I have been wanting to do this project for a long time now, but I have been struggling to find a piece of wood large enough. In my head, I imagined a large wooden gecko looking like it was climbing up the wall of my house. If you follow my blog you will also know I am mad about Shou Sugi Ban. And yes, you got it, the finish was going to be Shou sugi ban. As a stroke of luck, one of the local people in our town contacted me and said she had a wooden sideboard unit that she wanted to get rid of. It was free I just had to go and pick it up.  It turned out to be the perfect size for this pr ..read more

This project was a request from my Son. He asked if I would be able to make him an outdoor bar table for his entertainment area at home. He is 6″4 and finds sitting at regular outdoor picnic benches very uncomfortable.   My son is also one of those people who like to stand and lean on a table when chatting rather than sitting on a stool.  So he wanted the table to be higher so it would be more comfortable for him. I was lucky enough to be given some decking wood and fencing posts that were leftover after building their deck.  I thought this would be the perfect wood to us ..read more

Recently, my daughter gave me an outdoor spa which I am in the process of restoring.  In the meantime, we are using the spa and have just been putting our towels on the steps next to the spa.  Our two naughty Jack Russell terrors have decided it would be fun to run off with them and play tug of war with them.  For this reason, I wanted to make a spa towel rack to hang on the wall until I get around to building the pergola. It is also time for our next International Blogger’s Club challenge. (IBC) The theme this month is “broken dreams” which is down to interpretation. The chai ..read more

Apart from being a lover of DIY and I am also a mixed-media artist.  I love to take everyday items and give them a mixed-media makeover. This was a shop mannequin that I was given which I decorated in a steampunk theme using lots of recycled materials.  Once it was completed I felt it was missing something. I came up with the idea to make some large angel wings using real feathers. The idea I had in my mind was to have large black angel wings that could be shaped around the mannequin. I spent a long time browsing the internet looking for a tutorial but could not find one that would ..read more

If you do any sort of artwork and have a large collection of paint brushes you will know this struggle.  You are in the middle of a painting and need a specific brush but it is nowhere to be found. You then have to stop what you are doing and dig through your drawers to find it. And if your drawers are anything like mine that could mean emptying them out.  For this project, I wanted to make a wooden paint brush holder so I would have easy access to my paint brushes. In my artwork, I use about 6 different colours of wax paste which is a pain in the butt to wash out. The wax sticks i ..read more

This week’s post is our next challenge for our international blogger group.  This month’s challenge was “Hang her up” which is down to interpretation, so I made  3D wooden wall art using a 4×4 fencing post.  This was a fairly straightforward project, but the results are mind-blowing “literally”.  I sit and look at it at times and the design messes with your eyes. More about IBC is at the bottom of this post. The great thing about this 3D wooden wall art is that it can be hung either horizontally or vertically. The fence post I used looked like it had been made by glueing ..read more

This week’s project was a request from my daughter to make a porch welcome sign for her front door.  She is a huge dog fan so I created a porch sign with a silhouette for each dog breed that she has. Having 4 dogs you can imagine all the noise they all make when they get excited to see visitors.  She is also hoping the sign will be a deterrent for would-be thieves.  Thieves don’t need to know they have more chance of being licked to death than being bitten. It is also time for our next blog hop for  ‘Do It Over’ Designers so this project was the perfect do-over.  We ..read more

I approached my local charity shop and asked them if they would be able to collect the damaged belts that were in poor condition and said I would pay for them.  Little did I know I would end up with loads of them.  I hate wastage so I wanted to try and turn them into something I could use in my home.  This leather belt wall hanging was the result. My inspiration for this project was the wooden wall art I made using scrap wood.  I thought it would look cool to cut up the recycled leather belts and create a textured wall hanging.  It is also time for our next blog hop ..read more

This week’s post is the next challenge for our international blogger’s Club (IBC).  More about IBC is at the end of this post. Our theme this month is “phone decor” which thankfully is down to interpretation.  I had an antique telephone that I found on Facebook market place which I had planned to turn into a lamp but ended up repurposing that telephone to create this telephone key rack. The idea behind this telephone key rack was to have a box mounted on the wall where all our keys could be stored in one place.  Our house is a nightmare because we are always looking for our key ..read more

This week’s post is the next challenge for our international blogger’s Club (IBC).  More about IBC at the end of this post. Our theme this month is “Mystical Makes”. I had no idea what this meant so I googled it and this was the meaning (relating to mystics or religious mysticism).  My first thought was “buddha” because I have so many around my home and garden.  I kept it simple this month and went for a Buddha air planter. I am a big DIY/craft/art fanatic which has turned me into a hoarder of sorts.  This means I hate to throw anything away in case I can use it in anothe ..read more