and end up with shelves bursting with trinkets. i thought it would be useful to round up some go-to looks you can quickly style up in yourselves with minimal effort! i'd like to blame instagram and the rise of the shelfie for my organising obsessions but if i'm honest i get bored of how my rooms look and love to change up little details to scratch my decorating itch!
i'm using some solid marble shelves kindly gifted from cox and cox to demonstrate some of my favourite looks (it was playing around with styling them various ways in my bedroom that inspired me to write this post!) the shelves themselves are gorgeous, the natural variations in the marble are so pretty and the iron brackets can be used two ways- as i've shown here or placed inverted under the shelf for an alternative look. i'm so used to wooden shelving i'm going to enjoy not having to worry about water marks from my plants for once! i have the white marble option but they also come in grey and pink which are equally swish.
read on for some quick shelfie ideas:
look 1: minimal
it can be really easy to overload a shelf by trying to display all our favourite things at once, the trick is be selective and pick only 2-3 things so the shelf doesn't look cluttered. quickly round up all your favourite decorative objects and select the ones that work best together to use. (you can always rotate what's on your shelves that way everything has a turn.)
look 2: greenery
one of my all-time favourite styling tips is the plant shelf. you simply can't beat loading up a shelf with plants to create a simple and natural feature.
I like to mix lush trailing plants with smaller potted plants on shelves.. if you're not so green fingered succulents and cacti are very low maintenance and look equally cute.
look 3: neutral
call me crazy but i just love a classic bookshelf! i have a huge collection of old books i've read and one of my favourite ways to use them is on shelves. turn the spines inwards to create a clean and simple look that works beautifully in most rooms.
i adore how chic this is.. and it only takes minutes to create!
would you try any of these ideas at home?
back soon
caroline x
23/08/2017
i've been meaning to share this post for what feels like forever! we finally finished up the bathroom reno and we're so happy with how it looks, it feels so shiny and clean (and totally worth the endless days of tiling and grouting!)
our old bathroom was white so there isn't a huge difference in that respect but the square tiles around the bath were old and the grout was discoloured and falling out which looked pretty gross no matter how much i cleaned it!
have a look at the BEFORE:
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