My kitchen today is light, follows my pink and green colour scheme and has some actual form of organisation!
Looking at the kitchen the way it used to be makes me cringe. I can’t believe it used to be so messy >_< We kept a lot of food here considering it was an apartment, the stupid thing being that it wasn’t stuff we needed. Most of the things that were on these shelves were there because we impulse bought or we had several half finished packets of things. It wasn’t needed!
Photo spam:
Starting with a shot of the whole kitchen/lounge area to get an idea of space. You’ll notice the sleepy puppy in the kitchen now haha!
The kitchen is very standard for an apartment this size. I’m very glad there’s an oven and dishwasher though as I saw quite a few that didn’t come with them.
The bench has my favorite change: the covered backsplash. I am planning to change that out for a green one a bit later though as I think the stripes aren’t exactly what I envisioned.
On the right side the appliances are now organised. I made a hanging hook thing to get some of the stuff off the bench. I love the idea of hanging hooks and being able to put things up and away because the space up there is pretty useless otherwise.
On the other side I created a little matching system of drawers in pink/green and stacked our other things over the top. I’ll be moving the hot chocolate etc into matching containers eventually so it will be even more matchy.
I think it’s the smaller details that really made the kitchen. Having everything in similar colours and with similar patterns really made a big difference visually.
The kitchen is a fairly functional place but having small decorated touches doesn’t take away from the functionality, it makes me very happy.
Background information:
When we moved here we saw the kitchen and lack of storage space and thought “Pft, who cares, we’ll eat out all the time and we’ll drop by the grocery store every few days”. Did that happen? No. We did exactly what we previously did and shopped every few weeks and had no money to eat take away >_< Going to the grocery store? Pft no, we order online now and just pick up little things at the store when needed. So that’s how we somehow ended up with all of this crap. Our kitchen appliances and things didn’t fit anywhere either. This place had minimum bench space so it’s impossible to keep many appliances, the lack of actual storage space means you can’t even really keep them in the cupboards because they’re very thin. When we started here we didn’t have a proper fridge, just a mini fridge so it made things easier as the space where the fridge was could be used for extra appliances. The kitchen was one of my hardest areas to redecorate because no matter how I organised things the gigantic blue backsplash still wasn’t the right colour to go with what I wanted. It was the last thing I put in here and it really changed the look. This area is the place which still needs the most work but it’s stuff which will gradually be replaced and changed.
Changes made:
Removed 2 sets of shelves
Added coloured backsplash
Made mini shelves for bench storage
White board for fridge
Reorganised benches and cupboards
Started replacing broken things like crockery with the correct colours (green and pink)
Still to be done:
Possibly replace pink backsplash with a green one
Replace the rest of the appliances/crockery/cutlery so they all match
Do something about ugly black bench
Final thoughts: We rent so there’s only so much I can do in areas which have been already decorated. When I own the house I’ll be doing bigger things like repainting or adding new backslashes but for now I’ve made a big enough difference to be happy with the kitchen. I don’t spend as much time in here as I want to (James does all the cooking) but as I spend more time baking, I find the changes are making it more enjoyable. I actually like being in the kitchen baking now… that can only mean good things as it makes me want to bake more 😀
Bonus progress photos: The Home Sweet Home page from my diary that I never actually posted.
With all of the cupboards open. The one above the rangehood is only a few inches deep so you can only keep spices there. The one next to it has blocks of wood drilled in so plates can only be a certain width. The one below the sink has a bunch of piping for the dishwasher so it’s very thin too. I think whoever designed this storage had never actually lived in a house before, don’t even get me started on the bedroom cupboards!!
These were the shelves we originally had in here, the white one on the right slides into the wall (super unhelpful) and is built in. The middle one was completely falling apart so I repaired it and gave it to James for his photography stuff. The black one was repurposed for our clothes.
It’s a bit ridiculous that I managed to fit everything from the two left shelves on to the the right one with some organisation and actually chucking out things which I shouldn’t have been keeping.
Make sure you come back tomorrow for the next instalment: the hallway!
Looking through my hardrive makes me wish I’d taken more photos before so I could show what a big difference there’s been. I didn’t take many out of embarrassment >_< This is a before but it was a lot worse than this for the first 8 months.
Photo spam:
I really suggest clicking the panoramas to get the full view! You can spot a very sleepy puppy in a lot of them 😉
The view from the kitchen. The cherry blossom windows look particularly awesome on the middle window.
This area typifies the theme I wanted to have for the apartment: Spring.
This is my favorite part of the entire house. This is the window I spend pretty much all day every day staring at. I wanted something to inspire me and I absolutely love it. Every time I look at this window it puts a smile on my face. It’s partially because that container is usually full of M&Ms and partially because it’s beautiful 😉
One more because I love it so much. It seems ridiculous but this just feels *right*.
My noticeboard and photo wall. For Christmas James bought me a gift to Printstagram so I will be getting our photos printed to fill this wall up with happy memories!
The new couch with the rug I spent months crocheting. I made all of those pillows other than the green one too. The speakers I recovered are on the sides.
I crocheted the spiral cushion and the others were made of old dresses. I am most proud of the rug though, it took me so long and I was basically making it up as I went along. If I could stand the idea of spending the next year crocheting I would make one big enough to cover the carpet in our room. It took 10 balls which we got half price at just $2 each!
The tv area is now no longer a mess of cables. Everything has a place.
Background information:
So the lounge is the most important part of the apartment, it’s the area I spend the most time in and I like it to be nice and relaxing. When we came from Brisbane, we didn’t bring any furniture at all. Everything that came down with us was in our car. Not much fit in the car! We bought appliances like the tv, fridge etc when we moved in but didn’t have much left for furniture. Luckily we had some very kind friends who gave us a desk and a folding chair as a start. Even luckier, our apartment had a hard rubbish removal day a few months after we arrived and we were able to salvage some really awesome things including our tv table, rug and a big table we used for a while as my desk. We managed to get the antique couches from a family downstairs who were collectors but also out of room. They were my favorites for a very long time but they were in very bad shape. I wanted to restore them completely but they were too far gone for me so I ended up having to give them away in favor of something newer. I hope the lady that has them now can restore them to their former glory!
You guys will remember that I made some removable curtains for the middle window. We struggled with them for around 6 months before I decided that they just didn’t fit with the look. I absolutely adored them but with the door being broken behind them and therefore very hard to open in Summer they had to go. I actually prefer it this way now that the cherry blossoms are up because it gives a complete view when all of the blinds are up. I reused the fabric from one of the curtains in the bedroom which you’ll see later and once the window is properly fixed I will think about putting something similar back up again.
Changes made:
Couches replaced
Rug replaced with handmade crochet rug
Everything rearranged
Side table painted white
New table cloths for all of the side tables
General cleaning
New decorations for the sliding doors
Tv table rearranged
Inspiration area added
Broken speaker system fixed and covered
Tv area reorganised
Curtains made then removed
Stars on windows replaced with cherry blossoms
Still to be done:
Not totally happy with the tv area, need something else, or something less or a better set up.
Debating whether I want to keep the sliding doors the way they are or whether I would prefer a different set up.
Final thoughts:
I love my lounge room now. This is possibly the room I love the most. This room has gone through the most changes since we moved in but it’s the one I’m the most proud of. When I sit and look out the window at my special flower area I feel relaxed and that’s really what this was all about!
Bonus progress photos:
The tv area with the first version of the inspiration area on the left. The table next to it used to be just full of whatever junk I was using at the time and needed to clean away quickly.
The day our new couch was delivered the whole place was super messy and trashed. They delivered the couch broken too so we had a week and a half trying to fix everything >_<
I was so happy to get rid of the red rug, it made the room so much brighter!
The end of couch moving day, enjoying being comfortable. Lottie totally approved of having her own place on the couch now ^_^
My pretty area started out as Lottie’s area while we were toilet training her XD
Everything was very Lottie-centric at this point ^_^
Make sure you come back tomorrow for the next instalment: the kitchen!
So almost a year ago I started The Home Sweet Home Project. It was my aim to stop procrastinating about decorating my house and actually do it. We rent and because of that I had a tendency to not bother with decorations or actually making places feel like home as I didn’t know where we would be in 6 months or a year. It didn’t seem like a good mentality and almost a year later I can say that I’ve made a lot of really positive changes both in our home and the way that I look at things.
The first meal we ever had in the apartment, James got Subway and I had Okonomiyaki. Note the lack of furniture and the cardboard boxes next James which will soon be turned into furniture XD
So what was I trying to get out of this project and do I think I’ve completed it?
To make every part of the house pretty without losing functionality.
With our budget and time allowance, we’ve done amazingly well. There are still areas which need improvements but I am really proud of the progress we’ve made so far! The house looks like a completely different place. When we moved in, I had to make our furniture out of cardboard. How times have changed!
Me putting together my cardboard furniture right after moving in. Having to cut up all of those heavy boxes really cut up my hands too:
To spend as little money as possible.
We stuck to our budget because we bought as we found things cheaply and made most of the big things from scratch. The biggest purchase we made was a new couch for the lounge room and that was actually a gift from my Mum so I was very lucky in that area!
Regain my creativity and problem solving skills.
I feel invigorated. I lost my inspiration in some areas (mostly drawing) but I found it in others. I think that’s just the nature of inspiration though isn’t it? If we were inspired all the time it wouldn’t feel as awesome coming up with something new!
Replace all ugly things.
We’ve made some real progress on this. Most of the things which now need replacing are in the kitchen and as I have no intention of wasting things I’ll be replacing them as they wear out.
Practice decorating for our real home.
No matter where our first “real” home ends up being I know that the lessons I’ve learned here will allow me to decorate it with ease! I’m absolutely looking forward to moving there too and hopefully it will be this year!
Stop procrastinating!
I’m not completely sure I managed this one >_> I mean I’ve stopped several times while writing this post to watch Poirot over the top of my laptop… but I have gotten a lot of things done! I have worked very hard this year at making our house nice. I guess a little procrastination isn’t really a bad thing as it gives time to relax when you haven’t scheduled it. I tend to schedule everything so perhaps embracing procrastination (to a point) as my brain’s way of saying “Enough is enough!” is the right thing to do at the moment.
Surround ourselves with beauty .
I think I’ve checked this off very well!
Stop waiting and start DOING!
Well and truly DONE!
So overall I think I’ve made a pretty damn good go of this project and while I know it’s never going to be completely finished I can be comfortable at calling this finished 😀
For the next week I’ll be posting one room per day with before/afters and everything that’s happened in between. I hope you enjoy them!
Today’s Morning Make Up is simple and good for every day looks. It’s basically my go to style which involves minimal effort. I love looking good but I’m so lazy in the mornings XD
It’s still Winter in my mind so here’s another very basic nail video featuring some snowflakes!
Wigs, Hair Extensions and Ponytails Oh My! December Vlogs Day 17
Morning Make Up Live! December Vlogs day 18
Making Billy Idol Day Cards With Lottie! December vlogs day
Why Do We Suck At Shopping This Year? December vlogs day 20
Blow Dry Bar, Packages and Gongcha Opening! December Vlogs Day 21!
Miss Lottie’s fanclub totally spoils her rotten. Kim, who is her #1 fan bought Lottie an adorable strawberry house!
She absolutely loved it so I decided to customise it to match the lovely card Kim painted too!
I decided the easiest way to do it was needle felting.
I laid out the letters in pink wool.
And pinned them in so I could see the placement well.
One by one I added thicker white wool to the top of each letter then thicker pink to the bottom. I blended them together so they looked like the watercolour that Kim did.
Here’s a closer view.
And after the finishing touches…
You can see the colours more clearly here when it’s a bit darker:
The verdict from Lottie was pretty clear!
So perfect for her!
I’m sure she doesn’t know the difference but I smile every time I look at it! Thank you Kim!!!
Here’s some extremely basic snowflake nailart. I really need to get better lighting for these videos. This one’s not really a full tutorial but I’ve been filming what I do with my nails as I grow them out slowly! .
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A blog and Youtube channel about a girl and her quest to make everything sparkle. New craft, hair and beauty tutorials every week!
Violet LeBeaux spends most of her time trying to think of ways to make life prettier, posting said ways on her blog and drinking very strong tea. She writes about big hair cute things, girly fashion, beauty finds, sometimes Hime Gyaru fashion (姫ギャル) and crafty tutorials.
She lives with her adorable boyfriend Jimmy, fluffy puppy Miss Lottie and Bergamot Bunny in Melbourne, Australia.
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Music: Garageband unless otherwise credited
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Snowflake nail art instructions.
Hello!
Today I’ll show you how I do some very simple snowflake nail art.
Start by painting a base coat alternating fingers in silver and light blue.
The light blue I had was very plain so I added a sparklier coat to it too.
Using a nail pen or thing brush, paint white snow flakes randomly all over the nails.
Each snow flake is made up of 3 lines crossing over in the middle with arrows on the end and arrows between the stems.
Make sure to keep the lines quite thin or else it will be hard to tell what the snowflake actually is.
You can alternate the designs slightly on each fingers to keep it interesting.
I gave some of the snowflakes extra crosses and some of them had little hearts on the end, all kinds of things like that.
Once it’s completely dry, give everything a nice top coat.
Don’s press too hard or the snowflakes might run a bit.
These snowflakes make a perfect winter manicure.
Or if you’re like me, and you’re somewhere that it’s extremely Summery at the moment, you can use them to dream about next Winter.
Hope this was a useful video, please check out the blog post linked in the description for more information and tutorials.
Thanks so much for watching!
Bye!
Illustrator. Strong tea, knitting, watercolours, and making a video game called Moonlight in Garland. Living with her adorable husband Jimmy, fluffy puppy Miss Lottie and Bergamot Bunny in Melbourne, Australia.
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