Coffee Table with French Graphic

This is the 4th time I have done this graphic on a coffee table, it is just so perfect for a chunky wooden table.  This time I have painted the underneath section and legs in Annie Sloan Chalk Paint - Old Ochre, which is a lovely warm cream.  As I was going for the cream theme I asked Laura to paint the graphic in brown rather than black like she has before, I thought it would make a change and make the graphic more subtle. The graphic can be found over at the Graphics Fairy

Well I have to admit it may be the 4th time we have done it - but its definitely my favourite! I forgot to take a before pic, basically it was just a pine coffee table, very solid and in very good condition, it had a lot of wax on it though so I had to scrub it down with sugar soap, when it was dry I sanded it really well, starting with coarse grade and ending up with fine grade sanding discs on my orbital sander.  It was then ready for the graphic, once Laura had finished the graphic I stained the top with a mixture of light oak and Jacobean walnut, afterwards I used Danish oil, I gave it about 3 layers to make it resistant to water or any potential marks from coffee cups etc.  I waxed over the Old Ochre painted legs with clear wax.

I am off to France for a week on Wednesday, whilst I'm there I will be looking for some opportunities to find some inspiration for my blog, so hopefully I will have some interesting things to show when I get back. I also have some great projects lined up for when I get back as well and will be sharing some exciting news too!

Bye for now 

CJ

Liebster Award Nomination

 

I was so surprised to receive 2 nominations for the Liebster Award this week, 1st from Jeannine at The Concrete Cottage and then from StaceyAnne at Renditon Road  - 2 very talented ladies with the most wonderful Blogs. - Thank you Ladies.  

I have had a lovely time reading lots of 'Liebster Nominated' blogs to see how others have gone about it, there are many different variations, but my understanding is to tell you a bit about me and follow the rules at the same time.

Award Description:

The Liebster Blog Award is given to upcoming bloggers who have less than 200 followers. The Meaning; Liebster is German and means sweetest, kindest, nicest, dearest, beloved, lovely, kind, pleasant, valued, cute, endearing and welcome.

Here are the rules for receiving this award:

1. Post about your win on your blog.
2. Link back to the blogger who presented you with the award and follow their blog.
3. Copy and paste the award button to your blog (you can right-click on the Liebster label from my page, save it to your computer, then save to your blog).
4. Present The Liebster Award to 5 blogs that have fewer than 200 followers that you think deserve to be recognised.
5. Let them know by leaving them a comment on their blog.

So...... My name is Carol, although I prefer CJ (Carol Jayne) as I have never liked the name Carol (sorry to all Carol's out there - and sorry Mum!) 

I am 54 years old, but have never acted my age and inside still feel like an 18 year old!

I have a beautiful daughter  Laura who is 27 she is a 'Visual Display Manager' for a large department store, and she paints all the graphics on my furniture as she has a steadier hand than I do.  She is just as 'nuttie' as me, here she is:

I have a gorgeous husband Mike (husband no. 2) who is very supportive of my weakness (furniture painting) and is very tolerant of the amount of furniture stored in the house, the garage & the shed! 

I work full time for a Tour Operator, my dream is to give up work and spend my time renovating and painting furniture.

We live in Surrey in the South East of England and we also have a tiny house in the Limousin in France, in a very rural location, we love to go there to escape and enjoy the 'French way of life' 

Here are my nominations:

Danielle at Silver Pennies

Cyndi at Blue Star Antiques

Stacey @ Flickerwhips

Debbie at Twice Nice

Leanne at Apple Box Boutique

Route 66 Screw Stool

Just thought I would share this with you, this cute little stool was given to me by a friend I work with, it looked like this before:

Pretty boring really, and I wasn't sure what I could do with it to make it more interesting, but I had an inspiration whilst in a meeting at work - I work for a tour operator and a new brouchure was lying on the table in front of me, I would'nt say I wasn't concentrating on the meeting, but my mind was wandering! and as I looked down at the brochure I noticed on the front page was a photo which looked like this:

So my stool ended up looking like this!

I gave it a couple of coats of Annie Sloan Chalk Paint - Old White, then distressed it a little, my lovely daughter Laura painted on the Route 66 Graphic and...You're not so boring now little stool!

CJ

Link Parties:
 http://savvysouthernstyle.blogspot.co.uk/2012/07/wow-us-wednesdays-73.html