Sunday, April 21, 2013

Building a vintage home

We bought chairs!
Check out Oxfam furniture shops if there is one nearby, we got 5 of these chairs for £45! Bargain. I think I'm going to get some Annie Sloan chalk paint and paint them an off white colour so our kitchen is not too much pine.
Although I'm currently torn between painting them white and painting them a neutral colour, like Annie Sloan's country grey.

Next on the list is a chest of drawers which I'm also going to paint.

Been back at work this week which was a bit of a shock to the system! I was enjoying my Easter crafty holidays so much and then bam being back at work!
I never have the motivation when I'm working to be crafty so I haven't made anything in while. Got loads of ideas planned though!

Amy






Saturday, April 6, 2013

Fantasy

I was wondering around Hebden Bridge today looking at craft fairs and vintage shops. Eventually my absolute ultimate dream would be to open my own craft/vintage shop. Buy old furniture and upcycle it and sell my own cushions/bunting etc.
I feel like this realistic but at the same time impossible.
I have absolutely no idea where to start but I am going to at least give it a shot. I need to practise my sewing skills and create my own unique ideas and then hopefully open a proper etsy shop which might lead on to craft fairs etc.
I've really been bitten by the crafty bug and I am really enjoying it so far. If anyone has any tips for helping someone new start up I'd appreciate any help.

Here's to the future!

Amy

Thursday, April 4, 2013

Moving in

It took us a while to find our house and when I say a while it was the first house we looked at.
For me it didn't have that certain sense of this is where I'm going to live however considering the other options in our price range we quickly realised this house is amazing. Now I can't imagine living anywhere else.

When we first moved in we had nothing, only furniture that other people gave us and some bits and bobs that I already had such as cutlery and plates etc. For 2 months we were living on a mattress on the floor!
We haven't been able to buy everything we wanted at once so we had to prioritise. The first thing we bought was a bed.


To start buying things for our house is amazing and I love to see it grow which is why I've started this blog. To share my ideas of what I'm doing and what I want to do with our house.

Probably my favourite thing that we have bought so far is our table. My boyfriend, Gary, persuaded me to buy it after we visited a furniture shop down the road and it was on sale! It's absolutely perfect and just what I was looking for. Unfortunately we don't have any chairs yet, but I'm on the lookout for some!


This is probably another favourite of mine, I've been looking for an old wooden blanket box, more like a trunk, but when I found this in Homesense for £30 I couldn't resist. (Please ignore the unmade bed!). The wardrobes that we have already are white and after buying 2 more white pieces of furniture I think I'm keeping the white furniture theme for upstairs.



We've been here 3 months now (nearly 4) and we're getting there, slowly but surely. I've really found the style that I love and there's so many pieces that I'm lusting after at the moment (keep an eye out for a post on what I'm wishing for at the moment) but I'm really enjoying seeing it all piece together bit by bit.
Finding shops like The Range and buying the jugs below helps too. (Check out the Emma Bridgewater style jug that cost me £5!)

Tuesday, April 2, 2013

Hello!

Welcome to my blog. I've decided to set up a blog to keep track of my crafty makes and to show progress on our new home.

This is me:



My name is Amy and I've recently started an interest in crafts, specifically patchwork. 
Like most new crafters the lure of Cath Kidston has sucked us in. For me, my mum has always been into handmade crafts, she made her own curtains and a patchwork blanket that currently lies on our sofa. When we moved into our house, it made sense to save money and make things myself (plus it gives me a fun new hobby).



My first patchwork cushion


I'll be doing crafty tutorials later so watch out for those. I really enjoyed making this cushion, I find patchwork quite challenging trying to choose patterns that work well together and making sure all the squares are in line. However I get a great sense of achievement from making my own crafty things.

I decided to set my own blog up because keeping track of all the beautiful things I want is starting to clog up my phone's photo albums and I wanted to share my ideas with everyone.

Thanks for reading and keep an eye out for tutorials and my new ideas. In the meantime if you want to check out my crafts and new home there's lots of pictures on my instagram (search _hello_amy)

Amy