3 minute read
‘HOME IS A FULL-ON COLOUR
from Fdxcgv
by elloco2019
ll- on COLOUR BOMB!’
Naomi brushed up her crafting skills and embraced her love of bright colours to drag a dated 1960s terraced home bang into the 21st century
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My husband Luke already owned the house when I moved in,’ says Naomi. ‘He bought it in 2010 as he was keen to get on the property ladder, and then rented it out for a couple of years. As he is a plumber he’d already updated the bathroom and replaced the carpet and lino in the kitchen and bathroom. We moved in two years later in 2012, after I had finished university. We had no spare money, but fortunately some mid-century pieces of furniture had been left behind by the previous owners that I was able to upcycle.
Tidying up
The house was built in the 1960s and was very dated. Despite some nice original features, such as skirting boards and architraves, I don’t think the decor had been changed for at least 40 years. There was a lot of blown vinyl wallpaper going on! In order to sell the house the previous owners had replaced the kitchen with Ikea units, but they didn’t tile it. There was also a loft extension which hadn’t been finished. In fact a flue ran up through the middle of the loft room because the boiler had been installed in the centre of the house, which was impractical and inconvenient. There was – and still is – a lot that needs to be done.
Exterior issues
The house is an end-of-row property, next to a country lane, with lots of farm traffic trundling by. There was no fencing outside, just a hedge. And no space to park our cars. The first thing we did was to remedy this by removing the many conifer trees to
Do it!
HANG 3D PRISM GARLANDS
YOU WILL NEED
Prism template Coloured card Glue gun Scissors
Needle Twine String
1Print your template onto coloured card and cut out.
2Score along the dotted lines of the template. Fold the card to form the prism and glue to secure.
3Repeat to make more prisms until you reach your desired length.
4Thread a needle with twine. Pull the needle through the top of one prism, thread through a second prism from the inside.
5Make a loop in the twine at each end and hang the prism garland. JUNGLE VIBES
‘I’ve revived the box room by creating another mural wall’
personalised, but we decided it would be our long-term home once Otis was born. I was inspired by a living area I’d seen where three of the walls were painted in different colours. I found that really interesting. I chose two neutral shades and a bold one for our space. As it’s a small multifunctional room, serving as a living room, playroom and dining room, using different colours allowed me to zone it, which works really well, even in such a small space. The olive green is the main shade; it’s a gentle, earthy colour that makes the artwork pop.
Mural magic
There’s also a lot of influence from my mum here. I grew up in a colourful house, where she even painted an under-the-sea world in our downstairs loo, so it’s not surprising I followed suit! The first mural I did was the one on the stairs and landing. I sketched an idea of what I wanted onto the wall using a pencil, and then bought some Valspar tester paint pots and used those to paint it. I did it in my son’s nap time, so it took a while. I wanted a solid block colour, which takes more coats of paint, especially when you’re using yellows and oranges.
Kitchen update
The kitchen is about 10 years old and it’s on its last legs, but it has to last until we add a side extension. I never liked it though, because it was painted grey and had grey tiles and dreary neutral cabinets. I found the cane that I’ve used on the cabinets in Luke’s grandpa’s garage. He used to make cane chairs and Luke’s grandma kept all his tools and materials when he passed away. I cut the cane GET CRAFTY
‘This is a handy spot to store pencils’
