Projektschmiede Second Hand Wonderland

Last Friday, in my 5 under €5 post, I mentioned my new favourite second hand shop. Anyone who is a regular reader will know that 

anything old is my kind of thing. So, finding a new place where I can look at and buy old stuff is always a good thing. 

Projektschmiede in Rothenburg ob der Tauber in Germany is not so much a shop as a warehouse. We have been in Rothenburg dozens of times over the past ten years but never noticed Projektschmiede until the weekend before last when we were in town to watch our nephew in a football tournament. 

Now, I am not a sports fan but I have never been happier to have been to a football match than I was that day! Having spotted the warehouse while stopped at the lights on the way to the sports hall, I waited till a gap in matches and snuck off with Number Three to check out Projektschmiede.

Before I even got in the door of the place, I was thrilled. Outside the entrance was shelf upon shelf of jars in all shapes and sizes. But when I turned around and saw all these plant pot holders arranged by colour, I knew I had found a special place.
  

Inside I was not disappointed. First of all, there was the building itself - huge arched windows letting in tons of natural light, a red brick vaulted ceiling and a maze of rooms. 

In the first couple of rooms the walls are lined with white shelving stacked with china and glassware of all kinds. From soup tureens to serving platters, sherry glasses to dinner plates, it is all there. 

I didn't buy this cute little tea set but I wish I had. €5! A steal.

There were more glasses than I have ever seen before in one place, and such pretty ones. I am definitely going to back. I simply could not decide which ones to buy.  

What I really liked about the place was that the staff seemed to enjoy working there and they cared about the way the goods were displayed. Just look at this coffee pot display. (I admit the photo is not the best, but I had a toddler struggling to get off my hip as I took it). 

The next room was bursting with furniture - a whole mix of stuff, a lot of it not my taste. But there were a few really nice pieces with potential - these wardrobes, a set of chairs with woven ratten backs (€24 each), a set of bedside lockers (€40 each).

There was even one room of toys, which included this gorgeous cot. It is actually a baby cot rather than a toy and, while the veneer was damaged in a few places, it had beautiful paintwork. €28 is all it cost. I had a difficult time not buying it, I can tell you. 

The book section was laid out like a library with aisles of shelves stuffed with books, sorted properly into categories. There was even a wood-burning stove lit to cosy the place up!

This bookshelf caught my eye. I can imagine that a few coats of chalk paint in a smokey blue-grey, it could be beautiful.

I am so pleased to have come across this place and am going to have to set aside a little budget for my next visit. 

Upcycling A Metal Framed MIrror

Some time in the early 2000s, I bought what I considered at the time to be a pretty, metal-framed mirror with a candle holder at the front. I can no longer recall where I bought it or how much I paid. Several house moves later, it has found itself in the cellar, no longer a suitable match for any of our other belongings. 

A couple of times I almost donated it to the charity shop or brought it along to sell at a flea market. But something held me back. I thought I might spray it gold or change the beads. I just never had that aha moment.

That is, till now. Recently I signed up for a surprise parcel project. The other day I got the list of likes and dislikes of the person I am to send a parcel to. It turns out she likes shabby chic, white paint and crafts. 

After a little careful consideration, I decided to get my chalk paint out and see about giving the mirror frame a little makeover. It turned out to be incredibly quick and easy, but with a great result. Hopfully the lovely-sounding recipient will like it as much as I do. 

Step 1: Remove the mirror and wipe the frame clean to remove any dust or candle grease.

Step 2: Give the chalk paint a good stir and then apply one coat of paint to the front of the frame. Leave to dry. Rinse the paintbrush well.

Step 3: Apply one coat of paint to the back of the frame, being careful not to apply the paint too heavily. You want to avoid lumps and bumps of dried paint on the front. Leave to dry. Rinse the paintbrush well.

Step 4: Repeat step 2 and step 3 twice. It took at total of three coats of paint to cover the black metal frame completely.

Step 5: Using a small piece of medium grade sandpaper, sand the areas of the frame that would get most wear and tear. This will give the frame an aged, worn, shabby look. 

Stand back and look at the full piece a few times. Try to create a realistic pattern of wear, e.g. corners, edges, hinges would get most handing and would probably get worn sooner than the more decorative elements of the frame. 

Step 6: Dust the frame with a cotton cloth, such as a tea towel, to remove any dust from the sanding. 

Step 7: Polish the mirror and insert it into the frame.

How To Make A Springtime Table Runner

This easy-to-make springtime table runner will brighten up your table for Easter, or on any other Spring day for that matter. 

What you'll need:

Felt in various colours for the leaves and flowers

An oblong piece of felt in a pale colour for the runner

Embroidery thread in various colours
Buttons in various colours

A hot glue gun 

Step 1: Begin by drawing a leaf pattern on the green felt. Then cut out the leaves using a very sharp scissors to give them a neat edge. I used two shades of green.

Step 2: Using the green embroidery thread, sew a vein up the middle of each leaf, as shown in the photo below.

 Step 3: Draw petals on the coloured felt and cut them out. I used a star shaped cookie cutter as a template for the outer petals and the lid of a bottle as a template for the centre of the flower.

 Step 4: Assemble your flowers as shown in the photos below, placing a button in the centre of each. Sew each flower together using embroidery thread in a contrasting colour.

 Step 5: Lay the oblong strip of felt out flat and arrange the leaves and flowers on it in a pattern of your choice. You could bunch them all together in the centre, lay them in the form of a wreath or in a straight line down the centre of the runner. I chose to scatter mine about at random, leaving room to add dyed eggs as an additional decoration on Easter Sunday morning. 

Once you have decided on your arrangement, use a hot glue gun to fix the flowers in place. Alternatively, you can sew them into place. 

Then simply spread the runner along your dining table and admire your good work!

What Lies Beneath

Generally speaking, tiles would not be my choice of flooring for anywhere other than the bathroom. Even at that, I found it very hard to find tiles I really liked when we renovated our bathroom a couple of years ago. We settled on these wood-effect tiles in the end and I am still very happy with them.

Our wood-effect tiles in the bathroom

The only exception to my no-tiles-outside-the-bathroom rule is if the tiles are beautiful, original vintage tiles. I love the look of 1930s or 40s hallways - a plain border and a geometric pattern in various colours along a narrow hall with the staircase on the right. 

When we were making some changes to our house before moving in, we had a toddler, a newborn and a tight budget. We painted the hall and left the laminate floor as it was, since it was in good condition. 

Soon after we moved in, our neighbours mentioned in passing that it must be nice to have a tiled floor. We, puzzled, said we have laminate. "Oh, they must have put that down over the tiles" they said of the previous owners. Apparently, there once was a nice tiled hall floor in this house. 

Mid-renovation. The floor stayed.

In my grandparents house, which happens to have been built around the same time as ours, there is still the original tiled hall floor. I keep imaginging that there is something similar underneath our laminate. Something along the lines of these patterns would be fantastic.

   

The curiousity has been gnawing away at me for years now. Every so often I bring up the subject of ripping up the hall floor with The Bavarian. He is curious too, but practical. The laminate is well attached. There is no option of pulling out a slat or two to see what is underneath. It is an all-or-nothing job.

What if there is just a concrete floor? Or ugly  or damaged tiles? Do we really want to risk it when we haven't the budget or the time to deal with the disaster that may result?

For now, we have decided to leave the floor till the boys are older. It is the sensible parent thing to do, isn't it? The laminate is warmer than tiles and there is less chance of things breaking if they are dropped that if they were dropped on tiles. 

So for now I will dream of my double doors and original tiled floor and save for reproduction tiles in case there is nothing to discover beneath the laminate. 

If you are interested, pop over to Pinterest and have a look at the looks I am currently swooning over. 

Schau dir Fionnualas Profil bei Pinterest an.

In Search Of Hall Doors

Our house was built in the mid 1950s, a time when Germany was still receovering from the second world war and when people had to make do with a lot less than nowadays. 

This house, like most of the houses on our short street, was built as a small house with a good-sized garden for growing fruit and vegetables. Attached to the house, when it was built originally, was a shed for housing animals. 

The previous owners of our house renovated the former animal accommodation and made a bathroom and two bedrooms out of it. The hallway was extended by about 90cm in length in the process. 

Where the front door was originally is now an doorway. The hinges and doorframe remain. For a few years we used to talk about putting a curtain across it but we never got round to it. The more I think about it, the more I see that it would block out the light that comes in from the windows in the front door.

Lately I have been thinking that what we need to finish off the hall is a set of narrow double doors. I'm thinking wooden doorframes painted white or a light grey and with bevelled glass panels to let in light but keep out draughts.

Photo Credit / Source

I really like the look of this set- shabby but incredibly elegant. I can imagine them opening inward, letting the sunshine our into my sparklingly clean hall, something like the scene in the picture below. 

Photo Credit / Source

As I say, in my imagination. My hall is never this clean.

For the moment I'll have to keep dreaming, of the doors, of the sunshine and of the sparkling hall. Glass doors and sticky toddler hands don't pair well. 

I've begun looking for inspiration on Pinterest, so pop over and take a look at my board to see more of what I'm hoping to one day have.

Folge Fionnualas Pinnwand „Hallway Double Doors“ auf Pinterest.

One of these days I'll be taking measurements and keeping my eyes peeled for doors to salvage or pick up at a flea market. Where there's a will, there's a way. 

A Long Overdue Patchwork Quilt

I am a born hoarder. As I type I am wearing a skirt I bought in 1997. I am not stingy, I just have trouble parting with things I like. 

So it follows that I am not a natural de-clutterer. The January clear out bug has never hit me. That is until this year. It is probably because I am at home and I see the amount of, well stuff, for want of a better word, that is around the house. 

A few days ago I attacked my wardrobe. One big bin-bag got filled. Obiously a few older pieces survived. Next up was the guest room, which doubles as my hobby room. As I cleared and sorted and binned stuff, I came across one of my unfinished projects - a patchwork quilt.

This project has been around for three or four years. I am not quite sure why it didn't ever get finished but I am determinded to finish it, and soon.

Back when Number Two was still sleeping in a cot (he is now 5 1/2), I decided to sew him a quilt for when he would move into his own big boy bed. 

I thought up a colour scheme (greens and greys) and a theme (leaves) and I bought the fabric in Ikea. I even got as far as sewing all the patches together and got started on attaching the wadding and backing material. And there it ended. Why? Who knows.

In the meantime Number Two has not only moved from a cot to a bed but has moved from that bed to another bedroom and a set of bunk beds. The quilt no longer matches the colour scheme of his room.

Nevertheless I am determinded to finish this quilt. We'll find a place for it somewhere. Perhaps Number Three would like it given that he sleeps in Number Two's old room. It is more suited to the colour scheme there. And it is not really a hand-me-down if no-one has ever used it, is it?