Want to buy a house?

Well we worked so hard last week and managed to get the house looking amazing for the photos on Thursday. We are now on Rightmove and Butters John Bee websites. All my painting gear was safely stored away in the shed, but it has since crept back into the conservatory and it is starting to look like a workshop again :0) I will tidy it up when we get viewers.

 



Rear of the house with tidy garden :0)
 

Sorry I didn't manage to get this blog written on Sunday, but we were having problems with our internet connection. Seems fine now though. Last Friday we had an afternoon out at one of our favourite places.

 



 

We had lunch out in a little country pub just along the road, which was ridiculously expensive, in fact so bad that we ordered 1 lunch and shared it! Won't be going back there again. Dagfields was fantastic as always. There are about half a dozen big warehouses all sectioned off into little units where people can sell stuff. Jewellery, antiques, toys, furniture, memorabilia, clothes etc. There is also a leather shop, soap maker, craft shop, garden shop and two cafes.

 

 

As you can see, every available space is used and it takes ages to go round all the units. A lot of the stuff is overpriced, especially when you are used to car boot sale prices,but it is fun looking and we usually buy something when we go. It's also a nice drive there through the Cheshire villages.

 

 

On Sunday, we also went to Hanley car boot sale. It was really busy as the weather was nice. I picked up a few bits and pieces. A nice little picture frame for 50p (keeping this one)

 

 

 

A solid crystal candlestick for an unbelievable 20p!!

 

 

a nice little chunky pine frame for 50p that I will paint and sell

 

 

and a nice little bedside/lamp table with a small drawer, for £4, which I have almost finished transforming, so here are the before and after pictures :0)

 

 

 

This was a nice one to try out the new Annie Sloan Graphite coloured paint. It is so amazing how the wax soaks into the chalky paint, and once buffed with a soft cloth has an almost lacquer feel. I changed the plain brass style drawer knob to a nice crystal one, and I am really pleased with the way it has turned out. I will dress it tomorrow and take some photos for ebay, might use that new frame I got at the boot sale, it should go well with it.

 

 

The welsh dresser is still listed on ebay. I have reduced the price to £185, but I am not in a rush to sell as it looks really nice in the conservatory for people viewing the house! I used a lot of my ornaments etc from my own dresser to decorate it, and had to look out more things to make my own one look pretty again. :0)

 

 

Bought a big coffee table on ebay recently and picked it up on Saturday and started painting it this week. Decided to go for Paris Grey for this one, and will distress it quite a bit before waxing. It looked quite small in the ebay pic.

 

before
 

But it's 4" across!! Much bigger than expected, and good value for £2.70 !

 

During

 I will post pics of the finished article in the next blog

Still no job yet, but I am managing ok for now. I made quite a lot of money selling all the clothes, shoes and jewellery I no longer needed on ebay. Posted 9 parcels off today !

 

Have a good week, and I will try and post next Sunday (internet permitting!) :0)





Life Laundry Week !

 

What a nice week I have had, I must make the most of this time off between jobs. I had a lovely lunch out with my friend Sharon at Emma Bridgewater Factory on Monday. Everything is so overpriced there, but it is a nice place to sit and catch up over lunch, and their coffee is really nice served in their expensive pottery mugs :0)

 

 

On Tuesday we arranged to have a valuation done on our house as we are going to put it on the market. We would like our next home to be a little bit bigger, and detached, so we will see what happens. It could take a long time to sell in the current climate, so we are trying not to get too excited about moving just yet. Once we have a buyer we will then look at what is available, and might even have to go into rented accommodation for a few months in between houses. We have decided to sell with Butters John Bee, a local Estate Agent  (we really love the name, and can't help but say it in a Yorkshire accent!)

 

 

So, we are having a big clear out and tidy up as we are having the photos taken for the sales brochure and website on Thursday this week. I had a massive wardrobe de-clutter, and currently have nearly 30 items listed on ebay. Anything that doesn't sell will go to a charity shop. Bought some nice plants yesterday to add a bit of colour to the garden, it all helps! I don't think Russell will be getting rid of many of these DVD's!! They will be carefully packaged and taken to the new house ;0)

 

 

So, to continue with the welsh dresser I started last week. I made  start to the base on Tuesday and finally finished it today. It is now listed for sale on ebay for £195 (or best offer). Here are the progress pics......

 



 



 

 

 

I will leave this in the conservatory as it will look good in the brochure for the house sale. I will have to hide all my paint and tools away in the shed on Thursday, but they wont be there for long.

On the work side, I had a call from the agency to say they may have a temp job for me starting a week tomorrow. It's a Project Support Officer post with Stoke on Trent Council, but they will be interviewing for it this week so I will keep my fingers crossed.

 



Culcreuch Castle

My niece Carlyn is getting married at the beginning of June and I am so looking forward to being there. They are having the wedding and reception at the stunning Culcreuch Castle in Scotland at a place called Fintry. It looks beautiful! Since moving down to England 5 years ago I haven't seen as much of my family, so it will be brilliant to see them all and catch up with their news.

 

Looking forward to this coming week, loads going on, and Russell has a week off work so we can have a few days out here and there. Going into Hanley tomorrow and having both the cars valeted with Groupon vouchers in the Potteries Car Park while we go for breakfast and do some shopping :0)

 

 

This is the bedspread I won on ebay a few weeks ago for £1.04. What a bargain eh??!!

 

Hope you have a great week!!

 

 

 

 

 

 

Having Fun Between Jobs!

What a brilliant week I have had! I am painting like a dervish, and selling loads. I think I could get used to this lifestyle, well, until the money runs out!!
I sold the 5 drawer chest for £65 and the magazine rack table for £30 this week, and I also painted up these two tables I had in the shed and they are listed on ebay now.

Painted in Old White

Duck Egg Blue

Brought up the top part of the welsh dresser from the shed this week also and finished painting it on Thursday. Here are the progress pics

I will make a start on the base unit tomorrow and hopefully get it finished and listed before next weekend. I decided to paint it in Old White, as this shade seems to sell the best. here is the base unit.

I am enjoying my time off work just now. I registered with a brilliant recruitment agency and had a lovely chat with a lady called Penny who understands exactly what I am looking for and is hoping to have some work for me soon. In the meantime I am just painting and selling as  much furniture as possible, and enjoying the long lies !!

The Orchard Hotel - a De Vere Venue

Russell and I had a nice overnight stay in this brand new eco friendly hotel in Nottingham on Friday. It was amazing, really stylish, and we got a fantastic deal of £29 for the night. We hadn't visited Nottingham before so had great fun exploring the town and doing some shopping. Dinner in the hotel brasserie was fantastic, and I would highly recommend this hotel chain.

Our eco bedroom :0)

Oh, nearly forgot to tell you that I sold the white dressing table with the lovely round mirror for £99, it was picked up this evening. It's a shame I can't keep all my favourite pieces :0(

So, what do I have planned for this week? Tomorrow I am doing lunch with my friend Sharon, from my last work, it will be good to catch up on how everyone is coping with the changes. We are meeting at my favourite lunch venue in Stoke on Trent, the Emma Bridgewater Café. Dying to see her!
Hope you have a good week, and I will hopefully have loads more to show you next Sunday!

 

Easter Flu Bug :0(

Hope you had a lovely Easter. We headed up to Scotland on Good Friday and were held up for 2 hours in traffic jams on the M6! We had a nice Easter meal with the family, but I was not well (flu) and we had to leave to come home early on Saturday and we didn't get to Edinburgh :0( We were home by tea time on Saturday and I had a bath and went straight to bed. I am still unwell.

 

 

This has been a very stressful week for me. I went in to my new work on Tuesday for 2 days of training and induction. I found out on Wednesday that there is no post for me within Healthy Minds, and I was told that I would go through a consultation period of 1 month where they would try to find another NHS Combined post for me. I took the decision at the end of the week to resign, and persuaded by bosses to waive my notice period. It feels a bit scary not having a job at the moment, but I will find something soon. Once I get rid of this flu bug I will have more energy for job searching, and in the meantime I sold a few pieces of furniture on ebay this week, and listed a couple of the items I started work on before Easter

 

 

Listed this chair yesterday, in French Linen, and added this lovely coordinating cushion for my photos. I also finished off the five drawer chest, and the nice table with the magazine racks, and listed them today. I have a few watchers already!

 

This little side table turned out really nice, and I lined the drawer with Laura Ashley Gosforth Meadow wallpaper. It matched really well. I do like this one and wish I could keep it!

I sold a few things this week too. The Versailles upholstered chair was picked up today, and the lady who bought it may have some furniture she would like me to paint for her in the same colour :0)

I also sold the big chunky wall mirror, the little shelf unit, and a picture frame.

I haven't managed to do much painting this weekend as I just have no energy at the moment. Once I have recovered from this flu I can use my time to apply for jobs, and finally get all that furniture in my shed painted and sold. Things are going to be tight till I find something else, but at least my holiday is booked and paid for so I have that to look forward to in August. One week in Vegas, and one week in Florida :0)

 

I will try and have more for you next weekend. Have a good week!

RedKittenCrafts: Braving the Blizzards!!

RedKittenCrafts: Braving the Blizzards!!: It's been a really cold week here, but despite the snow, I fired up the heater in the conservatory, braved the blizzards, and headed dow...

Braving the Blizzards!!

It's been a really cold week here, but despite the snow, I fired up the heater in the conservatory, braved the blizzards, and headed down to the shed to get my next pieces for transformation. Grabbed the last of the chunky pine chairs,  a tall chest of 5 drawers, and a lovely wee magazine table I bought absolutely ages ago. I am slowly working my way through all the stuff I have down there, and think I still have a welsh dresser, large sideboard, round table with 4 chairs, and various mirrors and shelves.

Awaiting transformation

I started first with the wee table. It was quite tricky to paint as it has sections at each side to put magazines in. I decided to paint all 3 items in the same colour - French Linen. This is now one of my favourite Annie Sloan colours. It reminds me of old french furniture and looks great once waxed and buffed to a soft sheen.

I turned it upside down and put it on the dining table to get started. It is so heavy I had to ask Russell to lift it for me, a really solid old piece of furniture (the best kind!). I decided to leave the little bun feet unpainted as the wood is such a lovely colour and matches well with the French Linen colour.

First coat

Masked off the interior

Waiting for second coat

Going to give this one 2 coats, and leave the interior unpainted also. I will pop some magazines in the sides to take the pics for ebay.

The drawer unit only needed one coat of paint. This colour on pine is nice when you can see some of the wood showing through, so I also distressed it a bit and left it with the pine handles, just gave them a coat of wax before putting them back on.

I bought this piece on ebay, I always check with the seller to make sure the drawers are solid wood and not the flimsy hardboard that a lot of the modern ones are made of. They don't last long before the bottoms fall out!

Solid wood drawers

The wax darkens the colour when you apply it as you may be able to see in this next pic. Annie Sloan advises applying the wax with a brush, but I prefer to use a soft cloth so I can rub it into the surface.

The farmhouse chair also only needed one coat and I then quite heavily distressed it before waxing.
I didn't manage to get any of these three pieces finished in time to photograph before sunset, so I will either try to do that after work one day this week, or leave till next weekend.

WET PAINT

Distressed and waxed ready for buffing

close up of distressing

Last week I promised you I would post the pics of the dressing table and uphostered chair, so here they are. They are both listed on ebay now and have around 10 watchers on each.

The bright red farmhouse chair I listed recently doesn't seem to have been as popular as they other colours as I have only one person watching it, but you never know, it only takes one person to fall in love with it! The two fruity frames I listed didn't sell.

So I removed those pics, replaced them with some weird animal ones and listed them seperately.

They are identical frames, but the cat one has 2 watchers, while there are none for the rabbit one!
The dressing table mirror sold to a company that stages room sets for filming etc! They absolutely loved it, so hoping they will buy more in the future from me.

Next weekend is Easter Weekend and we are heading up to Scotland to visit family (weather permitting). We have this Friday/Monday off so will travel up on Friday morning. Staying with the in-laws Crieff (near Perth) on Friday then have a hotel booked in Edinburgh for Saturday. We should get home late afternoon on Easter Sunday so not sure if I will manage a blog post that day, but will try and do one on Monday to tell you about our trip.

Hope you have a wonderful Easter!