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A Knitted and Crochered Baby Blanket

I decided to make a small blanket to go over one of the Lloyd Loom chairs in the pink room (when I have decorated it!) A Striped Knitted Baby Blanket To make it I used baby double knit wool in pink and white and size 5 knitting needles. I am not a great knitter but it is a simple pattern. Cast on 150 stitches 1st row - knit 2nd row - knit 3rd row - purl repeat these 3 rows until you are happy with the size. this gives a lovely ribbed chunky effect to the blanket. I continued this until it was a size I was happy with then cast off. To do the crochered trim I used a 4ply wool in deep pink and picked up each stitch with a single chain all around the blanket then I went around again with a double chain in each hole. Then I did the scalloped edge by crochering 6 double chains in 1st hole then miss a hole and then do a single chain in next hole and then miss a hole then do 6 double chains again then miss a hole then do a single chain in next hole,continue all around the

Photo's of Lloyd Loom Style Chairs Before Painting

I brushed the chairs with a stiff washing up brush first to remove any dirt and dust and then vaccumed the dust from them. The first chair is a nursing chair as it has a removable seat where you can store bits and bobs. The Lloyd Loom Style Nursing Chair Before Painting ... With the seat removed ... I forgot to take a photo of the other chair before painting but this is a photo of it with one coat of paint Before painting I taped up the brass feet of the nursing chair to keep them clean and removed the seat. I have used a car spray paint in white gloss which was only £1 per tin in a local cheap shop. I shook the tins well before use and did even coats over each chair. There were a lot of fumes from the paint so I recommend opening windows or doing them outside! So far I am on the 3rd tin of paint and have managed to do 2 full coats on each chair. There were a few drips where the paint went on heavily and I used a small brush to ease these away. I think the ch

Painting A LLoyd Loom Chair

I have aquired some Lloyd Loom style chairs and an ottoman and want to re-paint the chairs in white. Firstly I need to clean the chair by using a brisque brush to remove dirt and fibres. Then hoover to remove the dust. You must be careful not to over wet the chair because it is made of recycled paper and wire. I will be using car spray paint in gloss white to avoid over clumping the weave pattern. The first chair I am revamping has already been heavily painted but the colour has aged. It has not been painted carefully and the weave pattern has been damaged but I am hoping that this won't be too noticeable if I re-spray it carefully. I will add photo's once I have finished ....

Creating A Bright Staircase

When we moved into our home the staircase was dark and dingy with dirty green carpet and drab wall colour. The handrails and spindles had been removed which made the stairs very unsafe. Before... The only aspects of the staircase that we liked were the dado rails and the existing light fitment. The light fitment... We needed to brighten up this area as there is no window in the stairwell. We decided on a light blue and white (colonial theme) which should create a lighter area. To decide on the shade of blue we bought a variety of testers and painted blocks of colour onto the wall (then wrote in pencil over each colour the exact name of the paint). The walls with blocks of paint... The first main job was to make the staircase safe to use. Our carpenter fitted spindles and banaster along the landing and down the right side of the stairs. We then lifted the old carpet and disposed of it, leaving the gripper rods and underlay for re-using. Once we

Small side garden makeover

This is an on-going project which we haven't finished to date. When we moved into this house the garden was a mess full of weeds and rubbish... So far we have removed all the rubbish and the weeds... Tidied the borders and painted the fencing... The garden will be an on-going project for us as the ideas we have are quite expensive. The plan is to have a decking area built at the end of the garden with a fence around and steps up to it, with an arch and gate. The area we wish to cover with decking is large so this project will be expensive. We need to... - replace some of the fencing panels down the left side. - replace the huge, ugly oil container (the large metal box that I have temporarily painted with the fence paint in an effort to hide it!) - do something useful and contructive with the kid's wooden wendy house - this is an object inherited from the previous owners which is used as a shed at the moment. -remove the pampas grass plan

Decorating The Spare Guest Bedroom

This room was previously a child's bedroom according the the lilac carpet and pink disney wallpaper. Before... The first job was to strip the wallpaper which was an easy job as the paper was the pre-glued type and peeled off like child's stickers. The walls were then prepared by filling holes and then sanding down. The carpet was heavily stained so this was removed and replaced with a bargain buy remnant that cost only £59 from a carpet shop closing down sale . The new carpet is a thick, short pile, hessian back in a wine colour. The colour scheme for this room was determined by the bargain buy carpet. We decided on a neutral 'soft white' for the walls and used burgundy and gold bedding to match the carpet. After...

Redecorating The Lounge

The Mystery Of The Black Hole This room posed a problem to us in that it had a huge gaping hole where the fire should have been. inside the fireplace is something resembling an old school radiator (huge and ugly) to which various plumbers 'ooh, arr..ed' and 'tut...tutted' to whilst scratching their heads. 'Well you have a problem their me love' was the consensus of these head scratching 'experts'. So my dreams of an open fire with logs burning on those cold winter nights was subsequently dashed by the ugly backboiler. I researched backboilers in great depth (well I googled) and couldn't find a cheap solution to removing this monster. The choice was: 1. Pay a plumber by the hour to investigate wether it is useable 2. Pay a plumber by the hour to remove it 3. Pay a builder by the day to remove it (all of the above included having the chimney wall chased out to find where any pipes were going to and if they were connected to the heating s

Our New House

These are some pictures of our new house as it was when we first viewed it The Garden "weeds and rubbish galore!" The Side Garden "complete with mature pampas grass" The Hallway "drab 80's revival" The Lounge "complete with the mysterious black hole previously a fireplace!" Cloakroom "No sink, no shower but it did have a loo!" The Stairs "safety first is key with the open plan design!" Bedroom 3 "note the lovely carpet designs made by the previous owners dog!" Bedroom 4 "don't we all just love scoobydoo!"

Introduction

We bought our house in November 2008 and as a repossession, unluckily for us, it was in an awful mess.  It had been stripped of any saleable item including the heating boiler, fireplace, staircase spindles and handrail.  Any remaining carpets were pee stained from dogs and the decor was absolutetly awful! However, even in it's disgraced state we still fell in love with our new house and were excited as well as daunted by the prospect of the time, money and effort required to make this house our home.