A visit to Bala Lake, Gwynedd, North Wales
Apr 262016
Apr 232016
Turning an old French wine crate into a magazine holder.
The moment I saw this on Ebay, I just knew it would make a great magazine holder. Check out the seller’s other items if you’re interested in trying this yourself.
Method:
- Sand to remove roughness and make edges and corners slightly rounded.
- Stain using a waterbased French Oak wood stain.
- Paint using Americana Chalky Paint in a greeny/blue. I dry brushed the front so the pyrograhs weren’t covered up. The inside was also dry brushed. The other 3 sides and base were painted normally.
- Distress the paint in areas. Some parts using a vinegar/water mix, other parts using sandpaper.
- Apply clear wax, then dark wax on edges and to distressed areas. Wipe off excess and leave overnight.
- Buff up to a soft sheen.
- Add metal corner braces (just for show).
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Here are the photos of various angles of the finished box. The unpainted box that it’s sitting on is a “future project”!
Apr 192016
Upcycling an old 1930/40’s veneered tallboy using chalk paints and wax.
This was my Mom’s tallboy. When she no longer wanted it, my niece had it for a while, then it came to us. Firstly, it was in my “office”, then hubby had it in his craft room for storing his unmade model aircraft. Nothing had been done to it other than a clean, wax and replaced old handles. Now, however, it’s going in our conservatory to be an overspill storage space for my china and glass. As it’s sitting empty, waiting for the space, I’m taking advantage and attacking it with my chalk paints 🙂
I almost forgot to take any before photos, hence the painting had already begun…
Day 1 – first coat of Antique White chalk paint on the front and top and Duck Egg Light on the sides and inside cupboard and drawers. The doors had dried quite patchy so while I had the blue paint open, I painted some of it over the worst places. As well as extra cover, it will hopefully show through a little when the top coat is distressed.
Getting there….. I decided that I liked the doors blue so I gave them another couple of coats.
The painting is finished. All I have left to do is waxing. It looks very “new” now and I can’t help thinking it looks a little too pristine, so I’m going to be using a mix of clear and dark wax.
I highlighted the carved flower motifs on the mouldings in white with a dry brush.
I couldn’t resist adding some decoration before waxing 🙂 Now it’s nicely waxed, aged and distressed. A bit like me really 😀
Apr 072016
The ruins of Lilleshall Abbey, Shropshire
Apr 042016
A couple of months ago, I painted the doors and drawers of my pine dresser with “Antique white” chalk paint, with the intention of adding some decoration. Today, I found my “roundtuit” and here’s the result 🙂 Although it doesn’t show in the photograph, the waxing has toned down the white, giving it a nice aged patina.
I like how the roses on the doors mimic the pattern of my Royal Albert “Old Country Roses” pieces.
At some point, I’ll be clearing all the shelves and will paint the backboard to match.
Apr 022016
I have a stash of these little plain wooden boxes ready for decorating.
This is a “Tea box” with compartments for different flavoured tea bags. However, I’m going to use it to store my bits and pieces like hinges, metal corners, hasps etc.
I deliberately made the inside paintwork patchy
Close up of corners