Friday 14 August 2015

Rain Rain Go Away !

I had such a productive weekend that I decided to just crack on with things and leave my blog till later in the week. So it is now Friday, and have also been very busy today. We have had torrential rain today and it was lovely working in the conservatory listening to the rain on the roof. Last weekend I finished the chunky coffee table.

I added a nice cream porcelain drawer knob with gold spots. I sealed it with clear wax, and have not buffed this one as I quite like the more matt finish.

My next project was another coffee table. After working on the big dressing tables it is nice to do a few smaller things. The large items make more money, but they are very heavy to lift around. I decided to transform this painted table I bought on ebay a couple of months ago.

The terracotta colour was going to be quite difficult to cover up so I decided to go Graphite!


I removed the drawer then turned upside down to start painting. It only needed 1 coat on the underside.

The rest of the table was given 2 coats of Graphite along with the drawer. I left the inside of the drawer red. I think it's nice to have contrasting colours inside. Nice surprise when you open them.

Once the paint was fully dried out, I lightly distressed then added dark wax. I bought some Rennie Mackintosh handles a few years ago, I have been dying to use, and I think it looks stunning on the drawer. So this one is all finished and currently listed on ebay.

Forgot to tell you that I sold the lovely lemony dressing table. It was collected last weekend :)

So, you would think that I now have a lot of space in my workshop, with the two big dressing tables selling? Well, not really as last Sunday I bought a giant sideboard at the car boot sale. It is solid oak and weighs a ton! One of the cupboard doors won't shut so I will need to repair it. The seller delivered it to the house for me in his van, but how could I resist at £10! plus £5 to deliver. Sorry the pic is not great.

The quirky Alice in Wonderland coat hook sold for over £15 on ebay so I am hoping to make some more items with this theme as it seems popular.

I have ordered some nice hooks on ebay, and will look out for more at the car boot sales. I'll let you know how it goes.
Next, another BIG item. This one I have been looking forward to painting, and I finally have enough space to work on it. The lovely welsh dresser :)

Now I should really have been thinking about what colour to paint this, as I wasted time trying to decide. I also wanted to paint it in a colour that would suit my own house, just in case I fell in love with it and wanted to keep it for myself :) One of my favourite Annie Sloan colours is Provence, especially when you age with some dark wax, so I decided to use this for the outside, and for the inside, I went for a new colour for me - Original.

I absolutely LOVE this colour. It's a soft cream colour, like vanilla ice cream. Wish I had discovered it before. It's not as harsh as Old White. Anyway, turned the top section upside down and started with the inside. It took 2 coats of Original.

The cupboard doors were tricky as they had wooden framed glass. On previous projects like this I have spent ages masking off the glass, but this time I thought I would try something different. I used a small brush to paint the wooden frame, and any paint that got onto the glass was very easily removed with a scalpel knife.

This gave me a nice neat finish, and there was something quite therapeutic about scraping the excess paint off :) Once I had painted the whole of the top section I then distressed with a medium sandpaper.

Then workng in sections I sealed with clear wax, then aged with some dark wax on top. I use a lint free cloth to add the wax, although I know a lot of people use a brush. I feel I have more control with the cloth and I like to rub the wax into the paint.

In the picture above you can see that I have aged the top cornice section. After about an hour's hard work I finally finished the dresser top :)

I also made a start to the drawrers from the cupboard section. I removed the handles and filled the holes with wood filler. I will replace the handles with knobs once it is finished.

The bottom section will have it's top sanded back and revarnished, but it has been so wet this week I haven't been able to work outside. I will hopefully get it done this weekend.
While I had Provence on my brush I painted a couple of picture frames to sell. This first one is the little craved wooden frame I showed you last week.

I painted then aged with the Annie Sloan Provence.

I will print off a quirky picture so buyers can see what it will look like with a pic.
I also painted this beautiful frame on this tapestry picture I bought last weekend at the boot sale. The frame was a lovely old gold colour.

A light brush of Provence gives it a totally different look, more french shabby chic :)


This finish was so easy to create. I brushed the paint on then wiped some of it off with a damp cloth. The paint stayed in the nooks and crannies and you can still see the lovely gold too.

Well that's almost all for this week. I say almost because I bought somethig yesterday that I love. When I showed it to Russell he couldn't figure out what it was, so I thought I would see if anyone knows what it is??

If you think you may know, please put your answer in the comments, and all will be revealed in my next blog :)

Have a great week !!















1 comment:

  1. Definitely one of those things that you store your fajitas in at the table, eh? :)

    ReplyDelete