It's a cover-up

Books to Inspire: Design*Sponge at Home

This book comes straight from the creator of fave blog Design*Sponge, Grace Bonney. With a foreword by design genius Jonathan Adler and the main focus on DIY:ing, what's not to love?

Design*Sponge at Home gets to the heart of what we at Bemz, love most: how to transform something everyday into something personal and unique. Grace features 50 DIY projects, 50 before-and-afters and over 65 home tours. What I really like about it, being full of ideas but not so gifted in the creativity department, is that there is some serious hand holding in this book. Grace walks you through the projects and provides some of the really basic skills needed for getting stuck in on the DIY journey. It's a veritable bible of personalisation.

All that, and beautiful photos to boot. What's not to love?

Two years in the making, Design*Sponge at Home was released in September and was followed up by a book tour. But why take my word for it? Check out the book trailer below!

You can also read an interview with Grace and see more beautiful photos chez Inhabitat. Design*Sponge at Home is available to buy here.

Photos c/o Inhabitat and Amazon

Design-It-Yourself: Wall Art

I came across this idea on Apartment Therapy and had to share. It is so easy and virtually free, and the results are impressive. In fact, it reminded me a little bit of crafty projects I've taken on with my children to complete school projects. Seriously - check out the list of materials needed!

This one comes via House of Fifty and literally calls for a Ribba frame from IKEA and a sheet of marbled paper, or any beautifully patterned paper in fact.

Would you believe that a piece of funky and contemporary wall art like this can be created by gluing tissue paper to a canvas frame using Modge Podge? It's true. Visit In My Own Style for helpful step-by-step photos and details. The wall art was beautifully finished with a matching ribbon pinned to the edges.

Compartment Life came up with this one using... wait for it... toilet paper and paper towel rolls! I'm not kidding! It obviously took quite a few but what impressive results! Visit the link for all the details. This one was a tad more challenging, if you scoffed at the ease of the previous two.

Again, a little more challenging but not impossible, this one comes via Design*Sponge. Brenna basically traced the outline of a beautiful illustration from a botanical calendar and cut it out of heavier weight paper and used kraft paper under to soften the silhouetted blooms. Stunning!

This clever, and very on-trend chevron wall art, was created using shoe box lids. Spunky Junky spray painted the lot in a glossy white, used tape to outline the chevron pattern and then finished the boxes off in the colours you see above. Clever!

If you like this idea and want to give designing your own wall art a go, check out this other post by guest blogger Sue, who made wall art out of Bemz fabrics. 

Credit and photos: as indicated above

Design-It-Yourself: Personalising cushion covers

This comes to us straight from our French PR rep Virginie who recently got together with french site A Little Market to make personalised cushion covers at the Creation et Savoir Faire exhibition:

Bemz and A Little Market have combined their talents and creativity at Creations et Savoir Faire 2011 recently in Paris. A group of very artistic and imaginative ladies customized a selection of cushion covers from Bemz using unique accessories and a variety of techniques.

A Little Market aims to bring together creative talent looking to share their work with buyers in search of original and unique items.

Here are some pictures taken during the creative process. The end result? Bemz covers with a festive flair - ideal with Christmas on the horizon! We hope they inspire.

Cushion cover in Gustavian Flowers Dusty Rose personalised by Mirey, pop art jewelry designer. Mirey used her famous Louise beads to customise her cushions.

This cushion cover in Unbleached Belgian Linen Blend from Bemz was customised using beautiful retro vintage 
crochet flowers from Violette's tiny delights shop.

This Woven Whimsy Cloud Grey cushion cover was customised by Kom 1 using an iron-on transfer.

Textile flowers created by Bycox, designer of leather bags and fun soft toys, were used to adorn this cushion cover in Dusty Rose Hounds Tooth.

This Raffia Jet Black cushion cover in textured cotton was personalised using custom stenciled with "seamstress girlfriends," textile designer, queen of kits and all things cuddly.

Have you customised a cushon cover? Share your creativity! Send me a photo at blog[at]bemz.com.

Design-It-Yourself: Christmas gifts

I heard it said somewhere that the best gifts are either made or found and it has always stuck with me. Gift-giving is not about how much it cost but rather about how much effort and thought has gone into the process and that is exactly why Design-It-Yourself gifts are perfect! Not to mention the fact that they often are easier on the wallet...

Here are a variety of ideas from other blogs. Follow the link if you like what you see and want to give it a go.

This is great for someone who follows trends in interior design. Mounts are spot on trend and these ones are animal friendly too!

Do you know someone who is handy with the knitting needles?

These simple white ceramic pieces were transformed with a simply yet lovely botanical pattern.

A wood cutting board is ideal for foodies.

This is a great way of introducing a bit of retro style into the plethora of today's list of modern gadgets: it is a vintage book cover for an e-reader or tablet. Clever. 

And here's a really personal gift - a piece of art made specifically for the intended recipient: their astrological sign! this one comes from a blog dedicated to personalisation, P.S. I made this... Like!

These are only a few of the ideas floating around out there, the ones I liked the best. Check out the whole list at Design*Sponge for more ideas. Let us know how yours turned out! Mail us on blog[at]bemz.com or upload it to our Facebook page. 

Credit: Design*Sponge

Design-It-yourself: Billy bookcase goes gable topped

I came across this Design-It-Yourself idea in the Ikea Live magazine delivered through my door. In this house tour, home owners Isabella and Martin transformed the simple and ubiquitous Billy bookcase into a fun and colourful gable topped city in their daughter Ella's room.

After writing this up I came across the same room on Ohdeedoh, a great blog from the Apartment Therapy family focused on children and families. There, the owners gave these instructions on how to make these gable topped Billy bookcases:

They were built from IKEA Billy shelves (40x200cm and 60x200cm sizes). For the doors we had the hardware store cut MDF panels in the correct width. In our case it was 6 pieces at 40cm wide and 230cm high. For the roof tops, the shape was designed in free-hand with a pen. My husband Martin then cut with a jigsaw. For the color palette, we brought one of Ella's dresses to the hardware store and they matched the colors. The doors were painted twice using a roller. For the windows, I made a template of cardboard which I then used to cut decorative plastic in white and black. After we adhered the windows, the doors were then hung by hinges. This was a bit tricky to get right, but Martin and his dad decided it relatively painless. Only a few grey hairs later. ; )

By the way - that light shade on the ceiling is a converted fruit bowl. Clever! 

And if that weren't enough, they then went on and refurbished Isabella's old doll's house to mirror the interior of their own home.

Kudos Isabella! 

If you like this idea and would like to see more, then check out this link.

Design-It-Yourself: Ikea Rast dresser Part III (!)

I never realised just how popular the IKEA Rast dresser is for DIYing but then again, it makes sense doesn't it? It is an unfinished, budget option pine dresser that is pretty nondescript. It's really just screaming out Make me your own!. And many have, even IKEA themselves!

Here are a last few transformations I came across recently that offer a few more ideas and inspiration.

Although this one was not touted as an IKEA hack, I suspect it is. Even if it is not, I think our previous Design-It-Yourself: Chest of drawers post will provide you with the necessary details to recreate something along these lines. In fact, I suspect those flowers are stickers so all you are really looking at is a couple of coats of white paint, new flashy handles and the stickers of your choice! Lovely result though no?

Photos c/o O'verlays

These other options are all decorated using fretwork panels. A simple enough solution with a wide variety of possibilities!

And if you want to take the easy route, check out O'verlays - a company that sells fretwork panels in a number of patterns and styles, cut to fit a list of popular IKEA pieces including the Rast dresser.

Wow! A whole business concept built around personalising IKEA products? How ingenious ;) 

Design-It-Yourself: IKEA Ung Drill Mirror

Do you sometimes have an idea in your head and can't quite find the right product within your budget? That's where the Design-It-Yourself series comes in! We are all about personalisation at Bemz and we often post Design-It-Yourself ideas we have come across in fave blogs or magazines but this is one I did myself. Here are your requisite before-and-after shots.

I needed a budget mirror and was looking for something ornate. I stopped in at our trusty old friend, IKEA and liked the style of the Ugn Drill mirror but didn't want it to be black. I was aiming for a more rustic, worn look so decided to do it myself.

Materials needed:
Mirror
White wax candle
Spray paint in colour of choice (I used Heirloom white)
Fine sandpaper

The brilliant thing about this mirror is that it has been framed in the same way as the IKEA picture frames work so could easily be removed while painting the frame. That saved me the taping and protecting of the mirror!

Here's what to do:

Rub a white wax candle over the mirror. The areas to focus on are those that would naturally wear away with time like edges and corners. The point of the wax it to be able to easily remove the paint from these areas with a little sanding to give it that worn look.

Next, lay your mirror on some kind of drop sheet - the box the Ung Drill mirror came in worked perfectly, and in a well ventilated area, and spray on the colour.

Allow to dry then spray on a second coat. Make sure you really get into all the grooves and crevices! However, the beauty of this worn look means that if you happen to leave some areas only lightly coloured it will only add to the charm of this piece.

Now gently sand over areas that stick out, edges and corners, as well as the oval part of the frame itself, to allow the original black colour to show through and give it that worn look.

And voila! Your very own rustic worn mirror! Have you ever DIYed something that you are proud of? Send us a picture to blog [at] bemz [dot] com - we'd love to see it! And you might just get the chance to guest blog right here on It's a Cover Up!

If the rustic worn look isn't what you are after but you like the look of the mirror, I've also seen it turned uber cool with electric colours like fuchsia, blue and orange. So many options in fact, that I may even have to do a blogpost on this one!

Design-It-Yourself: Doily Lampshade

Here is a great example of how to upcycle, which is where you take an obsolete or discarded object and you give it greater value (whether monetary or functional). It is all the rage - not only because it is kind to our Earth but also because it results in unique and very personal creations. Like!

Here, Timothy of Handmadeology has transformed lace doilies into a stunning, contemporary pendant shade.

What a beautiful result! Please visit the link for exact instructions but I'll provide a short recap here.

For this project you will need:
- cornstarch
- a completely round balloon, the size of shade you want (or a ball?)
- thread
- twine
- drop cloth
- white glue
- paintbrush
- petroleum jelly
- lamp kit
- 24+ doilies
- stiffening agent

Sew the doilies together over the balloon, allowing them to overlap in a haphazard way.

Leave a spot for the bulb socket. Timothy used twine as pictured above.

Sew doilies around ¾ of the balloon and sew the last ¼ separately as you will join them later.

Put your drop sheet down and hang your balloon over it. This is when it gets messy! Here, they used a pipe across the kitchen counters to hang their balloon.

Cover the balloon in petroleum jelly (to stop the doilies sticking - don't be kinky!), then prepare the following mixture: 5 oz of glue with 4 tbsp of cornstarch and ¼ cup of warm water together until it’s not lumpy. Once it's smooth start painting it onto the inside of your sewn doilies. Try not to use more than half as you'll need the rest to paint the outside of the doilies - once you've placed the two pieces on the balloon, lined them up and sewn them together.

Leave it to dry for 24 hours then pop your balloon! Use a clear coat of stiffening agent on the inside and out and let that dry. After about three hours your new pendant is ready. Attach the lamp kit and voila!

I've also seen lampshades of a similar style made from twine and hemp, or a little trickier from playing cards and soda tabs.

Credit: all photos, except last 4, and instructions via Handmadeology

Design-It-Yourself: Ikea Rast dresser Part II

I recently posted on how to transform the lowly Rast dresser, a budget option chest of drawers - even for IKEA - into a stunning and unique piece you can call your own. The inspirational ideas predominantly came from a variety of lovely and creative bloggers. Well lo' and behold - even IKEA themselves are spouting ways of doing this! Here are some more Rast transformations coming straight from the proverbial horse's mouth: found on IKEA's own Swedish blog Livet Hemma (which means Life at Home).

Here's a Rast turned retro using decoupage and leather handles. The old pieces of newspaper were fixed to the dresser using wallpaper paste and the strips of leather stapled to the inside. The leather will wear and colour with time which will only add to the beauty of the piece. Well done Ikea!

A couple of coats of paint, stenciled numbers, a final layer of wax and black knobs gave this Rast an industrial chic look.

And perhaps a more straightforward transformation thanks to a few shades of grey, this Rast has a contemporary and classic look. There's something about grey - it works in so many style schemes. Unfortunately, they did not divulge their solution for opening the drawers as they have not used knobs. Hmmm.

This one comes from a house visit on their blog. It was an interesting article about how to introduce and blend a variety of patterns in your home. This is evident even in the way the owners approached their Rast transformation. Despite the differing patterns, the bohemian metamorphosis is successful thanks to the use of similar style of florals with a shared colour palette as base.

And this one, revamped with a lick of white paint and lovely child-friendly patterned paper, was submitted by a customer - made for their son's room!

Another customer's creative solution for their child's room. I love this animal print - it is so happy.

Have you transformed a Rast? Share it! Send a photo to me at blog [at] bemz [dot] com. If you are looking for ideas on how to personalise a piece of furniture, please be sure to follow our Design-It-Yourself series. you can find more inspiration ideas and photos on revamping dressers here and here. 

Design-it-Yourself: Ikea Rast dresser

I thought a post showing the endless number of possibilities for transforming the lowly Rast dresser from IKEA would be a good follow-up to my recent post on our fave IKEA hacks. 

Photo c/o IKEA

The Rast dresser is a real budget option: it is made of untreated solid pine (easy to paint) with the backs and bottoms of the drawers made from fibreboard. It wouldn't be Ikea if there wasn't a little bit of fibreboard in there, eh? It seems to be used as a a night stand just as often as a bureau.

When I started looking into it, I seemed to come across an endless number of possibilities - too many to describe individually, however trust me when I say there is something here for everyone! I'll let the photos do the talking and if you like what you see and want to find out more, just click on the source link for further details. Happy DIY:ing!

Via Design Manifest

Via Ikea Hackers

Via IKEA Live (Swedish)

Thanks A Charming Nest

Via Canadian hodge:podge

Via Me, you and a wiener

Thanks to Marcus Design

Via Ikea Hackers

Via Ikea Hackers

Via Design Manifest

Thanks Design*Sponge

Via For Me For You

Via Ikea Hackers

Via Ikea Hackers

Via Double Mommy

Thank you Sarah Rodgers via Apartment Terapy

Phew! The Rast dresser must be a favourite for DIY:ers. If you like the idea of personalising a set of drawers but don't have a Rast dresser, fear not! We've done a few posts on transforming a chest of drawers: here and here.