Habitat

I currently have a bit of an obsession with Habitat homeware. Unfortunately a lot of the furniture is a bit out of my price range, but you can still achieve the Habitat look with a few choice accessories. Here are some of my favourites...

1. Akano picnic rug - £15

2. Mabel tea light holders - £1.50

3. Aerial pendant light - £40

4. Knot yellow knitted pouf - £100

5. Noriko cushion - £35

6. Tinsley towers canvas - £55

7. Hester red dining chair - £120

8. Timbuktu melamine plate - £3.00

Our house

I mentioned our staircase in a previous post and thought I would share some photographs. The house once belonged to my Nan, Ida, and I believe she last decorated it in the 1970s. Since then, not much work has been done to it at all. Here is what the stairs and hallway look like at the moment...

I know that retro wallpaper is back in, but I can't help but feel like this is a step too far. Here is a close up...

The curtains are also an interesting green and brown pattern, and you can just about make out the dark green carpet.
Despite the negatives, I have high hopes for this space. I love the chunky bannister and the dado rail. Behind those curtains is a beautiful original sash window and we revealed some original quarry tiles beneath the carpet downstairs. Once we strip the walls and get them replastered, I think a lick of paint will go a long way.

Etsy favourites

One of my favourite features of our new home is the staircase that goes up and back round on itself. Currently it features an interesting dark green carpet and green patterened walls (photo to come!). When we finally get round to re-plastering and decorating, I want to keep the walls a plain white colour and then have artwork going all the way up the stairs. Here are some of my favourite pieces from Etsy...

 A Look Only You Would Understand

Nurturing

Buffalo

Bearded

Fortune Favors the Brave

Bandits and Arrows



 

The Renovation Continues

We are slowly making progress in our home. One of the features that I really wanted in my house was wooden floors. I am not so keen on laminate flooring and real wood is a bit on the expensive side for our current budget, so we decided to hire a sander and strip the existing floorboards. Here is the rather garish 1970s carpet that featured in the spare bedroom before...

 

This is the room that I am turning in to my Minnie Vintage studio. My collection of vintage items was starting to take over in our old flat so I have been allowed to dedicate an entire room to my hoarding. When we pulled up the carpet we found that the floorboards were a bit of a mess but the wood itself seemed to be in good condition. I realise now that I had forgotten to take a photo of the floorboards in the spare bedroom, but they were in a very similar state to those in the master bedroom....

 

We hired an industrial floor sander and corner sander from HSS Hire for a weekend. In two days we managed to complete two bedrooms with both medium and fine sandpaper. The only drawback was that it created an awful lot of dust which seemed to settle all over the house. After sanding we covered the wood in three layers of varnish with an oak stain. This was the end result....



 

(and here is the main bedroom)

 

 

We are thrilled with how the floorboards turned out and would definitely recommend giving it a go yourself. It saved us a lot of money and you don't need to be a professional to get a fantastic finish.



How to renovate a cast iron fireplace

I am lucky to have found some original features in my house. One of them was a beautiful cast iron fireplace in the master bedroom which had been painted white. You can see it hidden behind the bed in the photo below. The floral wallpaper is the original decor. The whole room including carpet, ceiling and curtains were this shade of pink. I knew that I wanted to restore the fireplace to it's former glory, so here are my tips on how to do it.

Thing's You Will Need

• Wire brush and/or wire wool
• Paint Stripper (I used nitromors but any brand at your local DIY store will work)
• Rust Remover (I used Liberon)
• Paint Brushes
• Cast Iron Paste
• Plastic sheets for the surrounding area
• Safety equipment - gloves and a well ventilated area

Step 1

Before you start, ensure that you have your gloves on and that the area you are working in is well ventilated. Cover the surrounding area with plastic sheets as this process can get very messy. Using the paintbrush, apply the paint stripper to the fireplace. Ensure that you follow the instructions on the paint stripper tin, but usually it will tell you to apply a layer and leave it for half an hour before adding a second layer. After the specified time has elapsed, the paint should start to bubble and crackle as you can see in the photos below.

 

Step 2

Take your wire brush and start scrubbing the fireplace to remove as much of the paint as possible. This can be quite a laborious process and took me about 5 evenings to complete. I found that after the majority of the paint was removed, wire wool was much more effective to reach in to the corners and areas of detailing. Repeat these steps until all traces of paint are removed.

Step 3

Wipe down the fireplace using an old cloth to remove any traces of the paint stripper. You are now ready to apply the rust remover. Using a clean paintbrush, spread the rust remover over the fireplace. After around half an hour any areas of rust will turn a white colour and you will need to use your wire brush or wire wool to scrub away the rust.

Step 4

Once all of the traces of rust have been removed, it is time to apply the cast iron paste, again, please ensure that you follow the instructions on the back of the packet. I used a clean cloth to rub a small amount of paste on to the fireplace and then buffed the area to remove any excess. If you apply too much paste and do not buff the excess away it can create smoke once the fire is lit, which is never good! Repeat this step until the whole fireplace is covered. Ta Da! You should now have a wonderfully restored cast iron fireplace that you will be proud of.

This is one of my favourite features of the house and even more so because I restored it myself. It took me quite a few evenings work to complete, but the end result is well worth the effort!