So last Sunday was Fathers Day...

My husband is a difficult man to buy for, i have the same issues when Christmas and his birthday come around too. I know these dates are coming and yet still go into mini panic mode. Socks were not needed, he hardly ever wears cufflinks, jewellery was done last year and he doesn't eat chocolate. *sigh*

When we recently had a kitchen refurb and during this decided to install a small drinks fridge, perhaps more Mr Smith's idea than mine. I thought 'extra storage for Christmas food' he thought 'extra storage for beer' I'm sure there will be battles over this at some point.
We recently had friends over and during their stay the men were constantly hunting down bottle openers, really i don't know what they were doing with them but the little so and so's kept vanishing...

Thinking on from a project last summer (where Mr Smith built a 'reclaimed wood beer bottle opener with cap catcher - this still remains an unfinished project) i searched online to find something that could be wall mounted (therefore unloose able!) and would look fab in our kitchen. I found THIS, it looked ace, it was wood mounted and had a funky bottle opener - WIN! However it was £22, then with £2.75 postage it came to just shy of £25?! Yikes!
I little hunting online later... I came across these - CLICK CLICK. A set of not one but TWO rustic cast iron bottle openers (with attachments) for a mere £6.99 delivered - Yippee!


A little scrap wood from the storage bin, a bit of sanding and staining plus a few drilled holes for wall mounting and there was this... A fab wood mounted bottle opener which not only opens Mr Smiths bevvys but also looks pretty funky on our kitchen wall (besides the fridge of course)


As there were two brackets in the pack we had a spare which Mr Smith plans on using for his 'outdoor' bottle opener (and catcher) which have been gathering dust in our shed for the last 12 months. Stay tuned for that one!



Along with this the girls both made Daddy a card - got to a love a home made card covered in that much PVA glue and glitter that it can't stand alone. Fathers Day gifts complete. A awesome wall mounted beer opener and a pack of four of his favourite weekend tipple.

Lucky man :)

After an amazing sunshine filled holiday in Spain i've landed back with a bump and I'm so so happy to report... we now have two out of our three bathrooms complete - hurrah! Our bathrooms have been ongoing projects for a while now, we opted to do all three in one swoop (perhaps not the wisest idea) but at last the end is in sight. In ode to our shiny new bathrooms i want to share with you one of our new DIY projects.

In our house we are big Ikea fans. Great products and a great price. We had these frames from our first home (so they've been around a while!) We purchased them, as we purchased most of our house items in Oak. Oak was versatile, we liked the look.

Fast forward several years...

A couple of the frames a scratched, some bits have pealed. Basically they look tired, don't match our new home, are dated, I'm tired of how they look (which is tired too) and I'm no longer their greatest fan. Long story short...I don't like them.

So my choices. 1. Buy new frames. 2. Upcycle my current frames.

Wasn't really a choice... was it ;)

I love soup, even in the summer time and not only is this one of my slow cooker favourites but its also really really yummy and the coconut adds a really summery flavour.

When i purchased our beautiful Stag from Marks and Spencer for the not so grand sum of £40 (yes £40....bargain!) i was ecstatic, however this was short lived.

He was grand and majestic and yet looked SO lost against our pale wall, not how he should have looked. After a little searching online (pinterest much?) an idea was formed that he required a "frame" of sorts. As i can never get enough reclaimed wood we opted for a wooden mount, a quick delve in the wooden scrap bin resulted in the following...