My living room is now taking shape. I have been talking about it for a long time now. I was on the look out for an over mantle mirror for my living room but then I bought this canvas and have decided to use it instead of a mirror. It only cost €20.00. What do you think? I have changed it a bit now with two vases each side of the photo instead of the mixed items. I have tried to kept the room in different shades of blue, white and grey to watch the chairs, furniture and white marble fireplace.

I was also on the lookout for some nice cushions for the sofa and came across these cute paisley ones for €6.00 in Primark. I think they fit in very well and look more expensive than €6.00. Who doesn't love a bargain?

And finally I bought this cute baby blue lantern for a tea light in Primark as well. I need to paint/spray my lamp base and shade as it doesn't match the room but in time I'll do this. What do you think?

Here is some DIY I did over the summer, but never posted it. My birdhouse which my Dad made for me was beginning to get a bit weather beaten so I decided to paint it using Ronseal Wood Sage paint. I think it turned out pretty. My shrubs are still small as they are only planted a year but they are coming along well. Did you do any DIY jobs over the Summer? You will also notice that we now have the wall to the rear of the house painted and it looks much better. So we don't have that much work left outside the house. The next work to be done is finish the sitting room which I painted over the Summer months too. I will post some photos of it as it progresses. Hope your enjoying the weekend.

I treated myself at the weekend to these cute accessories for my home, a cute crochet cushion and this cute heart. My husband also bought this lovely art canvas for over our wood burning stove, it is a scene from Galway City.

Hope you are all having a nice week and the weather isn't too bad where ever you are!

Here is the transformation photographs of the old chair I found in the garage, what do you think? It's my first furniture make over and I love it! It took two undercoats and one gloss. I think it turned out well and my dad just told me there are another 3 in the garage attic. This one is going in my spare bedroom. Have you any furniture transformations to share with me. I want to put a nice baby blue or pink cushion on it. I have a cushion which would be nice but it is slightly too big, see below

 

Sanded old chair

One undercoat finished yesterday. I also gave it another undercoat today so hopefully tomorrow I will put the top coat on. This chair is a set of 4 old chairs that was hiding away in the shed. I hope to put a nice cushion on it and it should look nice in one of my new bedrooms.

Sorry for the lack of posting lately. I'm very busy with work and planning the new house. I'm still painting the new house, I have most of the ceilings upstairs painted and today I went to the local hardware store to pick paints. I saw this lovely Nordic Breeze paint and thought oh yes that would look lovely in my bathroom ...

I thought it was a nice grey colour as per the inspiration booklet but it's much more blue than it first looked so I am going to pick a different paint for the bathroom, perhaps a greyer colour. I picked Little Blue for our bedroom as shown below. I like this shade of blue for the room along with the white ceilings as it is very calming. One of the other bedrooms is all white and I'm thinking Magnolia for some of the others. The study, walk in wardrobe and the storage room will be white also. I ordered my kitchen this week too :) Got the granite for under my wood burning stove as well. Almost all walls inside are now plastered. 

 I'm picking paint from Dulux so if any of you have any recommendations along with images of your rooms in those colours I would love to see them as I don't really know what to use and also they look alot different on the walls than in the booklet.

This is how my stove surround should look when completed- I'm hoping anyway!

Next I have to buy all internal doors.

I also bought a new car earlier this month as I do so much travelling for work and petrol was getting so expensive, I bought a diesel one.

As you can imagine I am trying to save every penny/ cent I have now. Hope you are all having a lovely weekend. The weather is dull enough here in Ireland. What are you all up to for this weekend?

Doors, doors and more doors, again there are far too many to choose from, I would like a wooden one that I can paint a heritage colour, although everyone is telling me they are hard to keep, what's your experience of wooden doors? What colour is your front door. Why not share it with us by posting it on your blog and leaving us the link, I'd love to get some new ideas..

Do you like cream interiors, are they boring?!? Well how about these? They are all very simple but stylish, elegant yet subtle and streamlined. There are such an array of cream paints to choose from, the ones below are all from the dulux paint range. I am really liking them all and think they look very cheerful and cosy too. Do you have any nice cream interiors to share with us all?  

To paint!!! I got this canvas with the image on it for christmas and decided to paint it today. The poor wee cat is a little strange looking and the sky has no clouds, but it was my first attempt, that's my excuse anyway! P.S the white bits came out pink in the photograph but I assure you they are white in reality

Hope you are all having a nice weekend and for those of you in the UK enjoy the long weekend, we have ours next weekend :)

{Dulux}

"A fundamental Truth: Man Needs Colour"

This quote by the architect Le Corbusier states the need for colour in our lives. Colour affects our interpretation of things. According to Mindini (2001:238)  'Colour is among the first illusions through which man perceives the world'. Colour is manufactured in our minds. Our eyes and brain perceive colour. Colours are experiences and can excite, scare or impress people and it can create a sense of warmth or cold. 'People react to colour therefore how they perceive colour will influence their reactions to a place' (Porter: 1982). This may also apply to everyday items like cothes, furniture and buildings - people react to the colour of various items.

{Colours in the sky @ home}

{Dulux}

Under certain rules our visual interpretation accepts some colours such as harmonised or contrasted colours. Colours play an important role in all aspects of design and can create focal points in our lives and landscape. The use of colour can create distinctive characters in our dress sense, our homes, landscapes and townscapes.

Sir Isaac Newton developed the colour wheel in the early 1700's and it has been used ever since as the foundation of colour theory. The basic colour wheel starts with three primary colours- red, yellow and blue. Different systems of colour have been developed such as the Munsell and Ostwald Colour Systems.

{COLOURLovers}

The colour wheel provides such a variety and choice of colours that considerable thought can be taken when deciding on which colour to use. There are certain rules with regard to colours. There are a number of different types of colour schemes, including monochromatic, complementary, triadic and adjacent schemes. These contain combinations of colours which are generally accepted by people. Monochromatic colour schemes use one colour or hue, containing different values of that colour. As Gloug states 'colours of the same hue are harmonious'. Complementary colour schemes employ colours that are opposite each other on the colour wheel. Triadic colour schemes involve three colours that are equidistant on the wheel. Adjacent colour schemes employ colours that are next to, or near each other on the colour wheel.

{Page thinker}

{Page thinker}

So when you are spring cleaning and redecorating why not get out a colour wheel and come up with some nice colour schemes you like :) All the colours below are from Dulux, for me they are lovely and fresh just the right colours for Spring time :)

* All interior images above are from Dulux Paints Ireland