I’d recently been suffering a case of the decorating blahs.

There are only so many times you can rearrange the same ol’ pieces after all, so I’m delighted to be working with Target to freshen up my decor for the new season.

It was time to send the hurricane lamp to the bench for a break and bring in a new player for the dining table centrepiece.

I’d been wanting to try out a cloche for ages, but they were always too boring, or too formal or too expensive, so I was pleased to find this quirky one with a metal base. At the moment it is housing a stunning faux giant peony from Lotus Flowers but I can imagine it will be a really versatile piece that I’ll be able to change up with the seasons and holidays.

Flowers are the ultimate decorating accessory, of course, so I paired it with some supermarket tulips for a really fresh, happy centrepiece.

I picked up this sweet artwork by Peach Patrol a few weeks ago at a market and it had been sitting waiting for the perfect frame. I’ve bought frames like these from Target before and I keep coming back to them as the double mat gives it a way higher-end look than the nine bucks they cost!

I then turned my attention to the laundry. I am terrible at keeping indoor plants alive so it makes sense for me to go faux. There was a great selection but I ultimately decided on this cracked glaze potted succulent. I think it’s rather charming!

I also spotted this cute gardening tool kit (green! in a tin!) and knew it would be the perfect practical accessory for the laundry shelving, which is adjacent to the door into the courtyard. (Sorry, I can’t find the link online but check your local store.)

So there you have it! A mini freshen up of our downstairs was just the thing to get me out of my decorating funk.

How about you? What have you been tweaking at home lately?

Disclosure: This post was sponsored by Target. They provided me with shopping vouchers to buy product. Opinions are my own.

We already have a pretty good small space ironing solution (a tabletop ironing board) but this ironing mat from Solutions takes it one step further.

I’m always inspired by Jen of I Heart Organizing, but never more so than at the moment because my house is in such an atrocious state.

This makeover proves you don’t have to replace everything to make a big difference: just look at what a coat of paint, updated flooring and a few well-chosen accessories can do!

(Also? I was dying to show you this fab rug. I had come across it earlier and decided that it was my dream rug. Seeing Jen’s laundry confirmed that it is, in fact, the most awesome rug I have ever seen. Unfortunately Mr-Remember-I-Have-Veto-Rights started to make vomit noises at my suggestion. The search continues…)

Design*Sponge were kind enough to feature another one of my makeovers recently, this time our laundry.

It reminded me of this fabulous laundry makeover.

It almost makes me want to do my ironing with a glass of champagne in the other hand.

Almost.

A little while ago I discovered IHeart Organizing and was immediately addicted to the daily dose of inspiration. So I was thrilled when the super sweet blogger Jen agreed to share one of my own organised spaces with her readers. You can read her feature here.

Thanks so much, Jen!

If you’re here visiting from IHeart Organizing, welcome! You might like to start by browsing the organising category or project file. You can also find full details of the laundry-related projects:
Initial laundry makeover 
Installing taps 
Removing window film 
Gallery wall – postcard art, greeting card art, book art

One thing that’s always bothered me about our laundry is the gross, cloudy window film. I first attempted its removal a year or two ago – completely unsuccessfully – by trying to peel or scrape off the film wtih a metal paint scraper. But boy, was it stuck on good (I suspect it has been on there since the block was built in 1973). But after recently switching to some snazzy new tapware, my desire to remove the window film was reinvigorated.

By the way, I’ve got nothing against a good frosted window, but this wasn’t a frosting film, it was a tinted film that had gone cloudy and patchy. Here it is up close:

You can also see evidence of the problem with window screens: people, or at least I, don’t clean what’s hidden beyond the screen. Eww. We never really open that window (if we want some fresh air we’ll just open the back door) so there wasn’t any need to keep the flyscreen. A crusty security sticker that’s quite obviously thirty years old is long past its effectiveness as a burglary deterrant, so I was happy to get rid of that too.

After some research (thank you, Google) I found that ammonia was consistently recommended as a way to remove window film. I poured some into a sprayer bottle, applied to the window, left it a while to soak in. When I returned with the scraper, exactly the same thing happened as in my earlier attempt. That is, nothing. I couldn’t so much as chip off a corner. I applied more ammonia, this time covering it with cling wrap in an attempt to have it soak in rather than simply run down the window. Again, nada. I walked away and sulked tried to think of a plan C. Then The Man strolls in with his annoying handy habit of trying everything until something works, which was: what I was doing + some manly biceps = success! In the end, all it required was a bit of force behind the paint scraper to get the sodding stuff off once and for all.

Pity about the view of the neighbour’s washing. But overall it’s great, it lets so much more light in and looks so much cleaner and fresher.

Joan Miró Carnival of Harlequin (1924-1925)

As part of my mini gallery wall in the laundry, I framed this art postcard that I’ve actually had since childhood (apparently I was into Modernist art even as a ten year old!). I also had the frame (an Ikea Ribba) elsewhere in the house, so no cost there either.

Postcards are a fantastic type of affordable – or often free – art. Sure, they’re small, but what they lack in size they make up for in cost and variety. You may already have one lying around like I did, or you can keep your eye out at cafes and galleries where they may be used as promotions. Small-scale art can get lost on a wall, so try having a whole set or incorporating a single one in a larger arrangement, like I’ve done here.

Hands up who keeps greeting cards they receive? I definitely don’t keep them all (ugh, clutter!) but I do keep cards that have particularly sentimental messages, great design, were handmade or were for extra special occasions.

This card, made by a dear friend for The Man and I for our engagement, falls under all of those categories. I just love how she’s added our initials to the design. Certainly one of the perks of being a designer is that I’ve made a lot of wonderfully talented friends!

If you haven’t got any frame-worthy cards sitting in your memory box you can still achieve a similar look. Find a piece of pretty wrapping paper, take an abstract photo or cut a fun pattern out of a magazine and add your personalised text using Letraset (you can find this at graphic arts supplies or scrapbooking stores).

That’s not the only cheap-but-meaningful greeting card art around our place. This cute illustration is actually an oversized greeting card purchased while on our recent New Zealand trip. I was running out of unused frames lying around so I simply used a bulldog clip instead.

The final example is one of my own designs, a letterpressed calligraphy greeting card. I think the sentiment is ideal considering its location next to the front door.

So what do you think? Time to drag out the shoebox full of old cards and breathe new life into some of them.

After creating this mini gallery wall in the laundry without spending a single cent, I thought I’d start a series on affordable art as I mentioned yesterday. First up we have the sweet little scene in the top left frame.

It came from an art book that I’d inherited following the passing of my great auntie some years ago. She had quite the book collection and was very interested in art, so when the family was going through her house and I was allowed to take a few books I chose this one.

I was taken by the naive style, although I must admit not all of the artworks were winners:

Yikes. Not really what I had in mind.

This was more like it! The frame I already had lying around, so it was just a matter of carefully slicing out the page and trimming it to size. I know some people get thingy about ruining books. But the way I see it, I am honouring the book’s contents more by having it on display for us (and any visitors) to see and enjoy it every day, rather than the book gathering dust or being chucked out.

Anyway, I have been meaning to frame this for years so I’m stoked that it is finally up. It makes me smile every time I see it.

As much as I’m pleased with the laundry makeover, I thought it was a bit bright and utilitarian which could be softened with the addition of some neutral colours and more homely elements. After much cutting and framing and hammering, I have this little gallery wall. 

So do you like the newest addition to our laundry? Guess what? It cost me a grand total of zero dollars! I have a non-existent decorating budget right now, but I didn’t let that stop the nesting urge, so I raided the house for items that could be given a new purpose.

I figure we could all do with some affordable art ideas, so I’ll go through all the details in series of posts starting tomorrow.