Black and White and Trees

Oh dear, I had a feeling this would happen. Depsite the head of steam I built up with decorating over half term, now that I am back at work it's all slowed down. I keep wanting to get Angus's room finished so that I can share a "ta da!" post with you, but that's a way off yet. 

All the furniture is in place and books and toys back in their homes, but there are pictures to hang and things to make. Details, really, but I won't think of the room as finished until they are done. And I don't know about you, but it's the details I love the most, the tinkering and arranging that happens when the hard work is done.

So, here's a quick update with where I am:

The bed is painted and looking smart. I am very happy with how this turned out. 

The hand-stamped bedding is finished. It took a lot longer than I thought it would but saved me about £60. Also, it really does wash well.

I removed the small metal handles on Angus's chest of drawers and swapped them for some of my own.

They are plain wooden drawer pulls, bought from Wilko, and painted with leftover paint from our dining room wall.

I am gathering together pictures to frame. I did buy two new prints but I'm trying to make do with other things we already have and just refresh them with a new border or frame, most of which have been bought very cheaply from Wilko and IKEA. The temptation to just go and buy brand new everything is there, but I am resisting. Also, I have realised that  - especially with a black and white print - it's so much cheaper to buy a downloadable PDF than order a print! I only just realised this. But for lots of prints on Etsy, say, you can buy a gorgeous image for around £5 and just print it off on your home printer onto some card. Brilliant.

A friend of mine spent half term skiing in Lake Tahoe and took loads of photos on her phone of the incredible, snow covered scenery. 

I've been playing around with the idea of using some of these photos to create some more images for Angus's wall. I cropped this one of the skiiers coming down the hill, changed it to black and white then increased the contrast. I printed it as a 5 x 7 inch picture onto a piece of white card then popped it in a 8 x 10 inch frame. 

Felt balls are waiting for a needle and thread so that they can be strung together into a garland.

And I plan to make a wall hanging using all these gorgeous monochrome felts on a large white background, hung from a wooden pole.

There's definitely a forest-y vibe going on here.