Nordic Style Bedside Shelf DIY

Bedside table is a classic and there is a reason for that. It is easy to leave glasses, phone, clock and books to a surface near a bed so those can be found in the morning or next evening. Small furniture in every corner then is a challenge when you try to clean the floors. Pretty wall shelves answer to the problem. The most beautiful pieces are like sculptures on the wall. Random items on a shelf might ruin the look so I came up with this idea to hide the items on the shelf. Of course you can see through the rows of wooden beads but it tricks the eye so that the overall look is organized.

For over an year now I have liked bare wood. It looks so beautiful after years of thick paint and ornaments. It has also calming effect as the wood feels soft and it has so many details when you stop to look at it. It also matches with colorful textiles surprisingly well when the wood in question hasn't turned too yellow but has still the shimmering white hue. This small shelf would also be a stylish decoration in the kitchen with few glass objects or jars in it. The basic idea how to make this shelf is simple, you just drill even row of holes to the front of the shelf and thread beads through.

Nordic Style Bedside Shelf DIY

You will need:

150 cm* 20 cm plank

6 shelf holders and screws

Wooden beads: 

48 beads in 35 mm 

64 beads in 25 mm

16 small beads

Strong cotton yarn

Glue

Saw

Sandpaper

Drilling machine and 3 mm drill

Needle

Pencil

Ruler

Step 1. Saw three 50 cm pieces from the 20 cm wide plank. Sand the ends.

Step 2. Drill similar holes to every piece to one long side with 3 mm drill. Because the biggest bead is 3,5 cm I put the holes in the corners 1,75 cm from side edges.  Also the row of holes comes 1,75 from the edge. The space between corner holes is then divided to seven even (6,64 cm) parts to get the points where to drill.

Step 3. Attach the shelf holders with screws 6 cm from the sides.

Step 4. Put the shelves to a wall in even row 20 cm from each other. Thread the beads through the shelves with strong cotton yarn. I put double yarn with a small bead in the middle so the top shelf got an interesting detail from the bead row. I also put similar small bead under the last shelf and made double knots. Then I put some glue to the knot and let it dry before I cut the yarn ends off. 

Trendy Terracotta

We don't have to take every home decoration trend by heart. If colors currently on trend are not our favorites we don't have to go and paint a living room wall with the latest shade. Most of the trends I just let go. They might be difficult to modify to a small apartment, don't collaborate with my personal style or are just too pricey/ time consuming to produce compared to the time I estimate they will please the eye. Every now and then a trend seems perfect to my home and add's some interesting detail to the entity. For example last year I was hugely inspired by mirror trends and made a contemporary style mirror wall. Mirror wall completed the style I have in my living room and makes it look bigger.

Quite often it is possible to apply trends in small scale. I browse magazines, blogs and social media and think, now that thing looks great, how could I take part to this? Maybe I could use a trend as an inspiration for table setting, small arrangement on top of a drawer or in a new pillow pattern. Just few people have money to put away all decor and furniture and start from the beginning every season. It is not even something to go for in my opinion. Home is home and built little by little with things that please us and we think are pretty and worth having. It should be a place we can rest in comfortable and aesthetically pleasing environment. Plus it is not ecologically clever to get bored to home decor that often.

When I find a trend inspiring I evaluate on witch scale I will take a part. Will I paint my walls or one furniture? Or is it few small objects that communicate that I am aware of a current style? I go through my cabinets and collect objects that could fit the style. I love this year's terracotta trend because it is warm, earthy and inviting color. At least at the moment I don't feel I need to apply it to my home in large scale but small items fit quite nicely with my bohemian style and deep colors. I changed some winter survivor plants to terracotta pots I bought from thrift store two weeks ago. Then I examined my cupboards to collect everyday items that are in terracotta color or near that. I don't keep every set of plates, vases and candles on show. Most of the everyday stuff is in a cabinet and used when needed. It would be unpractical to have all on show even though every set of plates/ mugs/ vases would be pretty. Trends come handy in choosing what items to have on display at the moment and which ones to put inside a closet to wait for next season.

Now terracotta trend is present in my small home in two arrangements. One on top of a writing cabinet where I have my green plants waiting for spring and light. The other arrangement is inside a turquoise cabinet that has glass windows. The inside of the cabinet is painted with okra and goes perfectly to the burnt and sunny terracotta palette. Items on show are all from my own cupboards, nothing new. I also took candles out from a drawer so I would remember to burn them before light summer days.

What trend would you like to bring in this season? Do you find terracotta inspiring color?

Happy and Inspiring Week My Dear Friends!

Sannu

Spontaneous Home Tour

 

Today when I came home the whole apartment was bathing in sunlight. I rushed to my camera and started taking pictures. Even on a sunny day we have light about 2-3 hours so I had to be quick. After several snowy days and quite dark December it was wonderful to see all the colors in their full bloom. Now that I have edited the photos I can see a leading theme in my home and it is bold pink. There is no corner in my home where there is no pink. Pink is reckless, energetic and inspiring color. Especially small pink details make a nice modern twist to bohemian style that can otherwise look too shabby.

I haven't shared that many interior pictures from my home lately the lack of light being the main reason. Kitchen corner is the only place that has a bit more light even on a cloudy day. It would be impossible to get good quality pictures in a living room when it is dark outside. It has worked fine to take most photographs in the kitchen and play with styling. Now that there begins to be more sunny days I feel inspired to start decorating other corners of this studio apartment. I have no plans to change the whole style. I like the mix of colors, old and new furniture, grey and pink combo and big wall posters and mirror wall. Yet I feel super inspired by the 2018 trends: Earthy hues, terracotta, berry colors and Pantone's color of the year ultra violet. To bring 2018 into my home I am going to go with small home decor DIYs. I already visited thrift stores today to get materials for projects. 

Sometimes it feels that nothing has happened in home decoration sector so it is good to have these reflective moments. Usually home decor DIYs that I make take their place in my home and I take a picture of that corner. Then after a while I change the order of furniture and decor and it looks a bit different. Last year has brought more pink details to my home. Ikat inspired lampshade DIY, wall clock that I made of an old plate and a new quilted blanket that I put on the wall. Two new pillows have found their place as well as furniture makeovers like the magazine/book stand with marble details. I have had many fun and inspiring moments making these projects and I can't wait to have more ideas and experiments this year! 

This year one of my goals is to post more often and write about small things and thoughts. As I told on Saturday's post I have taken the 52 books in 52 weeks challenge so you can expect posts about books and reading. I will also post about DIY projects because crafts, old stuff, recycled materials and experiments are my true passion. Without making and creating I am not truly alive but merely existing. I will continue to play with colors and recycled materials. This year's leading theme in home decor, DIYs and lifestyle could be ecological maximalism. Multitude of colors, textures, layers and atmosphere can be achieved with creativity and upcycling of existing materials.

Mid-Century Modern Table DIY

Friyay! While being effective for the last working hours of the week it is time to get inspired and search for the best DIYs of the weekend. Side tables are handy in home decor. They offer extra surface for seasonal arrangements, place to leave your books and coffee mugs or to keep all the little plant pots organized. Today I went for darker colors to get a side table that will give needed contrast to all my bohemian style collections. I love layered look that has elements from different eras and styles: old worn out carved wood, modern design chairs, bright colors, global style patterns and eclectic mid-century. 

Combination of mid-century modern and bohemian style works quite well I think. Especially when color palette in furniture is simple and combined with deeper bohemian shades. Harvest season's colors like pumpkin orange, beetroot purple and moss green begin to look great with warm wood and grey. Golden accents make the look luxurious and urban. I have had many styles during the years and the modern twist is the latest one. Clean lines calm down the overall look which is great in small space like my apartment. Grey walls, mirrors (check this contemporary mirror wall DIY!) and two big carpets create a sense of a bigger space and allow to play with smaller and more decorative objects. 

Idea of this table came with the need of an extra small table and the legs that appeared from the garbage about the same time. I could not find suitable plank from the garbage or thrift store so I had to buy a new one (cost 10€). I modified the plank to fit in a narrow space, that is why I sawed of the corners. Paints are all more of less leftovers. I always tend to have some jars in my closets. As a starting point with the colors I had a thought that I am not going to add any more colors in the house so I kept the palette simple. Now I have plans to put my stereos on this side table and maybe a small flowerpot.

You will need:

Metal table legs + screws

Wooden plank

Paint in three colors (I used golden spray paint, black furniture paint and brown antiquing wax)

Painter's tape

Sanding paper

Strong white paper like wallpaper

Saw

Pencil

Ruler

Scissors

Drilling machine and drill

In today's tutorial I have got more pictures than usual but I hope that in case you are making this DIY you will find them helpful. This DIY is not difficult to make yet includes many different steps. So here is how I made this table:

Step 1. The table legs are a garbage find. I spray painted the legs with golden spray paint. Then I bought a plank that fits to the legs. This plank is 40 cm * 1 m. 

Step 2. To get right proportions to make legs and table cover work together I removed few centimeters from the length. Because this side table is going to a narrow place I removed the corners. I always hit myself to sharp corners so I hope to prevent that with this simple design.

Step 3. Saw off from the length if needed. Saw off the corners. Sand the edges.

Step 4. Attach the legs. First I measured how wide the the leg pair is and counted it to the middle. Then I draw another line from the front edge. As a result I got a rectangle that works as guide to get the legs in their right place.

Step 5. Screw the legs to the plank. If needed attach supporting pieces to keep the plank firm in use.

This table would look pretty like this or painted with just one color but we are not stopping here!

Step 6. Cut a model that is the exact same shape as the table cover. Use a long ruler to draw lines and form random geometrical shapes. My tip would be to keep most of the shapes quite big and then add few smaller shapes. This keeps the project easier to paint plus creates dynamic look.

Step 7. Decide what paint are you going to use in particular blocks. In case you are using spray paint cut out the blocks you are spray painting.

Step 8. Use painter's tape to secure the lines. I left about 0,7 cm gap between color blocks which means that I put the tape 0,3 cm over the models line. 

Step 9. Spray paint the blocks. If you want to use spray paint in all blocks you need to make as many paper models as you got colors. Then you just cut out the blocks you are painting with the certain color.

Step 10. Gently rip off the tapes when the paint is dry. Try not to break the model.

Step 11. Then cut off blocks one by one drawing the outlines to the table cover.

Step 12. Use ruler to get the lines sharp and gaps between the blocks right.

Step 13. Then it is time to paint with the second color. With furniture paint I worked block by block. I put the tapes, painted and removed the tape immediately before the paint was dry. This because acrylic paint sometimes cracks with the tape when dry.

Step 14. After the furniture paint blocks were dry I did the same with rest of the blocks. This time I used antiquing wax.

Step 15. Then I painted the edge with the black furniture paint.  After the paint was dry I sanded the gaps between blocks to take off the pencil marks and paint that went over the lines. 

Best thing in this mid-century inspired table is that it is timeless piece in home decor. It can be styled with various ways. You could decorate the whole home with mid-century pieces and this table would not pop out. Also it is a perfect dynamic piece in modern global style. I love to collect all sorts of decorative items, like trays, flower pots, baskets, decorative pillows etc. The look might get a little messy without furniture like this that gives frame to the entity.

Hope today's post and this tutorial was both inspiring and helpful. Please share my tutorials and projects on social media if you like them! Shares, likes and follows are the biggest encouragement for my work <3 

Have a Fun and Creative Weekend!

Sannu