My Dream is Sarah Beeny's Restoration Nightmare

Ever had a dream of buying an old historic home and doing it up? This post is for you... and me!
For those in Australia, you can catch a re-run of UK renovation guru Sarah Beeny's own nightmare project, the restoration of a huge historic home in Yorkshire, now on ABC's iView.
The three part series captures every twist and turn in the 8-month renovation of this 200 year old house, Rise Hall.
I love that the show captures all the stress, decision panic and hard graft of this enormous and ambitious venture in the race to get it ready for a wedding deadline that cannot be moved back.
You can see more of Rise Hall at http://www.risehall.com

{ My Favorite Wallpaper }

This summer, I'll be refreshing my master bedroom. I never show it here on the blog, but if you follow me on 

instagram, you've seen the nasty green/yellow wallpaper that covers the room.

Although I don't want to re-wallpaper the entire room, there is a little area that would look great with just the right paper.

There is a little entranceway into the bedroom.

I thought it would be the perfect place for some wallpaper.

or...for something a little different. Like this paint by numbers wall...

I've started collecting wallpapers I love on my Wallpaper Pinterest board.

Check it out and you might add a little wallpaper to a room in your home.

I still haven't decided what wallpaper I'll use, but I'll keep you posted.

{ DIY lamp }

I frequently go to an auction near my house.

When I saw this baby up for grabs, I grabbed it. 

I'm not sure what it was originally used as. But it looked like the perfect lamp base to me.

Lucky for me, this part was already welded on for me. Along with the whole.

But the hole needed to be a little bit larger to fit the lamp part into it.

You can buy a lamp kit at any hardware store. ( I have no photo of a lamp kit for you because I have no patience, and I never took the time to take a photo.)

Thread the wire from your kit up through the base.

Add this little do-hickey before you thread the wire through the metal thingy.

The end of your wire will stick out the bottom of the lamp base - like this...

Find an old lamp shade at your local thrift store, and shred it to pieces. Follow the instructions on the lamp kit and attach the shade to the harp.

(Sorry, no pictures of the lamp kit. But, it's really so simple you don't need them)

Add a little something extra to your shade and you'll have this...