My favourite seat.

Hello all!
It's been a very long time since I blogged about any of the refurbished/repainted bits of furniture that I do so here's one of my very favourite pieces that I'm absolutely not going to put up for sale, ever!!!
       We came across this  - I'm gong to call it a vintage draughtsman's chair - on one of our last junking trips around Eastern Pennsylvania before we moved back to the UK.  I loved it and almost ran to the counter with it to put it aside while we carried on browsing.  Here's a before shot -

   I had a plan to make this a statement piece for our kitchen/diner in our English house so I set about spray painting it bright red - this was definitely going to stand out!  The seat was freshened up with a light coat of brown acrylic paint as I wanted it to still resemble wood.  I then created a graphic design in permanent vinyl using my Silhouette Cameo and applied that to the seat.

         It now stands proudly at our kitchen counter and I love it even more!  The 'after' photos are from our American house but you can still see the chair in all its's glory.  I will get around to photographing it in it's present home very soon.

And here's a close up of the seat design - 

         I would like to link up to Miss Mustard Seed Furniture Feature Friday , Elizabeth & Co. and Art is Beauty, twirl and take a bow.

Yay- I was featured :)

Elizabeth & Co.

                                         Thanks for stopping by!

A taste of summer - vintage style.

Hello all!
I'm hoping Blogger is going to stop playing up and allow me to get this posted as it's time for another challenge over at Eclectic Ellapu and this time we're going for a vintage theme.
     The great thing about playing with the DT over at Eclectic Ellapu is that you don't have to stick to cards or even papercrafts - it's eclectic you see, so anything is possible!
                             I decided to showcase a vintage metal trunk that I had painted during the summer - you remember summer, that time of warmth and sunshine without the dirty great piles of snow and ice everywhere!  Sorry, I'm a bit fed up with all the winter weather here in New Jersey and we've another storm heading our way today :(    Still these photos should warm you up a bit.........

         This was a battered up metal trunk that I picked up out in Pennsylvania on one of our junking trips.  I painted it an off-white colour with a chalk paint mixture I made myself and painted the inside grey.  I then added a red stripe and roughly waxed the whole exterior to give it more of an aged look.  I cut a vinyl stencil for the capital cities, using my Silhouette Cameo and painted the names using black acrylic paint.

Sharing this in the following linky parties - 

Jennifer Rizzo - Fabulously Creative Friday

Classy Clutter

Chic on a Shoestring

Thanks for stopping by!

Le petit jardin.

Hello all!
      I've been keeping busy with some more refinishing projects and for this one, I decided to freshen up an old wooden carry tote that I had picked up on one of our junking jaunts.  I don't have a before picture but it was just plain old dark wood, nothing fancy at all.  I also had a couple of potted succulents that needed a home so I set to with some paint and brushes!

                    I painted the whole thing with some black acrylic paint and once that had dried, went over the outside with some home-made grey chalk paint.  There are plenty of 'recipes' for chalk paint out there in web-land - some great info can be found here.   I've been using calcium carbonate for mine and I find it really easy to work with, plus it stays runny for ages (technical term!!). Anyway once that layer had dried, I sanded it back in some spots to show the black and to give it that gorgeous aged look.  Then I busted out my trusty Silhouette Cameo to cut out the text and fleur de lis symbols from black vinyl and voila, le petit jardin est fini.

     The perfect home for my little succulents in their painted and distressed (obviously) terracotta pots.  My husband is usually on board with most of my projects but even he raised an eyebrow at my painted pinecones!!  I wanted them to blend in :)

     I'm linking this up at -

A Stroll Thru Life

Thanks for popping in!

Waterworks Cottage Designs - new (old) piece.

Hello all!
       Back with my furniture painting hat on for this quick posting!  I recently finished this cute little stool using some home-made chalk paint and a Silhouette Cameo cut stencil of a VW Beetle.  I made the stencil from an image drawn by my talented hubby (he has a FB page called Sturgess Designs ) and painted it using thinned down acrylic craft paint.  I finished off the stool with some light sanding to distress it and a coat of clear wax.

I'm really liking the soft grey with the white :)

I'm linking this up at -

Miss Mustard Seed

Domestically Speaking - Power of Paint

Redoux Interiors

Thanks so much for popping in :)

Art Deco or Nouveau?

Hello all!
        It's time for another challenge over at Eclectic Ellapu with the Pink team and this week the theme is "Art Deco".  Judging from the online discussions between the DT, it seems that we're all a bit hazy on the distinction between Deco and Nouveau so I would say that you'd be ok with either one or even a mix of the two. It wouldn't be an "eclectic" challenge blog if we didn't stretch the guidelines a bit!
      I've been playing with paint and home accessories lately so I decided to add a touch of Art Deco to one of my junking trips purchases - a wooden salt box.  It was pretty bland before but silly me forgot to take the all important 'before' shot so you'll have to use your imagination and picture a plain wooden box!  I painted a thin layer of black acrylic craft paint over the wood and after that had dried, added a layer of white chalk paint (I make my own using one of the many recipes out there in web-land).  I did some strategic sanding to "age" it and then added the Deco swirls and text using vinyl cut with my wonderful Cameo.

      This is one of the items currently for sale through my fledgling business - Waterworks Cottage Designs .  Very early stages but I didn't want to just keep doing craft shows so I'm working on a website and looking into some possible sales outlets :)   Sometimes you've got to take a leap outside the comfort zone and see what happens........

Linking this up to  - 

The DIY Dreamer

Redoux Interiors

Made in a Day

Jennifer Rizzo

Thanks so much for popping in to take a look !