SOMEBODY STOP ME !

Well, after not actually doing any painting last weekend I made up for it this weekend !
It was a miserable rainy weekend, perfect painting weather.
I fired up some music on Spotify and decided to start small with some pretty frames I had bought at the car boot sale.

I had 3 of these and thought they looked a bit boring and plain so I lighlty brushed them with some Annie Sloan Graphite, and before the paint dried I wiped some of it off to the colour underneath showed through.

I think they look fab! It's good to try out new colours and techniques on small things rather than on something big like a table, because if you don't like it you can just paint over it and you haven't wasted too much paint.

Next I chose a nice little wooden pedestal table, also from a car boot sale. I am really loving stencilling clocks at the moment, and the last table like this sold really quickly, so decided to paint this one in a darker shade and age the top a bit more. I love the shape of this table.

Im going to show you step by step photos of this one (mainly because I actually rememberd to take step by step photos!!) Firstly, and working with the table upside down initially, I painted entirely in Annie Sloan Graphite.

This shade is stunning and shows off all the beautiful curves. Once dry I masked off round the top with my super duper curvy masking tape (love this stuff!)

Then I painted the top with Annie Sloan Old White for the clock face. I didn't have to be too careful as I will be sanding it back to reveal some of the graphite underneath.

Here is the table sanded back ready for the stencilling.

I wasn't sure what time to set the hands to on the table and the clock I have in the workshop was at 17 minutes to 6.

So, decision made !

I felt with the table being such a dark colour that the white was too bright and new looking, so after distressing the pedestal and the table edges I then sealed with clear wax, I then finished off with some dark wax to give a more aged, weathered look.

I really like how this has turned out, and a nice quick one to do :)
Next, I turned my attention to a couple of tables I painted a while back. This little swivel top table has been up for sale  on ebay for a while with little interest. Time for a makeover!!

I masked off the top leaving a border of around an inch, then painted the top with some watered down Old White and Paris Grey.

I painted with a 3" brush dragging the paint across to look like planks of wood. Once dry I set to work with my stencilling.

You guessed it, another clock!! Hadn't tried out my number stencil before and I think it looks pretty cool. Once I had completed the clockface and let it dry, I then masked off the edge again to paint a narrow dark border.

I think it makes the clockface stand out better.

Again I aged this one with some dark wax, and I will list on ebay soon and see if this new look gets more interest ;)
While I was stencilling (and I do love stencilling) I thought I would jazz up another table I have in the house that I use as a side table at the end of a sofa.

I always thought this table was abit plain, but couldn't decide what to do with it. Until now!
Ta Da!!

I know, I know.I have gone a bit mad stencilling clocks! I will try to have a break from them.
Some good news!
I sold the duck egg blue deco dressing table yesterday and it will be collected on Sunday. The lady who bought it is furnishing a large farmhouse and may be looking for some other pieces :)

 
Right, time to clock off!!
Sorry for not blogging on Sunday but I was in the zone painting and time got away from me!!
Have a great week !

Paint Free Weekend

Had a really busy weekend, but didn't actually do any furniture painting! I put the deco dressing table back together, lined all the drawers with coordinating Laura Ashley paper, and added the glizy crystal handles, I loves how it has turned out!! Now up for sale on ebay and Gumtree.

Finished transformation

This was the photo from the ebay listing

 

Today we cleared out the shed and threw out a lot of stuff we didn't need. It gave me a chance to see what furniture I had in there as it is over a year since we moved into the new house and filled the shed with all the stuff waiting to be painted. I did find a lovely red painted chair I had forgotten about, so have listed it for sale now.

and speaking of chairs, I sold the little Greek Blue childs chair and it was picked up this afternoon.

I was able to give the buyer one of my new business cards that had his chair on it!! He was very impressed :)
I bought this really solid and heavy table and chairs set at the beginning of the week.We couldn't believe how heavy it was. Just deciding what colour to paint it, and I will recover the seat pads. Might keep this one and sell my current dining table and chairs. Such good quality.

and while we are on the subject of table and chairs. We lifted our old garden table and chairs onto the deck to take some pics for ebay, and discovered that it didn't look too big, so have decided to sell the white set we got last week !!!

Missed painting this weekend, but got such a lot of clearing out done, and after tidying the workshop I have loads more space, and will be eager to get cracking next weekend!
Have a great week!

New blogsite?

I have been using blogger for a few years now, and I do get a lot of viewers, but I hardly ever get any feedback from viewers.  I think this is due to the fact that you have to have a google email to post a comment :(
Thought I would try another platform to see if there is any difference. It may just be that people don't want to comment, so we will see.
Here is the link to the new blog post I have set up on Wordpress. I am still learning so please bear with me. It would be helpful if you would leave a comment on the new one, so that I know if it is possible. Just click below -

Unique Chic blog on Wordpress

I will still post on here for now until I see how it goes :)
Thank you!
Julie

Bring On The Sunshine !

Decided to take an hour out from painting today to go and pick up my "new" garden furniture!!
Bought on ebay for £28! Table and 4 chairs. Needs a coat of paint. Now I wonder who I can get to do that for me :)

I have been really busy this weekend. Took a quick trip into town on Saturday and got my car valetted and topped up with petrol. I used to wash my car most weekends but my furniture painting takes up so much of my time that I find it easier to pop to the local car wash.
Yesterday I made a start to the big deco style dressing table.

 I removed the mirror and handles and as always with large pieces turned it upside down to start painting to make sure I didn't miss any nooks and crannies ;)

I love seeing all the framework of these beautiful old pieces once you remoive all the drawers. So well made, and solid wood unlike the cheap rubbish they sell nowadays.

 Next, it was time to choose the colour. As the wood is quite dark I stayed away from the lighter shades that could require quite a few coats. I also thought the deco style suited the colour I chose - Annie Sloan Duck Egg Blue !  

I love this colour! It looks fantastic and goes with so many different colours.

The dressing table needed two coats of paint, then I lightly distressed before applying it's first coat of clear wax this afternoon.

Nice carved detail on the front.

I have also masked off the gorgeous semi circular mirror to paint the edge in the same colour.

One of the handles had been damaged, and took brute force to remove it. There was no way I was going to find a matching one to replace it so I have decided to go a bit glam and have ordered some lovely crystal knobs. They should be here by next weekend, and I will then be able to get it up for sale, and show you the finished project :)

If I don't think they look right I will keep them for another project and find something more suited.

It was a bit drizzly this morning and we headed out to the car boot sales thinking they may not even be on. Thankfully they were though, not as many cars as usual due to the weather, but the sun came out and we managed to get a few bargains. I picked up this lovely framed print and a few nice photo frames to paint.

This is a lovely chunky wooden frame and will look really nice painted.

While I was waiting for paint to dry on the dressing table I painted up a couple of the frames I bought at the car boot sale last week.

 They started off gold coloured. I gave them a coat of Old White, followed by a coat of Duck Egg Blue, then sanded them back to let the white show through. It is easy to remove any of the chalk paint that gets onto the glass by gently scraping it off with a metal ruler, or blunt knife.

I don't know if you have a Pinterest account, but I love it, and post photos of the furniture I paint. I get loads of great ideas there and thought you might like to see this cool post I came across today.
If you havent visited Pinterest now you should have a look. It's so inspirational, and easy to use :)

Have a great week, and please leave a comment :)

Over the MOOn !!

Loads to tell you this week, but I just want to explain why I have changed the title of my blog. When I started it I was mainly making jewellery and my store name was RedKitten crafts. I still use this name on Etsy for my jewellery but I haven't listed anything for a while. When I started painting furniture a few years ago I came up with the name UniqueChic and as this is mostly what I blog about now it seemed logical to change the title.

We went to a couple of amazing car boot sales this morning. It was a beautiful sunny day, and although it wasn't that hot I still got sunburnt! We headed to Nantwich first and it was the biggest turnout this year!

I didn’t buy a lot but it was so nice to walk round in the sunshine. The items I did buy were bargains!
A lovely little pedestal table

and a chest of drawers that someone had made a mess of by painting and covering the top with Fablon. But I got it for a good price so will strip the fablon off and repaint. Will also put new knobs on as there is one missing.

 

I also bought this lovely black floor lamp. The lady was from the Netherlands and said she had bought it there. Does look a bit like the ones in IKEA, but not sure. I was going to remove the shade and replace the bulb with one of those Edison style lightbulbs. I actually really like it and I think I will keep it for now and swap it for one I currently have.

  Once we had finished the Nantwich one we jumped back in the car and headed to another one about 5 minute’s drive away at Weston. Not as big as the first one, but on such a lovely day it was fun to pick up some more bargains, and all the stall holders were so friendly. I bought a lovely wee Wedgewood jug in perfect condition for 10p, a mirrored picture frame for 50p, and these amazing reproduction cut out clothes for 20p.

 

I also bought a nice curtain that will be excellent for upholstering for £2, and the lady on the stall gave me a lovely little wooden shortbread press with a thistle on it as she liked my Scottish accent.  

 

I did see some strange things today, including these weird pine cones just lying in the middle of the cricket field! Reminded me of the Blair Witch Project! 

One of the sellers had this huge pile of old lighters for sale, you just never know what you will find!

 I was so excited yesterday morning as the postman delivered my new mini business cards from Moo!! They are so cute, and the packaging is amazing. A lovely little box to keep the cards in, and tiny little index cards. I am over the MOOn with them ;)

I chose 14 different photos in the end and Little Ted is in most of them. I am convinced that having him in my photos on ebay helps to sell my items.

I managed to finish the lovely dressing table today, and I am really pleased with how it has turned out. I have listed on ebay (with the help of my furry assistant), and a friend at work has fallen in love with it and is considering buying :) Here are the before and after pics.

It will be good to free up some space in my workshop. I also decided to try out some new paint ideas on some bargain frames I have had for a while. I usualy paint frames in a solid colour but did a bit more distressing and a mixture of clear and dark wax.

 Not sure if I have gone a bit crazy with them, but they are growing on me, and I will print some nice pictures to show them off and see if they will sell on ebay.

I will show you the completed frames next week.

It is nice to finally get the back garden finished. Russell has built an amazing deck and we have completely got rid of all the grass to make it low maintenance. The shed looks great in it's new blue paint, and I am thinking of stencilling an Orla Kiely style stem design on one of the doors.

 

I think Summer is finally here, and now that we have finished the garden we will hopefully have our first barbecue in the new house very soon.

Please leave a comment, and  I will do my best answer any questions you may have about my furniture projects. Have a fab week!!