I have been fascinated by these Moroccan fish scale tiles for the longest time. But since I have nothing that needs tiling, I haven't been able to find a use for this design. Finally I had a lightbulb moment - I'd create my own stencil and use it as a design element in my DIY projects.

I know these stencils are available commercially but I have no time to go searching for these things. I had made my own stencils before and it was only the shape of the Moroccan fish scale tile that had stumped me to date.

And it really was quite simple in the end. It didn't even take me two minutes to create the initial template for my custom stencil. I made a video of the process to show you how its done.

All you need to make a stencil or stamp in this design are

• a square piece of paper,
• a larger piece of paper to stick your design onto,
• scissors,
• glue or sticky tape,
• transparencies for your stencil or foam to make a stamp.

I used a piece of corrugated rubber foam which gave the interesting stamped effect in the picture on top. Now watch the video to see how easy it is to come up with the shape.

Once you have the shape all stuck together, you should have something like this.

And once you have neatened everything, you will have this.

Trace the pattern onto a piece of foam and cut around the shape to create a stamp.

Trace this basic shape out onto a transparency and cut out the middle to create a stencil.

Now you can use it on any project you like. Here are some of my applications for this design. In the second bookcase I used a flower stamp to create the effect.

Note by changing the size of the square you can go up or down in the size of your design. For example if your were stenciling a wall you might need a larger stencil.

Share with me how you used your stencil in the comments below.

Chair makeover inspiration anyone? These are 16 of the most inspired, creative and innovative projects I've come across online. 

I've restored a chair or 3 in my past. I'm about to embark on a new chair restoration project and was looking for some inspiration. I learnt that reupholstering is only one of the many (and probably the most painful) ways to restore a chair. And that all chairs can be  repurposed, no matter what the condition. I just couldn't keep these ideas to myself and had to share them. I've grouped the projects together for their noteworthy traits.

You will never look at a broken chair the same again

I mean it. I think broken chairs left out for council pickups are going to become hot property after you see what can be done with them. Sparkles of Sunshine (Pic 1) turned her's into a pretty and comfortable place for her little dog to rest. 

Thrifty Treasures (Pic 2) just repurposed the chair legs in her project and made an awesome ottoman. Lastly, in Pic 3, why have legs when you can fly through the air - cut off the broken legs on this chair to transform it into a swing hanging from a tree.  I could totally do this on the jacaranda in the front yard. Teri, the creator of this piece, doesn't have a website but I found it here. 

Meaningful repurposing makeovers

You know how you have maps and ticket stubs from all the cities and places you visit on holiday? When you come back home you don't have the heart to throw them out and they just take up space. Pillar Box Blue (Pic 1) decoupaged some wooden kitchen chairs with maps of places she had visited. Cleverly meaningful and a great talking point. 

Having reupholstered chairs myself, I totally appreciate what Slip Covered Grey (Pic 2) has done here. You can't tell from the picture, but she has written the story of how the chair came to be in the family on the backing beneath the upholstery, leaving a wonderful surprise for the next person who restores the chair.   

Gold star creativity

These projects had me staring at the screen in delight and marveling at the amount of creativity there is out there. Shawn D (Pic 1) turned four kitchen chairs into a bed! And it looks so simple. Hello Life Online (Pic 2) turned a simple dining chair into a pretty awesome desk chair by just adding castors. Such little twists with such great outcomes.

A little goes a long way

I get carried away by colour and I admit I may go a little too far sometimes. The lesson I learnt from these three projects is that I need to be a little more restrained in future. 

Dwell Beautiful (Pic 1) uses the gold accents...well beautifully. The chair would not be as lovely if it had been gold all over. 

Tasha, from a Designer Trapped in a Lawyer's Body (Pic 2), fell in love with a chair but couldn't afford the hefty price tag. She sourced the fabric and decoupaged a wooden chair with it. The fabric design is lovely but can be overwhelming in large pieces. I think the project Tasha choose was just the right size to showcase the fabric beautifully. 

I stayed away from these types of chairs as I think they are old fashioned. Freshcrush  (Pic 3) however, uses the two different fabrics and paint in her wingback chair very cleverly. The effect is modern and fresh and I so want one now!

A lick of paint

I never believed in painting furniture but these projects have me itching to try my hand at painting the chairs at home. 

Designers Sweet Spot (Pic 1) spray painted velvet armchairs and added metal trim to completely transform her old chairs. Franny (Pic 2) chose to paint the wooden parts of her chair that must have been covered by fabric previously and retain the original stained portions too. I think the combination of stain and paint is just awesome.

The next two projects are from Paint and Pattern's blog. The clubchair (Pic 3) uses a combination of paint and stencils while the stenciled chair project (Pic 4) uses paint, stencils and silver foil.

Simply genius!

The next two projects are just genius in their simplicity. Pallet furniture is the craze right now and Funky Junk Interiors (top picture) made a beautiful sofa using 2 pallets. Simple to make too!

Cheries Forget Me Nots transforms the ubiquitous white plastic outdoor chair into pretty furniture. Would you believe these started out originally as a stained white chair? 

Like to have a balcony or garden full of lush green plants, even when you are not there to water them? I do, and I have such a balcony and I'll show you how I did it in this post on how to set up an automatic drip irrigation system with timer.

This is not my usual recycle project but its definitely a DIY and one that I'm very proud off. Mum has been living in houses with gardens her whole life and she has a huge collection of potted plants. Palms, bamboos, ferns, succulents, orchids and greens that don't really fall into any of the earlier categories. Some of these plants were given by family and friends and to cut a long story short, she is very attached to them.

So when she downsized and moved into an apartment, she decided to take them along with her. She plans to spend a lot of time in Australia, where my sisters and I live, and she was resigned to the fact that she would loose these plants eventually as there would be no one to look after them while she is away.

Luckily for her, she has a smart and hands on daughter (self satisfied smirk here).

The apartment balcony has a tap. So it was an easy feat to devise an automatic garden drip system for watering the indoor plants.

I couldn't find a suitable drip irrigation kit, so I built one from scratch from components I found in the local hardware store. My sisters also brought some when they visited from Australia. The system consists of a Pope battery operated timer, 19mm main feeder hose, 4mm hose with dripper attachments to the individual pots, a few 19mm elbow bend attachments to take the main feeder hose around the perimeter of the balcony and a 19mm stopper.

I also had these mounting clips attached to the wall so that the 19mm hose could be neatly held against the wall.

How to connect the drip irrigation system
The first step was to change the existing tap to one with a 3/4 inch connector so I could attach the timer securely to the tap. See how the timer screws onto the tap. I was quite happy with this as I didn't want the water pressure to push the timer away. As you can also see the timer has two settings - one to control the frequency of watering and the other to control the run time of each session.

Then I laid out the main feeder hose. One lesson I learnt while working with long lengths of feeder hose was to avoid kinks. Once that hose kinks, you either have to replace it or cut it and add a connector. So unroll an approximation of the length you want and try to straighten it as much as possible before mounting it in place.

Once the main hose is in place, position your plants. Spend a few days arranging the plants to your liking before punching holes into the main hose to attach the drippers.  There are 4mm stoppers that you can put in place to fix mistakes, but you want to keep them to a minimum. So getting the pots positioned just right helps. I used the drippers pictured below, which are on a stand.

The next step is to work out what water pressure and frequency and duration of watering is required to keep your plants hydrated. I wanted a slow drip of water with as little water wasted as possible. This is complicated by the fact that mum has a number of hanging orchids. If the water pressure is too low, the drippers higher up don't deliver enough water. If the water pressure is too high the lower pots get over watered.  I'm still trying to fine tune this aspect of the watering system.

The automatic drip irrigation system has been in place for four months (updated 19 April 2016) and its definitely keeping the plants alive. I haven't needed to take the watering can out and we've gone away for a month in that time too and there doesn't seem to be any sign of wilting. I also love how you can't see the hose once the plants go in.

Definitely a successful project and a useful one. It's also something that can be adapted easily to create a garden drip system with in-ground and potted plants.  There is also an environmental benefit, as drip irrigation has been proven to save water. Who doesn't love saving water!

After testing the waters with this drip irrigation system, I’m thinking of branching out into a bigger project - setting up a vegetable garden with an automatic irrigation system.

 I hope I have inspired you to install a home automatic drip irrigation system too.

This was taken about 2 years ago, when TwoCrackedJars was experimenting with electric lights. Love the shadows made by the honeycomb pattern on the jars. 

We didn't get very far with them as we were worried about the heat output from the light. It's been on the backburner since then. Maybe I'll get around to addressing it one day. 

It's February and its time to reveal my second 3Rs project. This time it's a straight forward restoration of a trio of coffee tables.  There are two small square tables and a longer rectangular table in this project. They were looking very tired with scratches, burns and watermarks on the finish.

Two of the finished tables have been placed in the living room of the new apartment. The third one has gone into the bedroom as a catchall for my papers and bags. Being a table, I only empty the contents of my pocket onto it. If it was a chair it would probably be draped with clothes.

These tables have been in the family for a long time. I remember them arriving a few days before Deepavali about 30 odd years ago as part of a new lounge set.  Mum tells me that it's made from rubber wood but it has this lovely parquet like effect with different coloured timber. My original plan was to sand back the table and legs, give the table surface a few coats of clear varnish and paint the legs a white colour to contrast with the natural finish.

As I was giving the tables a last dusting before painting, I was admiring the grains and  patterns on the legs and I had second thoughts about painting it. But I had bought the paint (water based latex)  and thought it would be a shame to waste it.  So I started painting one side and knew it was a mistake right away. I didn't even let the paint dry. I cleaned it off with a wet cloth and never looked back. I'm really happy I didn't go through with the paint idea as it would have totally ruined the tables.

A few days later I was reading a DIY blog about choosing pieces for restoring and it said to beware of painted furniture as paint is often used to cover up defects or poor materials.  I'm so glad Iistened to my inner voice and decided to go with a clear gloss finish as there was nothing to cover up on these babies. I hope you enjoy the before and after pictures and that you too listen to your inner voice.

This side table is sanded and ready for varnishing. I really wanted to make this into a games table with a chess board painted in the middle. However, on second thought, the table has a lovely parquetry type design to it and it would be a shame to paint it.

This is what it looked like before I started working on it. It was scratched and burnt in one corner, probably an unwatched candle. It's going to feel brand new once a few coats of varnish goes on.

I really want to try making a painted piece of furniture but I'm so hesitant about covering up a lovely piece of timber. I need to find a piece of furniture that I'm not going to feel bad painting over !

Update 24/01/2016  After some lovely inspiration from the Upcycle and DIY Australia Facebook group I've found a way to have my cake and eat it too.  Have to wait till I finish to see how it turns out.