Shabby Chic; Volume III

MrsCrafty

gtothec wrote: »

Hi Folks,

Not strictly shabby-chic but I thought one of you fine people may have the experience I'm looking for.

Basically I bought a runner that I am absolutley in love with. It is 3cm too long and the door will not run over it. Is it possible to cut it?

I know I risk ruining it, but I have been looking for ages and it matches everything perfectly if it only it where a little shorter!

It is a wool rug. Am I correct in thinking it could be cut with a stanley knife or whatever tool a carpet fitter would use, then the edge binded with some strong wool and a thick needle?

Or am I being ridiculous?

Would love to hear your thoughts or if anyone has tried this before.

G>C

I would say that you could bind it with a needle wool and some very close blanket stitching. However, I had a couple of big bits of carpet left from my stairs and I got a company to pick them up and sew round the edges creating two big lovely rugs for £75 last year. So it's probably worth asking your local carpet shop or googling carpet & upholstery so it looks lovely.

gtothec

Thank you, I will look that up on google as I'll probably make a mess of it.

If it ends up being more expensive than the actual rug I will just have to send it back and keep looking!

chalkysoil

I finished painting the cd rack. Probably could have got away with one coat of melamine paint if I'd been careful, but I'd missed the odd bit.
It's standing on one of those iron plants stands on wheels, so I can push it into a corner when not using it. A home for all my little bargain tester paint pots.

auntymabel

Shabby chicers (?)might like one of these these. (You don't have to use it for kids or on the bed!)

I don't know how much they were originally but they've got high-scoring reviews.

http://direct.tesco.com/q/R.210-1930.aspx

http://direct.tesco.com/q/R.208-8696.aspx

peaceandfreedom

chalkysoil wrote: »

I finished painting the cd rack. Probably could have got away with one coat of melamine paint if I'd been careful, but I'd missed the odd bit.
It's standing on one of those iron plants stands on wheels, so I can push it into a corner when not using it. A home for all my little bargain tester paint pots.

(A shabby-chic-newbie delurks to say ...) Looks really good. Is this CD rack one of those Ikea-style pretend-wood ones? I've got an Ikea birch-look one that I'd quite like to renovate.

Is melamine paint the stuff you need for those pretend-wood things (sorry, don't know the technical term).

chalkysoil

hi, yes similar to the Ikea ones. The paint I used has International Melamine on it's label but I think it's been renamed Cupboard paint hence cheap in a discount store.

I also painted two other cd racks with cream gloss type paint, not sure how well they will wear but ok after 3 months and look much nicer.

Years ago, (12+) I painted a fake wood shelf in the kitchen with emulsion then varnished it, I keep the coffee & Tea on it - well it's finally beginning to look worse than shabby close up, but I'm amazed how well it lasted before the veneer stuff showed though.

peaceandfreedom

chalkysoil wrote: »

hi, yes similar to the Ikea ones. The paint I used has International Melamine on it's label but I think it's been renamed Cupboard paint hence cheap in a discount store.

I also painted two other cd racks with cream gloss type paint, not sure how well they will wear but ok after 3 months and look much nicer.

Years ago, (12+) I painted a fake wood shelf in the kitchen with emulsion then varnished it, I keep the coffee & Tea on it - well it's finally beginning to look worse than shabby close up, but I'm amazed how well it lasted before the veneer stuff showed though.

Thanks for this, chalkysoil. I will give this a go. I have a number of renovation projects waiting to be done and have strictly forbidden myself from buying any more old bits of furniture until I've done the projects that are still waiting.

I didn't think much could be done with those veneer pieces, so it's good to see how well your CD rack turned out.:)

fluffybunny_2

saw these and thought of all the shabby chics out there...

Cupcake worktop saver. was £7.99 now £2.99 @ Argos
http://www.argos.co.uk/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/Search?storeId=10001&catalogId=1500002951&langId=-1&searchTerms=8428866

cupcake tea cosy - was £6.99 now £1.79
http://www.argos.co.uk/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/Search?storeId=10001&catalogId=1500002951&langId=-1&searchTerms=1220755

chalkysoil

Sorry, this item is currently out of stock
to pick up at your 10 nearest stores

but thanks anyway,:) someone may be lucky

chalkysoil

by the way in case anyone else bought that cheap melamine paint - I added some artists oil paint to a small quantity of it and painted some pots, I wanted to alter the colour - anyway, it has dried ok - I had a feeling it might take weeks or be weird, but so far it's fine.