Five Things I Love This Week #3

If you want to make the weekend come around fast, start a regular Friday blog post. This week has disappeared in a blur but I’m back with another ‘Five Things I Love This Week’. The cover image isn’t part of the five, I just thought that those of you who aren’t on Instagram, won’t have seen my little bedroom switch-up. I suppose that makes it ‘Six Things’. Oops!

Retro Book Cover

Last Saturday we took a trip to ‘Somebody Cares’, a huge charity shop in Aberdeen. It wasn’t for anything other than a good nosey around… but I still managed to make a purchase. As we were leaving, I noticed this book on a sideboard. I walked right past before thinking ‘hang on’ and doing a U-turn to have a closer look. How cool is this cover?!

I love a graphic pattern so snapped it up for the bargain price of 20p. It was so cheap because there are lots of pages missing and others that have been scribbled over. I fully intend on completely destroying it and framing up that gorgeous cover. I will definitely be keeping my eye open for more pretty book covers in need of ‘saving’.

Kitchen Wall Lamp

After days of browsing online for the perfect wall lights for our kitchen, we came up with one option. One. After literal days… one. It was this:

We both loved the shape, but we really didn’t want gold or brass. I love brass, we have lots of brass. We just don’t want the kitchen to be all about brass… and brass tends to be all about brass. Our ideal light would be pewter or a natural iron finish. Something a little traditional, that maybe looks a little more hand-made.

We could have bought these (£90+ plus shipping) but really didn’t want to fork out that sort of money on something that we are going to have to paint. Then these happened…

These are everything that we loved about the more expensive lamps, but for only £14.99! Thank you Overhang Chrome Wall Light from ‘The Range’.

At that price, these bad boys were destined to get painted. A light sand with 600 grit wet and dry sandpaper to key the surface, two coats of primer (I always use Halfords spray primer), two coats of Rust-oleum Stove and BBQ Paint, and we were here:

To get the iron effect I used Annie Sloan Dark Silver Gilding Wax, applied with a stippling brush in a circular stippling motion. Once I dipped the brush, I removed the excess on scrap paper, so as not to be too heavy with my application. I then used the dry brush to brush over every surface, again in a circular motion.

I am yet to give it a spray with a matt varnish to protect it, and I also have a plan for the glass shade. I’ll keep you posted on that one.

For The Love of White

Who knew that I would ever be drawn to white interiors? Well, me, kinda.

I got this book for Christmas and I’ve only just had a chance to look through it. I’ve always loved the look of a white and natural looking interior, I’ve just never particularly wanted one for myself. This book has me all kinds of interested though. The textures, the layers, the airiness…. Could this be a move for our study? It is tiny, so could definitely carry it off. I’m thinking: tongue and groove, an old industrial (or antique looking?) desk, beaten up metal finishes, soft textures and some sort of strong geometric form to add contrast. Just a thought, for now.

Our New Range Cooker.

Okay, this is not the prettiest photograph ever, but hopefully it should be enough to show you how pretty our new range cooker is. SO pretty. It’s from the Delonghi Vintage range and is the perfect mix of traditional and contemporary. I cannot wait for Brian to start cooking on it! (I won’t be allowed near it, which I have NO issue with). This is another sneaky peek at the direction we are heading with the room, which will be blogged about very soon. Our plans have changed a little since this post.

And On That Note…

Number 5. I’ll just leave this here for now.

Have a brilliant Friday folks xx