Green Mermaid Cottage

Most of my furniture come from charity shops, markets, Freegle and Facebook Marketplace. As usual I like the idea of recycling items, rather than buying new. I also think that these pre-loved pieces fit in better with the overall boho, eclectic decor that I have chosen for my house.  Learning to up-cycle these items, with chalk pa int for example, means that I can give them a new lease of life and surround myself with colourful pieces for a fraction of the price that vintage, wood furniture would cost in the shops.  Below are the steps that I follow when I source a new piece of furniture that looks a bit tired, dated and unloved to turn it into a new, bright addition to my home.  Preparing the item Clean item thoroughly. I use sugar soap or create a solution made of equal parts white vinegar and water  Fill any scratches or holes. I use   basic wood filler Sand the item. This helps take any sheen off and remove old paint. Always sand in the same ...

Last year my interest in up-cycling, and the fact that I was too broke to buy new clothes, led me to decide to learn how to use a sewing machine.  From Pierrot doll to pirates… I vaguely remember using a sewing machine for the first time at school during an art and craft project where as part of a group of bored and slightly puzzled teenagers I was taught how to create a fabric Pierrot doll.  Needless to say as an adult I had forgotten everything about threading and using a machine, beyond the memory that I had somehow managed to sew the Pierrot’s black hat the wrong way around. My first step before investing in a beginner sewing machine was to attend an introductory sewing workshop. I wanted to make sure that I would enjoy sewing, before I spent any money on purchasing one, and to be able to learn the basics of using a machine and ask for support before letting myself loose on my own machine at home. Someone recommended Fabrications   in Hackney and I signed up for...

 Making your own potpourri is a natural way to add lovely fragrances to a room.  A potpourri ( a French word which translates as ‘rotten pot’, but don’t worry the result is more appealing than it sounds! ) is a mixture of ingredient such as dried petals, spices, cinnamon sticks, pine cones and citrus peels placed into a bowl to perfume a room.  I am lucky to have roses, rosemary and lavender growing in my garden, so I decided to use them as the main ingredients for my potpourri.  I gathered rose petals and rosemary and lavender stems and I let them air dry for a few days in my kitchen.  The best way to dry herbs like lavender and rosemary is to tie the stems together in little bunches with an elastic and hang them upside down with a bit of thread.  To add to this, I cut out some orange and lemon peels when I was making my morning orange juice and lemon tea and I also left them dry out for a few days in my kitchen.  When all my ingredi...

When I started on my DIY journey I was lucky to acquire bags of lovely fabrics for free on r ecycling app Freegle   and I wanted to use them as much as possible in my home decoration DIY projects.  So, when I found a couple of ceiling shades in a charity shop that were the right size for what I needed but looked drab and tired,I decided to use some of the fabrics I had to give them a new lease of life.      (Pic: Discoloured, stained original shade on the left and up-cycled version with a new fabric on the right) You will need: - Fabric of your choice - Lamp or ceiling shade  - Fabric glue and a brush to apply the glue ( a cheap paint brush is fine) - Fabric scissors   - A pencil and a ruler - A sheet of paper to make your pattern - Sewing pins to attach the pattern to your fabric - Optional: pegs to help you keep the fabric in place as the glue is drying. The process: - Lay your lampshade on its side and on top of your paper (towards the right ed...

Once I had paid for the most urgent repairs to my House of Horrors and done as much DIY as I could to sort out the walls and flooring, I had nothing left to spend on making it look homely and comfortable.  I found being in the almost empty house incredibly depressing. Everything felt cold and dark. I really wanted it to reflect my personality and I dreamt of a boho, arty, eclectic and colourful haven.   DECORATING ON A BUDGET And so I turned to charity shops, markets, Facebook Marketplace and recycling apps like Freegle to try to furnish my home and improve the look of my garden on a small budget. I found that many charity shops sell furniture as well as clothing and objects. For example, I got a huge armchair and a beautiful recycled red cabinet from Emmaus Dover, a  social enterprise that supports local homeless people and help them develop new work skills.  I also found chairs and plant pots in skips that people were only too happy to give away. ...