Full Steam Ahead!

I am enjoying the stunning views from my waterfront flat, and yesterday morning this cruise ship sailed up and dropped anchor right across from me.

This weekend it was full steam ahead in the workshop too !
I popped out on Saturday morning to pick up this lovely little trolley table I bought on FB Marketplace.

I thought it would look nice in Graphite, but I sanded the top down first as I like to leave some of the wood showing if possible.

The old dark varnish sanded off really easily to reveal a lovely wood grain underneath.

I sealed this with 2 coats of polyurethane varnish to make sure it didn't get marked with any of the Graphite paint while I was painting the rest of the table.

I removed the drawers, then turned the while thing upside down to start the painting. This is the best way to start as if you don't you can miss some of the bits underneath.

Now it has had 2 coats of paint, as have the drawers. Nice handles too!

Ran out of time to finish this one today. Still to distress and seal with Annie Sloan wax. I will then give the wooden top a couple more coats of varnish to protect against staining. Sorry you will have to tune in next weekend to see pics of the finished project.

I have had this gorgeous mid century chair for years, but finally got round to painting it today, while I had the Graphite on my brush ;)
Time consuming masking off all the rungs though, you need a lot of patience.

Told you I worked really hard this weekend - I also transformed the little hexagonal table I bought a couple of weeks ago.

Again using Graphite, I decided to turn this one into a little clock table. I love doing these !

Turned it upside down first to paint the base, then worked my way up.

Masked off an area to paint in Old White for the clock face.

After 2 coats, and once it was completely dry I got out my trusty clock stencil, and using the Graphite again (slightly watered down). I stencilled a clock face on the table top.

I also have a stencil for clock hands, so used this to add the finishing touches.

Next I lightly distressed the whole table then sealed it, including the clock face with Annie Sloan clear wax. I lightly rubbed some black wax across the face to age it slightly as you can see in the pic below.

When the wax has dried I will buff it to a soft sheen.Might have to keep this quirky little side table for my new flat ;)

Had a giggle at this next pic. This is definitely me !!  lol

Have a great week, and feel free to leave a comment or ask a question if there is anything I can help with.

Busy in the Bay

Hi there !

Well what a busy weekend I have had. 

I finsihed the retro coffee table by giving it 4 coats of polyuerthane varnish in matt and it looks fab. Think I have a buyer for this one already :)

As promised, here is the update on the pine bedside cabinets which are now listed for sale.

This shade of blue is trending for bedrooms at the moment and I think it looks great. It's Annie Sloan Aubusson Blue. It covered so well I only needed one coat, with a few little touch ups here and there.

You can see how the wax deepens the colour of the paint. Some people apply with a brush, but I like to rub it in with a lint free cloth.

The original handles were so uninteresting that I switched them for some lovely genuine vintage knobs I had in my box of knobs. Yes, I do have a couple of boxes of knobs ;)

A quick trip to Homebase yesterday provided me with some wallpaper samples to use for the top of the cabinets. They don't mind you helping yourself to samples.

I ran a quick poll on the Unique Chic page on Facebook and the marble design one was the unanimous winner :)

 All finished now and listed on eBay. I will also list on Gumtree and possibly Facebook Marketplace.

Next weekend I will get to work on the cute little hexagonal side table. I think I might paint a clock design on the top of this one.

I also bought another retro table on eBay which I am picking up on Wednesday evening in Edinburgh. Another fab one to give a geometric makeover !

I am sadly selling two other geometric tables I painted last year. This fab little square one was the first one I ever did, but I have nowhere for it in my new flat.

 This second one I didn't think I would ever part with. It took me absolutely ages to paint, with so many triangles !!! Bought this gorgeous table in a little shop in Morningside, Edinburgh.

 The weather has been just lovely this weekend, and I thought you might like to see a couple of the photos I took from my flat which overlooks the Forth Estuary.

Have a great week, and I will post again next weekend.
I must try to get into a routine with this blog posting again !!

Starting Over Again

It's a long time since my last blog post and so much has happened.
I have relocated to Bonnie Scotland near Edinburgh (my home town) and now live in Dalgety Bay with breathtaking views of the Forth Estuary and the 3 Bridges.

Suffice to say, I am now single, and starting a new adventure. I recently started work as the Administrator for a local charity and now that I have found a new home and job I can turn my attention back to my passion - transforming tired furniture.

My first project was something I have been dying to try since I first heard about it. Painting fabric with chalk paint !! I have an oldish light coloured IKEA chair that was looking a bit grubby as it got marked in the removal van. 

As my new lounge is quite neutral I decided it needed a pop of colour so I custom mixed a lovely citrus lime shade. 

After watching a few YouTube videos I just went for it! I worked in sections, spraying the fabric with water and applying the paint with plenty of water.

AS long as you dip your brush in water after the paint it will glide on quite easily, and it dyes the fabric when you apply it. Even the first coat was a stunning transformation !

I gave it a day or two to dry out, then repeated the process painting in the opposite direction this time and this evened out any stripeyness. I don't know if that's a real word ?!? Anyway, after the second coat the material went quite stiff with the chalk paint, so once dry I very lightly sanded the surface with a fine sandpaper. I think it now looks fabulous!!! and I had the perfect cushion already!!

After the success of this first project I well and truly had been bitten by the bug again and needed to find something else to paint !! :) I headed to a local charity furniture store and found this fab retro coffee table, an original 60's design with those gorgeous dansette legs with little brass feet.

Next I planned out my design and drew it out on the top. Then the fun began ! Masking off each triangle and giving it 3 coats of paint. This took ages to do, and you need to have a lot of patience to do something like this !

But rewarded for all my patience in the end as this is how it turned out -

On Sunday I drove up to Errol Car Boot sale to look for more stuff to transform and found these lovely pieces which are perfect for painting.

I will write again next week and let you see what fabulous colour I painted these two wooden bedside cabinets ;)

HAVE A GREAT WEEK!

Hot Sunday, Hot Wheels :)

Sorry I don't have any more furniture to show you at the moment. I have had a lot of work to do round the house, and we have just had a new en suite fitted so I have been doing a spot of decorating.

 I did revamp this old mini drawer unit with Orla Kiely paper for the en suite. Added new handles and it is perfect for jewellery etc

Today was a scorcher, and a bit too hot to paint in the workshop ! We had a nice day out at a local Retro Car Show. It was a cool trip down memory lane, seeing all the cars we used to own.
No, I didn't own a De Lorean, but they are awesome!

Some gorgeous Mustang's too (my favourite ).

Hopefully get back to painting next weekend once I have decided what colour to paint this fab welsh dresser. I love how this style has easily removable glass in the doors.

I might add some coordinating paper on the back of the top cupboard, not sure yet, but I have painted one almost identical before and it was lovely painted in Duck Egg.

I am also looking forward to doing some more napkin decoupage, and I have ordered lots of new designs from ebay. I will try to post next weekend, and thanks for reading!

 Have a lovely sunny week !