DIY: A Touch of Marble

Marble is one of those materials that I imagine having in my 'forever' home, one day in the distant future.  For now, it's just too damn expensive to consider (plus I don't own my own home yet - that's a pretty big barrier between me and my dream carrera marble kitchen island!).  Thankfully, there is a budget way to add a touch of marble at home in the meantime, demonstrated brilliantly by the bloggers below...

DIY Marble Lamp via Weekday Carnival

DIY Marble Table via Stylizimo Blog 

DIY Marble Photo Frame via Plateful of Love

DIY Marble Pot via My Dubio

With little more than a pair of scissors and some marble contact paper, these girls have customised simple items to create something original and pretty darn good looking! I was really quite surprised at how stylish the results look, and how well this DIY works in the context of a minimal, monochrome, scandinavian interior.  

Unfortunately, it seems Australia doesn't have a great selection of marble contact paper from what I could see on the inter web. I found a couple of options from fishpond.com.au and eBay.com, but my favourites are from US site Design Your Wall. However, seeing as their shipping charges are extortionate, it's an absolute no go. If anyone out there knows where you can get this stuff in Aus, let me know! I'd love to try out this DIY myself! I'm thinking a marble box to hide our TV remotes. What would you marble-ise?

C

x

White and Gold: Cork Coasters DIY

For me, when it comes to craft/DIY projects, it's a case of the simpler the better. I don't do them as often as I'd like, but when I do I'm always impatient to get to the end result so I end up taking shortcuts on anything even slightly challenging -  and it shows in the finished product. That's why these little painted cork coasters are my kind of DIY - easy, fast and cheap as chips! I'm sure they'd have turned out better if I'd slowed down and put in a bit more thought, but with some leftover white paint and a few items from the two-dollar store, they look perfectly fine and I now have something cute to rest my cuppa on. It barely needs explaining but here's what you do:

1. Get yourself some cheapo cork coasters, a small tube or tub of acrylic paint in a colour of your choice, leftover wall paint (I used primer too but I'm sure this isn't essential), a paintbrush, a stencil brush, masking tape and some clear gloss spray (also from the $2 store).

2. Paint on a layer of primer (if using), leave to dry for half an hour to an hour, then paint on a coat of white paint, leave to dry and repeat until you have enough coverage.
3. Once the final coat of paint is dry, take your masking tape and mask out simple patterns on your coasters - stripes are by far the easiest.

4. Squeeze a small amount of the coloured acrylic paint onto the stencil brush and dab on newspaper to work it into the brush a bit. Dab the brush onto the coaster until all the gaps are covered. Leave to dry and repeat until you get the coverage you want.

5. After you have applied the final layer, peel off the masking tape while the paint is still wet.

6. Once the coasters are dry, spray them with a coat of clear gloss spray to protect them and make them more waterproof.

And voila! Time for a cup of tea...

C

x