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Thursday 21 August 2014

Don't spend a *sheet load* on sheets



This is a real simple blog post, but sometime the simple ones are the best so thought I'd write.

My 21 month old loves our duvet. At snuggle time in the morning she'll say "Cover Cas-sarah Mummy" (Please cover Cassandra, Mummy)

I asked her this morning if she would like her own pillow and duvet and she said yes - very excitedly. The thing is, I'm not sure how much longer she'll be in a cot bed - probably a year. I didn't want to buy cot bed duvet covers for her room and then chuck them out after a year. 

I also noticed that although they're smaller, cot bed duvet sets seem more expensive (around £20) than standard singles (often under £10). Go figure.

So, I bought a full sized single duvet cover, turned it inside out and placed the duvet inside, centring at the bottom in the middle of the buttoned opening. Then I used just a single line stitch on the sewing machine and sewed down each side of the duvet (the reverse pattern had stripes so this was dead easy) then sewed across the top of the duvet. (Make sure not to sew the duvet to the cover!)

So now when she moves up to an adult single duvet, I just need to unpick three lines of stitching.

Result.

(Duvet and pillowcase was £11 from Tesco and will fit in with her elephant curtains)

Tuesday 5 August 2014

Dining room panelling

Following my recent mega-project in the Lounge, I wanted something similar but (much!) simpler in my dining room. And here it is (excuse the pano shot):



It was dead simple to do, and didn't take more than 5hours in total. The skirting cost about £20 for two lengths, and the strip wood about £13, filler around £4 - so as I had the paint and screws already it all cost just under £37 all in. 

Here's my simple 6-step guide to how I did it:

1. I needed to square of the skirting board as I couldn't be bothered to chisel away the shaped edge. So I bought two lengths of board of the same depth and screwed them onto the existing boarding upside down and the wrong way up. Or to be more specific, I countersunk screws having pre-drilled pilot holes in both the new and existing board to prevent splitting the wood. I used 1" screws.




2.  Then I cut four strips of plained wood (45mmx18mmx1800) in half and screwed them into the wall (no raw plugs as they aren't taking any weight, and I was feeling lazy) 33cms apart (just because that looks about right for the gaps I had). Incidentally, I centred(ish) the middle of one of the 'panel' sections on the corner.



3.  I then added a baton, same dimensions as the rest of it but a little longer - 2400mm as that meant no joins) and added it to the top of the strips on the wall. I had some gaps as I wanted it level, but it worked out really well as the floor is very flat. (I know that sounds obvious, but you'd be surprised).



4.  I then filled in all the gaps including:
  • countersunk holes in the timber
  • behind the new skirting board to fill the gap (took a whole pot of filler!)
  • the small gaps between the wall and the top strip
  • the small gaps between the uprights and the top strip


5. I primed the wood with an all purpose primer and had to wait 24 hours to wait for it to dry - grr.



6.  I added a couple of coats of paint from the bedroom project I'd done upstairs (a lot of mileage out of a £10 pot of paint!) and I was AMAZED how well it matched my dresser! :) RESULT. Remember if I can help you out with advice on a similar project, email me at okidokeyolatoke@gmail.com. And don't forget to check my shop page if you are looking for a truly unique gift for a loved one.