Monday 30 June 2014

My Little Pot Cupboard


A quick post today, Here is my latest little re vamp using the Decoart Chalk Finish Paints
This time round I used the colours Timeless and Enchanted.
two coats of each colour for a nice even covering and then lots of sanding back to get the distressed look I was after. 
To finish off I used the soft satin varnish.


This is how the unit looked before.







Thanks for stopping by xx

Thursday 19 June 2014

Decoupaged Pine Bedside Unit


A quick little post today, This is my first attempt at using paper and decoupaging. After seeing lots of pieces on facebook and the net I just had to give it a go so I raided Homebase's wall paper samples and this is how it turned out.
I used Decoart's chalk finish paint No distressing this time just a couple of coats of Primative. The unit was painted first and the wall paper was trimmed roughly to size to make it easier to work with, I used Decoarts Matt Decoupage glue and left it to dry. The paper was then sanded back to the edges to give a nice tidy look and it was finished of with a couple of coats of the Soft Satin Varnish from the chalk paint range.
I will go into a little more detail next time I decoupage something ;)
Thanks for stopping by xx 

Thursday 5 June 2014

Up Cycled and Re Cycled Table Rescue


Thanks for stopping by, Life has been a little busy here recently but I did find a little time to save two broken tables and create one new one using Decoarts Chalk Finish Paints.
The legs started life as one of a pair and were part of an old dinning room table,sadly the top of this table had seen better days but the legs were still worth saving as they have such a great shape and I love the feet.

Here Is What You Will Need:



This is what the leg looked like before.

I started by wiping down and cleaning the legs, I then gave them a rough coat of Everlasting, I wanted to cover the wood but wanted to keep the brush strokes quite random and did not mind if it looked a little patchy in places, this all adds to the aged look in the end.

At this stage I did not have a top to go with this table and thought of going for a more neutral look and thought I would just distress the white using the dark wax.


I gave the legs a good coat of the clear wax first, It is important if you are going to use a dark wax that you first paint a layer of the clear wax, this stops the dark wax from staining the paint underneath.

When distressing with the dark wax I always have plenty of kitchen roll handy. I worked on the legs in sections as the wax dries fairly quickly,again I was quite hap hazard with the brush strokes and applying the wax thicker in some places, working it into mouldings.Just let it dry for a few minutes.
Using a scrunched up kitchen towel I just lightly started to wipe away and smear the wax till I got the look I liked, you can always add more wax once it has dried and repeat if you like.


At this stage I was lucky enough to be walking past a pub (as you do) and in the beer garden I spotted a broken table, 5 minutes latter after a quick chat with the land lord I walked out with table top for free :)
I am unsure what wood it is but it's nice and heavy and has walnut written on the bottom. The top of the table had the usual scratches and marks that all good pub tables have so it needed to be sanded back down to bare wood.I used an electric sander on this, it took a little work but I think it was well worth the effort.


as it was


half and half


The end result.It was dusted of and given 4 coats of the clear cream wax letting the wax dry between coats.


Here it is on top of the legs, this combination just was not working for me,it was just to light,there needed to be more of a contrast.Feeling brave I thought I would go for a bold colour and went for a green that had not really been a favourite of mine (till I finished this project anyway)
Using the same steps as above I coated the legs in Fortune, I have to admit it looked pretty garish at this point ;)

I grabbed a sanding block and started to sand away in areas, picking out the edges and larger flat surfaces. In places I took the paint down to the original wood and others I just went down to the white.
The feet were also given a light sanding to bring out some of the details.


 At this point I started to feel a little better about my choice.
Waxing was next, I followed exactly the same steps as before.Once the wax had dried over night the legs were buffed and the top was attached.


Thanks for taking the time to stop by. xx