60 Days to Vegas !!

Didn't bother blogging last weekend as there has been less activity on the painting front. I don't get home from work till 5.30 now and by the time I have made dinner I am really too tired to start painting. I do however have a few nice projects lined up, and I am hoping to make a start this weekend :0)

I didn't manage to get to a boot sale on Sunday as the weather was horrible, but I did buy a couple of things to paint on ebay.

These three beech chairs are very unusual, and have nice curvy legs. I bought them from a furniture designer. I think they will look fab painted, just have to decide on a colour.
They were such a bargain at less than £2 each!!!

This tiny table only cost me 99p! It has a leather inset on the top and I am going to try painting right over this with Annie Sloan Chalk Paint. It should work ok, but we will see ;0)  Not sure what colour I will try yet.

I picked it up from a beautiful Lock Keepers cottage next to the canal. How lovely to be able to look out of your window at all the painted canal boats going by ! 

I sold the nice mirror that I bought at the car boot sale. The lady who bought it loves it ! :0)

and the two nice hand painted pictures also sold and were posted off to Kent yesterday.

A couple of Sunday's ago I bought this beautiful pine welsh dresser at the car boot sale! It was a tight squeeze but we managed to get it in the Jeep in one go!

The seller wanted £30, but I managed to get him down to £25! It is a wonderful solid piece of furniture, and I am even considering keeping it for my new house. It looks lovely in the conservatory, and will be nice to have there if we ever get a viewer in to see the house. It has been on the market for nearly 2 months now and no viewers as yet :0( but as they say "It only takes one!"

Work is going well, and I have an interview this Friday for a permanent post at Keele Medical School. Fingers crossed! If I don't get this one I have applied for another one too.

Only 60 days till we head off to Las Vegas for our summer holiday. Can't wait! We decided to stay off strip this time, and have hired a car for the 7 days we are there. At the end of the 7 days we then fly to Miami, pick up a car and head down to the Keys!!

The Eastside Cannery, Las Vegas

I will try and start a couple of new projects this weekend, and post pics on Sunday

Hope you all have a great week!

Hi Ho Hi Ho ... It's Back To Work I Go !

No blog last weekend as we were up in Scotland for my niece's wedding. We had a lovely day and the weather was perfect! She looked stunning !!

 

Mr & Mrs McGinnis

The venue was perfect too.

Culcreuch is a beautiful 1600-acre Scottish Country Estate dating back to the 14th century. Its centrepiece Culcreuch Castle, ancestral home of the Clan Galbraith, is Central Scotland's oldest inhabited Castle.

 

 

It was so nice catching up with the family, and seeing my son Barry and his fiancée Erin, who live in New York and are getting married next March in Brooklyn! So excited!!

 

Last week was my last week off work as I started work as a temp yesterday at
Keele University Medical School :0)
While I am temping there I can apply for internal posts, and I heard yesterday that I have been shortlisted for a cool admin post and have an interview in 2 weeks time. I will need to brush up on my Excel as there will be a skills test before the interview ! Keep your fingers crossed for me !!

 

Keele University Medical School

 I finished off a few shabby chic projects, including the pine sideboard and the little table I showed you in the last blog. I will start with the sideboard. Here is the before pic -

 

 

I decided to paint it in Annie Sloan French Linen. I love this shade as it seems to go with everything!

First step - Remove the drawers and turn it upside down! :0)

 

 

 

Sometimes you can get away with just one coat of this colour but you could still see some of the wood through the paint so I gave it 2 coats. I then distressed it quite heavily before applying a coat of Annie Sloan clear wax to seal.

 

you can see that the wax darkens the paint slightly

 

 

The handles would have been difficult to remove so I just painted over them.

 

 

I also lined the drawers and inside with some pretty Laura Ashley paper (Gosforth Cranberry)

 

 

 

It was listed on ebay a few days ago and it has already sold and is being collected next Saturday.

After that large project I felt like working on some smaller items. I was dying to get started on the little table, but when I went to get it from the shed I discovered I had lost the key for the padlock!! We searched everywhere and couldn't find it, so Russell had to hacksaw the padlock off for me!! I will be more careful with the key for the new padlock ;0) 

 

 

Here is the before pic first......It was in quite a state, the wood was badly marked, the drawer had wax crayon drawn inside, and the handle was broken. There was also some trim missing.

 

 

 I decided to mix a soft lavender with Annie Sloan Old Violet and Old White. I love this new colour!

 

 

I then painted the inside of the drawer with Paris Grey to hide the crayon.

 

 

It took 2 coats of paint and I sealed it with clear wax. I also had some nice coordinating wallpaper that I used to line the drawer, and the final finishing touch was a beautiful sparkly crystal knob for the drawer. Look at how the light reflects through it :0)

 

 

Really pleased with this one, and it is now listed for sale on ebay.

 

 

 

 I also painted the two photo frames I bought at the car boot sale. painted with French Linen instead of the usual Old White I paint frames in and I like them so much I think I may keep them for myself !

 

before

after :0)

I also painted (in French Linen) the beautiful scroll design plaster mirror, and might have to keep this also !!!

 

 

 

I love how the design of this mirror frame is not symmetrical, and I may rub it back a bit more to let more of the gold shine through.

 

Heading out tomorrow to look for more treasure at our local car boot sale. It really is the best place to grab a bargain and maximise profit ;0)

 

 

Also booked to see Man of Steel after work on Tuesday so really looking forward to that!

 

That's all for this week, and things may quieten down slightly on the shabby chic side as I am now working Monday to Friday, but I will still try to blog every week when I can. Please leave a comment or follow me. It's always nice to get some feedback. Thanks for reading!!

Bank Holidays and Bargains!

First of all, apologies for not blogging last weekend. I just didn't have time as it was the bank holiday weekend and I was so busy! Went shopping in Derby on Sunday and then the cinema to see the new Star Trek movie, which was epic :0) That big dining room order was collected on the Friday too so it was nice to have a break!

 

 

Ok, updates now on this week's transformations. I showed you a pine corner cabinet I bought on ebay.Here are the before and after pics

 

 

I painted in Annie Sloan Old White then distressed and sealed with a mix of clear and dark wax.

 

 

To finish it off I added a fabulous cream porcelain knob with gold spots!

My second project last week was the two Ducal chests of drawers that I bought on ebay. These are so well made and a joy to paint. They even have castors to make it easy to move them around

 

 

I decided to paint them both in Annie Sloan Versailles just in case someone wanted them as a set, and I was right to do so as they both sold within a few hours of being listed on ebay, and will be picked up this week.

 

 

I left the original handles but brightened them up with some gilding wax, makes such a difference, and can save you money replacing old tarnished looking handles.

 

 

 

What a transformation! Like new!

 

This week I also bought a bedside cabinet in ebay, but when I went to collect it I was surprised how tiny it was! My own fault for not checking the measurements on the listing! However, it grew on me and I now think it is really cute! It would look nice in a child's bedroom so I decided to mix a new colour, with Old White/Old Violet, and made a soft lavender shade which I love. Here is the before..

 

 

It is solid wood and has quite rustic looking handles on the drawers that add character. I went for a two tone look and painted the drawer fronts and middle storage section in Old White.

 

Always start upside down

 

First coat

 

Painted insides of drawers lavender

 

Heavy distressing for shabby, aged look

 

 I also used the aging wax and distressed quite heavily to give an old French look. Another one I would keep if I could

 

 

 

So as you can see, another busy week. I will be starting work the week after next so making the most of my time off. We went to a brilliant car boot sale this morning and I got loads of bargains and spent less than £20!! Here are just some of my latest purchases. I just could not believe the prices that people were letting things go for today, must be the nice weather!!!

 

My friend saw one of these in a shop for over £100!

 

Nice shabby chic lamp with shade

 

Gold plaster shabby chic mirror - 50p!!

 

Might paint these white

 

Nice large plaster mirror

 

spice rack - 50p

 

Waste paper bin - £1

 

Nice little ornate table with drawer ready for a make over!

My next project will be the big sideboard I bought a few weeks ago, and then the table above. I also still have the 6 dining chairs and table in the shed :0)

 

If you haven't already, you should check out Pinterest. It's a brilliant way of keeping photos and ideas in one place, a bit like putting clippings on a pin board. Loads of really cool ideas and a brilliant search engine. I warn you now though, it is very addictive, and I have been on every day since I set up my account.

 

 

Right, time for bed now, it has been a long day, up early for the car boot sale this morning, and friends round for dinner, but I couldn't miss doing my blog 2 weeks in a row.

 

Hope you have a lovely week, and please leave a comment or feel free to ask any questions.
I would love to hear from you :0)