DIY Moroccan Wedding Blanket Tassels

As you may be aware that I embarked on this Scandinavian journey to decorate the summer home we built last year. Ever since then, my style has taken a more modern and simplistic turn. I almost see different corners of my house a minimalist photography: it's all about giving the subject the attention it deserves, stripping down a scene so that only the most important elements are included in the frame. It's no longer about "more is more" and "go big or go home". Rather, it's all about relaxing my eyes and keeping the palette clean and quiet. Consequently, I broadened my horizon to embrace those stores I wouldn't necessarily shop at before. Hygge styles are all about how you make them. If you haven't shopped at the H&M Home section, I urge you to check out their web site. Each season H&M came up with a themed look. May it be "warm minimalism" or "serene staycation", all of them are modern, at times rustic, Nordic and incredibly lagom and hygge. 

Case in point, how awesome is this black dipped stoneware vase with handles? The rug is also from H&M, and I got it on sale for a song. It's handwoven and 100% cotton. 

This whimsical hand vase is also from H&M. I have to say I am really impressed by the quality of their products. If you see something you like, buy them right away because they will sell out quickly. But don't panic if they are out of stock online, just check back from time to time to see if they come back (most of the time they do!). You also have the option to buy them in store. Note in Toronto only the H&M store at Dundas Square carries home goods. 

Now onto the Moroccan Wedding Blanket - does it ever go out of style? Believe it or not, this one is also from H&M, a less elaborate version. 

I love it's 100% cotton, and planed to use it in our loft bedroom. Imagine how incredible the bed would look with this blanket on. Below is the design board of my cottage loft bedroom - I actually don't remember which iteration this one was but I called it final :))

I felt the blanket was a bit too beige and needed some enhancement in dimensions. Tassel was a super easy addition, though a bit time-consuming. 

There are numerous tutorials online on how to make DIY tassels, super easy really. 

I started out wanting to do all black but ended up with cream and black tassels. Remember to use cotton yarns as they are less sleek to work with. They also kick up very little lint so no downsides. 

What I did was I cut a small opening of the hem and inserted the top strings of the tassel into the opening. I then sewed up the opening and secured the rest of the strings to the hem. You probably wouldn't even know those tassels were add-ons if I didn't tell you :))

Now I just need this weather to improve so we can open up our cottage. This girl has a long list of projects that need to get did! 

DIY Handpainted Holiday Ball Ornaments

If you've been following my blog for a while, you would know I am a Christmas enthusiast. I am the crazy type who would start to plan the next year's color schemes in my head as soon as I packed away last year's tree. I then moved on to spend the rest of the year obsessing over concerns such as whether I would finally get a real tree this year; or I should relocate the tree from foyer to another room for a change; make the Christmas decor stand out versus part of the overall style of my house (like I've been doing), and the list goes on. So every year I couldn't wait for the fall to be over, not just because Christmas comes after that, but also it's my least favourite season of the year decor wise. I don't know how to incorporate all the harvest styles and woodsy colour tones into my home. One pumpkin on a pedestal? Good. A few pumpkins with dry leaves and branches? Not for me. 

In previous years, I would be hitting up a few of my favourite decor stores right around Halloween, in the hope that these retailers would put out their new Christmas ornaments of the year. I wanted to be among the first to claim them my precious. Since last year, my desire to create something myself for Christmas has grown stronger. And while I still love most of the one-off ornaments I collected over the years, I can no longer feel my heart racing for those store-bought pieces that are either embellished with crystals or covered in sparkle dust. I crave for something unique, clean, and maybe a little edgier and more glamorous at the same time. So this year, I've finally rolled up my sleeves and got to work. 

Picture above: my 2015 DIY hand-painted ball ornaments

Here's a list of things you'd need for this fun DIY project:

- Plain white porcelain ball ornaments: I used the 80mm ones. You can get them from pretty much any store that sells Christmas ornaments. 
- Masking tape, self adhesive reinforcements (for polka dot patterns). 
- Pencil: for tracing or sketching patterns.
- Black Sharpies.
- Leafing pen.
- Toilet paper core: cut in half to be used as ball stands. 

For this Pierre Frey Kubus-inspired black and gold block pattern below, I first used the masking tape to tape up the midsection. This is also the most invisible part of a ball ornament. I then used a pencil to trace around the tape then immediately removed the tape to start drawing the diamond patterns inside the traced band. I started with the black diamonds, waited for them to dry, then used the leafing pen to fill in the gold ones. Easy peasy. 

Drawing on a slippery globe was no walk in the park. The first couple of ones were challenging but once I was over the learning curve, I became more confident and started to go freehand with Sharpie. This one below was an example, inspired by a Tasmanian Berber rug pattern. I used Sharpie all the way without any pencil guidance. 

And this one below is probably my favourite, a Sharpie and leafing pen hand-painted ornament à la Kelly Wearstler's Channels pattern. I actually like all the uneven strokes - they make it perfectly imperfect to me in a very organic way. 

The other side of the same ornament, in a completely different screen patterns. 

This one below was my first attempt. 

I am sure you would recognize this one, inspired by the ever-popular Brunschwig & Fils' Les Touches fabric. 

I hand painted a total of 15 ornaments (still have one to go and I am sure inspiration will come :)), and these 4 are my favourites. 

The easiest ones were the tiny polka dot ones, time-consuming but very straightforward. All I did was to cover the balls with self-adhesive reinforcements and fill in the centres with either black Sharpie or leafing pen. The most satisfying ones were the two-toned Channels and the Tasmanian tribal pattern. The one with the most unexpected outcome (in a good way) went to the Pierre Frey Kubus fabric pattern. I had the highest expectation for the striped à la Kate Spade, but it turned out to be the most difficult to draw. 

It was such a fun project. Now go make your own.:)

Ikea Vittsjo Hack

The versatile Ikea Vittsjo is yet another popular series for Ikea hackers. This past weekend I picked up this Ikea Vittsjo Laptop Table with the plan to hack it into a sofa table or hall table for the basement.

There are already tons of fabulous hacks done to the Shelving Unit, like this:

Honey Sweet Home's gold leaf hack is by far my favourite and I totally love the distressed yet highly reflective finish.

Islay Street Style's spray-painted version is also glamorous.

And Fiscally Chic's practical yet stylish hack turned the laptop table into a hall table like this:

Or a spray-painted version by Hope, Longing, Life as a kitchen workstation.

Now I just need to wait for a quieter weekend to start the transformation. Stay tuned for the reveal.

Tall, Fat and Wide

As I was researching for kitchen island lights, I came across these utilitarian chic lights by Tom Dixon - a series of lights inspired by the sculptural simplicity of brass cooking pots and traditional water vessels on the subcontinent. The Beat lights are spun and hand-beaten by renowned skilled craftsmen of Moradabad in Northern India. I can't help but wondering where Ikea got their inspiration from for the ANGENÄM bowls and plates eh?



Via

As much as I love them, they probably wouldn't work with my dark cabinetry and somewhat transitional style kitchen. However, they will work perfectly for a modern kitchen like this:


Via

Or a white kitchen like this:

Via Houzz

Or an industrial chic kitchen like this:

Via

If you love the beat brass, the matte black finish and the tall, fat and wide shapes but don't like the price tags at $535 each, you can consider an Ikea hacked version based the ANGENÄM bowls and plates like this. 

When I first saw the ANGENÄM series at Ikea, I immediately thought of a Tom Dixon beat light hack. But upon a Google search I figured I wasn't the first one to have come up with such an idea after all.

 

 

Foyer DIY Abstract Art

A few weeks ago I painted this abstract art inspired by Richard Serra. I tried to hang it up in the foyer, liked it and took it to a framing shop to have it framed. I chose the faux bamboo champagne frame over the floater (are you surprised?) because I think it works better for the space. So here it is.

BW Abstract Art in Regency Faux Bamboo Frame in Champagne.

A closeup look of the painting.

So this is what it looks like in my foyer. I wish you could see the textures and reflections I could see from different angles.

The staircase looks so overwhelming in all my pictures. My next step is to decide whether to paint the staircase like this, mockup done in PS.

At a minimum, I think I will paint the stringers on both sides to match the painted wall panels. So what do you think? Shall I paint the staircase like in the mockup?

DIY Black and White Abstract Art

This is something I wanted to do for a long time but kept putting off - a DIY black and white abstract painting inspired by the minimalist sculptor Richard Serra's lithographic crayon print, more specifically, his iconic topsy-turvy circles. I've never used paintstick or wax-like grease crayon as a medium before so instead I intended to recreate the look (from afar at least) using acrylic on canvas.

This is not a small time commitment as it took me over a few weekends to complete it. Here is a step-by-step guide in case you are interested in trying out yourself. It's time consuming but otherwise pretty straightforward:

Although the 24x36" stretched canvas I picked up has already been primed, I primed it again with a black paint. Before the paint dried, I quickly stroke out the outlines of the circles. To me these circles are infinite - could you tell where it all started or ended? Legend has it that you could complete these circles in one stroke.

I waited until the black paint completely dried, then painted the circles in very heavy-body white. Through this step I added texture and dimension to the circles which later on could be painted over in black colour. To create a "charcoal and ink print" effect, I used a paper towel to dab runny white paint onto the black canvas. I was pleasantly surprised by the "texture" a ball of paper towel left behind.

I waited a few days for the above to dry up, and used a heavy-body black paint to paint over the white circles. After a few hours, I used a trowel-blade palette knife and started to layer heavy-body white paint over the remaining area. It took a few coats and a lot of patience, all of the efforts needed to create a "print" effect.

A few more days later, I used a ball of paper towel and dabbed some runny burnt umber, raw sienna and vandyke brown paint mix all over the white area to "age" the paint.

The "aged" effect.

 

I tried it in the foyer and kind of liked it, so I took it to a framing shop and narrowed down to two options: a gold-leaf floater frame (on the left corner in the picture below) - a very popular choice for a minimalist abstract painting like this; and a regency faux bamboo frame in a champagne finish. 

 

It will be ready later this week, so I will leave you with this cliffhanger for the time being. Please check back in a few days for the reveal. :)