Drumroll please! The kitchen reveal!

The final 'big' project of our (not so) new house was the kitchen and, apart from putting up a couple of shelves, we are finally there! The pictures below show how it looked when we started but these don't do justice to the way it first looked when we moved in. It is a room that doesn't get much natural light, being in the middle of the house, and the previous owners had painted it a dark, dark red. With white gloss cupboards, bright silver handles, black tiles, almost black beams and a very grubby, uncared for wood work top, it really wasn't a nice place to be.

So as soon as we moved in we painted the walls in Laura Ashley Twine and that made it liveable for a while...

It was also very badly designed with a counter sticking out into the middle of the room and a half height wall between the kitchen and the dining area. This meant you had to walk halfway round the house, through the hallway just to get to the dining table!

The sink was also set into the half wall and was a nasty black thing which was never clean :(

So out came the sledgehammer and our super carpenter got to work reconfiguring just about everything... And here's the finished article...

We've tried to give it a really warm, rustic look in keeping with the fact that it's an old dairy and cattle barn and already has exposed brickwork and original beams....

I repainted all the cupboards in a colour called Aged White by Crown and used vintage brass cup handles throughout...

You might remember from an earlier post that we brought in the lovely Penny and Ian to change the colour of all the beams in the house and we've now put this limed oak flooring all through the house too. In the far end of this photo you can see the dining table we made from an old door and the refinished bench.

The following photos show a few of the finishing touches...

Got to have a comfy seat for my coffee!

I made this spice box years ago and still find it really useful. Also the cutlery is now always close to hand in this zinc container...

This shot also shows the worktop which is Chapel Oak and the lovely tumbled travertine tiles we chose (one of my favourite things in the whole project)...

This old dresser base has been with me for many years and occasionally gets repainted. We have large mirrors all over the house as I love the spacious effects they give...and in the reflection you can see some old French bottle crates we use for storing wine...

I love this vintage window turned into a mirror which sits over the range cooker and bounces light from the skylight back into the room...

I couldn't resist a few rustic touches!

This pan is a big as a witch's cauldren!

And I do love the odd vintage bird cage or three!

Ooops, there's another one!

This is such a lovely place to be now, so warm and welcoming...

Do let me know what you think of the final effect, I'd love to hear your comments x

Kitchen notice board project

My kitchen makeover is so close I can almost taste it - appropriate for a kitchen don't you think! I'm so looking forward to the fun part of adding the decorative details that I spent a happy afternoon making this notice board ......

I used scraps of fabric I like and some fabric I printed, along with some ribbons to hold papers and cards. I added some push pins in red and white and some miniature clothes pegs too.

It fits perfectly into a space on the kitchen wall so I don't have to clutter up the worksurfaces with paper and notes to myself. 

Collectables.......

As well as furniture projects I also collect and sell all sorts of other items and some of my favourites are vintage toys.....

I couldn't believe my luck when I saw not one but two of these fabulous vintage tricycles! The school holidays have just started and wouldn't these be fab for zooming around all summer long?

I also fell in love with this miniature dresser - so cute!

And these two little guys are mechanical and hug, laugh and generally entertain. I've had a few of these toys over the years and they always sell out quickly. They are generally the first things to sell at the Vintage Shows.

However, I feel I should point out that my vintage toys are almost always bought by/for nostalgic adults. This week a little push along horse on wheels and a dolls deckchair flew out the door sold to the same lady!

Delightful Dressing Table

I saw a reclaim yard the other day and couldn't resist popping in to take a look. Apart from a vintage canary singing cage (I'm into collecting singing cages at the moment), I found this lovely dressing table which has so many pretty features.

And here it is finished very simply in ASCP Old White, lightly distressed and given a coat of wax. Just recently I've been doing lots of labour intensive finishes but this was such a lovely little thing that I thought its features just spoke for themselves and I didn't need to 'gild the lily'!

I took it to my space at Afterglow of Olney today and hope that someone else will see its beauty too and it will go to a loving home.

Reclaimed dining room table

We're on the home stretch now with the renovation of our new home (18 months and counting), and whilst the kitchen has stalled within sight of the finishing line, the floors were all fitted last week. This involved all the furniture being loaded into the barn for the best part of a week and me being wedged into my workshop for days at a time whilst the floors dried….my clever husband took a business trip to Brussels while all this was going on…. coincidence? I think not…….

Anyway, we needed to replace our dining room table and chairs because the large round set we had just didn't fit any more. I wanted something unique and came up with the idea of taking an old door and mounting it on a table base.

This is the finished article with some beautiful chairs from Maison Hartley that I've been eyeing up for quite some time. I also used an old bench we've had for some time and refinished it and the table base…read on for details…

You can still see the old keyhole and the lovely rustic finish….

Gorgeous!

We went to the reclaim yard to find the lovely old door and did a LOT of sanding and stripping….

We also bought an old table and removed the top (I'll use it for something else before long, of course)….

A coat of ASCP French Linen was followed by diluted PVA glue and a coat of Autentico Velvet paint in Bath Stone and blasted with a hot hairdryer…. then my favourite waxes: Autentico clear and taupe (I like the taupe because it has a lovely texture and doesn't look so patchy and 'grubby' as some of the darker waxes).

Also, I like to apply waxes with a sponge and buff off with a piece of old sheepskin fleece - I just find it works really well…

and the whole process gives a lovely chippy, crackly finish….

So, to save you scrolling back to the top, here is the finished article

I couldn't be more pleased with it and I have to give masses of credit to my lovely husband who not only puts up with my crazy ideas but helps me to make them come true!

Let me know what you think x

Furbabies....

I think it's time to share what goes on around here while I'm slaving in my workshop (yeah, right!),

Symi the cat is a little camera shy here...

But here he is in all his furry glory....

and once again...

He is adored by Raffy the cat....

who has to cuddle him all the time...

even when there's not really room for two...

he doesn't give up....

just scooches in tighter...

Eventually he gets too hot but has to stay in contact...

You may have noticed there isn't one photo where their eyes are open (or they're even awake), but they manage to find all the best places to sleep surrounded by toile, vintage linens and French furniture- what a hard life ;)

Shabby Chest of Drawers Makeover

I picked up this very pretty little serpentine chest of drawers at auction recently, but it was rather the worse for wear. Have a look at the next photo …..

(apologies for the photos, the sun was shining in - a rare occurrence!)

However, the bare bones were lovely and it was basically sound.

I love the serpentine shape to the front and the cabriole legs. These are the type of features which lift a piece out of the ordinary...

I used a combination of ASCP French Linen covered with Old White and then distressed and waxed for a lovely shabby finish.

I was lucky that I had the original handles which look so pretty.

I'm very tempted to keep this but it has to go to Afterglow of Olney next time I restock!

Cinderella sewing box makeover...

Hi again! I posted this little gem on Facebook a while ago but didn't get round to writing a post about it. So here it is...

This little sewing box was in perfectly good order but soooo dull. I gave it a couple of coats of Autentico Velvet paint in Bath Stone (my latest favourite).....

and using an Autentico stencil (no, I am not sponsored by them!) I created a relief pattern in plaster of paris on the front panels.

These stencils are meant to be used with the Autentico medium but I didn't have any, so plaster of paris it had to be.

Here's a closeup so you can see the kind of effect it creates plus some of the crackle effect I also added.....

On the inside I decoupaged some lovely paper covered in angels bearing hearts.....

I called her Cinderella for obvious reasons ..... just call me the Furniture Fairy Godmother!

See you soon!

Suitcase to pet bed makeover

I've been collecting vintage suitcases and trunks for some time and  this one kept going to the back of the queue. It was very badly damaged, the top was hanging off and the handle had fallen off too. It was no good for anything, what was I thinking when I bought it??

Well, sometimes I have to keep looking at a project for a while and then inspiration strikes. If I took off the top, added some sturdy legs, re-attached the handle, lined it with comfy fleece and added a removable, washable pad inside it would make a really cute pet bed, right?

Well, often the things that seem the simplest are the most complicated and take the longest to turn around - and this was no exception! But it's finished now and even the fur babies have given it their approval...

When the snow clears it's off to Afterglow of Olney, February has already been a busy month and there are gaps in my display!