Upcycle: Green Painted Drawers

One of the things you might have spotted in our beroom were these drawers. You may have guessed this but they weren't green when we were given them (another gift from those generous in-laws.) This is what they looked like before:

These are bigger than the drawers I had in my room before and I definitely needed the extra space but I wanted something a little brighter. If you have seen any of my other painted furniture posts then you will know what I do to paint wood but here are my steps in case you missed them. It took 3 simple steps:

1. I washed it with sugar soap solution. and then lightly sanded down the surfaces, just enough to roughen it up so the paint would stick.
2. Painted it with 'leaf' coloured paint from the habitat range, it needed 2 coats.
3. Varnished with clear varnish.

I am now totally in love with painting furniture, I know this is a very simply upcycle but I wanted simplicity in our bedroom. What furniture have you painted? I'd love to see. Zoe xx

Upcycle: Decoupage Birds on Wire

These little birds on this box were inspired by the brilliant Martha Stewart and her Encyclodepia of Crafts Book. Her instructions suggest putting the decoupaged birds on a chest of drawers as it makes them look as thought they are balancing on wire but I wanted something to jazz up this chest. This chest has in fact been in my parents house for as long as I can remember but I begged them for it and when they finally agrees I painted it my own colour and added the birds. 

Its currently stuffed full of hats, gloves, scarves and coats so my kids can wrap themselves up easily when we are on our way out (well thats the theory any way). You may have spotted it when I shared about my blue bureau. I still have to finish lining this but I will definitely update you with it soon. I love a good upcycled piece of furniture. Zoe xx

Upcycle: Painting an old Bed

We bought ourselves a new bed on ebay several months ago and I have always been intending on painting it, but this has been one of those projects that has never been at the top of my priority list (i.e I had more fun things to do). Since the weather has been nice recently and painting outdoors is about 50,000 times more convenient I finally got round to it.

If you're thinking of painting a piece of furniture these are the steps I followed. 1. Clean your furniture with sugar soap solution. Then gently sand the surface, just enough to roughen up the texture so the paint will stick. 2. Paint the furniture with the your chosen colour. 3. Varnish your furniture with clear varnish. That's it. I used to think varnishing after painting would make it look too shiny and totally change the look but I now I love the stuff. It doesn't change its look much but it makes the paint much more durable.

Origionally I intended to just paint the bed white but then I thought it would be cute to dip the feet in a colourful paint. The husband wouldn't go for pink (he said it was too girly) but he was totally happy with purple (his favourite, and very manly, colour).

And what a good decision this was! Love it! Its in our room now, with my new (but actually old) apple crates as under-bed storage. I'll show you a picture of the finished bed when I have also finished my Octagons Quilt. Zoe xx

Upcycle: From a Dress to a Top

This dress is one of my absolute favourites from my daughters wardrobe so when it started getting too small I was really reluctant to pass it on. I also really wanted to be able to use the fabric for another project that I am working on. I came up with a brilliant solution and I have changed it from a dress to a top and managed to cut out a 30cm square of fabric to use. I unpicked the top of the dress on the front and took out some of the multitudes of pleats, it would have been too full to work on a top any way, then I cut out the middle section of fabric, added one pleat back in and then restitched the seam I had unpicked.

I left all the pleats in the back, partly because it would have been much more complicated to alter this side with the button down but also because I wanted it to be a nice floaty breezy top for summer still. All I had left to do was stitch up the hem to make it the right length for a top. Then Voila:

I am chuffed I have managed to keep this as an item of clothing. I think it will look adorable over some jeggings when it starts to get a little cooler too. Two of my most favourite instagrams were of my daughter in this dress (here and here) and now I get to take even more photos of her in it. Woop Woop. Zoe x

Upcycle: Blue Bureau

I've been decluttering and redecorating my downstairs over the last year or so. To do a proper job I needed to buy a few new peices of furniture (ironic when I'm trying to get rid of things). When I say new, I mean new to me. I found a sweet old bureau to go near my entrance but wanted to make it my sweet old bureau. So I decided to paint it and distress it to make it my own. 

This is what I used:

1. A sweet old bureau 2. Sugar soap solution 3. White emulsion 4. Blue emulsion 5. Fine and coarse sand paper 6. Clear varnish 7. Two large paintbrushes  8. A drill 9. New drawer handles 

This is what I did:

I started by removing the original drawer handles and hinges and then I cleaned the furniture with sugar soap solution and used the find sand paper to lightly sand down the wood. I then painted it with a thick coat of white paint. When dry I painted it with the blue paint. I needed two coats of the blue to cover the white but if you can do it with one that's even better. 

I then sanded down the corners and areas where natural wear and test would occur with the coarse sand paper. This allowed the white paint to show through and created a 'shabby chic' appearance which I hope looks as though over a period of time it has received several paint makeovers. It's tricky to know how much to sand but I would really go for it because I wish I had sanded more. 

When I was happy with the look I used the second paintbrush to varnish it. This needed two coats. Then I screwed back in the hinges and drilled new holes for my new drawer handles. I bought these on eBay and LOVE them. 

Once the new drawer handles were screwed it it was finished and ready to go. 

I'm so pleased with this transformation and I'm looking forward to lining the drawers and inside. Ill show you that when I'm finished too. I hope you have some old furniture you can revive too. Zoe x