Paint and Customise a Dipped Basket

Dipped furniture and baskets are very  'on trend' at the moment , however its not always practical and can be costly to buy new items when you already have them at home. By painting your own items, you are able to customise the colours and patterns to suit your tastes and decor , and add any personal touches that wish.

Once I had seen the painted dipped baskets in Kmart (even though they are only about $10) , I instantly thought of the basket that I already had at home , that wasn't being used. To be honest, I didn't even purchase it myself - I bought some wooden toys off a Buy and Sell site on Facebook and they came in the basket. Win!

Plus I had some paint left over from my Kids Kitchen Makeover , so this little project came in at $0 is  outlay. Just the type of project I like ;)

Fancy having a go at something similar yourself? It was so easy, I have been on the hunt of more things around the house to dip paint!! Try it!

Any Basket will do, but something with more of a closed weave is more effective and easier to paint. 

I used a normal ruler and a chalk pen to measure and mark a like around your basket to act as a guide. This really is a test of a steady hand and good eye , but if you are accurate with this step, you are more likely to have an even effect.

Start by painting your line around the top , then just paint everything below that (or above, depending on the look you are after).  My basket needed 2 coats.

And that is it!! Seriously! Finished!!

Despite a groady and aged rental bathroom, the basket adds the perfect pop of colour and is a great size for this bathroom. We are using it for a dirty clothes basket, as I wash regularly and don't need anything bigger. By painting the basket in my favourite colour, it ties in so many other little bits and pieces I have around the home. 

This project didn't cost anything for me, as I already had the basket and paints, and if you had to go out and buy those items, then it would definately make more sense just to buy the Kmart versions. However, by painting your own, you can choose any colour you like and match it to your home decor. 

Next time I might try a pattern , or I would love to do some polkadots! Yes, Polkadots! 

Painting Projects

The painting bug has bitten me and nothing is safe! I had been struggling with our new 'rental' status, after always owning and living in our own home. I love to be able to drill holes, put shelves up, add bits and pieces around the house and anytime I please. In a rental you have to be creative and use other things to get the 'change hit'. Its like a drug to me, I paint something, make something, change something and I get this high and then after a while it runs out and I need to find the next thing. 

Perhaps I should go on The Block?

Whats the best thing to mix it up and give a 'change hit' in a rental? Why paint of course. Adding pops of colour to items around your home can really boost a room and your mood. So the past few weeks have been full of painting projects.

Kmart has been rocking it in the home wares department  and I picked up this house shelf. The outside was a whitewashed wood and the backing a hessian type material with the printing. Pretty drab really 

A trip to the paint shop, a sample pot of Seafoam half and we were set!

I pre under coated the unit (more for the hessian at the back) and then popped a few coats of this yummy blue all over. 

Ta - da!! A new home for little Super hero figurines in the boys room and a colour hit at the base of Angus' bed. The boys love it! Win

Next on the list was these cute houses that I finally managed to nab from Cotton On Kids. The sold out so quickly the last time they were released and I just had to have one! 

A base coat ( I already had a tin from my Kitchen makeover project) and a few coats of these yummy colours ;

 a pretty yellow called Lemon Delicious and the most devine pale pink called Tea Party.

And now they are a cute feature in the corner of the play/toy area. 

A few command strips and voila, perfect for a rental! 

The perfect spot for little bunnies to look cute and watch over all the fun play that happens here ( and the bickering and snatching etc)

I have been on a basket buying ban for a while and have only just allowed myself to purchase a few newbies in the last few months. Why? Because it was like they were breeding in our house. I had baskets everywhere and not all of them were being put to good use. 

Now? A few years on , they are all starting to look a little worse for wear. Nothing a can of spray paint won't fix!! This little basket was white, dirty and scratched and ready for the bin. Now its the ideal home for bits and pieces of lego that I find around the house and any projects that Max is working on at the time. 

Its situated low on the boys bookcase in their room and matches with their new photo wall perfectly ( a post on that is coming soon!! )

An old tray that was a very yellowy/creamy colour needs a spruce up , again , nothing that a can of white paint couldn't fix. Nice and fresh now! 

And another little Kmart purchase that received the start makeover treatment was this cute metal stationery tray. It was originally a bright red colour and a bit leery for our home , especially the girls very pink bedroom. But as the 'Loom craze' has overtaken our house, I have been finding those little suckers everywhere!! Long after the girls have packed the boxes away, random little bands pop their ugly little heads up. ALL. OVER.THE. FLOOR. Drives me bonkers. 

And me being lazy, I simply can not be bothered walking to their room, opening the containers and putting the found bands back in there, so they were ending up in the bin. These chucked bands add up and I knew I had to stop. Enter the Stationery tray. Kmart for about $8 I think. A can of white spray paint. Wonderful!

It is a great size and sits well on the shelf of their bookcase. It is a quick dumping spot for all the bands that I find around the house, for half finished bracelets, beads in bags and items that Stella likes to keep handy, in the event of having a few minutes spare to loom up her magic. 

The loom band storage boxes sit next to it, as do the loom boards so its all corralled in the same convenient area.

These are only a few of the paint projects happening here, I doubt the list will ever end and the workers at the Paint Place are really getting to know me and the kids now! 

Oh the power of a good paint colour , warms my heart! hehe

Kids Kitchen Makeover

After having our kids IKEA kitchen for a fair few years now, it was looking tired and grotty. Our toy area is a part of our open lounge room area and every time I sat on the couch , I seemed to catch sight of it and it bugged me. After seeing a gorgeous picture on Instagram of someones clever makeover of an IKEA kitchen for their daughter , I was inspired. It couldn't be that hard to do , surely?

Enter mass Pinterest pinning session.... It didn't take long to convince myself that I could do it!

And now ? I am so so pleased with how it turned out!

 Not only does it add a gorgeous pop of colour to an otherwise bland area, but it looks devine ad the kids have been re-inspired to play and use it. Win win! 

Here it is before its little tizzy up. The bench top are had a dark stain/mark that I could not get off, the tap was broken and it was looking a little used and abused. 

Now it stands , pride of place in the toy area. Surrounded by a sea of gold polka dots at that! 

We have added some pretty glass knobs above the oven area as well as a few cute tea towels (I cut a pretty Target tea towel in half and just whizzed up the edge on my sewing machine).

We also added a 'splash back' behind the sink and stove area using some pretty wrapping paper and a thin sheet ply board cut to size. 

A few cute bowls that I picked up the the Coles Dollar Dazzlers section finished the new look perfectly and the kids are having a ball with 'precious bowls'.

As I said, we are completely in love with the 'new' kitchen and think that it looks amazing. It wasn't hard, nor expensive to do and it makes such a change to an otherwise plain kitchen and kids area.

Stay tuned for a follow up post on how we underwent this project. 

Lately ......

Lately ..  I have been the blogger that doesn't blog. 

A Mum enjoying the slower pace of the school holidays

A lady going mad because all of my favourite shows (that I like to watch online) are on season breaks! (first world problems here peeps) 

And a crazy DIY-er with a few projects on the go, paint in my hair and all over my arms and waiting on bits and pieces to finish them all off!

Lately life has been busy, the weather has been glorious (in the sunny Pilbara) and we have plenty to look forward to. That always seems to make the days and weeks fly by!

Hubby has started a shift roster, which is bittersweet. Long days , where I am literally doing everything and he is just eating, working and sleeping but then bigger blocks of time off. We can take day trips, I can work a little more and we have more time to spend together.  Like I said ... bittersweet. 

I seem to have found my crafty mojo. The only problem being , I want to have a go at everything that has been on my wish or 'to do' list for a while. So much I want to do, so little time and so little supplies in this town! Oh how I miss Spotlight!

I have so many projects and bits and pieces to share with you all, but here is a bit of whats been happening in the Team M house ....

The painting of shadow boxes, these ones are from Cotton on Kids

And this is from Kmart (it was beige and hessian but I undercoated them with this white before painting on the colour coats)

A photo on Instagram inspired me to tizzy up the kids kitchen! It is nearly completed , just waiting on some yummy wrapping paper I am using as a splash back and I will definitely be sharing the finished product!

Post coming soon!!

School holiday fun has meant lots of plays at the park,  lots of scooter riding, a day trip to Karratha , and a trip to the movies yesterday! So excited as it doesn't happen very often up here, and it was Angus' first time!

The weather has been chilly, for Pilbara standards, and I took the opportunity to whip out the beloved boots! Such a novelty!

More paint projects, baskets and lids. Frames for walls and hooks. Fun fun 

One of the finished mini projects , a simple Ikea jar , a spare knob glued on the top and a touch of spray paint. A cute update for my 'Tea and Coffee Cupboard" revamp. Again, another post to share when the labels have arrived and I am finished!

I have crates of fabric begging to be turned into something pretty and a few bunny dresses and skirts were the prefect starter projects! 

Late afternoon walks along the paths and lookouts to kill time while waiting for Daddy to finish work. This really is a beautiful part of the country, and somewhere that people just never want to visit.

And the most important thing of all. I've been busy being a Mum to my 4 cherubs. When I posted this photo on instagram I wrote this ;

Motherhood is sleep deprivation and self doubt, testing and a content challenge. You lose a lot of who you were before but become so much more in the process. Today I feel lucky to have 4 happy , healthy kids (and I will use this post to look back on next week when school holidays start and they are fighting like cat and dog)

And they have been fighting , but they have also been playing beautifully. I still feel the same a few weeks later, at the tail end of the holidays , thankfully!!

Happy Saturday everyone, I am looking forward to sharing some new things soon!

Roll Painting

If there is one thing that most kids love to do, is paint!! And in my experience (and a daily occurrence in our house) they also seem to be interested in Toilet Paper and toilet rolls!! Hmmm nice

Whilst Stella was at Kindy the other day, and my DH was sick in bed, I decided we needed to do something rather fun and a bit special. I usually like to reserve our craft and painting time to when Stella is at home, but as Max and Lacey are getting growing up, and Stella is bringing home lots of beautiful artwork from school, I figure its OK to do a few activities without her.

I saw this cool idea on Pinterest and seeing as though the kids enjoyed when we did it for a Valentines Day activity, I knew they would like doing it again.

Toilet Roll Paint Stamping

All you need is;

 a few toilet rolls

 ( Weird to say but I try and buy the ones that when empty, leave a clean roll , not with some paper still stuck to the glue!! ewwww!!)

Water based paints in a few colours of your choice

Plain paper or card stock

Art Smocks

Optional- Wipes or a flannel on hand for the little messes!! Ohh they will happen alright!

Simply cut the ends of the toilet roll in a pattern or design of your choice and even bend a few in a shape (like the love heart) . As above

I even left one just as a plain circle.

I put a few different colours on a paper plain for each child. I like using plates as they make for an easy paint clean up when you just chuck them!

And let them stamp away

And our Finished artworks;

When they were finished, I also let them stamp a large piece of brown paper each, off a roll I have in the cupboard. To use as pretty wrapping paper in the near future.

Why not put your paintings to good use and share the love?!

Once they had completed their stamping paintings, the area was quite clean and not much mess had been made, until.....................

I thought it was a good idea to paint a few plates red, for an activity we will be doing next week.

There was red paint for miles!! Thankfully its water based paint!

Sheesh

Crafts and Activities

With a few of our favourite Special events of the year so close, last week was one for some crafting and colouring. The kids have really gotten into their colouring in of late, especially Stella, and its so delightful to see her progress in her drawings, the people now have fingers, and clothes and one last week even had an owl and clouds. Amazing!

I found there wasn't a huge amount around for Australia Day, even on the ever inspiring Pinterest, the Aussie crafts were seriously lacking, so we started with some simple colouring in of our Flag.

Notice the hat? Seriously, this boy wears a hat all.the .time. Even to bed!! SO cute!

The colouring didn't satisfy my craft loving kiddos, so we moved onto some contact hearts for Valentines Day.
VERY simple and such a clean craft, so there is nothing to not like about it. SImply cut out a heart shape from clear contact, sticky tape on either side, sticky side up. Place and decorate with whatever tickles your fancy,we used crepe paper cut into little pieces, then line the back with another piece of contact ( I used a rectangle, then cut around the heart shape).
pieces.

            Ta-da. Strung up on  a piece of ribbon and attached with itty bitty cute pegs. CUTE or what?

Then on Oz Day Eve, a simple painting activity to help warm into the festivities! I LOVE Australia Day!

I just printed a Boomerang image off the net, and set out a few paper plates with paint splodges and a cotton tip per colour ( paper plates make for easy clean up)

And we painted the Boomerangs with the cotton tips. Spot, spot spot. Max's new word for the day!!

Again, easy, relatively clean (providing your darling son doesn't like to paint his hand, face , everything etc). So easy, I managed to complete this session with 4 kids, having my niece for a play, and everyone had a ball!

Hmmm what to do next?