From Craft Room to Guest Room - Transformation

You may remember I did a post on my craft room last year and how I transformed a sad little desk into my crafting mecca. This room has a little secret in that when I'm not sewing, gluing and sticking, it transforms into a cosy little guest room.

Recently I gave it a new lease of life and fresh feel with the help of some bedding and bits from Wayfair. They set me a challenge on how to “Bring the Outdoors In” and I couldn't think of a more perfect room to do it with, especially with spring well and truly being here.

I picked up this brilliant futon in a second hand furniture shop at a steal of £40. Kitted out with a brand new mattress, it’s the perfect mix of practical and handy for space saving and bed space for guests. I opted for some new cream bedding to keep the space bright and open, giving the illusion of space to a small room which works a treat and keeps it fresh.

As it’s still a touch chilly, a nice throw blanket is always a comfort for guests to wrap around themselves and snuggle down under. The duck egg blue compliments the existing colour palette of the craft room and brings a fresh spring feel to the bedding.  It also doubles up as the perfect blanket for me to get under and read/ nap on the futon!

To finish it all off you need a few decorative pieces so I like to put together a few things that make any guest feel welcome. A neatly folded set of towels with some toiletries and candles are always much appreciated as well as the wifi code – who doesn’t want need that!? My crafting desk and chair also double up as a great dressing table area for people who stay.

To again bring the spring and outdoors inside, I picked up these amazing tulips from Wayfair which are genuine fake – perfect for when you’re out of fresh blooms and my god do they look genuine. I am seriously impressed with the quality! To finish it all off, my craft suitcase doubles up as a make-shift bedside table. A touch of lace over the top, some handy pen and paper and you’re good to go!

I love that this room is dual purpose, ensuring it gets full usage and isn’t just a spare room that’s closed off until the next guests arrive. I absolutely love it and would urge any fellow crafters, bloggers and vloggers who are lusting after a desk area of their own to do the same!

For some more inspiration, check out my “Craft/ Guest Room Inspiration” board over on Pinterest:

Follow Laydey Katabella's board Craft/Guest Room Inspiration on Pinterest.

Do you have any dual purpose rooms?

Simple DIY Dog Treats

I'm back today with what I want to class as a crafty post? Kind of anyway but nevertheless it’s fun, simple and easy on the purse too!

Being a dog owner, I like to do what’s best for Harry and know that he’s eating good quality food. I’m also a crafter and thriftier at heart so with that in mind I thought it’d be fun to make some dog biscuits, knowing exactly what goes into them and knowing there’s no preservatives or rubbish in them either! I can’t take credit for the recipe as it is in fact taken from Caesar Milan’s website (see here) but I’m going to show you a step by step tutorial with pictures so you’ll know what the biscuits are meant to look like at each stage.

To begin with, you will need:

Ingredients

o    2 ½ cups whole wheat flour (substitute regular flour or oats if your dog is sensitive to wheat)

o    1 tsp. salt (or less)

o    1 egg

o    1 tsp. Beef or chicken Bouillon granules (1 beef oxo cube)

o    ½ cup hot water

o    Added extras such as bacon or chicken broth, eggs, oats, liver powder, wheat germ, shredded cheese, bacon bits. (I went for cheese)

Directions

Start by pre-heating your oven to 180 (°C)/ 350 (°F) / gas mark 4

Dissolve your oxo cube or bouillion into hot water and stir

Add the stock and remaining ingredients into a bowl

Mix the ingredients before kneading into a dough until it forms a ball. This takes approximately 3 minutes.

NOTE: The mixture will start off very sticky then quickly becomes very dry. You may be tempted to add more water but stick with it and it’ll soon become a ball. You need the mix to be dry in order to make crunchy biscuits.

Next roll the dough out until it’s ½ inch thick.

Cut your dough into slices or use a cookie cutter/ bone shaped cutter. (I picked mine up on eBay)

To get the most out of your dough, re-roll the excess to make more biscuits.

Place your dough pieces on a tray.

Cook for 30 minutes.

Once cool, serve up to your doggy! (I’m sure they will thank you for it.)

As you can see they really are simple to make and the great thing is Harry LOVES them! Jack (my mum’s puppy) was over when I made these and was my doggy model in the video below:

As you can see the recipe makes a lot of biscuits, which keep fresh for up to a week or alternatively they can be frozen, with them lasting up to 6 months in the freezer.

I hope you liked this doggy inspired DIY. Don’t forget to check out my previous doggy DIY which was this super simple dog bed!

Have you ever made dog biscuits?

Craft a home of Happiness- a round up of recent crafts

Some of you may or may not be aware that I moved house at the beginning of January. It was quite a big move, as I’d previously lived in Cyprus until September 2014, then moved into my mum’s temporarily until our house was ready. To say this was a stressful time is an understatement, what with Chris being away in the Falklands and me having to do the move with just my Dad to help out (thank you Dad you life saver), but we’re very much settled in our little home now and I’ve been doing my best to make it as cosy as possible.

As a keen crafter I love making bits and pieces, so adorning our house with things I’ve made on the cheap is something I really enjoy and find very satisfyig. Chris and I don’t want to splash lots of cash but certainly want to project our personalities on the place so here’s some things I’ve been crafting..

It’s OK Banner

You may have seen this banner before as I did a tutorial on it back in March. I’d been lusting after one for quite some time but every time I’d go to buy one, they were never in stock! Frustrated I decided to create my own (which was much more satisfying), making it a bit smaller than the original- perfect for this little corner of our living room.

 Chartreuse Canvases

Sooo we’ve got this bedding… Could I find any art work to match it? No. Or if I did, did we like it enough or thought it was worth the price tag? No… We took to Pinterest and came across these wonderful quotes and typography (originals here and here) and I got out my watercolours and gave it my best shot to re-create our own. We changed up the colours and went for chartreuse, greys and blacks. It took me so long to find a proper word for “yellowey green limey but not too green or too yellow” and chartreuse is the word!  I must admit I was pretty chuffed and relieved at how they came out and Chris praised me too- yay! The canvases I picked up at my local Factory Shop- two for £6!

Polka dot table cloths and pretty pretty curtains

Now I’m no sewing expert, in fact I’m quite the novice!  Thankfully I have a Mothership with much more expertise and knowledge to guide me so when I told her I wanted to re-vamp the kitchen a bit with curtains and a tablecloth she was happy to help. The table cloth and curtain material both came from Dunelm and are just adorable! The table cloth was incredibly easy to make. Measure your table, allow some excess and have the material cut- done! It’s oilcloth so it doesn’t fray and is easy to wipe over too. Sorted! The curtains were a bit trickier but so satisfying to make and now I know how to make them I’ll definitely have another go in the future.

DIY Dog Bed

Our home wouldn’t be complete without our hound Harry. He’s such a big part of the Rayment household and I wanted to make him a lovely dog bed whilst in keeping with our living room. I came across this lovely fabric (which if you look closely has a dog pattern on) and thought it was perfect. I did another tutorial on how to make this (here) but it’s crazy simple and I guarantee it’s something you could do! He loves it as I made sure it was a nice big bed for him to stretch out on and I love it because it’s not a typically garish dog bed- yay!

Sundae Candle

Back in April/ May time I took part in the Craft Blog Club’s spring clean gift swap.  In a nutshell the challenge was to spring clean some old craft supplies whilst creating a secret gift for another craft blogger. I made a sundae candle for Robyn of Simple Little Pieces plus more (see post here) and made an extra one in case I cocked up the first one! Thankfully her candle came out lovely, leaving me with one too which is a cheery fun decoration for our kitchen. It’s confused plenty of our friends mwahahaha…

  

Craft bench make over

Having the perfect craft area is crucial for spreading out materials and having space to create and again I couldn’t find anything I liked within my price range *sobs* so yet again I rolled up my sleeves and decided to make my own out of materials I mostly already had. My desk started off as a teeny tiny laptop desk with a shelf balanced on top. After sourcing the same desk, I drilled another spare shelf top on top and with a lick of paint I created a long craft bench. One end is aimed at being office like, with laptop and printer whilst the other I leave clear to use my sewing machine and create other craft projects. It was super cheap to devise and I think the chalk based paint helps it fit with our shabby chic guest room. I’m planning on doing a craft room post in the near future so watch this space…

And those my friends are a few little ways I've made our house a little bit more homely on the cheap whilst incorporating crafts! It’s so much fun and god do I get a kick out of it when people ask “where did you get that from?” and I can reply, “I made it myself.”

 What have you made for your home?