Shabby Chic; Volume III

maman

I saw this range in M&S today, familiar??? Go take a look at the prices, even with 20% off:rotfl:

littlereen

http://www.flickr.com/photos/63364389@N05/5764985950/

I have recently purchased an old dressing table which I want to paint (I've had a go at inserting a picture above, not sure if it will have worked).
Its oak, but I want it white, my dad wants to shoot me for even considering painting it, so I need to get it right or he might never speak to me again lol.

Firstly, it has handles, and I want to put crystal knobs on - if I get some wood filler and sand it down will the old drill holes be noticeable once painted?

Secondly, I'm not sure what to prep and paint it with. I've had a good read through this thread but am not quite sure with the whole water/oil based debate. The dressing table isn't very shiny, so I think it has minimal varnish if any currently. I want to get a good finish (without brush stroke marks), but don't want the paint to go yellow.

Could someone please recommend whether to go for an oil/water based primer and paint? Also what do you tend to varnish your pieces with afterwards? The table has glass pieces that go on the working surfaces so it will be quite protected from wear and tear.

Thank you!

Jojo_the_Tightfisted

snuggle69 wrote: »

Advice needed guys, we are decorating the front room over the weekend, and I want to shabby chic it..... I would like the walls a very pale shade of blue does anyone have any recommendations please?

Farrow & Ball Borrowed Light. It's what's going to go somewhere in my house when I get around to redecorating. I held the tester card up in the darkest corner of the kitchen (northfacing and away from the window) and it looked lighter and fresher than the builders' magnolia, but is still blue and not bluey white, IYSWIM.


I decided that I won't be doing the boyfriend's decorating yet. I will do it and thanks to you lot, I have quite a few good ideas

In the meantime, I found this heavy weight woven fabric in the posh interior design shop round the corner from me. It is apparently £45/m but as the offcut measured something like 0.94m, I got it for £2.50 :T




It's not a great picture, but it is a dusky fawn with duck egg chenille squares about 5mm across. It'll go really well with my curtains and bedlinen.

Unfortunately, my sewing machine is still up in the loft from when we moved and it needs the bobbin replacing anyway (the replacement part is in the box with it, but just not been done), so I searched out my iron from the back of the kitchen cupboard and have so far hemmed 2 sides and pinned/pressed the other two.

Forgot how long it takes to do anything by hand. Going to finish the hemming and then leave the pressing, pinning and sewing it into an envelope for tomorrow, as natural daylight is so much better to work with.

I have ideas for other things, but I'm going to do this first - and make sure I actually finish it before I start anything else

annie-c

littlereen wrote: »

http://www.flickr.com/photos/63364389@N05/5764985950/

I have recently purchased an old dressing table which I want to paint (I've had a go at inserting a picture above, not sure if it will have worked).
Its oak, but I want it white, my dad wants to shoot me for even considering painting it, so I need to get it right or he might never speak to me again lol.

Firstly, it has handles, and I want to put crystal knobs on - if I get some wood filler and sand it down will the old drill holes be noticeable once painted?

Secondly, I'm not sure what to prep and paint it with. I've had a good read through this thread but am not quite sure with the whole water/oil based debate. The dressing table isn't very shiny, so I think it has minimal varnish if any currently. I want to get a good finish (without brush stroke marks), but don't want the paint to go yellow.

Could someone please recommend whether to go for an oil/water based primer and paint? Also what do you tend to varnish your pieces with afterwards? The table has glass pieces that go on the working surfaces so it will be quite protected from wear and tear.

Thank you!

Use the wood filler in the holes and enough to have it standing proud of the surface as it shrinks while drying. Then sand and paint. It may leave marks as it is hard to do these things perfectly, but will be fine overall.

Oil/water based paint is a personal choice. Oil based is less environmentally friendly, takes mch longer to dry but is a bit more durable. If you are using gloss.satin or eggshell then no need to varnish. Some people use emulsion then varnish or wax after - I have never tried this.

To get a good finish sand lightly but well to give key. Undercoat (applied with good quality no bristle loss brush) and then several topcoats, sanding lightly with high grade (at least 180 grit) sandpaper between coats. For oil based leave 24 hours between each coat and preferably 5 days afterwards before use, to allow the paint coats to properly adhere to each other and harden off. For water based do whatever the can says. To avoid brush strokes you van use a foam roller on flat surfaces.

hmo

anyone made over a LL box do you use normal paint or spray paint please, any photos

annie-c

hmo wrote: »

anyone made over a LL box do you use normal paint or spray paint please, any photos

Lloyd loom is paper covered wire isn't it? I have not done it myself, but have heard of people doing it succesfully with spray paint. I have succesfully sprayed a wicker chair, but it takes a long time and a lot of patience (and cans of paint!) as you need to build up very light layers to avoid runs. If you search this thread and the earlier SC threads, I am sure there have been pics posted of a chair makeover before

annie-c

MrsCrafty wrote: »

Hi all, haven't done much shabbying for a while but I did make these pretty placemats today. They are very easy and I have a tute on my blog.

These are beautiful! I would love a link to the tutorial please! :T

annie-c

I have just painted my vile lemon kitchen cupboard doors in F & B Dimity (cream). I also have an oak dresser in Dimity. My worktops are natural beech and my flooring is a beige tile. I was originally planning to have cream walls but now think it might be cream overload.

I have some very pretty Laura Ashley emulsion in pale eau de nil, which was going to be used for the spare bedroom, but now I am thinking of swapping the colours over and having the kitchen in pale eau de nil instead.

What do you experts think? Has anyone tried this combination? My kitchen accessories are mixed (I don't like to be too matchy matchy) so there will be accents of red, stainless steel, glass and more cream floating around.

I would love your advice, please! :T

Seakay

annie-c wrote: »

These are beautiful! I would love a link to the tutorial please! :T

#1411 has the link

annie-c my sister lin law has her kitchen in beige/duck egg blue and taupe and it looks great so I think that eau de nil will fit into your scheme well. Not sure how red accents will go with that but will be very interested to see

littlereen

annie-c wrote: »

Use the wood filler in the holes and enough to have it standing proud of the surface as it shrinks while drying. Then sand and paint. It may leave marks as it is hard to do these things perfectly, but will be fine overall.

Oil/water based paint is a personal choice. Oil based is less environmentally friendly, takes mch longer to dry but is a bit more durable. If you are using gloss.satin or eggshell then no need to varnish. Some people use emulsion then varnish or wax after - I have never tried this.

To get a good finish sand lightly but well to give key. Undercoat (applied with good quality no bristle loss brush) and then several topcoats, sanding lightly with high grade (at least 180 grit) sandpaper between coats. For oil based leave 24 hours between each coat and preferably 5 days afterwards before use, to allow the paint coats to properly adhere to each other and harden off. For water based do whatever the can says. To avoid brush strokes you van use a foam roller on flat surfaces.

Thank you! That makes things a lot clearer. So you find water based paitn durable enough on its own? I've heard people mention that it isn't very durable - although I guess that might be down to the quality of paint used?