ORC – Week 6 Reveal- Part 1

The 6 weeks of the One Room Challenge are over now and it’s time for the final reveal. My reveal is going to be a two-part post because I’m not quite done building and we were still having frost warnings last week so I’ll be waiting to plant. The planters are currently in place but in the photo above I drew in the lattice since it’s not done yet.

This was some prep work along the fenceline where the raised beds will be going. Since they’re open on the bottom I dug up the grass where the boxes will be sitting.

Constructing the boxes was so smooth and quick but staining them and the lattice strips have taken much longer than I had anticipated.

Here is the  14 feet of raised planters in place in the garden. This space already feels more organized and expansive with the black boxes.

The lattice is coming together and I hope to have it installed within the next 2 weeks. Since it is 8 feet tall I need a hand putting it in place plus there is still more lattice that needs to be stained.

In the meantime, by propping up some wood it gives me an idea of the space will look once the full screen is installed.

The final reveal is now on Apartment Therapy

Before & After: Plants and Privacy, What More Could a Backyard Need?

 

To see how the other One Room Challenges turned out click here for the final reveals. It’s incredible to see how much changed in such a short time.

Black Interior Doors

Have you ever thought about painting your interior doors black? I saw a story on Houzz this summer about painting interior doors black, and they had great reasons to do it. While picking up the black paint roller seemed risky at first I never second guessed that decision.

We have a narrow hallway with four doors in a very tight space. After painting the inside of the front door, I hesitated about doing the closet door too and waited a few days to paint it. Then I also changed the basic door leading to the garage into a chalkboard door. The hardware was all shiny brass, and I spray painted them following the instructions from The Creative Cubby using oil rubbed bronze spray paint.

Here’s a look at the basement door that I just painted black a couple of weeks ago after re-reading the story on Houzz about how a black door can make the ceiling look taller by drawing the eye up with the contrasting colour.

I recommend reading 11 Reasons to Paint Your Interior Doors Black on Houzz if you haven’t already.

 

Related Posts:

Adding Architectural Elements 

More Cosmetic Cases

After 3 years of making only one main cosmetic case  I decided it was time to add some more sizes and variety. Last month I drafted up some new shapes and sizes as shown below in my sketchbook and in prototype form in the solid white. 

The three new sizes shown together and below they are made in their final form.

Gold

Over the past week I’ve been busy and so inspired, all by adding gold to the colour palette. I’m using it on a whole line of new things for spring, including another version of the iPad sleeve. Here’s a peak inside of my studio and what I’ve been working on.

 I’m in the midst of finishing up and photographing so there will be more to come.

New Oversize Tote

The first “Shibang” bag was a large denim tote that I made and embellished with my first hand dyed wool and loopy first hand spun yarn. It was purple with an orange centre and in an abstract way looked a bit like a flower. I was a Textile Arts student at Capilano University in my first year and I wanted a bag that could carry all of the wool, fabric and books I was bringing to class each day.

What I liked about this bag was how it added some interest to any outfit and was different from anything I’d ever seen before. I began making large tote bags in 2005 and continued for a couple of years until I focused on creating smaller items.

This season I am bringing back the oversize tote in new version — made on heavy wool with structure, leather handles, rivets & metal feet. This is the perfect canvas to showcase a large colourful abstract flower and it looks good with a blazer and jeans, a casual outfit or for travelling.

The style is inspired by classic shapes with an influence from vintage luggage.

One perk of being back in the Vancouver area is that I am close to all of the family furniture and special belongings that date back many decades. The suitcase and trunk pictured above have been in the family for a long time.

The trunk was used by my great aunt Flora when she travelled to Scotland to visit family and brought it full of food. The brown suitcase belonged to my great uncle in Australia and he gave it to my parents to use when they were returning to Canada after their honeymoon in Australia and didn’t have enough space to carry everything back.