Some reveals

Ok, photos as promised...not the greatest light today given that it is pouring with rain, but here goes....

I turned this:

into this:

And this:

 into this:

And for some silly reason I didn't take before photos of these, but I am really pleased how they turned out:

What I have been up to

First of all, sorry that my posts have been a bit irregular lately!  I am finding this winter weather and temperature very frustrating, it doesn't combine well with trying to paint furniture in your garage.  I dream of having a 'proper' studio and one day I will...but at present I have to work with what I have got.  So, what have I been working on?  Still seem to be buying more than I can get finished!  My business depends on not only people liking and buying what I produce, but also the continued availability of old furniture with great potential.  I think that I have a fear that the supply of old furniture will run out...even though that ain't that likely!

So anyway, I am going to recap with before photos then I PROMISE I shall have some reveals tomorrow.

Remember this 'beauty'?

I blogged about it here.  You'll need to scroll down a bit.

And this, in the same blog post as the 'orange roughy':

Well, here is a wee peep of what this is turning into...

Also in that post, I talked about a little telephone stool but I didn't take a picture of it.  That is finished now, with the Mod Podge drying as I type.  Just need daylight to take a photo of it, which I haven't got right now.

I have also almost finished painting the frame to this daybed...in Dulux Antique White USA:

And I haven't gone and looked for some fabric to cover it yet...looking forward to that shopping trip!

till tomorrow,

 Karen xx

More for my to-do pile!

As if I don't already have a large enough to-do pile, I added to it this week.  Oh well, at least I don't need to worry about where my next project is coming from, and I won't be bored for quite a while!  Here is what has arrived in my stockpile this week...

A pair of solid Rimu bedheads - I can envision these in a boys room, painted in either an inky blue or a dark grey (and distressed, of course!)

A really chunky, large blackboard.  I am not entirely sure what I will use this for but I figured it may come in handy for when I have a market stall (or my own shop!).  In the meantime, the kids are having a ball with it.  Today it had written on it 'For Sale Sophie & Lily's Shop' as my daughter and my niece kept me company running their 'shop' while I painted and pottered with my projects :)  Here they are here, in their 'shop', wearing their 'uniforms' (Sophie's chinese dresses)...

The lady that I bought the blackboard off was moving to Australia and getting rid of lots of her possessions.  She had a sewing cabinet that didn't sell in her online auction, so she offered it to me.  Of course I couldn't say no, lol.  Because, I need more projects :-/

  Plain, but a wee cutie, nonetheless.  I am sure she will come up a treat!

 

A couple of  'old-school' daybeds, both from different sellers:

Very similar in design but not identical.  I plan on painting the frames in Antique White then recovering the squabs, not sure in what yet but I am thinking that a french blue mattress ticking stripe would look pretty neat and fit in nicely with the fact that they are mattresses, after all :)  They would make an excellent addition to a kids room - somewhere to sit/lounge when piled with cushions, but also an instant spare bed that doesn't have to look like one all the time.  I might even keep one of them...

So I got straight to work on the darker stained one, gave it an all-over sand with my mouse sander and then a soapy scrub down.  Tomorrow weather permitting it will get a sealer coat of paint. 

 

And my last purchase about half an hour ago, this bed - I haven't picked it up or even seen it in the flesh yet!  But I couldn't resist the frenchy lines of the bedhead and end.  Of course it needs to be white...

I also scored a mirror today, one of those long ones - dress mirrors I think they call them.  I had spotted it a couple of weeks ago at our local Charity Barn, but it was over the back in the 'no go' area.  Never having been one to let that stop me, I asked the lady if the mirror would be for sale.  She said no, because she needed it for customers to use when trying on clothes.  I accepted that and left, then on the way home remembered that I had an unused but plain framed dress mirror in my garage.  I thought if I offered her that one, she'd sell me her one.  So I went in there today planning on asking her that, and she said that she actually had another mirror that had come in and she was 'saving' it for me!  How sweet of her to even remember!  I looked at it then gently told her I liked the original one better, so she said she'd put the other mirror up and I could have the one I wanted, yay!  Here it is here, 'not 4 sale' message and all, lol:

 I wasted no time pulling the backing off and removing the mirror glass (haven't tried cleaning the writing off yet, wish me luck!), gave it a hot soapy scrub, and a sealer coat of paint.  Tomorrow weather permitting (again, well it is winter!) I'll spray it with my Rustoleum Flat White.  And clean that mirror.

Recent Antics

Yesterday I picked up a reupholstered cushion that belongs on a white metal scrolled telephone table.  Today I scrubbed the frame of it down and sprayed it using Rustoleum All-Surface paint in Satin White.  I'll post a photo of it once it is all done, just needs another coat of paint tomorrow...but boy, does that paint cover well!  So it should for 5 times the price of cheapie spray paint...

I also dropped off two more peak-backed chrome kitchen chairs to my upholsterer.  He is doing those in red dotty oilcoth for me, that way they will go with the Retro Dining Suite in Caramel and Red as I have had some enquiries as to whether I have 6 chairs.  I decided to do them similar but not identical, as if the suite sells with 4 chairs, I may have had a hard time selling another two chairs in that colourway, but red dotty on its own is always popular and fits in well with many colour schemes.

Today I also sprayed a wee table that  I recently purchased, using the same Rustoleum paint.  Here it is here:

I wasn't loving the gold scrolls or the horrid 'school window' safety glass with embedded wire on the tabletop.  So the scrolls are now white, and I am thinking about what to replace the top with...probably plain glass, but I'm not sure yet.

This morning I found two cute little chrome legged stools that I'll have recovered in oilcloth - one red dotty and one pink dotty.  This is what they look like now (yuk!):

Now, how is this for U.G.L.Y.

This is the photo from the online auction I purchased it off.  Nice shapes, shame about the colour.  What I couldn't tell until I picked it up, was that someone had slapped that orange paint straight over laminate veneer, so it was chipping off in chunks....arrrgghh!  I wasn't going to give in though, as I know this will look stunning in Antique White with a glaze over it.  So I sanded, and sanded, and sanded...

Then I got out the heavy duty scraper, and it worked a treat, got the paint off the tabletop and shelf without leaving any marks in the surface.

This is how she is now, after a bath (I just noticed you can see the reflection of the telephone table in the tabletop because it is wet).

Lastly today I pulled the old upholstery top off an art deco piano stool.  This is the before shot:

I am planning on painting the box the same as this one but I'll do a different fabric on the top.  The woodwork has had a good scrub down today and is now waiting to be painted.

I have had a busy and productive day....I love days like that!

xx Karen

Reveal of Deb's Bar Stools

Well, here they are, all finished...hope she likes them!  I think they came out great, if I do say so myself :)

xx Karen