Old Bed Looks New

I inherited my grandparents’ lovely Queen Anne oak double bed frame.  It had sat in my Nan’s shed in Raglan for years without a bed base or mattress.  I asked my husband to create a wooden frame to hold the weight of a mattress and two people and in return Gig produced a slate base using some old wood and building strapping .. thingee, watchacallit.  It was perfect!  

The bed found its place in our spare room at Wiltshire, then it became Aaliyah's bed when we moved to the Ponderosa.  When we renovating Aaliyahs room (AALIYAH'S ROOM REVEALED), the bed went into our shed until we finished renovating the outhouse.

I loved the bedhead the way it was, but decided to rejuvenate it by giving a splash of paint. Colour of choice ASCP Antoinette with white wax.

Before

 

First Coat of Paint

Finished product!

The bed now serves as a daybed in the outhouse and I just love the finished product.  Whenever I see this bed, I reflect on it's history and stories from the past and of the different families it has been apart of.  

As a side note, I need to work on my dressing skills for my photos.  In my head I can hear my cousin Marian reviewing me and I am positive she would have a lot of say about improvement.

Happy loving peeps!

Gorgeous Cabinet Gets Makeover x 2

Nearly two years ago, I acquired this lovely side table which was made out of a jarrah hardwood.  When I first started out with planning what I was going to do with it, I knew I wanted to paint the inside green.  Which is exactly what I did.  I painted the inside in ASCP Antibes Green and finished it with clear wax.

With the inside complete, I then went on to paint the whole exterior ASCP Graphite with dark wax.  When it was all finished, I was happy initially, but then realised that it didn't give this beautiful piece the makeover it truly deserved.  

I pondered on this for quite a while until I found this beautiful piece of vintage wallpaper that inspired me to redo it all over again.  I kept the top of the piece graphite, but change the exterior to ASCP Olive with the vintage wallpaper on the front of the door.

Before the first make over

Second makeover complete

The piece sits right at the front door entrance and I pretty happy with the final results.

Happy living peeps!

Wine Rack Makeover

In my quest to renovate my home, I decided I would paint our wine rack cabinet that we have had for over 12 years.  It is currently sitting in our hallway and is a lovely macrocarpa piece.  Unfortunately it didn't fit with my vision for the hallway.

Colour of choice - Annie Sloan Old Ochre with clear wax.   

Before - side view

Before - Other side

Finished product

After

The before photo's aren't very good, and neither are the after ones to be honest.  As you can see I painted the piece directly in my hallway using pieces of 4x2 and an old sheet.  Fortunately my hallway spans nearly 2 metres, so there's plenty of space to get past.  

The reason for painting the piece directly in my hallway is so that the temperature is high enough for the paint to dry quickly meaning I can finish the piece quicker in this weather.  I'm impatient like that.

This is a new colour I'm trying which is a creamy colour.  It goes so well in the hallway because where the piece is sitting needed some "light".  The new wine rack has provided that light now.

Happy learning peeps!

Vintage Scales

I picked these beautiful scales up on trademe for $10 and thought they were awesome.  It sat on my wine cabinet for a few weeks until I decided to give them a brighter lease of life.

Colour of choice - ASCP florence and graphite with clear and dark wax.

Before

First coat without any wax

Finished product

I love the ornateness and uniqueness of this piece.  Instead of painting the whole piece, I kept the face of the scales as a symbol of age of the scales.  I've fallen in love this these scales, so much so that I am holding back from collecting more pieces like this.

Happy living peeps!

Cabinet Storage

When we were looking at a solution for our AV equipment in our lounge, we decided on building a piece from scratch.  Gig made the frame out of steel so that the piece was strong enough to hold the equipment, then lined the frame with some old wood he had lying around the shed.

I painted the inside of the piece ASCP provence and the outside ASCP graphite with an attempt to dry brush with pure white.

During the painting process

The front of the piece

 

Piece in the lounge

I have to say that Gig isn't 100% pleased with the finished product, but I think it works perfectly for us.

Happy living peeps!

Waterfall Drawer Makeover

I purchased a couple of art deco waterfall drawers a few years back to place in the master bedroom to help with our storage problem.  As we have slowly started to work through the house to help address some storage issues, I decided to move these into my daughter Aaliyah's room.  

First thing is first though, I decided to paint them.  Although that wasn't an easy decision at all because they were absolutely stunning as they were.  Colour of choice ASCP Pure White & Paris Grey with clear wax.

Before

After

I am pretty happy with how they turned out.

Happy learning peeps!

Pure White Tea Trolley

I have inherited a few trolley's and have painted most of them.  This latest piece started off when my daughter originally wanted two tea trolleys as side tables in her room so she got to painting them white and they looked wonderful.

Unfortunately they weren't practical as her room lacked storage so the trolleys went when we renovated her room.  I blogged about her room in AALIYAHS ROOM REVEALED.

This piece is painted in ASCP pure white finished with clear wax and has since moved to another home to be loved and enjoyed.

Happy living peeps!

Tiny Side Drawer Gets Makeover

I inherited this little side drawer from my mother.  It has been in the whanau for a number of years, but it desperately needed a new lease on life as it had seen better days.

A few weeks back I finally had a bit of me time to look at picking up the paint brush again and decided this was the piece that was going to get my attention.  ASCP Pure White and Paris Grey were the colours of choice finished with clear wax.

Before

After

I chose these colours because I wanted it to go into Aaliyah's room to replace the side table that was originally in her room.  I blogged about this in RETRO DRAWER GOES SHABBY CHIC.  I think it turned out wonderfully, except Gig and Jayden say I need to add some colour into the room.

Happy living peeps!

Glass Cabinet Conversion

I get some furniture pieces every now and again with this wonderful idea of where it will go inside the house and what function it will have, and as it sits waiting to be revamped, plans change.  This piece is a shining example of that. 

I picked it up years ago in Morrinsville with the idea that it would be converted from the beautiful queen anne glass display cabinet (which had a broken leg and missing glass) into a shoe storage display unit in Aaliyah's room.  My thoughts were to paint the whole thing black including the glass at the back and sides of the unit so that her heels would be the feature of the piece, displayed through the glass in the front.

The room was renovated and as furniture went into the room, Aaliyah decided she didn't want the piece anymore.  It sat in our shed for a month or so more until I came home one day and my husband Gig had decided to use it as storage for sports/hunting gear.  

He replaced all the glass with old wood he had laying around, sanded it back, then painted it.  ASCP Olive was his colour of choice (inside and out) with the handle painted ASCP Duck Egg Blue to break the piece up.  I am just gutted I didn't get a before photo of the piece.

I think it looks fabulous in our room and adds that much needed storage.

If you have a piece of furniture that could do with a make over, then I encourage you give it a spruce with a coat of paint.  You'll be surprised with how fabulous it will turn out.

Happy learning peeps!

 

Hutch Makeover

I purchased a hutch dresser for $30 off trademe over 18 months ago with the view to give it a new life.   At the time of purchase it needed some serious TLC as it had been stored at a diary farm shed for a number of years.  It had a bad brown/orange 80's look which I really wasn't feeling, but it also had some interesting detail which I thought would be interesting.

Sadly it sat in our shed for 18 months before my husband and I gave it a good clean up.  He repaired what needed doing, while I sorted the colour scheme.  My choice being Annie Sloan duck egg blue for the outside of the dresser and Annie Sloan graphite for the inside of the shelves, drawers, cupboards and handles.  I finished the graphite with dark wax, while the duck egg blue is finished with clear wax.

There was a bit of discussion whether to keep the doors on the upper part of the dresser, but we decided it would be better left off.  What do you think?

Inside the house

I had originally thought of selling this piece, but as usual once it was finished we all fell in love with it inside the house.

Happy living peeps!!

Vintage Bench Seat Gets A Makeover

I tend to write in my blogs about how I collect things .. which usually happens when I "cleanse" and then collect more things.  This stool is a great example of how my husband and I went to the local dump to get rid of some rubbish .. and during the trip I spotted this little gem for $5.  

Before ... Really was in good condition

As you can imagine, there were many ideas of how this piece could be completed.  Painted with a neutral colour or colours such as pure white with paris grey.  Or go bold with the colours using something like florence.  Or upholster the top instead of painting it.  Or have a shabby chic finish or not.

I decided I wanted something to make a statement and be more like a piece of art as opposed to a piece that blends into the house.  I decided on a harlequin design using Annie Sloan pure white and graphite.

First coat of the design.  Gig help do the taping :-)

Pattern Finished

The finished product

I am pretty happy with the final result and right now I'm happy to look to display a few pieces on it.  If you have an old piece like this, or a piece of furniture that needs a little "lift in life", then paint it!!  

Happy living peeps!

Freedom Dresser Gets Funky

I purchased some furniture from the local freedom furniture store for my daughters when we built our first home.  They suited the style of house we had then, however when doing Jaydens room she decided to give hers a facelift. 

She decided to paint the face of the drawers Annie Sloan paris grey with clear wax.  I think it turned out pretty good.

Happy living peeps!!

Old Louver Doors - Turned Shutter Decor

I generally get accused of holding onto something for nothing on a regular basis -  trust me, I hear it all the time from my sister Deanne. Why do you have that?  What will you use that for?  Get rid of it!  It's just clutter!  Or as my cousin Marian says "it's mish mash".  BUT, if ever I had a reason to hold onto something for nothing, this idea has definitely paid off and I'm getting praises from the haters out there (in my family that is!!)

I had these old louver sliding doors which were used on an old built in cupboard in our laundry.  They weren't very effective and I thought they were hideous!  My husband took them off the cupboard, and in his quest to clean up was going to throw them away until he heard one of my frequent sayings  "STOP!!!  I want to keep those".  He probably rolled his eyes and thought "WTF would she want to keep them for" .. but graciously set them aside.

Fast forward 12 months ... we were redecorating Aaliyah's room and I wanted to use them as a feature behind her side drawers.  Only problem was, Aaliyah only wanted one side drawer and her awesome revamped headboard became to main feature in her room.

Roll on Jayden's room.  Yip, two side drawers and a feature wall at that.  Perfect!!  These hideous brown doors were given a new coat of paint and now sit proudly behind her side drawers.  What do you think?

Jayden has a quite a few photo's she wants to display, so I purchased some small pegs that she can hang them on the shutters.  Maybe when that is finished, I'll put up another post.

Happy living peeps!!!

New Robe Gets New Look

Jayden's room is now finished and we are just going through the process of putting in some finishing touches.  In saying this, I just couldn't wait to share the work she did on her wardrobe.  I picked it up off trademe for $150 and couldn't believe the bargain I got.  Early settler still sells this wardrobe for nearly $1000!!!

The robe itself was in really good condition, but the finish was dark and needed a lift.  Jayden had some big colour decisions to make for her entire room so for this piece her choice was white and henrietta (yes both are annie sloans colours)

Before

Jayden adding her personality to the piece

The finished product

This is a very big piece of furniture so took all weekend to do - especially when the weather has been as cold as it has.

If I am honest, I was a little worried about how it all ties into her room, but once it was completed her vision was on point!!

Happy learning peeps!!!