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Turning a House into a Home Posts

The one where we stayed in a lighthouse

This post is a bit of a break from my normal type of update, and features no DIY whatsoever! It is house/home related though so I had to share.

The one where we stayed in Wicklow Lighthouse

 

I recently fell in love with a house. A lighthouse to be precise. My lovely boyfriend Nick and I recently returned to Ireland (I’m from there, he’s not) to visit some family and friends. We decided to drive because I couldn’t bear to leave my dog, Ted, behind, and because there are so many beautiful places to walk in Ireland it didn’t seem fair for him to miss out on them.

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How to fit an outdoor tap with plastic pipes

Summer’s nearly here (woohoo!) and with that, there are so many more reasons to hang out in the garden. If you don’t have an outdoor tap, it can be a real pain to clean in the garden, water plants, even fill pets’ water bowls. I fitted a garden tap yesterday. Before that I needed to attach a hose to the kitchen tap and run it out the window – not ideal! The outdoor tap took just half an hour to fit and is going to get so much use. Read on to follow the steps.

 

How to install an outdoor tap

 

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How to turn (another) fireplace into a dog bed

Fireplace dog bed before and after gif

 

Those of you who have read Turning a House into a Home before may recall the fireplace dog bed that I made for Ted. The original one was in the living room and it turned out to be really handy. One of the problems with having a big dog is all of the space that they take up! Ted also sheds like a b*tch so I have a strict no sofa rule. His fireplace dog bed gave him his own space where he could shed away to his heart’s content, and without the need for a big dog bed taking up loads of space in the  living room.

Read on to find out how you can make one for yourself!

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*UPDATED* How to make a dog bed in a fireplace

Fireplace dog bed before and after gif

 

Those of you who’ve been here before may know that I first posted Ted’s fireplace dog bed last year. But having made a few alterations and adding some lighting, I’ve now updated the blog post. Read on to find out how you can turn a crappy old fireplace into a dog bed fit for a furry king (or queen)!

WARNING: This post contains a lot of pictures of my dog because he looked way too cute to take any of them out!

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My house this month

My house this month snapshot

 

Those of you who follow my blog on Instagram will already know that throughout November, I did a photo challenge called #myhousethismonth. At the start of the month, you get a list of themes, with one for each day of the month. The idea is that you post a picture based on the theme for any given day. I thought it sounded like fun so I gave it a go, not for a second thinking that I’d keep it up for the whole month.

Now that November is over and I’ve actually completed the challenge, I thought I’d share my photos here. It’s given a sneak peek of a few projects I’ve taken on in the house but haven’t blogged about yet. It also motivated me to get some projects finished so that I’d have something to post for a certain theme!

Read on to see the 30 pictures from 30 days.

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How to get a new bathroom for under £250

Bathroom makeover before and after gif

 

Until recently, my bathroom left a lot to be desired. It had really poorly-fitted vinyl flooring, two different types of mis-matched tiles on the walls, a leaking bath, a cold tap that was poured hot water… basically more wrong with it than right. Over the space of two weekends and on a tight budget, I completely revamped the bathroom from top to bottom. Read on to see how.

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How to fit vinyl flooring in a bathroom

Vinyl floor before and after

 

I recently fitted vinyl flooring in my bathroom to give the room a new lease of life. When I’ve thought of vinyl flooring in the past, I’ve thought of 70s dated lino. However nowadays there’s such a huge range of vinyl, from wood effect to tile effect, that it’s difficult to tell some apart from the real thing. Vinyl is also a great choice for a bathroom because of the moisture in the room. I went for a white wood floor effect and personally think it’s a much better choice for a bathroom than real wood, which can cause issues when it comes into contact with water.

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How I turned a £10 eBay cabinet into a one of a kind home bar

If you’ve read my blog before, you may recall the dresser that I upcycled for my dining room. Although I liked it, it didn’t seem quite right for my dining room for a number of reasons. Firstly, it looked quite small against such a big wall. Secondly, it was painted quite a bright colour, which meant I couldn’t really paint the wall behind it. It also had wallpaper pasted in the back of it, which meant I couldn’t wallpaper the wall behind it. Thirdly, it was quite detailed and I decided I’d prefer something with cleaner lines.

I decided to take the plunge and sell it on eBay and buy a replacement. I did think I must be mad – I have so much to do in the house and I spent a weekend upcycling that cabinet, just to sell it and start again. But I’m so glad I did!

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How to wallpaper a feature wall with paste-the-wall paper

Wallpapering feature wall before and after

Please note: This post is about how to use paste-the-wall wallpaper. For instructions on how to use paste-the-paper wallpaper, see this post.

Last weekend I created a feature wall in my dining room. I went for a large leafy print for contrast behind the big pink cabinet I knew I was going to put against that wall. A feature wallpapered wall can really turn a room around.

There are two types of wallpaper: one is the traditional paste-the-paper type, where you set up a pasting table. The other, and the one I’m going to show you how to do, is the paste-the-wall type.

When you buy wallpaper, it will say on the roll whether it’s paste-the-wall or paste-the-paper. Paste the wall is generally considered the easier of the who and is becoming the more popular option nowadays.

Read on for my tips when using this type of wallpaper. It may be easier to do than you think!

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