Monday 4 March 2013

Shabby Chic furnitue up-cycling for less than £60

Hi All,

I just wanted to update you all on my latest projects, i have had a couple of old pieces of furniture lying around my house now for a while and after a couple of searches finding inspirational images on Pinterest i was ready to update them, i was full of ideas! The first stop was a 100 year old chair i bought from a local car boot sale for £5.00 an absolute bargain! I had been looking for one of these for some time, and after seeing them retailing for £80 in interior shops and falling in love with one in Laura Ashley i thought i would give it a go and restore one for myself.


Above is a photo of the chair in it's raw state, although it looks lovely i wanted to give it a shabby chic edge so that it would fit in with the decor in my home.

Firstly, i began sanding it, this took about two hours to do it properly and to make sure the surface was ideal for painting, myself and Jake (my better half) sat outside in the sunshine so the time passed very quickly indeed!
Next the fun bit, time to get onto the painting, to make sure that the paint i had chosen in my final colour would stick to the surface i had to use a Primer paint first, you can pick these up from B&Q for under £10 for a tin and a little goes along way. I did three coats of the Primer paint, but two would have been sufficient.
You need to allow time for the paint to dry between coats, it usually recommends 2 hours, however i found that 1 hour was ok and it meant i could see the finished project quicker! Another tip is to invest in a good paintbrush, as you do not want to get paintbrush hairs stuck to your masterpiece!

Below shows an image of my chair after i have sanded it and started to apply the primer paint.


Below shows an image of my chair after i have sanded it and started to apply the Primer paint.

The next stage is the final stage and probably one of the most important. Choosing a colour and paint consistency that you are happy with, i wanted a matte chalky finish with little sheen so i opted for a paint again from B&Q, which was the 1829 Eggshell paint in regency white which was only £11.98 for a 750ml tin, what a bargain! Some other great paints you can use are Annie Sloan's chalk paint, and also Farrow & Ball who do a great eggshell paint but these tend to be a little more expensive, i do not have any experience using these paints but i think my B&Q alternative gave me just the look i was going for. Below shows you the finished chair, i just love it!


Next my trusty sewing table, which i acquired...for free as someone was throwing this out, to them it may have been a piece of junk but to me it was a beauty waiting to be revealed! I again started with the same process as the chair and sanded away all of the old varnish, to make this easier you could use a paint stripper but as i didn't have any to hand i decided sanding would do the job.


Above is the image of the table before it was transformed, if you scroll to the bottom of this blog you will see it when it is finished, you will hardly recognize it!
May i also add that i have now managed to paint both chair and table with the same tins of paint, keeping the costs very low! To finish off the tabletop i bought 1 Metre of my favorite Cath Kidston oilcloth fabric and covered it using a glue gun to secure, you can use a heavy duty stapler if you have one handy too. This only cost me £22.00 per metre so again i kept the cost down.

Next is the chest of drawers i acquired when moving house, these were starting to look a little out of place in my sewing room after i restored the chair and the table so i decided time for another transformation!


As you will see it looks very dated, so i began again by painting the main body of the drawers (still with the same tins of paint!). Using some free samples i collected from the Cath Kidston store, I cut out and covered the front of the drawers. You can use wallpaper paste of modge podge to stick the paper to the wood, but i didn't have any of these handy so i mixed a little PVA glue with a tiny bit of water and pasted it on, be careful not to apply too think and uneven though else you will end up with air bubbles. Then all i had to do was wait for it to dry and tada i had a brand new lovely looking piece of furniture which i was very happy with!


The finished piece!

Below you will see how my sewing room looks now i have restored all of my furniture and if i do say so myself i am very impressed, and it cost me less than 1 piece of brand new furniture, and has a very personal touch to it! I hope that you have as much fun as i did restoring your lovely old items, if you need any hints or tips then please feel free to contact me and i will be happy to help!


Vicky xxx