Saturday 30 July 2016

Geometric Chic !

Hooray, finally found an hour to post a new furniture painting blog and I have something new to show you that I am very excited about.........


I have had so much fun with this new project. This table is totally hand painted! Each triangle has been masked off and given 3 coats of paint. As you can imagine, this project took a lot of patience and many days waiting for paint to dry before doing the next set of triangles !!
I have been very kind to you, and have taken stage by stage pics specially for you!
Here we go!!








 I started to have second thoughts about the black when I added it, but now I LOVE it!! I have also painted a cute little retro coffee table with the same technique.....



These two table are currently in my own lounge, and I plan on doing more of these to sell. They are so effective. Looking forward to trying out lots of different colour ideas and patterns. The above tables were finished off with 3 coats of polyurethane varnish :)


I finally got round to painting the big glazed dresser that has been sitting in my workshop for nearly a year! I sold the lovely Provence dresser and it is being collected on Monday and being taken to it's new home in Surrey.
I started by painting the thin wooden strips between the glazed panels. Before when I have painted doors like this I have masked off the glass. This took ages, so this time I decided to just let the paint get onto the glass then I used a blade to scrape it off once the paint had completely dried.





This dresser is freakishly heavy, and does not split into two, which would make it very difficult for someone to collect from me, so it is now in my own kitchen, and it matches my dark grey kitchen :)


My husband has also now added a light in the top and it looks fab at night as the shelves are glass in the centre so the light passes right down to the bottom shelf.

Spent a bit longer than I expected to writing this, and still have loads more projects to show you, so best I save them for the next post when I am more awake. It is now almost midnight and time for bed.

Clock tables and bedside cabinets in the next post :)
Nitey Nite x

Saturday 2 July 2016

Jo & Julie's NYC Adventure 2016

It was 8 weeks ago that my sister Jo and I went to NYC for a 6 night trip. We got a fantastic price on flights with BA for under £400 each !


My son and his wife live in Brooklyn, so it was great to catch up with them and a very exciting time as my first granddaughter was due around the time of our visit. It was nice to see them both on their own for the last few days before baby Emma Florence arrived. Big change for them now :)


My sister surprised me at the airport by booking a limo to collect us and drive us to our apt in Park Slope. It was such a treat after the long journey, and he took us a route we hadn't tried before and drove past Coney Island ! Can't wait to go there in August when I am over again. We booked the same apt through Airbnb that we had stayed in 2 years previous for my son's wedding. Really quirky NY style with our own bedrooms, and lounge, kitchen & bathroom. Evelyn, the owner, even leaves us coffee, eggs, bread, butter, milk etc in the fridge :)


First evening we were there we were pretty tired, but I had booked an acupuncture treatment for my back 3 blocks from the apt, so we went out to grab a bite first at our local Checkers ;)



I was told it's better to eat something before you go for treatment, so this yummy burger and fries hit the spot ! The acupuncture was very relaxing, and it was the first time I had tried it. Hard to tell how much it helped but I was walking around much better than expected after a long flight !


Next morning we couldn't wait to get to Daisy's Diner on 5th Ave in Park Slope, a nice short walk from the apt. This is our fav breakfast place in Park Slope.


I even got Jo eating the pancakes by the 3rd day!! They are the best, and my mouth is watering just looking at that crispy bacon :))) Next we headed by subway to The High Line, a public park built on a historic freight rail line elevated above the streets on Manhattan's West Side.


What a glorious day we got for our walk. We walked just under 2 miles, but it didn't feel that long as there were so many exhibits and lovely plants to look at on the way.



This man standing in his underpants, we found out later is actually an art exhibit, and is not real !! We were scared to go too close taking photos in case he moved and gave us a fright! So realistic !!


Next a walk round Chelsea Market, which was really busy at lunchtime, but we managed to find a seat for coffee and cake :)


Next day we hit Manhattan. Started at Central Park, and walked down window shopping in all the upmarket shops like Tiffany, Saks, Bloomingdales. The window dressing is always amazing!



The yellow cabs are SO NYC ! I loving taking photos in Manhattan!! We were supposed to go on The Ride bus tour, but it was delayed because of a parade, but after waiting an hour we cancelled as we were wasting too much of our day. We got the subway down to Cortland St to Century 21 and did some shopping. It's a bit like a better laid out TKMaxx, and you get some great bargains on clothes and homewares :)


My son's work was a 10 minute walk from here so I popped up for a coffee in the stunning Trello offices on Broadway, and was given a guided tour and met all the staff, which was great fun! These next pics I took from the office windows, they look down on Wall Street, and the Hudson River.



This next pic is Jo and I all excited about going out for brunch with my family at Du Jour Bakery. We took a selfie in the mirror at the top of the stairs each day before we headed out for our next adventure!


I had a bacon maple scone with fresh Brooklyn Roasting Co  coffee....yummmmmm!



Then we headed to Atlantic Ave & Smith Street for some retail therapy. Great quirky independent shops there. We found this time that a lot of the retro furniture and arty decor shops had upped their prices to silly money so didn't buy anything. Lots of nice souvenir shops though so bought some cool things to bring home.



Saw this fab old american classic driving up Smith St, and luckily he stopped at the lights so we had time to take some pics :) They just don't make them like this any more :(


Thought this was funny in the window of the Brooklyn Superhero Supply Co on 5th Ave. I know a few people I could have brought this home for!!


On Saturday, after another scrumptious breakfast in Daisy's we took the subway to Fort Greene to the Flea Market & Smorgasburg. Great stalls and amazing food! I bought a few of these fab metal stars to bring home.


Lots of painted furniture and mirrors...



and Recycled Brooklyn (who I follow on Instagram ) had a stall there too so I had a chat to the guys. I love their furniture !!


On Sunday we headed to Dumbo - The acronym DUMBO actually stands for "Down Under the Manhattan Bridge Overpass". It's a great area to take cool photos of the Brooklyn & Manhattan bridges, and if you stand in the middle of the road you can even get a shot of the Empire State through the bridge arch. I nearly got run over by a taxi !!!


We had a look round the Flea market but the stalls were mostly the same ones we had seen on Saturday.

The rain came on so we went for tea and whoopie pies in One Girl Bakery, then did some shopping in West Elm.


What a brilliant trip we had, with free upgrades on our flight out, the limo at the airport, and Uber taxiing around NYC! Can't wait to go back again in August, just 8 weeks away !! and this time I will get to see my beautiful little granddaughter !!



My next post will be back to the furniture and I have some quirky little tables to show you ;)
See you soon!!
Julie