All New Shabby Chic Thread!

EagerLearner

Hello ladies,
Hoping for some advice - I have started to paint my kitchen and want the whole thing to be a gentle shabby chic look.
I have around 18 cabinet doors to paint - they are dark wood and I bought Crown champagne colour cupboard paint.
I removed and sanded down 2 doors, after removing handles etc. Then filled holes, allowed to dry, painted 2-3 coats. They look great but obviously I will learn more as I go.
Any hints please? I was reading about wire wool - do I need to get some of this too?
My aim is to do 1 or 2 doors per weekend, MrEL will help too but mainly it is my project and will brighten up a north facing kitchen no end...

Also have a welsh dresser I would like to paint, but that I will do with Farrow & Ball perhaps, still undecided on the colour to do it in... Any tips for that also gratefully received, as I would rather take my time with these projects.

Tara747 - I got a laundry basket too that's very sweet from Dunhelm Mill, white with a beautiful flowery pattern inside, basic but for £5.99 seems fine.

Gigervamp

In my old house I inherited dark wood doors on the kitchen cabinets. Lived with them for a few years then, simply sanded the doors down and painted them with a base coat of emulsion followed by a wash (it was the 90's) of diluted acrylic paint.

Never used wire wool.

I'm pretty sure that I posted about the dresser that I bought and did up on this thread.

Gigervamp

Finally found my post about the dresser. It was on the old shabby chic thread.
Here's the post.

edited to add that it took several months, but I finally found some lovely crystal knobs.

EagerLearner

Thanks GingerVamp - the cabinets look ok so I am sure if I carry on I will improve with each one - another 15 or so to go though! I think I will do one a week so that i do it properly... Nor sure if anyone can see the link below?

http://www.flickr.com/photos/33928255@N00/4323007750/


In terms of the Welsh dresser yours looks stunning, very inspiring, how did you do the surface please - is it varnished and if so any special sort of varnish? I had not considered leaving the surface as wood, thankfully your post has given me that idea before I started on it... My dreser is also pine so with some TLC I hope it comes up nicely.

Minihauk

EL - that cupboard door looks great. Keep up the good work ....

Gigervamp

EagerLearner wrote: »

In terms of the Welsh dresser yours looks stunning, very inspiring, how did you do the surface please - is it varnished and if so any special sort of varnish? I had not considered leaving the surface as wood, thankfully your post has given me that idea before I started on it... My dreser is also pine so with some TLC I hope it comes up nicely.

Thanks.

What I did was sand it completely, then I used Briwax on it. That gives it a nice sheen and it feels like varnish. It takes a lot of elbow grease though to polish it up! :rotfl:


Your cabinet door looks really nice, much better than the dark wood.

EagerLearner

Thanks all - lots of work still to come!
GV can I get Briwax at Homebase or B&Q?
Will sand down the whole dresser prior to painting but obviously focus alot more on the surface / counter area which will not get painted.

Gigervamp

You should be able to get it at one of the DIY places. I bought mine years ago in a little local shop (it lasts ages!) but I'm pretty sure that I've seen it at B&Q and Homebase.

tara747

EagerLearner, that door looks beautiful!!!!!!! Well done! Can't wait to see the finished kitchen.

I have had so many shabby chic bargains lately... a new 125 years mini larder from M&S complete with spotty egg cups for £4 from the charity shop, several pretty boxes, a glass jar from BHS for the bathroom, a couple of Cath Kidston Tesco shopping bags from eBay, a gorgeous flowery peg bag and matching tea towel set (£2.99 from TK Maxx)... the list goes on! I am totally in love with that Rustic Angels site and Gisela Graham (whose stuff tends to be nicer and cheaper than Cath Kidston imho).

Fab!!

EagerLearner

GV - just wondered if you put the original handles back or bought new ones as the new pic had no handles...
Tara747 thanks for introducing me to Rustic Angels - looks great! I think in March I will treat the house to a few things too...