Easy DIY Canvas Quote Art + A GIVEAWAY!

This post is sponsored by Canvas Champ.

I spend a lot of time in my office, so I'm always on a mission to make it as inviting and functional as possible. The reason I choose to work from home over my actual office, more often than not, is simply because I feel so much more motivated when I'm in a space that I love. 

That's why I love redecorating and filling my office with the things that make me happy. From stacks and stacks of books (my office book collection is currently sitting at 289 colour coordinated books) to cute little trinkets, lots of live plants and quotes to remind myself of throughout the day. 

But finding that perfect quote print is often hard... sure, I could go to a store and buy a cheesy art print... but do I really need to remind myself to BREATHE or is seeing the world RELAX really going to make me relax? And is reminding myself that I'm beautiful really going to decrease my stress levels when I've got deadlines looming and clients calling me incessantly? Probably not.

That's why I love creating my own art pieces - and I wanted to show you how to make the EASIEST DIY Quote Art Prints for your walls - and also host an awesome GIVEAWAY! (Because who doesn't love the chance to win something!) 

So let me get on with the show and reveal this giveaway!

June Styling: House Plants That Are Hard to Kill + My Boho Inspired Office Theme

Another month - and another theme!

It's currently winter in Australia so I've been on a mission to make our house as cosy as humanely possible. Borrowing some ideas from my Hygge Home Decor Theme Ideas and Inspiration post last month, this month I've created a boho inspired theme that was created around my new plant babies!

You see, I may have a black thumb (and bad luck with plants) but I've found some of the easiest to care for house plants that I want to share with you - as well as give you a little tour of this month's theme!

So let me share what house plants are the hardest to kill - and some fun decor bits and pieces too! >> 

May Styling: Hygge Styling with a Pink, Gray and Metallic Theme

The temperatures have been dropping in Sydney lately. The fireplace is on in our front lounge room, the heating is on in the mornings and evenings and I'm finding myself putting on long sleeves instead of short and covering my freezing cold feet in socks and slippers. 

So what does one do when it's getting colder?

Why, if you ask me - the answer to that question is quite simple. You go on a hunt for ALLLLLLLLLLLLLL the warm and cosy things in life.

I'm talking cosy sweaters, new varieties of tea, slippers and when it comes to decor - that means blankets, warm lighting and a wintery colour palette.

So let me share my Calm and Cosy (not quite) Winter Theme with you! >> 

April Styling: Adding Colour and Personality with a Rainbow Theme!

It's no secret that I'm not a monochrome kind of girl. Whilst I do have a gazillion and one plain black t-shirts in my wardrobe, they're only there so I can add a pop of colour elsewhere. 

I definitely live life in colour (especially pink!) and that's why this month's decor theme turned out completely different to what I originally planned. You see, I started out wanting a book theme for the month - but that quickly turned into more and more of a rainbow theme as I gravitated towards all of the bright coloured things.

So let me share the details of this month's styling! >> 

March Styling: My Easter Home Decor

Hello, lovely ones! It's now mid-March and I'm back for another month of decor goodness! As I've done since I've had my new office, I've changed up my office decor with a new theme for March. 

With Easter at the end of the month, I thought March was the perfect month for an Easter decor theme - especially as it gave me the perfect excuse to buy ALLLLL the cute bunnies.

So let me share this theme with you! >> 

February Styling: My Easy Valentine's Day Themed Home Decor

With a new month, comes a new decor theme - and I might have said this last month, but this theme may be my favourite!

Whilst Jesse and I may not necessarily celebrate Valentine's Day, it was the perfect chance to change up my office decor with a pink, red and love filled theme!

So let me show you how our February Decor Theme! >> 

January Styling: How to Create a Tropical Decor Theme in Any Room (On a Budget!)

Well hey there, lovelies! Happy Monday!

I thought today was the perfect time to share my January Office Styling with you - since last week I gave you the DIY Fabric Wall Hanging Instructions that I used to make the hanging on my peg board this month. 

After Christmas, my office felt a little bit bare after taking down all of my decorations - so I decided I'd start decorating each month of the year as well!

This post will be relatively short and simple - but I thought I'd share my tips for creating a tropical inspired decor look whilst also sharing some of the pieces used in the room that you might want to buy yourself!

So let me share my tips! >> 

Spare Bedroom to Home Office Makeover On a Budget (Room Reveal with Before and After Photos!)

Why hello there! 

You've heard me talk about my home office for weeks (because it was a big project and we started all the way back in September!) and you've seen glimpses here and there - but I thought today, I'd invite you into what has become my favourite room in our house - and give you the grand tour!

It's still a work in progress, however, why don't you come inside?

Mind the puppies, and let me show you around!

Here's a look at my new home office! >> 

Easy DIY Built In Wardrobe Makeover

Remember our Spare Bedroom to Home Office Makeover? If so, you'll remember the ugly built in wardrobe that was there.

Well now? That wardrobe is LONG GONE. 

It was ugly, impractical (the doors were too big so you couldn't access the middle section) and didn't fit with the look I wanted the room to have.... so I took it out!

Only, I couldn't take it completely out... you see, to the right of that wardrobe was an airconditioning vent - and if I ripped it completely out, I'd also have to patch the ceiling... so let me show you how I came up with a creative solution! 

Here's how we did our Built In Wardrobe Makeover on a Budget! >> 

DIY Custom To-Do List Cork Board Makeover (For Under $15 !)

I'm a visual thinker. I draw things out, write millions of notes and have hundreds of notebooks filled with ideas.... but I'm also a bit of a neat freak... so when it came to creating my new office, I knew I wanted a neater solution for my post it notes. 

Whilst I wasn't planning on sharing this DIY To Do List/Weekly Calendar on the blog, I decided I had to share it after having quite a few of my friends ask me where I bought it from. 

You see, I knew exactly what I wanted in a weekly calendar/to-do list but I couldn't find one that fit my room or fit my needs in stores (or online) - so I set to work in making my own. 

This may be the world's easiest DIY project ever - but it's one I'm so glad I did as I use it on a daily basis - and it's stopped me from covering my desk and computer in post it notes that always happen to get lost under one another - and that's a huge win in my books.

Best of all? You can personalise it to suit you. Use it as a meal planning menu board, add your kids before and after school activities or chores, use it as a calendar - the possibilities are endless! 

So let me show you how to make it! >> 

From Spare Bedroom to Home Office: The Blank Slate

Okay, so now you've seen the before photos, you've seen the prep work - and today, I'm showing you the blank slate. 

The walls are painted and everything is ready to decorate once we get back from Hawaii tomorrow! 

I'm actually really glad I had all of this done and ready for when we got back - because now I am actually excited to get home instead of having the usual post holiday hangover! 

To recap, we had Airtasker Painter come in and prep and paint the room for us as we were totally overwhelmed after starting the prep work. The room had previously had a leak in the roof and moisture on one of the walls and the paint had peeled away - leaving a big ugly hole that we had no idea how to patch. A guy at Bunnings had totally scared us into thinking it was a mammoth task by selling us the wrong product and we had just left the room as we waited to pluck up the courage to tackle it. 

Luckily that courage didn't arrive before my impatience and I put someone else to work instead. Fast forward to today and the job is done - and this is the blank slate we have to work with. 

The plan is to have two big desks running the entire length of the wall the window is on. That's first on my list of things to buy as the room is quite small and I don't know how overwhelming the desks will be.

The plan is to first buy and place the desks - and then decide what we want to do with the rest of the room. At the moment, the rough plan is to have a reading chair and rug in front of the wardrobe with bookcases/storage behind. 

We are also planning on redoing that wardrobe - taking off the doors and turning it into more of an open storage space as the doors that are currently on there aren't actually the right fit for the wardrobe (you can't access the middle section of the wardrobe) which renders the wardrobe almost completely useless - and I'm not really the biggest fan of the mirrored doors. But that's the final step of the project - once we've got everything else sorted. 

So there you have it, a blank slate ready to redecorate. I am super excited to jump into it once we get back as my head has been filling with ideas the whole time we're away!

And, because lots of you have asked whether I'd recommend Airtasker, here's my quick recap/rating: 

Ease of use: 5/5 
Whilst I was a little overwhelmed by what I should write in my ad at first,  once I got that sorted the process was really easy. I received a lot of offers on the project and then simply sifted through to find the right person.

Quality of work: 3.5/5 
Obviously, this is an individual thing as the quality will vary depending on the Airtasker you choose. We were pretty happy with our Airtasker - but once the paint dried, there were things that we weren't so happy about. Little things like the fact that he didn't use the primer on the woodwork and instead painted straight onto the wood which meant the green colour bled through. Luckily because we have the paint we can just go over it with a final coat once we're back from Hawaii - but if we weren't able to do that, that would have been frustrating.

Painting aside, he did a great job of patching up the walls - there were just a few details lacking.

Would we use Airtasker again? 
Yes - but I'd be a little more careful with what I told them to do - like making sure the woodwork had an undercoat etc. 

And, I mentioned it in my previous post but I'll mention it again;  if you want to use Airtasker for any future projects you can use this link for $25 off. Note: I will get $10 of Airtasker credit if you use the link - but you don't have to pay anything extra - and you can then use your link so your friends can save money and you can earn credit too. 

But tell me, when you're redecorating or moving into a new place, do you like to get everything sorted all at once - or do you like to go step by step to make sure everything is right like me? 

And, if you could repaint any room in your house, what room would it be - and what colour would you choose? 

    

   

This post may contain affiliate links.

From Spare Bedroom to Home Office: The Prep Work

Whilst we are currently on vacation in beautiful Hawaii, I wanted to give you a quick update on how our room makeover process is going. That way, when we get back you'll be all up to date and you can follow along as I work out the furniture and design side of things. 

The last time we spoke about this, I showed you the awful before photos and gave you a run down on how to choose the right person on Airtasker and since then a whole lot of work has been happening.

The first step was to patch up the walls. Jesse and I had already sanded back all of the woodwork in the room so the patching was the last bit of prep work we needed to do before the undercoat could go on. 

This is also where we learnt a valuable lesson: Don't trust people that work at Bunnings.

Actually, I should rephrase that. Just because a person looks like they know what they are talking about and says that they know what they are talking about, that doesn't mean that they actually know what they're talking about. 

Remember how I told you we'd been overwhelmed by the patchwork because we had no idea how to get started? That's because this guy at Bunnings sold us this big ol' bag of acrylic something-or-other that we had to mix up and use to patch the walls. That seemed totally overwhelming and we did nothing about it because we were convinced we'd mix it up wrong. 

Just as well we felt that way, because what we'd been sold was TOTALLY the wrong product. What we actually needed? A giant thing of spackfilla/filler... which we'd used to patch up all the other holes.  Umm, that would have been way easier and we totally could have done it... but nevertheless...

The walls were patched and we bought the undercoat and paint, ready to start the undercoat. 

The room we're redecorating is 3 metres by 4 metres by 2.7 metres high and we bought; 

• 4 litres of Ceiling Paint (which is both a primer and top coat in one) 
• 4 litres of Dulux 1 Step Primer, Sealer and Undercoat 
• 1 litre of Timber Paint (for the picture rails, skirting boards, door and window) 
• 4 litres of Dulux Wash and Wear Low Sheen Paint (for the top coat) 

After the patching had a day to dry out, Gengiz came back to do the undercoat. 

It was just the undercoat so it was still streaky and all over the place - but the room looked totally different already. 

I'll admit, I was a little worried walking into it first as I wasn't sure if I'd chosen the right colour (to paint the room completely white) but even with just the undercoat, the room already looks so much bigger and brighter.

Notice the random bottle in front of the mirror? That's me googling "How to get rid of paint smell" and then placing random bowls of vinegar all over the room.

I'll save you the experiment; I don't think the vinegar did anything....

And speaking of that mirror, that's going to go. That's a built in wardrobe but we're thinking of taking the doors off (as they're too big for the wardrobe so you can't get to the middle) and doing a bit of an overhaul on that too so I'll have more storage. 

And there you have it, undercoat done. Next step; the final paint job!

FYI, Australian friends - if you want to use Airtasker for any future projects you can use this link for $25 off. Note: I will get $10 of Airtasker credit if you use the link - but you don't have to pay anything extra - and you can then use your link so your friends can save money and you can earn credit too. 

But tell me, what's one valuable lesson you've learnt lately? 
And have you got any tricks to get rid of paint smell?

    

   

This post may contain affiliate links.

From Spare Bedroom to Home Office: The "Before" and How to Choose a Tradesperson on Airtasker

NOTE: This is NOT a sponsored post! We did, however, use an Airtasker coupon code to put
towards our project but this is in no way sponsored by the brand or affiliated with the Airtasker brand.

Hellooooo, friends! 

I am a sucker for a good makeover. A personal makeover, a home reno, a room makeover - you name it, I will probably love it. I think it's probably because it appeals to my creative side. I love seeing something taken from drab and boring or outdated to something fabulous. 

I'm hoping that this project will be something fabulous. But I thought, rather than show you a before and after photo - I'd take you along on the journey with us. 

If you follow us on Instagram or read my weekly Recent Things posts, you might have seen these bubble gum pink walls before. They're the walls of my sister's old bedroom - and whilst we started working on turning that room into a home office, we got completely and utterly overwhelmed with the task. 

You see that big hole? The wall wasn't like that before. That side backs onto our kitchen where our old fridge was leaking (again, if you've been here a while - that's the fridge that leaked and caught on fire 😂) so there was moisture in the wall which lead the paint to bubble. 

We knew that meant the paint had to be peeled back - but little did we know that those little bubbles would lead to a huge section of the wall just peeling away. 

And that's where we finished up. 

Keep Reading >>