Hello...again...

I am possibly officially the worst co-blogger ever. I haven't posted since June last year. That really, really sucks. If it weren't for Georgia holding the fort this blog would have died a long time ago (so thanks, Georgia!).

But here I am, back in 2013 and ready to blog again! An awful lot of things have happened (and been bought) in the past months that I feel should have been featured here - for example, I've finished high school forever and I now own a Cambridge Satchel (which is beautiful - but more on that some other time). I was considering doing a big update-y post, but today I rearranged my bedroom and created some wonderful new spaces that I really like so I've decided to share some photos of my bedroom with you instead (seeing as I haven't shared any photos of my new house since my family and I moved here in May of last year!).

There's really no one better to grace the door of my bedroom than Patti Smith.

I found myself a desk and put together this new workspace today featuring the blackboard I made myself, a 1950s dining chair, my Instax Mini 8 (a Christmas gift), a Maidenhair fern and my collection of Popular Penguins, among other things. It feels great to have table space without too much clutter!

Hung from a string of fairy lights, a string of polaroid pictures taken with my Instax Mini and pegged to some twine with teeny tiny wooden pegs, featuring a photo of me & Georgia when she came down to Christchurch recently! I love all of these photographs so much.

The very DIY jewellery organiser made from picture hooks and twine that I put together last month, my favourite perfume and Karen Walker jewellery, and a see-through storage box (actually just a recycled Ferrero Rocher box) inspired by this post on Love Aesthetics.

A sneaky mirror photo of my messy hair and $7 thrifted daisy shorts. They were just sitting there, waiting for me. So amazing. Also featuring hydrangeas in an old Coca-Cola bottle.

I love my bed so much. It has a beautiful quilted linen headboard and I love sleeping in plain bedding so I bought a white duvet cover from Ikea when I travelled to Australia last December (amongst other things that I struggled to fit in my suitcase on the way home).

It feels great to have a nice-looking, well-functioning and uncluttered space to spend time in. I also recently had a massive wardrobe clean-out - I've gotten quite sick of having so much clothing that never gets worn or loved - so for all our New Zealand followers, I'll be listing a lot of vintage dresses on Trademe soon, so keep an eye out!

I'm trying to be a better blogger. Really, I am. Hopefully this gets the ball rolling again. But in the meantime...

(PS. This is one parenthesis-heavy blog post!)

DIY: clothes rack

My father and I recently built this freestanding clothes rack, and it was relatively easy and only took about half a day! We made it using some spare wood, castor wheels, nails, paint and and an old curtain rod.

There are 4 parts:

the base - this piece should be quite wide. It goes across the bottom of the rack.

the support-y balance-y bits - 2 pieces that help balance the rack, attached sideways to the base piece. The four castor wheels are attached to these.

the sides - 2 thinner pieces that go up the sides and hold the rod.

the rod - a metal or wooden thin (preferably cylindrical, but it doesn't really matter) piece that goes along the top and the clothes hang from it.

We cut the wood and rod into the right length first (the rack is about 1.5 x 1.75m, but you can alter this to suit you) and my father drilled a hole for the rod at the top of the piece at each end using a drill bit a little bigger than the rod (the layers of paint add a few millimeters).

 step one: sanding

You have to do A LOT of this. Make sure to get the edges nice and smooth.

 

 step two: attach all the wood pieces together

Use a drill and nails. My father did this part (so essentially he built it, not me). Make it strong and stuff.

 step three: paint it (optional)

I used two coats of primer and then a creamy colour.

step four: attach the castor wheels

then slide in the rod and then you're done!

 

skirt & shirt - thrifted

dress - Glassons

piano bag from China

Use this tutorial as a basic guideline to building your own clothes rack and have fun!

Creative mood!

Today I got a little inspired and I made this crop top out of the bottom of a dress that I hemmed! Sorry for the exposed thigh and awkward pose, my life is stupid to me sometimes and I find it hard to get a good photo of myself.

Alas, back to school.

I usually work Saturday mornings, so if I'm lucky enough to get one off it will be unconditionally spent at garage sales. I love other people's old junk. This dress, for example, was once a 70s curtain, and a great one at that. A customs officer told me I looked like a 'little Von Trapp', the highest of compliments. I'm wearing this on my first day back at uni, after a very long post-earthquake holiday.





Dress - handmade, without a pattern 'cause I have no spatial reasoning capability
Tights - laddered, as usual
Shoes - ?


While I'm here, I thought I'd share some photos from a recent adventure with Ruby-Rose, a dear friend and talented photographer. Together we have a vast array of semi-functional cameras that always yield interesting results. I am physically scarred from our adventures, but I'm a sucker for punishment 'cause I just keep going back for more.





Two different redscales.







Plus one from an amazing sunstroke day trespassing at a bird sanctuary island.


P.S. Does this look alright on everyone's browsers? Christie and I both have Macbooks with Firefox so we're not a very broad spectrum of internet users.