Home improvements
The typical bank holiday rain didn’t fail us this year. How good we can rely on something.
Perfect time for some DIY projects.
I got this great print from hubby for Christmas 2008 and it never saw the light of day. The excuses being professional framing is more expensive than the print itself and the chances of finding a frame of right size and look at car boots sales are close to none. So it was back to the most unimaginative plan – a trip to Habitat. But at least it is done now and I can enjoy it every day. And probably next time I am prowling through car boot sales I will find just the right thing. Never mind.
I’ve been looking for nice place mats for a while, I hardly like anything I can find or they are very expensive. Solution: linen, tape and great mother-in-law.
On one of her visits we took a trip to Labour and Wait and she got some fabulous linen. I made a trip to Liberty to get some tape. A week later a package has arrived, inside I found these beautiful tea towels and place mats. They are very good quality, lovingly made and will last a lifetime. And they are unique.
There was also lots of Gumtree and eBay so for once on a bank holiday weekend I was ‘making’ money instead of spending.
There are still things that should be bought and changed (like the horrid carpet I could just rip off and put through a shredder) but as we are only renting there is no rush.
Tags: Labour and Wait, Liberty
May 3rd, 2010 at 6:40 am
love the print … and i just love the linen.! (oh i wish i could go to labour and wait!
May 3rd, 2010 at 11:30 am
Lovely print and the tea towels and place mats are so beautiful, yet so simple! Very inspiring! I’m so glad you did well selling things!
May 3rd, 2010 at 12:27 pm
I love them I love them! I have some reels of that tape from Liberty too, and mine are still awaiting a suitable purpose…these are so great! Very stylish.
The print is lovely – glad you’ve got a frame for it, all the glass looks great. Buying frames is such a pain – I end up getting mine all online at eframe or similar because I can just never find any on the high street the right size, especially because I have a few prints which are american sized…tricky.
Glad you put the rainy weekend to good use!
May 3rd, 2010 at 3:41 pm
I loved this! Super mats – and, as you say, unique!
May 4th, 2010 at 2:06 am
i couldn’t agree more on linen and ridding of carpets!:)
May 5th, 2010 at 3:01 am
if jane: you would love the shop, it’s just like an old general store, everything is simple and great quality!
Donna: I love simplicity and combined with good quality it always looks amazing. thank you ;)
jane: I must look up that frame site, it is a drag to find the right thing and with framers charging a fortune for something made to measure this is a perfect solution. thank you!
skirmishofwit: thank you ;)
stuffedmice: yes, the nasty carpets, yuck!
May 5th, 2010 at 12:54 pm
I run into that cheap print/expensive frame problem all the time…seems that you’ve come upon a very attractive solution!
May 6th, 2010 at 3:07 am
Great linen and I think the frame looks really good!
May 6th, 2010 at 11:08 am
It’s funny, I made some DIY improvements as well on the long weekend :) The print is intriguing and I like your new place mats. You have to be careful and not spill anything, otherwise they won’t last a lifetime…
May 7th, 2010 at 8:33 am
You are so talented!
May 8th, 2010 at 5:17 am
Laura and Louise: thank you ;)
Chihiro: it was perfect weather for it, I wish the sun came back now though. The linen is actually really easy to wash, not so easy to iron ;)
May 8th, 2010 at 5:25 am
Marta: not me, my mother-in-law! I wish I could sew nicely, way too impatient for it ;)
May 8th, 2010 at 4:02 pm
those tea towels and place mats are wonderful, what a great idea.
May 9th, 2010 at 11:21 am
Primoeza: Thank you and hello!