Diy

Lifestyle

LIFESTYLE – DIY mishaps and how to avoid them *

December 12, 2016

According to a top A&E doctor quoted in the Guardian, the home is a minefield for accidents, that eventually end up at the Accidents & Emergencies department of UK hospitals. One of the problems is when homeowners try to save a few pounds (which is fair enough), but do so without proper planning and taking all the necessary precautions.

This reminds me of an episode that happened recently in our home: my housemate and I headed to IKEA to get shelves for our respective rooms. We were so happy as this would help sort out all the junk we both have in our rooms. Living in London a lot of times involve living in a houseshare and we have to keep all our belongings in our own rooms… which can be a tough exercise in organisational skills, especially if on top of clothes and shoes (of which I have a few) one also has a pile of books and art materials. So, we bought our shelves and even got ourselves a little drill and a box of screws, planning on doing a bit of DIY over the next few days. All was set and intentions were great but we didn’t manage to finish the job. Why? We didn’t think it through properly – the drill head included with the IKEA drill was too thin for the girth of screws the shelves required. Not only that, when I tried drilling (I know how to use power tools), after a few centimetres, the drill was hitting stone. The little drill was no match for the stone walls… We ended up abandoning the project and asking the handyman to come in and do the job… Fortunately, no one got hurt, and for now, we have a few holes drilled in the wall, which I am sure is something the landlord will not appreciate. Next time, better planning will be necessary.

So, we bought our shelves and even got ourselves a little drill and a box of screws, planning on doing a bit of DIY over the next few days. All was set and intentions were great but we didn’t manage to finish the job. Why? We didn’t think it through properly – the drill head included with the IKEA drill was too thin for the girth of screws the shelves required. Not only that, when I tried drilling (I know how to use power tools), after a few centimetres, the drill was hitting stone. The little drill was no match for the stone walls… We ended up abandoning the project and asking the handyman to come in and do the job… Fortunately, no one got hurt, and for now, we have a few holes drilled in the wall, which I am sure is something the landlord will not appreciate. Next time, better planning will be necessary.

Another very common situation is problems with asbestos – particularly in lofts. Asbestos is used as insulation in many homes and too frequently, homeowners forget that it is poisonous. I remember in one of the houses I lived in, how bits of asbestos would fall out of the trap door in the ceiling, every time we moved stuff in the loft upstairs. Definitely not an ideal situation! Asbestos is a problem even for construction professionals, who can have serious health problems in unsafe work environments, ending up seeking mesothelioma compensation from their employers. I believe this is probably one of those jobs that should be better left to the pros, to avoid asbestos-related illnesses.

These are only two episodes that happened to me in recent years. Unfortunately, there can be many other potential activities that can cause serious injury. For more details on this, check out the infography after the jump.

PS: How do you like my illustration? I am enjoying reworking magazine pages a bit too much!

art, Style

DIY – Plimsoles Painting Pollock Style

April 15, 2015

Sometimes you just need to do something creative to unwind from daily life, even if it’s something as simple as personalising a pair of plimsoles. Fat Buddha Store has a wide variety of art supplies (as well as clothes) and sent me these Posca markers to play with. They can also be used in a variety of surfaces and are not necessarily indicated for fabric but as they won’t be going in the washing machine anytime soon, I thought it was worth a try.

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Adventures in glitter

April 18, 2014

Classy ladies will tell you that glitter makes everything better. Just look at Pinterest: the number of boards dedicated to everything glittery is bonkers. Adding glitter to anything magically turns drabness into fabulousness! For this reason, I decided to finally try my hand at it, with a simple project. I was inspired by Easter and thought I’d decorate some eggs, for the first time in my life.

I purchased some plastic eggs from Amazon, got a few random pots of glitter and a huge bottle of PVA glue and got to work.

I saw somewhere, possibly on Pinterest, that the best way to cover eggs is to dip them in glitter, with the help of a bowl.

That kind of worked, although I had trouble maintaining an even surface on the eggs. Next time I will try mixing the glitter in the PVA and see if that works better for me.

Here’s a rundown of some tips on working with glitter that I learned from experience or pick up around the internet:

There are differen types of glitter, as some are bigger than others. Make sure you pick the right one for your project.
The best adhesive is PVA glue. Always add an extra layer of adhesive on top of the glitter, to seal it all in and avoid flakiness.
To avoid the extreme messiness that comes with glitter, make sure you store it in sealable containers, or you’ll be vacuuming glitter from your carpet over the next foreseeable months.
To avoid scattering glitter everywhere while completing projects, fold a large sheet of paper in half and crease it well. Flatten it back and use it under your project. When you’re done, fold it again and pour all the stray glitter back into its container.
Be patient and wait for the glue to dry, or you’ll end up with a very uneven surface. I learned that the hard way.

Ta da! Half a dozen plastic eggs, made fabulous, courtesy of glitter. Do you have any tips of your own?

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Crafts Magazines – a review

April 17, 2014

I rarely buy crafts magazines these days, because much like Pinterest, I think ‘that is amazing, I need to make it’ and that’s pretty much it. Recently I came across these two magazines in the supermarket and they caught my eye. I have seen Molly Makes before but I don’t really buy it because the projects are cool but most of them I’m not too interested in making. However this clothes DIY special edition sounded a lot more interesting. . The other one, Daphne’s Diary is brand new and I was curious to see what it was all about, so I brought them both home.

Molly Makes – DIY Fashion special edition

I loved this magazine. I just did. It’s colourful, it has the right amount of retro inspired articles and it features a few bloggers and other creatives. The clothes style is quirky and the project ideas are simple and easy to make. I really like the design as it is simple and makes the colourful photos really pop out.

Daphne’s Diary – a magazine full of inspiration and style

The contents of this magazine are a lot broader and go from gardening, recipes, interior design, some DIY, all with a vintage shabby chic vibe. Some articles are really interesting – like the one on Bucovina Easter eggs, I own a few that I brought back from Romania years ago and I was pleasedto read a bit more about them. I like the variety in the magazine and its style, although I find the design too busy, too many twee cutesy items decorating borders that really didn’t need to be there.

Do you usually buy crafts magazines? If you do, what would you recommend?

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Valentine’s… on a budget.

February 7, 2014

In the spirit of money saving, I decided that my husband should get a handmade present this year for Valentine’s day. I wish we could spend it together but sending something very personal through the post is the next best thing. It’s all about showing affection and that is something that doesn’t have a price, so measuring love by the money spent on the day makes as much sense as an ice sculpture in the Sahara. I found a lot of ideas on Pinterest and picked a couple I could easily make. As it’s Friday today, why not try it over the weekend?

I went shopping and got myself a few items:

Book covering roll £0.69
Hearts and stars stickers £1.09
Coloured paper £1.00
Set of 10 glue sticks £1.00
Deck of cards £2.00

All the other bits and bobs like the ribbon, the magazines and the lipstick I already had lying around the house.

It’s pretty straight forward – you make a little book with the playing cards as its pages. You write one thing you love about your partner on each of them – I chose to handwrite them because I don’t have a printer – and find adequate images to mach your sentiments. And it’s done. It took me a few hours but I was happy with the result. Now he knows 52 reasons I love him, although there are plenty more.

As we live apart, I had to post it, so I also took another inspiration and made him an envelope full of my kisses. Very cute and easy to make: Apply lipstick, kiss the paper and cut them out. Set them up on book covering roll and cut them all out again. Simples!