DIY PLANTER MAKEOVER WITH WAYFAIR HOME EXPERTS

When Wayfair asked if I wanted to be part of their latest home expert challenge I jumped at the chance.  Celebrating the start of spring and all things greenery,  this month's challenge is all about plant pots, and creating your dream planter of choice by giving one a bit of a makeover. As you might know already I blooming love a house plant so I couldn't wait to create my own pot for one, in my home style. 

I decided immediately that I wanted it to be dark and have touches of metallic so first I chose the Gem Round planter by Sfeer Voor Jou (£27.99) from Wayfair's huge planter range for its gorgeous hexagonal shape. 

And then this is exactly what I did, encase you want to do it too.....

1. To begin, clean your pot encase it has any dirt or grease. Mine was brand new so it didn't need a clean, but I'd recommend doing this if you were pimping up an old planter. 

2. I then sprayed the entire pot black (inside and out). It's important to do this in a ventilated area, so I did it in my garden with a bit of cardboard to protect the table. You can see the difference below from wet to dry and how lovely the matt finish is! 

3. I then used gold foil leaf along with some Mixton relief (a special glue) to start layering up the glue and the gold leaf gradually, spreading the glue in different directions with a small paint brush. **Top Tip** make sure the glue is almost dry and tacky before applying the gold leaf, otherwise it won't stick, and worst case can take off the black paint underneath. 

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View fullsize

View fullsize

After I'd finished layering up the gold foil, I primed the vase with a PVA glue to give the foil a protective shield, but you can also use a clear varnish if you have any around the house.  You can layer as much or as little of the gold foil as you like. **Top Tip** be messy with the glue (Mixiton relief) so you achieve a more random look. 

This DIY plant pot might not be to everyone's taste, but with the right colour combinations you can make something look more unique and more you.  Go on, give it a go. 

To achieve a similar look all you need is...

• 1 x plant pot

• 1 x small paint brush to spread the glue

• 1 x Can of acrylic spray paint in black (or any colour of your choice)

• 1 pack of metallic gold foil

• 1 tube Mixton relief (glue for the gold foil)

• PVA glue or clear varnish to seal the foil.

This post was sponsored by Wayfair. I wouldn't post anything I didn't agree with or personally like. 

CONVERSATION CHAIRS AT HOMESENSE

Yay! We have finally moved into our new loft space, which means we can start cracking on with baby C’s nursery (moodboard entry coming soon). We still need to put pictures up and get new side tables, but it’s starting to feel like a bedroom.

We’ve gone for dark walls again and my love of the colour green against the dark grey hasn’t stopped at just the lounge.

As the wardrobes are in a separate dressing room, it means there’s more space to fill with a statement chair to add that little zing of colour.

I’d been looking for a chair for a while which didn’t cost the earth and then a few weeks ago whilst browsing in my local homesense, I found this little emerald beauty.

Priced at £179.99 it was a lot more affordable than the similar ones I’d been admiring on the internet, and did I mention that it’s covered in Green velvet! It’s a like a match made in emerald heaven and fits into the little snug of our bedroom perfectly.

If you’re looking to add a little chair into your lounge/ bedroom/ nursery or just have a corner in your kitchen to fill, then make sure you get down to homesense. And if my little chair hasn’t persuaded you, then hopefully these images of the other chairs on offer this week will.

Prices for chairs start at £49.99

To find your local homesense UK store click here.

Links to the items in the main picture 

1. Velvet chair £179.99, Homesense

2. Walls-Railings,  Farrow and Ball (Prices vary) 

3. Mustard print cushion- Peonenden £90 House of Hackney

4. Cast iron radiator, cast iron radiator centre  prices start at £9.99 per section. 

5. Brass and iron planter stand, £12 Matalan

BRING SOME ART INTO YOUR KITCHEN WITH SARAH BODDY

As much as I love the latest fad trend, it’s also nice to add something more unique and individual into your home to mix up your style. Shopping online and on the high street can get pretty repetitive and samey if you don’t know where to look for newness, so it was so refreshing to be introduced to a brand I’d never heard of.  Today I want to introduce to you  Sarah Boddy.

Sarah has created a range of unique homeware from her own drawings, drawing inspiration on her Leicestershire country life surroundings, including her own flock of chickens. The range includes stationary, homeware essentials and even wall art inspired by the same collection of country animals which have been beautifully hand sketched.

The homeware collection includes oven gloves, aprons, tea towels, placemats, glass coasters, chopping boards, egg cups, glass worktop savers and cute teapots all designed with one of Sarah's trademark sketches.

My favourite sketch in the collection is the flamingo range. I've got the flamingo glass worktop saver which I keep on show over my oven when its not in use and it acts as a little piece of art in my kitchen, but I also love the bee collection . Now I’m guessing there aren’t many flamingos in Leicester but I blooming love a flamingo so this print definitely caught my eye since I love anything kitsch.

The prices at Sarah Boddy are certainly affordable; egg cups at £7, mugs at £11 and glass work top savers at £24. The perfect prices for gifting. It's a great website to grab some gifts for that friend who loves something a bit quirky.  I love that Sarah's designs are timeless and will fit with any kitchen style – not just your typical country/ shaker, although they would look pretty gorgeous in a country kitchen above an aga,  I also think they work well in industrial kitchens like mine. 

Here are my six top pics from Sarah Boddy. (Including my  flamingo worktop saver).

MY SIX TOP PICKS 

Flamingo glass worktop saver £24

Bee Tea pot £26

Stag egg cup £7

Flamingo oven gloves £18

Crab mug £11

Owl stoneware jug £16

This sponsored post was in conjunction with the lovely people at Sarah Boddy. I would never consider promoting a product that I didn't love and wouldn't have in my own home.