French Table Makeover

We had a very productive time at our little holiday home in France, apart from some decorating and general jobs we had to do I managed to makeover a table which we inherited when we bought the property.  I have been dying to get my hands on it ever since, and despite hubby Mike saying it was only fit for firewood, I think I did a pretty good job to make him eat his words!

This is what it looked like before:

I sanded down the top, with a belt sander to remove all the paint and debris on the top (there was lots of very old paint and something very hard like cement!)  After I lightly rubbed down the bottom and legs. and gave it a coat of Annie Sloan Chalk Paint in Old White, when this was dry I put on a coat of Annie Sloan Chalk Paint in Paris Grey, I then lightly distressed the parts I had painted and  then gave a coat of clear wax followed by a brown wax.

I also "re-cycled" an old side of a bed we were taking to the dump - it was in pretty bad shape as it had been out side in all weathers for months, I sanded it down with the belt sander and then painted it with Farrow & Ball - Light Blue, which is the colour I painted the kichen units.

Before:

And after:

I am pleased as I have a shelf which didn't cost a penny, just a little bit of time and effort, and it just goes to show what you can make out of something which was destined for the dump!

We are back home now and I have started working on some new projects which I will share very soon.

Bye for now.

CJ

Pretty Duck Egg Shelves, finished with Laura Ashley "Lilac Floral Wallpaper"

 Just managed to get the shelves finished and photographed before packing up my paint brushes for 10 days, whilst we are in France. 
Someone had handmade these shelves, although they were well put together they had the worst stain job ever!  I sanded them down to take off the rough bits and filled some of the joints with wood filler, then painted them with Annie Sloan Chalk Paint in Duck Egg Blue. I very lightly distressed and gave it a good wax with clear wax only.
I then added a board at the back which I had covered with Laura Ashley, Lilac Floral Wallpaper in Duck Egg, which I think looks very fresh and pretty and it's a little bit different than straight forward painted shelves. I stuck some wooden embellishments on the top as well to give it a little bit more detail.

Here's the before (naff photo - sorry)

I am pleased with them, I do have some more shelves, which I will share at some point in the future.  We are off to France tomorrow and I will be on the lookout for some lovely vintage French things to share with you.
Bye for now
CJ

"The Desk"

 At last I finished "The Desk", I have had this in the shed for more than 3 years, and so I thought this should definately be the first piece I blog about.  It was dark brown mahogany, in good condition, the top was a bit scratched, but this didn't matter.  I was going to keep the top mahogany and wax it, but things didnt go as planned so I ended up painting it.

The whole thing was painted in Annie Sloan Chalk Paint in Paris Grey.  I then added Old White to accent some of the edges, Afterwards I sanded off some of the edges to distress it a little bit.  Then  I used a clear wax followed by a brown wax to age it.  The waxing is hard work and takes more time than the painting, but my wonderful Daughter Laura helped me.  She is going to get involved with this blog too and  we have been looking at some projects to do together which I think you are going to love...watch this space!

I have to say... I am very pleased with it.  I whizzed round the charity shops to get some props for my pictures - not the old bakerlite phone though, this was lent to me, but I am going to find it difficult to give it back!

Here's the various stages.

Before

 Work in progress!

 Not bad eh!

I have been working on my next project which I should be able to post before I go away on Sunday, a sweet little set of shelves - guess where they have been for the last 18 months? - yep the good old shed!

Bye for now.

CJ