My concrete home accessories....

....Now at An Artful Life

Back in August, when I had the pleasure of meeting Kate Whitfield of An artful Life for the Opening of her pop up shop at the Folly , I had no idea that this meeting would be so fruitful for me... For now I can proudly announce that my hand casted, gilded concrete bowls and geometric origami candlesticks are officially for sale both in her Online shop and in her associate pop up shops Johnny+Jenny in Saffron Walden and Under Milk Wood in Thaxted, Essex.
So today I'm sharing some of her promotional shots of my products:

My gilded concrete bowls comes in various sizes, from extra small (£15) (above), small (£25), medium (£45) to Large (£60)... You can choose between  gold or copper flake finish for the insides...

They have a smooth exterior, and a rough interior with a raw concrete edge...

As they are all hand cast, the thickness and finish will vary...

You can also purchase my faceted geometric candle sticks and tea-light votive's through AAL

There are several shapes to choose from, each has been cast out of a hand folded origami paper mould, and each is a one-of-a-kind! They all have a black felt base to prevent damage to your furniture!

The candlesticks and tea-light votives all retail at £15 each

The Diamond paper weights has also been made in this way, and The large size is £15 and the small £8...

I am so happy that I met Kate, and hope these do really well for her (and me...)

Even if concrete is not your thing, please check out her shop, as she has curated some of the best, in my opinion, eclectic home ware ranges out there...

I've said it before, and I'll say it again: If I only had the money!!

Living room makeover

reveal!

OK....so, as I am actually blogging from Norway at the moment, where I am having a much needed impromptu break, I have decided to cut a bit back on the planned amount of projects I wanted to do for my living room makeover as I am feeling a little worn out at the moment! So today, I am actually sharing our new and updated living space...a little earlier than planned!

But first, let me remind you all what it used to look like:

About two years ago we painted the previously red walls white, which opened up the space a lot, but because the living room is at the back of the house with only one window, it still felt quite dark....

not helped by the knackered yellowing pine floor boards...

I also absolutely hated the quasi-Victorian 8o's fire surround!

We did have grand plans about installing a wood burner in place of the dated fireplace and to get new laminate flooring installed earlier this year, but it has been a tough year for us, and we had to abandon those plans...

Another thing I really wanted , was a new sofa, but again, this was out of reach for us this year....But determined to make the best of the space we've got, I have worked hard to make some cheap improvements:

The biggest improvement to the look and feel of the room was created when I white washed the wooden floor boards! This has really lightened up the space and made it a lot fresher:

The other big improvement I did, was to give the old fireplace a makeover:

It now suits my interior taste, and has that fresh Scandinavian look that I love with my DIY stencil design (that was inspired by my gran and granddad in Norway's old kitchen tiles...)

If you look at the reflection in the mirror in the picture above, you will also notice that I've added one of my DIY starburst ceiling rose's around the ceiling light (like the one in our bedroom )...

And purging my decorative items, and carefully choosing what got to stay, has also helped creating a fresh look in the room:

My DIY concrete and gold planter has been updated with some cactus'...

And I showed you the other week how easy it is to make the marbled vase and tea light votive ,above...

I also love my new DIY Mid century Modern style coffee table that has replaced my old tufted ottoman. And the old sofa has had a cosy , but simple update in form of a grey sheepskin (Tesco), a new throw and some new "water-colour" DIY cushions (The tutorial on these is coming soon)

Sometimes, just tidying up a bit and maybe, as mentioned above, purging and carefully selecting which items to display can have a huge impact on the look of a room. Which is exactly what happened when I decided to style the bookcase.

It is all in the detail...

...like introducing more plants and greenery into the room (bless them, for I have a black thumb!!) which has added a freshness to the space...

The "I will survive" planter, is a DIY stencil I shared with you all here...

And some old projects, like the concrete lampshade, and concrete stool now has a new lease of life in my fresh new space! You can also learn how I made the Geometric and Ampersand artwork here!

And of course the other old sofa got a new DIY sofa cover, with the addition of some new, matching squishy cushions, making it not only more stylish, but also a whole lot comfier...

And finally having a little side table next to it means no more tripping over drinks on the floor...I love this little bargain buy from Tesco!

I will be sharing the big textured geometric artwork in my next DIY post!

But first I have some exciting news I'd like to share: Post to follow later in the week!!

What do you all think of my new look living room?

I've spent less than £200 to get it from the before to the after: and that includes the floor, the fireplace and all the other little projects + any new items, such as the side table...

Not bad, hey?

I hope that even if it's not to your exact taste, it shows you how you can transform a space...even when working on a very tight budget!