Fabfrocks at home: Loves Oliver Bonas

Hi guys,
I saw this chest in the 'wanted' pages of this week's Stylist magazine and immediately fell in love. It's everything you could want from a piece of vintage inspired furniture, and I've already mentally given it a spot in my living room. It's made in India from Mango wood and each handle, shelf and drawer is different. I didn't even know Oliver Bonas did furniture! But now I do, there is hardly a single piece I don't want. Not to mention all of the trinkety jewellery and pretty feminine dresses on their site I also covet on a regular basis... But this isn't about fashion, this is about the home!

Here are some of my 'must have' pieces from their furniture collection:

Herbert wood chest, £495
Raspberry velvet love tub chair, £545
Yellow ochre tub chair, £385
Decorative door knob, £6.50
Philippe Starck transparent chair, £149
Butterfly door hook, £16

The velvet chairs come in 3 different sizes and a matching Ottoman. They come in a dozen different colours, although the raspberry and the ochre are my personal favourites. I love that the ochre chair matches the drawer in the cabinet too: perfect for a hallway or little unused nook!

The biggest bargain on this page though is the door knob. I'm currently having a love affair with door knobs. I picked up six from a vintage shop in Horncastle (each had a different bird on it) and am planning on using them to replace the standard ones on my Ikea vanity table. Much like I always suggest changing the buttons on Primark coats to make them look more expensive, changing the handles on cheaper pieces of furniture is a sure fire way to make them look more expensive, and inject them with some personality.

Do you have any hints and tips for modifying your home on a budget? I'd love to hear them!

Love Tor x

PS - Don't forget to enter the latest fabfrocks competition! You could win a whole outfit from fashionpony.co.uk!

Fabfrocks at Home: The fabric furniture tutorial

Hi guys,

Late last year one of my collegues tore an article out of one of the Sunday supplements for me about how to create your own fabric furniture. It has sat on my desk until last weekend, when I decided to give it a go on our old Ikea coffee table: it only cost £10, and it was so scratched we were going to throw it away anyway, so I had nothing to lose!



I'm delighted to say it turned out to be a roaring success! It's such a cheap and quick way to update and personalise your home. So although I can't take any credit for the idea, here's how I did it, so that you can give it ago yourself! I needed just two metres of fabric (which cost me £20, but will depend on the fabric you choose) and 1 bag of wallpaper paste, which cost £1:



- My first step was to measure the table top and cut a piece of fabric that was an exact fit for it. I then cut my remaining fabric into strips, approximately 3 inches wide.



-Once all the fabric was cut I mixed up the wallpaper paste, then I decided to start on the legs (its a good place to start as it's left noticable if you get it wrong!) I took a long strip of fabric, soaked it in the paste, then squeezed out the excess. I then wrapped it around the leg, smoothing it down as I went along



-For the top I used the same technique to soak the big piece of fabric, then lay it on the surface, using a paintbrush to smooth the fabric down, making sure there were no folds, or creases in the fabric.



- I used the same flat fabric technique to cover the sides of the table. And voila! That is literally all there is to it. It took around 24 hours to dry: if you want to use the furniture outside, you can apply a varnish at this point. And here's the finished product:



I love it-it doesn't look patchy at all when it dries! I know it's a bit much for your coffee table to match your table cloth and napkins, but I think it looks great. And the possibilities are endless: you can apply this to just about any piece of furniture: in the original article they did tables, chairs, and even a teapot! All you need is fabric and imagination!



Love, Tor xxx

Fabfrocks at home: Second-hand nesting

Hi guys,
I've found myself being more and more interested in everything around me being aethetically interesting, and my house (which started life looking like an ikea starter home) is my newest project. Mike's natural instinct is for things to be clean and simple and minimalist. I prefer things to be more cluttered, and I love old vintage/retro furniture which is a bit beaten up, and looks like it's had a life. Our house is a compromise of both of these things, and i've spend the last couple of months scouring antique shops, car boot sales, and charity shops looking for new furniture to breathe a little of my taste into the living room:


I love this yellow wing back chair, which I got from a car boot sale for £6: the mustard colour of the fabric is gorgeous. The following week on the same car boot sale (and for just £5!) I found this embroidered footstool with the cutest mustard coloured house on it. It was fate! The dark wood on both isn't to my personal taste, but I plan to strip it back and repaint it: it's the first job on my things-to-do list after the wedding!

As well as buying new old furniture, i've also been repurposing some of our original furniture. This futon (a gift from my mum) is one of the most useful pieces of furniture in our house, and gets loads of use. But the colour doesn't match our living room at all: cue blankets, cushions, and voila! A perfect little corner snug in our living room that overnight guests can sleep on too!

The next thing on my "really really want" list is a cabinet for my fancy china and other bits to sit in our living room: i've been searching for the perfect one for over 6 months. It has to be right around the corner - but half the fun is in the hunt!

Love Tor xx