The Interior DIYer
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My five favourite secondhand pieces

For me, there’s something so exciting about finding just the right piece in a secondhand shop vs. looking in a catalogue or branded store. Maybe it’s because you’re finding one-of-a-kind pieces? Or because you have to work so much harder to find something. Or, I find, sometimes secondhand pieces have so much more character. 

There are a handful of secondhand pieces we own that every time I look at I think to myself, I’m so glad I found you // brought you home // loved you like a James Blunt song. So on this lazy and very sunny Friday, I thought I’d share the pieces I’m eternally glad I found …

1. BAR CART, €10 from Debra Ireland charity shop
It wasn’t even for sale the day I went into Debra Ireland charity shop and asked about our bar cart. I love our bar cart. I’m not a particularly outgoing person when it comes to people I don’t know or potentially awkward situations, so asking about buying our bar cart was a big deal at the time. Nowadays I think to myself, what would be worse? Doing something and it being a little awkward for 5 minutes, or not doing that thing and regretting it forever? I’m going for the former more and more these days. If you’d like, you can see my original bar cart blog post here! 
.2. MOZART BUST, €15 from Second Abbey 
He wears a less these days as I find I don’t wear necklaces very often anymore, but my Mozart bust is still one of my favourite pieces in our bedroom. Mozart was also my very first Instagram! If you’d like to see what Mozart looked like before and his little story, check it out here.

3. STOKKE SLEEPI CRIB, €200 on adverts.ie
I know going by the price we paid, it doesn’t seem like we got a good deal. But considering these cribs cost 4-figures brand new, can transform and last for 10+ years and is just straight up a beautiful crib, it was an investment we were happy to make. If you’d like to know more, you can read about our Stokke crib’s longevity here. 

p.s. Cora knows a good deal when she sees it.

4. BEDSIDE TABLES, €16 for the pair on adverts.ie
They were such cheap and rickety bedside tables, but when I took the drawers apart to repaint them, I found they had been put together wrong. A few coats of paint, some faux marble painting on the top and some new handles, I still love our bedside tables. And the paint has held up perfectly even since. You can see their transformation here. 

5. CURIO CABINET, €20 from Mac’s Warehouse 
My curio cabinet was gifted to me by my parents for my 30th birthdayafter they asked and I hinted towards what I’d like. I love my cabinet, but … I’ve never really filled it. Welp + guilt. I’ve tried styling a few things in it, but nothing looks right. I think only a collection of one type of thing will work. I have a healthy collection of feathers and I’d love to display them, but I don’t know how. Tape them up? Put them in little jars? I’m really useless and get stuck with the silliest design problems.  
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Our (temporary) baby toy storage solution

For a long time, I’ve hoped to use an old coal chest to store Cora’s toys and an old coal bucket to store her diapers. They’re not what most people would think or want to use in their home, but they’re what I’ve wanted. 

I found a really well kept coal chest in an Oxfam a few weeks ago, but I was tired and wasn’t in the mood to lug it home [plus, I had Cora and the pram]. I went back a few weeks later and as you can guess, it was gone. 

Until now, we’ve been using a rather elite plastic bag to hold Cora’s diapers. As for her toys, they tend to stay on the living room floor or end up in a paper bag next to her crib. I can’t see either her diaper or toy bags from the hallway, but I know they’re there. Lurking. And they bother me. I know the mess is only going to get worse, so until I find an unobtainably pristine child-friendly secondhand coal chest, we can use my old storage trunk. I bought it years ago from Argos and it’s served us well, but the current colour is too close to the colour of our walls. I’ve kept it for sentimental reasons, but I’d like to update it and make it look a bit more sophisticated – if possible. It’s a basic wooden chest, but I have no idea what to do with it. I was thinking of turning the top into a padded seat [and even adding a buttoned chesterfield-style top], but the rest; clueless. 

I’m still on the lookout for a secondhand chest and bucket, but in the mean time, I really don’t know what to do with this one. The only colour I’m vetoing is WHITE. It can’t be painted white because of those god forsaken dicoloured Ikea shelves. White only magnifies how yellow our landlord’s shelves are [I’ve considered painting them, but that would be more hassle than it’s worth].

I’m kind of thinking painting it black and adding a chesterfield buttoned top, but I really don’t know. Any and all ideas would really be greatly appreciated. What would you do with it if it was yours?
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Things I daydream about that most people don’t

As a renter, there are many things I daydream about. Robert and I have been living together in rented accommodation for 10 years now and as time has passed, the more projects I’ve worked on along with projects I see so many talented bloggers and designers undertake, it makes me daydream about all sorts of things. Most of them the type of things I wholly accept most people don’t even think about. It’s become a substantial list these days, so I thought I’d share my embarrassing confession of the types of things I daydream about being able to do one day … 

– To tile a bathroom and / or kitchen. And I’m not talking about hiring someone to do it. I want to do it myself. With the One Room Challenge that’s happened over the past few weeks, I watched a few bloggers on Instagram stories share their newly laid tiles and I yelled at my phone when I saw they weren’t laying them themselves. I understand them not doing it themselves as the ORC has a really tight deadline, but I would just die to have an opportunity to do it myself. Regardless of how messy it is. 


– Add wall paneling to a room or multiple rooms. Design, cut, measure and do it all myself. See same reasons as tiling above. 
– Have a toolbelt and power tools. I asked for a toolbelt for my birthday last year (ie – this one from Woodies), but I guess it was too boring of a gift. I was 8 months pregnant at the time too so I guess they thought I shouldn’t be doing anything to warrant using a tool belt. That didn’t stop me though.

– Have an area of our home, a shed or a garage as a workshop. Somewhere to keep saws and drills and organised jars of nails and power tools. I’d also love to go to a series of beginners classes to learn how to use different tools so I can make use of all my imaginary tools.

– Have proper work wear for doing bigger projects. Work trousers or overalls, a toolbelt, steel-toe boots [these from Engelbert Strauss look exactly like the shoes I wore in high school!] and even a hardhat when necessary. They’d all stay in my dream workshop area and I’d Mr. Dressup my outfit as I walk through the space. 

– Have the opportunity to update a kitchen and be able to build storage that GOES ALL THE WAY TO THE CEILING, because nothing bothers me more than seeing kitchen cabinets that stop a full foot from the ceiling. No wasted space will be had in my grown up home.

– Put down flooring of some type. This goes along with my tiling and wall paneling fascination. I just want to see if I can do it. Regardless of how long it takes.

– Remodel a kitchen and / or bathroom and do it as eco-friendly as possible by sourcing as much as I can secondhand, especially using unexpected things. Have you ever seen Victoria Elizabeth Barnes‘ blog? Specifically, the time she turned an old piano into a kitchen island? My actual dream. 

I’ve even been daydreaming about building storage under our sink for the bin and recycling for years now, but I don’t mentions it because that’s not what most people want to talk about over dinner. Are you like me and have things you’ve always dreamed of doing, but think other people just wouldn’t get it? Or they’d think they’re weird things to daydream about? Well, you’re safe here.

Image sources … 
1. Image by Lucyna Kolodziejska 
2. Image by Victoria Elizabeth Barnes

DISCLOSURE – this is a sponsored blog post from Engelbert Strauss. As always, all words and opinions are my own. I only work with companies I like and of course, think that you will too. Thank you for supporting the companies that support The Interior DIYer.