Pre-loved furniture goodness!

It's raining pre-loved furniture goodness!! My good friend Carolyn just moved into her brand new house, and just cannot fit in all the "old junk" she kept in storage.

Wow, I'll make space for these special goodies!! I've upgraded from an ugly piece of furniture masked in a tablecloth (which was also free at one stage) to this lovely old piece that Carolyn painted, crackled, then "aged" some more with sandpaper.

This dresser is made to fit this space perfectly. I couldn't be happier with the way the colours all go together. (Or is is the way they jar, and set one's teeth on edge?).

Carolyn has given me a few other pieces - I look forward to painting them!!

It's been far too cold and wet for paint to dry. Now that Spring is here, I'll be found out in the shed at odd hours with paintbrush in hand.

You can count on it.

Shading is fun....

I bought an old lamp from the opp shop. It's far too plain for my Boho house. It will be covered in this fabric. The first pic shows black satin ribbon hot glue-gunned around the top and bottom of the shade.

After that I glued on a coin trim.

The Kaffe Fasset fabric print was cut into a rectangle, hemmed at the sides (the sides meet where the green ribbon is tied), then hemmed at the top and bottom to provide a gathering sleeve.

The green ribbon was gathered around the top and bottom to fit the lamp shade. I pinned the gathered fabric to the shade before applying the hot glue gun once again. (Hot glue guns really are messy creatures... and they really are very hot!!).

Finally, ric rac was glued onto the top and bottom.

I have not yet painted the lamp base - it is dark brown timber. I plan to dry brush it with a purple colour to pick up the tones in the shade fabric.

This is fun! fun! fun!

Experiment part 3

Okay, the first part of the decorative motifs is on the front of the drawers. I took the drawers out to paint them, but thought they would look better slotted in for the photo shoot.

They need some detailed brushing in black, but I need a long-bristled brush to give sweeping curves. I have already diluted the paint using "Flow" and it does make it brush more smoothly giving longer, sweeping strokes without diluting the intensity of the colour.

It's back to work, so progress will now be a little bit slower. And, I still have the side panels to play with.

Experiment part two

I have a box of knobs that to use on the drawers once they are painted.

I am going to start with the frame for the drawers. The four drawers themselves will need to be painted in a similar way - I think I will leave that painting until later.

First, a motif in ivory paint around the entire front of the frame.

Then, a dash of blue.

And a sprinkling of red.

It's not too bad for a first go, if you look at the painting as a whole, rather than a little bit of it.

Experiment part one

These drawers were opp shop rejects.

The top is damaged,

and one of the drawers is missing a handle... but I think it has potential. It's a nice shape and there are panels on the side. And, the price was perfect for an experiment!!

I took off all the handles. First a light sand, then an undercoat.

Then one coat of matte black paint.

Another coat of matte black paint (can you see the difference?).

The paint looks very matte once it dries.

Then, I dry-brushed on brown paint to give it an antique finish.

It's not finished yet!! Stay tuned for another installment!

Feeling inspired...

I'm feeling inspired... so I have started this blog to keep track of my progress and to spur on this new journey.

I live in an Edwardian house. It was re-located onto an empty cow paddock about 12 years ago, with the intention of creating a garden with an historic appearance (eventually), and restoring the house (rather than renovating it).

This snapshot was taken from the back door in February 2008.

I recently visited a couple of houses and gardens that have inspired me to update the Edwardian House. I don't want to live in a "fossil". The house needs to keep some history, and celebrate the individuality of its tenants.

I want to play up the Boho (Bohemian) and Kitsch aspects of the house.

It will become the Boho House.

Photos taken at "The Giant's House" in Akaroa, NZ.

Photo taken in Fred and Myrtle's Paua Shell House, Christchurch NZ.

Welcome to my Boho house journey...