Before&After: drawers

World, meet drawers. Drawers, meet world.

I found them over 2 years ago in an Op Shop (charity shop) and swore to myself that I would "do something with them" as I forked over the princely sum of  $30. Saying "I'll do something with them" is kind of like how I say "Yeah, I'm almost ready......... " as Zac and I race out the door everyday (we carpool). It's usually followed by, "I just need to grab..."

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Anyway, back to business. My favourite feature of this little number was her curvy bottom (!), handles and the good joinery-dovetail joints, no glue here!

The labels read "pants" and "pyjamas", in case you were wondering....

2 years later, I gave up my full time job and got stuck into DIYing so that I didn't continually think to myself "Oh gosh, what did I just do?"

Cue: Bunnings

I got stuck into sanding, wiping and masking up my pattern. I had an idea for the front of the drawers (Bold! Geometric! Pattern!) and also a little idea to keep some wood showing on the bottom of each of the legs - like little socks.

I wasn't sure what to do with the top though. Should I paint the whole thing white? Leave it Wooden? Leave an edge? I decided to finish every other piece of masking off and wait to see what it needed.

It definitely needed something, so where it started to curve downward I taped that off to keep the wood showing after I painted it.

Here's a shot of how it looked taped up:

Then I got stuck into painting a layer of primer. Very thin coats that dried really quickly, but I left them for a full day because Autumn was setting in and it wasn't so hot anymore. I wanted that paint D-R-Y.

I broke out my gloss white and painted two thin coats over the primer, waiting a day or two between each coat.

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Agonising.
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Finally, I got to pull off that tape. It was such a relief to see it come off cleanly and to reveal that smoking hot wood beneath it.

Take a look!

I love everything about her, her daring chevron, her curvy bottom and her sweet socks. The edge around the top pulls the whole look together. I've since reattached her original drawer pulls, I'll put a photo up once I finish the office room.

Cost Breakdown:

Drawers $30

Sanding Sheets $6

Primer $20

White Gloss Paint 1L $40

Painters Tape $5

I didn't even come close to using all of the painter's tape, white gloss paint, primer or sanding sheets, but I have a couple of other projects in mind to turn our office room into a place we actually want to be in. Stay Tuned!

As for the drawers, she is now located in our office room, full of stationery supplies and making me smile every time I walk in. Don't you think her curvy bottom looks much better this colour? You didn't even notice it before.. it's the furniture equivalent of a mini skirt.

Onto the next project!

xoxo Clare

Programs.

We decided to nix the readings at our ceremony, truth be told I know they are important but I get so incredibly bored if someone struggles reading through ee cummings or the entirety of "The Places You Go" by Dr Seuss.

Instead, Zac and I (well, mainly me) gathered some quotes about marriage, some prose, some poetry, lyrics from our ceremony songs and chucked it all in a booklet with our thank-you notes, vows, order of service etc.

This is the result:

Invitations.

Now I finally get to show you our invitations!

Designed by the exceedingly talented Chantelle Malone, we thought they fit so well with our vision for our wedding day and we haven't stopped receiving compliments about them.

We got them letterpressed by a local printer who charged us a pittance and put so much of his integrity into his work. He is a fine example of a human being.

The envelopes were from Annie P Paperie and were slightly cheaper than other stores who carried the same line. They were all calligraphed by me, using white ink and a calligraphy pen that I bought from Riot Art and Crafts.

Steph (my now brother-in-law's girlfriend) sat with me one afternoon and we printed, cut and pasted the envelope liners into the main envelopes and rsvp envelopes (before Zac came home in time to object! Haha!)

The completed package:

Our Invitation:

Information Card & Map:

RSVP Card:

This is what got mailed out:

My handwriting on an rsvp envelope:

Thank You Card:

Seating Cards (big) were at people's reception seats and the Table Cards (little) were at the entrance to the reception and told people where their table was:

Guest book cards - complete the sentence!

PS. if you would like Chantelle to design your stationery (wedding or otherwise...) leave me a comment and I will forward her details to you!

PPS. Stand by for our ceremony programs!

Vendor Review: Jude & Gabbi (Identified Hair)

What can I say? Jude is a dear friend of about 10 years, and Gabbi is a crazy woman who made my morning!

But let's be honest. This is allll about the 'DO


Let's get even more honest. I had no idea what Jude was going to do with my hair. We had decided:

1. Up, not down
2. Nana's Brooch
3. Not too vintage
4. But a little bit vintage
5. Nice textures

I don't think I even paid attention when she showed it to me. I have complete faith in Jude. She is an amazing colourist and cutter, Gabbi is the best apprentice in WA (officially) and together they are such a good team. It was also a cinch decision to book Identified for my wedding because everyone you see on my side of the bridal party (including my Mother) gets their hair done at Identified.

It's like some sort of cult. It's too good to resist. You should really just go there to get a haircut, a colour, watch movies, drink boutique tea/wine (depending on the time of day) and eat a little chocolate or five. Jude and Gabbi are both good to have a conversation with and I don't know how many times I've gone in hating the world/myself and walked out ready to take everything on again.

And the wedding hair that I didn't think about beforehand?

I only really saw it later on when I was looking at photos on facebook.

And wasn't it amazing?

She even used a mini crimper! :O

Hot!

Wedding dreams.

I had the funniest dream the other night.

In my dream, I wasn't married and I don't think I knew Zac!

All these boys were asking to go out with me because they wanted to marry me - first is was THIS boy and then is was THAT boy. They took me all over the world and tried to make all sorts of things fun but I didn't want to marry any of them! It was getting very distressing!

I said, "I DON'T WANT TO MARRY ANY OF YOU!!!!!" It felt so real and so heartbreaking and horrible!

And then in my dream I said, "I think the only person I would ever really want to marry would be Zac, why aren't I with him? He's the one I would be happy with..." It felt like it was some huge resolution in my heart and all the distress of the dream went away, but at the same time in my dream is was like this impossible fantasy.

So in my dream I started to plan a wedding to Zac...

Then the alarm went off and for those few seconds where you wake up but you are still dreaming I kept planning the dream-wedding.

Then I woke up to my favourite dream, lying next to me and laughing at all the 'distressed noises' I had been making in my sleep.

I had already married Zac.

We had a beautiful wedding. It was a perfect day in all its simplicity

And now I'm happy and all is well in the world.

I have my man.

Text from a friend.

The other day I got this text:

"Oh my gosh, total mumzilla. How am I going to survive the next 6 months??"

My reply:

"Breathe, respect, stick to your guns ;)"



Wedding planning; it's not ALL glamorous!

Dear Friend...

Dear Friend who is dreaming about a wedding possibly in the future...

When I think of you I think of these:

via Design Sponge / 100 Layer Cake

There are always ways to do what you dream of, even if there isn't a lot in Perth to work with, if you need any help researching let me know because I am way too excited for you and would love to help! :) I don't know why there are so many chairs in these photos - but I think they are beautiful and that maybe you would appreciate all of them :)

ps. you know who you are!