Sunday 24 March 2013

RedKittenCrafts: Braving the Blizzards!!

RedKittenCrafts: Braving the Blizzards!!: It's been a really cold week here, but despite the snow, I fired up the heater in the conservatory, braved the blizzards, and headed dow...

Braving the Blizzards!!

It's been a really cold week here, but despite the snow, I fired up the heater in the conservatory, braved the blizzards, and headed down to the shed to get my next pieces for transformation. Grabbed the last of the chunky pine chairs,  a tall chest of 5 drawers, and a lovely wee magazine table I bought absolutely ages ago. I am slowly working my way through all the stuff I have down there, and think I still have a welsh dresser, large sideboard, round table with 4 chairs, and various mirrors and shelves.

Awaiting transformation
I started first with the wee table. It was quite tricky to paint as it has sections at each side to put magazines in. I decided to paint all 3 items in the same colour - French Linen. This is now one of my favourite Annie Sloan colours. It reminds me of old french furniture and looks great once waxed and buffed to a soft sheen.

I turned it upside down and put it on the dining table to get started. It is so heavy I had to ask Russell to lift it for me, a really solid old piece of furniture (the best kind!). I decided to leave the little bun feet unpainted as the wood is such a lovely colour and matches well with the French Linen colour.

First coat

Masked off the interior

Waiting for second coat

Going to give this one 2 coats, and leave the interior unpainted also. I will pop some magazines in the sides to take the pics for ebay.

The drawer unit only needed one coat of paint. This colour on pine is nice when you can see some of the wood showing through, so I also distressed it a bit and left it with the pine handles, just gave them a coat of wax before putting them back on.


I bought this piece on ebay, I always check with the seller to make sure the drawers are solid wood and not the flimsy hardboard that a lot of the modern ones are made of. They don't last long before the bottoms fall out!

Solid wood drawers

The wax darkens the colour when you apply it as you may be able to see in this next pic. Annie Sloan advises applying the wax with a brush, but I prefer to use a soft cloth so I can rub it into the surface.


The farmhouse chair also only needed one coat and I then quite heavily distressed it before waxing.
I didn't manage to get any of these three pieces finished in time to photograph before sunset, so I will either try to do that after work one day this week, or leave till next weekend.

WET PAINT

Distressed and waxed ready for buffing

close up of distressing

Last week I promised you I would post the pics of the dressing table and uphostered chair, so here they are. They are both listed on ebay now and have around 10 watchers on each.





The bright red farmhouse chair I listed recently doesn't seem to have been as popular as they other colours as I have only one person watching it, but you never know, it only takes one person to fall in love with it! The two fruity frames I listed didn't sell.


So I removed those pics, replaced them with some weird animal ones and listed them seperately.


They are identical frames, but the cat one has 2 watchers, while there are none for the rabbit one!
The dressing table mirror sold to a company that stages room sets for filming etc! They absolutely loved it, so hoping they will buy more in the future from me.


Next weekend is Easter Weekend and we are heading up to Scotland to visit family (weather permitting). We have this Friday/Monday off so will travel up on Friday morning. Staying with the in-laws Crieff (near Perth) on Friday then have a hotel booked in Edinburgh for Saturday. We should get home late afternoon on Easter Sunday so not sure if I will manage a blog post that day, but will try and do one on Monday to tell you about our trip.

Hope you have a wonderful Easter!



Sunday 17 March 2013

Weekend Break? I don't think so!!

What a weekend! The Duck Egg Chest of Drawers, and the Paris Grey table both sold for full price on ebay despite being listed with the "best offer" option. I had to wait in on Saturday for couriers collecting furniture, and ended up staying in ALL weekend! I was dying to get cracking again with the dressing table, and I almost got it finished. It was hard work as it took 3 coats of paint to cover the dark wood.




I had also removed the handles as one was broken. I managed to get some on ebay that had been removed from a similar style chest of drawers. I always think it is nice to try and replace with handles from the same era. I had to order some new brass crews for them from ebay ( I swear you can buy EVERYTHING on there).  I think they look brilliant!

I drilled small pilot holes to take the new screws



After applying 3 coats of Annie Sloan PURE, I then lightly distressed as you can see from this close up of the mirror.


It is mostly finished. Because it has had 3 coats of paint I am letting it dry out fully before I finish waxing, as I don't want the waxing to lift any of the paint. I will try and get it finished and listed on ebay through the week. Here are the before and after pics so far. I will post the staged ebay pic next week.

Before

After
It is always best to work on a couple of projects at the same time. That way you have something else to do while you are waiting for paint to dry ;0) So while working on the dressing table I also started work on another heavy pine farmhouse chair. I had bought a pot of Annie Sloan Emperors Silk a few months ago but was unsure about the colour as it is much brighter than my usual shades. This chair was the perfect piece to try it out on. Here is the chair before -

Before
After
I am so happy with this tranformation. It is truly stunning! It took 2 coats of paint, a light distressing, then a coat of clear wax. I have still to buff it as I only applied the wax an hour ago. Here are a couple of pics of the progress.


Always turn item upside down first


I was glad I took it outside to sand it as there was red dust everywhere! I will definately be using this colour more. It looks quite Scandinavian.  Do you remember this chair that I bought a few weeks ago?


The seat cover was bit grubby so I had a look round the Eagle Market at Derby last weekend and got a nice piece of fabric to try my first attempt at upholstery. The seat pad was easy to remove, and I managed to find the staple gun in the shed. It was so easy! Here are the progress pics!




I simply cut the material 3-4" larger than the seat pad, then folded it over the edges and banged staples all round the edge. A bit more care was needed at the corners, as you can see in the next pic.



Et Voila! One totally transformed chair! I will definately looking for similar chairs to try out different colour schemes on. The chair has had 2 coats of Annie Sloan Versailles. It was very tricky trying to paint between the thin spindles and detail on the chair back, but well worth the extra effort :0) It just needs some light distressing, and a coat of wax. Should get this one listed next weekend.


I finished off painting the small dressing table mirror and decided it looked better in my guest bedroom than the bigger one, so I took a few pics of the other one, and have listed it on ebay now.


It does take a bit of time watermarking all the ebay pics with my "Unique Chic" name but I think it gives a very professional look and is quite easy to do. I use Powerpoint to do mine. Adding the odd teddy or two helps too! Dressing finished items for sale is very important and shows you have a sense of style that hopefully inspires buyers to imagine what something will look like in their own home.


So, another week draws to an end, and there are never enough hours in a day for me! Back to work tomorrow. I did however find some time to do a bit  of ebay browsing for myself this weekend, and while writing this blog I sneaked away to bid on a lovely patchwork style bed cover to use as a throw on the bed in my guest room. I love the colours, but best of all I won the auction for £1.04 :0)


In the time it has taken for me to write this blog I have also sold another 2 items on ebay :0)

Just before I go I thought you may be interested to see how many countries my blog is viewed in. The darker green  areas are the ones that have the most viewers. It is really quite amazing to think that my ramblings are read all over the world!!

Please leave a comment if you can. I would love to know what you think of all my projects.
Have a great week!!

Sunday 10 March 2013

Lovely Mothers Day :0)

I was browsing google for a Mothers Day pic and found this cute poodle!

Well, I didn't do any cleanin' or stitchin', but I did cook a delicious Sunday dinner of roast beef and Yorkshire puddings and roast potatoes for Mothers Day and I had special Mothers Day phone calls from both of my wonderful sons. I also bought some nice flowers in memory of my own Mum who is sadly no longer with us, but always remembered. Happy Mothers Day Mum!!


Yesterday we decided to go on a shopping trip to Derby. It was a brilliant day out. We set off early after waking up at normal work time (7am) so had a leisurely breakfast and made it to Derby for 10am. It's about an hour's drive. Because we had left the house so early it also meant we were home in time for me to get some painting done before dinner :0)


I put a second coat of Paris Grey on the table, and gave the 10p frames another coat of Old White.
Today I finished off the table and it is now listed for sale.



I made a start to the lovely old dressing table, turning it upside down to work first so I don't miss any bits. I also masked off the mirror ready for painting.


I really struggled to remove the drawer handles as the screws had rusted. Managed to prise them off with a screw driver, and Russell had to help me remove the tiny screws with a pair of pliers. My arms are so sore tonight. I always like to try and do all the work myself but sometimes I just don't have the strength :0(


I found some really nice old brass handles on ebay this week that came off of an old chest of drawers, and I managed to get them in an auction for just £1 each, so I am going to replace the handles with these ones. They are a beautiful art nouveau style.


The 10p frames I bought at the car boot sale last week (pic below to remind you how they looked when I bought them)


are now also on ebay now and look fantastic with a couple of coats of Annie Sloan Old White.I left the fruit pics in the two pine ones as they looked nice once painted.


For the others I popped  in some weird animal pics I found on the net just to show how they will look with a picture. The 2 I put on ebay last week sold yesterday :0)



l am hoping to finish off the dressing table next weekend, and make a start to a chair I bought a few weeks ago that I am going to attempt reupholstering. I found some really nice fabric yesterday in the Eagle Market in Derby, so just need to remember where we put the staple gun. I will post pics of this new project next weekend.

Oh, nearly forgot to tell you about a cool little photobook I made up through the week. I am waiting on it being delivered. These are a great way to show buyers the projects you have worked on and the different colours and finishes you can achieve. The book was made by downloading software from albelli. They also sent me a link I could post to share with you :0)
fwww.albelli.co.uk/view-online-photo-book/18163ac2-6ee7-47e4-8441-52a0e91deebf

Hope you have a great week. I would love to hear from you!