Table ReMake

We've been up to our eyeballs with house renos...most of it hasn't been fun!

But some of it has been, like the re-make of our living room coffee table.

 

It used to look like this...after I picked it up for $10 and gave it a coat of water blue paint...

 

 

But now it looks like this...

 

 

The design is my own of course.  All hand-painted. I had such fun coming up with the pattern.

 

We're going on 2 months now with this chaotic house stuff which all started with the need to install

new floors and rabbit-chew-proof ceramic baseboards and which lead into a 100 other projects!

 

Atleast I can gaze upon my newly finished table happily and check it off the mile long list!

Some Old Furniture Refinished

So a few weeks ago when I was so so sad and lost without Hazel and when I wanted to just sleep all day and all night, I gave myself a couple projects to complete when I wasn't keeping Jin company...I thought I'd share those with you today... We've had this old desk for years, Jonathan's grandpa made it but it was pretty rickety and ugly, so Jon peeled all the bubbled veneer off, sanded it down, made the shelves solid, and put new legs on than handed it to me...

...which I than painted a bright happy green and water blue. I love it now.

Than I took this old chair which I've had around for ages, took the old fabric off, painted it in the same green and blue and had just enough fabulous rabbit print material to recover it, so it became...

...This:D....which I am also so happy with...

...AND THAN...I took another old desk that I've been used for over 15 years and decided to give it a matching facelift as well, it needed no work just paint so it was quick and easy but it looks so much better and refreshed in these new colours.

...Jinny and Jaks seem to approve of the colours...I am happy...What do yous think?

Cruddy Brown to Beautiful Blue and New

So last Saturday was a day where people could put out unwanted items at their curb sides and anyone else could take the stuff for free....Our neighbours put their items the night before which included an old ugly shelf....and of course I saw the shelf and started obsessing that I just had to have it! I just couldn't get to sleep, I kept imagining it in this certain blue and than I was convinced that someone would surely nab the shelf before we were even up the next day...so my sweet Jonathan, went outside in the middle of the night and brought it in for me... The next day I ran to get a can of paint in the colour I had envisioned in my head....and with a couple hours painting time, an old ugly brown shelf....

...became a beautiful refreshed blue shelf that fits in so nicely in our living room...I am so pleased and it again goes to prove that someone else's trash can indeed often be someone else's new treasure.

Until next time, Be Well and Happy Creating.

A New Furniture Project

I love painting old furniture...I don't do it too often because they can be time consuming projects, but when I do get to it, I really get into it and the thought always pops into my head that "Yep, I could do this for a living...this and paint carousel horses..." ha ha. It completely lets me diverge and break from my usual work but still feels very creative and therefore freeing. I saw this lovely old writing desk at a thrift shop for no more than $20. Without question my honey helped me load it up into the car and we brought it home only to sit in a corner for a few years with not real purpose and looking pretty hideous (but I bought it because I knew the shape and style was lovely).

Jonathan helped me immensely by spending 3 hours on it before it passed off into my hands. He worked off the old cracked and bubbled veneer on all sides, cut new pieces for the backing, reinforcing weak areas, completely rebuilt the legs, filled any cracks and holes and sanded it beautifully so I had a nice smooth surface to refinish. I forgot to take a shot of it before Jon worked on it unfortunately...but here it is looking much better than before...

And voila...here it is after 7 or 8 hours of my hard but fun work...

A lovely and new and unique desk for our den which is decorated with blacks, reds and golds...I am very pleased with the outcome and was happy to surprise Jonathan with the finished project when he arrived home from work. Now Jon wants to go thrift store hunting for more furniture for me to paint, ha ha...he says this every time I finish a piece.

Thanks for your help babe, it would no doubt look quite as sharp without all the fine tuning you put in. As for everyone else, I hope I've inspired you to break out the paints and varnish and perhaps tackle some ugly or tired piece of yours and have fun and breathe new life into it. Happy Creating and perhaps old furniture hunting.