Big old chest of drawers complete, and yet more frames and tables

Hi all,

So here is the chest of drawers completed:

Told you it would be a quick project, didn't i?

Here's a reminder of how it looked:

I need to show you what I have used it to replace. 

Be warned though... this is a 'warts n all' kinda blog!

Ok. Here it is:

Hideous aint the word!

My shoe cabinet. 

Yes, I AM using this 'new' set of drawers to house shoes, hats n gloves. 

Hey, if it works, it works :)

If truth be told though, the old unit could easily be prettified with antique white chalk paint and gingham cloth behind the lattice doors but I couldn't be faffed with the fiddly holes. 

The 'new' chest of drawers fits the gap better anyhow, so ner :P

I embellished it a wee bit with my crocheted heart:

I am delighted with how it has brightened up the dingy hall :)

THE NEW FRAME

OK. Can you remember in my last blog how I mentioned that I had bought a large framed pic for a fiver?

Well here it is:

I am gonna sling the print and use the frame to replace yet another one of these ikea frames:

It'll be infinitely better :)

I'm not gonna chalk it up as I have a stunning gold framed mirror above my fire so it'll kind of match. 

NESTED TABLES

Here is another little project I'm about to start:

I've taken them out of the summerhouse (it's getting emptier with each project. I WILL get there, honest!)

The previous owner had used gloss on them as it is peeping through on the detailing and there are drips everywhere:

This'll be another quick project :)

I'm just gonna sand, chalk paint, distress, wax and finally use toile de jouy under the glass to complete. 

I intend to do this inbetween other mundane jobs. 

Hope you all have an industrious day whatever you are up to. 

Toodles x x

Boot sale n a big old chest of drawers

Hi all :)

Thought I would just do an entry on today's bootage and my current project I have started.

This was the booty I got today:

Dresses came to a grand total of £5 (including the 100% silk Monsoon halter neck dress!!)

Gypsy dress £1

Material 50p, gloves 50p

Big vintage tin 50p

Sadler cottage butter dish £1

Portmeirion pimpernel new coaster sets 75p a set

Crochet tasselled top 50p

Wallis silk dress £2 (it better fit!!!)

Jane Norman top £1

Red n black shift dress £2

Grindley vintage pink side plates 25p each

Grindley tiny cups n saucers 50p each. 

Also got a huge picture that I bought for the frame £5

Didn't do too badly, huh?!!!

CHEST OF DRAWERS

Anyhow, back to crafting...

My summerhouse is bursting with furniture that I have been saving to practice restoring on and I am now eager to empty it in time for summer entertaining (it COULD happen!). 

I have decided to do a quick overhaul on this piece first as it is one of the biggest:

Someone tried to paint it with gloss but it's pretty easy to sand down and chalk paint. 

I have just removed the handles and sanded it and now I'm waiting for the paint to dry on the last layer:

Its a fairly easy piece to do so I'm enjoying it :)

Looking forward to being able to get in the summerhouse to repaint the interior again though. 

Woohooooo!

Bunting galore

As you know, I recently bought 3 metres of red gingham oil cloth from The Range at £3 a metre. 

This recovered the outdoor dining table and feeding station for the hens :)

The scraps left over were turned into bunting last night. 

It is SO easy to do. 

I just cut them into triangles (6 squares wide):

Then I hole punched them:

Then I crocheted a chain 40 stitches between each one then 7 stitches between the punched holes so it made a massive length in next to no time:

It looks so nice and bright again on the chicken enclosure:

Speaking of which, check out the improvement to the enclosure in just 2/3 weeks:

The grass is making a return, yay!!!!!!!!!

Thank goodness for that!

I am aiming at getting it like this again in time for summer:

I can't wait for the better weather :)

Still got SO many jobs to do but I'm trying to make at least ten minutes to potter in the garden each day. 

I will get there in little steps :)

The hens managed to scratch up all my seeds from the recent weeding and seeding fest so I have had to resort to using netting (I should have done this first time round though!) 

Have an awesome day, peeps :) 

Craft nights and candelabras

The last few days have only involved a little bit of craftiness. 

I did have a few girls over on Friday for a craft n chat night. 

I was more productive in making nibbles in preparation rather than actual crafting on the night (only made a few crochet hearts). 

Tada:

A very lovely little lady made me some finger crocheted jewellery during the evening which I have worn with pride since then :)

(Here they are but I have cropped out both mine and the lovely little lady's profiles):

Cute, huh?!

Can you remember this candelabra that I bought from the car boot last week?:

Well, today it got an overhaul with some fabric roses and a necklace that I rarely wear (roses were from a charity shop a while ago and the necklace was a car boot find). 

Here is the transformation:

Isn't that pretty?

It will be further embellished when I manage to find 5 dinky rose teacups to affix to the top for tea lights :)

For now though, it is gonna live in the centre of my dining table :)

'See' you soon x x x

Going potty in the garden

Not much in the way of upcycling the last couple of days. 

Just a couple of 5 minute projects. 

The first was trying to repurpose a teapot that I was given from a charity shop as the lid was broken. 

I thought it would make a charming garden pot:

How easy is that?!

The next quick project was concerning a little shabby chimney pot that had weathered badly since its last painting in early spring last year. 

I had a touch of Candy Kiss Pink left over from a previous project so thought I would put it to good use. 

Then I thought I would use the stencil I made from a pinned silhouette image on Pinterest to do a white rose effect. 

Pretty, huh?

No doubt it will need doing again next Spring but that won't take more than a few minutes. 

I'm absolutely loving seeing the garden  coming back to life again after the dark winter months. :D

Roll on BBQs and picnics on the lawn!!!

Toodles x

More 'tea' lights

Hi,

Just as an update to the last blog concerning my upcycled teacups repurposed as wall lights, I thought I would let you see how they look when in use. 

Here is the one on my dresser without tea lights:

Here it is with tea lights:

And here are my wall hung teacups without tea lights:

And here it is with:

Aren't they lovely?

I also decided to repurpose my 2 egg coddlers that have no lids as just tea light holders:

Such a pretty pattern on them. ❤️

I hope this has inspired someone to give it a go. 

*****Please note though, ONLY use bone china as the bone gives the ware a translucent quality to allow the light to escape.*****

Have fun :) 

'Tea' lights

As you saw in the earlier blog, I acquired some wall lights and candelabras amongst my haul at the boot sale this morning: 

As I am impatient, I wanted to put them up straight away. 

I did not want to wire them in and use modern electricity though. 

Certainly not!

Tea lights!!!!

Out came the wiring and on went the teacups!

Don't they look quirky?!

Hubster is being made rather miserable by his long suffering virtues :(

(I'm being extra nice to him today) ;)

Toodles x x

More booting booty

Here is my haul from this morning. 

Isn't that a pretty display?!

So here goes,

The River Island lacy smock: £2

The Wedgwood china coffee cups in silver plated handled holders: £1 for the pair

A huge selection of doilies :£1 for the bundle 

Book stand: £1

The beaded cuffs: 50p!!!!!!!!  (My favourite item of the day!!)

The black metal hanging candle holder: 20p

The red velvet lined metal jewellery box (I don't think it is silver as it bears no stamps. Maybe pewter?) £1

Eye shade pallettes: 20p (sealed and new)

The clock: £1

The various wall lights and candle stand: £6 for all of them 

(I'm hoping to turn these into quirky teacup tealight holders.)

Not bad for £14. 

Now I just need to find a mother load of bone china teacups for my intended project. 

Shame, cos I sold and gave away my spares recently. 

I am hoping to mount some outside for lighting :)

I'm off to tidy them all away now.....

Toodles x x x