Sunny Sunday!

What gorgeous weather we have had again this weekend. Hard to think we are into Autumn now and October is only a day or two away. Great day for clearing out the shed and listing my set of golf clubs on ebay. I took lessons when we lived near St Andrews but only used them once before we moved down to England.

Lady came this morning as arranged and collected the welsh dresser. Very happy with the profit I made without having to paint it! I also finished off the two shelf units and the small table today and they are now listed on ebay.

Painted them all in Old White. This seems to be the most popular colour and I hope to get them sold nice and quick.

Popped over to Newcastle to check on the progress of our new house and it has windows now!!

Won't be long before they will let us inside for a look :0) and we did get to choose our kitchen, wall tiles and flooring when we were there yesterday. Gone for a white gloss kitchen with wood worktops, almost the same as we have now, but we both really like it, and white always looks so fresh and clean.

Big weekend for my boys as they are in Amsterdam for Barry's stag do. I love Amsterdam, so picturesque, but not sure how much sightseeing they will be doing??

Have a great week, and hope the hangovers weren't too bad boys!!

Just a quick one!

Well, I did say I was going to start work on painting the big welsh dresser this weekend, but I had a good idea, and it paid off. I decided to list the dresser on ebay and just flip it (flipping something is selling it on without doing any work to it first). I listed it on a buy it now with best offer, and sold it for £99. I am very happy with that and it gets it out of the house so we can concentrate on packing.

I had a look through the stuff in the shed and there are lots of nice things in there.

I finished off a couple of items I had started before I went on holiday, and also painted a nice corner unit I was given for free at the end of a car boot sale :0)

First coat of Old White

 and 4 nice picture frames that turned out really nice and I have decided to keep for the new house. I can always sell them later if I don't need them

2 x shelf units and small table

Detail on picture frame

So just used my trusty Old White in everything today, and it was nice to get back to painting again. I will try and get all these items finished off through the week, but it starts to get dark around 7pm now so not much working time after I get home from work at 5.15.

Can't remember if I showed you this nice frame I got at the car boot sale, nice detail. I have it up for sale just now on ebay but I was tempted to keep it for myself.

Got rid of our old double bed this week. Couldn't get it taken apart fully so just freecycled it. Also gave away a big pine mirror I bought ages ago that was damaged at one corner. So handy that people come to pick the stuff up at the house.

So just a quickie as I also posted through the week. I will post pics of the items I have painted today once they have been waxed and are ready to be listed on ebay

Have a good week :0)

Vegas/Florida Vacation

Hi, Sorry I have been off the Blogosphere for a bit. So much change this year!! and have just not had time for crafts for the last few months. Seems like ages since I sold any shabby chic furniture. Also started my new job last week at Keele University after our big holiday in America !! It was FAB!!

Fremont St, Las Vegas

This was one of the best trips yet! A week gambling in Vegas, 3 nights chilling in the Florida Keys, and our last 4 days shopping in Orlando! We didn't even go anywhere near the strip this time as we found it overpriced and too touristy. We had a much better time off strip and stayed at The Eastside Cannery about 6 miles out. What a fantastic hotel! We were upgraded to a high floor corner room with views of both the Strip and the mountains ! We had 2 visits to Fremont St which is the best place to see the old style original casinos and easier to actually win some money there as the machines are "looser".

Beautiful chandelier at The Plaza Hotel (where we parked for Fremont St)

I won enough to pay for a couple of meals when we were there :0) and the buffet meals in the hotels were the best we have ever eaten, and so cheap!! Our favourite was the Feast Buffet at Boulder Station Casino (off strip). We had a 4 hour flight to Miami and picked up the rental car there. I had been so excited as we booked a Mustang for driving round Florida.When we went to pick it up from the parking garage the attendant told me to have my pick of a whole row of different coloured ones. Took me about half an hour to choose!!! We had a red rental car the first week so went for this lovely gun metal grey :0) Wish I could have brought it home with me.

Shopping in Tavernier, Florida Keys

We stayed at the same resort we visited last summer and it was even better as we were upgraded to a suite closer to the waterfront. It had it's own kitchen and living area and was also very close to the pool. It was lovely and peaceful, especially when most of the guests checked out after Labor Day weekend!

Waterfront at Atlantic Bay Resort. The water was so clear!

Lots of iguanas and peacocks walking about the resort

It was so relaxing sitting at the waterfont watching all the private fishing boats mooring and unloading their catches. Some of the fish they caught were over 3ft long! 

We also found a fantastic restaurant that was our favourite on the trip - Mrs Mac's Kitchen in Key Largo, which was just a few miles up the road from where we were staying . The interior of the restaurant was amazing! The lights over the tables were made from license plates, and the tables were glass topped with lots of holiday type souvenirs, shells etc under the glass like a display case. The light in the entrance was like a big octopus!!

Octopus Light in Mrs Mac's Kitchen

We had an amazing meal of broiled dolphin fish, prawns and scallops, followed my their world famous Key Lime Pie! It was out of this world, and I can't recommend this restaurant enough. Russell bought me one of their mugs to bring home :0)

Mrs Mac's Coffee and Key Lime Pie, so yummy!!

We were going to  drive all the way down to Key West, but it was scorching that day so we only went half way. On the way back we got caught in a tropical storm.They are something to see!!

Mustang in the Keys :0)

We had about a four hour drive up to Orlando where we also stayed at a hotel we had used before as it was so handy for everything, and included a free buffet breakfast. Marriott Fairfield Inn at Lake Buena Vista. We had 4 days there and enjoyed visiting our favourite shops at The Florida Mall, the best mall by far!

On our last day we had a wander round Celebration, a town built by the Disney Company. It was very picturesque and clean and the houses there were to die for. A bit on the pricey side though. There was a nice Farmers and Crafts Market we had a look round, and some nice shops. They even had a bakery for dogs!!!!

Celebration bakery for dogs!

Main St in Celebration

Our flight back to Manchester was a night flight and we didn't manage to get any sleep. The food was so bad we had upset stomachs, then we ran into turbulence !!! Were glad to get home and into bed for a sleep.

Other news is we sold our house the day before we left, so we have started packing. Trouble is, I have a shed full of lovely furniture still to be painted. I know I wont have time to get it done before we move, so a lot of it will have to go into storage until the new house is ready in January. I do however want to get the big heavy welsh dresser painted and sold before we go, so work will be starting on that this weekend.

Can't believe we are into the second half of September, and it is turning very autumny already! Before we know it it will be Christmas, then in March the big wedding in New York! Loads to do before then so I'd better get cracking!! It feels good to get back to my blogging again, and I will  post pics at the weekend of the dresser transformation. Looking forward to our brand new house too, which will be a blank canvas for decorating and styling.

Have a good week!

5 Days Till Vegas !

It's been a weird year of good and bad news, and lots of change.

Another relative passed away last month, my Uncle David. He was a wonderful man and lived to see 91!! We will all miss him. I travelled up to Edinburgh for the funeral and it was a really lovely service at the graveside. The funeral spray was made up of beautiful flowers from South Africa, where he lived most of his life.

There has just been so much going on with having our house on the market, applying for jobs, trips to Scotland etc that I have not painted any furniture for a couple of months and I am not only missing the transformations, but also the extra income it provides. Once we are back from holiday in September I will be getting back into it again. I have a shed full of items to paint now thanks to the wonderful Nantwich Car Boot sale, which I have still been going to most Sundays. Here are a few of my recent purchases.

As you can see I have loads of cool projects to get started on. I also still have the big pine dresser to paint !

On the good news front, I am now officially a Keele University employee, and start my new job as Receptionist/Administrative Assistant when I get back from my holiday. This post is a lot less stressful that my last Senior Administrator post, but I have had to take quite a big cut in salary, so the furniture painting will help out a bit.

We are on the final countdown to our summer holiday and we are so excited. Busy washing ironing and looking things out to pack this week, and we have a second viewing on the house this Thursday evening. I may post a blog from the US if I have time, just to show you some pics of the places we visit. We are having a week in Vegas and a week in Florida, and plan to visit as many shops as possible in our 2 weeks!!

Take care, and I promise to get back into blogging and painting very soon!

Sad week

Sorry I have not been around for the last week or so, but we had some bad news last weekend. My brother in law, Billy, passed away from a suspected heart attack. It is so sad as we all had such a wonderful day at his daughter's wedding 3 weeks ago. We are all stunned by the news and still can't quite believe it.

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I have not been painting any new items since last Sunday, but we did find a new car boot sale to go to in Nantwich. It is a really good one, and is nice to walk round as it's in a field and has a cafe and toilets. Lots of lovely items for sale from Cheshire homes, and some bargains to be had :0) Such a friendly crowd that go.

Here are some of the things I bought...

2 nice pine shelf units

pine chair

Old wooden bedside cabinet

nice old painted chair

Solid balloon backed chair I will recover

Wooden framed beveled mirror

I also managed to get some nice material to upholster with. Dead cheap at the boot sale, these 2 large pieces cost me £2 for both. I watch tutorials on Youtube that show you how to do it :0)

I am also building up quite a nice collection of clear crystal candlesticks, none of them costing me more than £1 each. I saw a photo in a magazine of a dining table that had lots of these as a centerpiece with all the candles the same colour and it looked stunning!

Pinterest pic

Ones I have bought at car boot sales

I have also been buying a few shabby chic style table lamps, although one won't work :0( Once I get them all working I will sell them on ebay. I bought a new shade for the one in the centre of the pic and I might decorate it with little pom poms

So that's really all for this week. In the middle of a heat wave here so it  was far too hot in the conservatory to paint today so I had a relaxing afternoon watching the Wimbledon final :0)  What a match! Well done Andy!!

Next weekend we are driving down to Cardiff as Russell wants to visit the Dr Who Experience. We are staying over Friday night in a nearby Travelodge, then once we have been to the museum we will do some shopping in Cardiff before heading home.

Hope you have a good week!

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!