Chuffed

Tidying the cupboard under the stairs (which is actually the stairs to the cellar) has been on my mind for some time and after a fair bit of research, followed by brainstorming with DF and a trip to good ol' Ikea, I felt that this weekend was finally the time to bite the bullet and try out my DIY skills. So after going over it in my head a few times and a trip to Homebase on Saturday morning, here is the result ...

It is still a work in progress (I ran out of screws!) but I think it is already much neater and Skirtingboard Siw is back in action!!

On a completely different note, here is some more of this weekend's handiwork by Yours Truly.

Pandora's box?

Christmas 2010  - I was hit by (mild) panic a couple of days before The Big Day when we realised that my parents (who were coming to us for Christmas) had left home without our Christmas present for my mother in law (which they were to collect from the picture framers)!

Next stop - v. nice toilettry shop to buy 'substitute' Christmas present.

Quite fortunately this went down very well and also came in a lovely gift box with a gorgeous velvet ribbon bow to boot.

So, this year it's time for me to 'convert' the gift box into a jewellery box for my mother in law.  Now, I've never done anything like this before, but I'm pretty good with diy/handy stuff, so I've a vague idea how I'm going to do it.

However, it would all be so easy if the box was square or rectangluar, but no! it is circular!

Quite handily, it came with some 'innards' that I'm hoping to convert into a pull out tray (what have I let myself in for?!) and I've got some (thin) upholstery foam from Ebay to give some padding.  All I need now is some more thick card, velvet to match/coordinate with the box exterior and some time and patience to put it all together!

Wish me luck!