Shabby Chic Thread?

EmptyPurse

Ok, so I did a bit more thinking about my flat last night. My landlord's happy for me to put a blind up in the kitchen (the window looks straight into another flat) so I could make something vintage-style. The dining chairs are actually mine so I could recover them with pretty fabric. And perhaps I could make a sofa cover if I'm feeling really, really brave??????? (or foolish - given that I don't yet know how to use my sewing machine!)

I'll need lots of advice from all of you lovely people though because I haven't got a clue where to start. First off I think I need to pick a colour theme for the lounge/kitchen (it's open plan). The furniture is a kind of pine colour, with cream curtains and a cream carpet. So anything goes, really. I've got a lovely pale blue glass bowl (vintage) which sits on the dining table and my 'best' china is blue and white; perhaps I should go for blues? Or is that going to make the room too cold and masculine? I adore French country style stuff - e.g. Comptoir de Famille - but nothing too twee. Any ideas?

Once I've got the colours sorted I need to do the following:

1. Find instructions to make a kitchen blind
2. Pick fabric for the blind
3. Work out how to recover my chairs (would it help if I posted some pictures)
4. Pick fabric for the chairs

Any ideas?

nimbo

there should be books in the library that will help with the blind ideas, also tinternet...

http://www.alternative-windows.com/roman-blind.htm

try here... should be easy to print off...

nimbo

needmoney wrote: »

This is useful nimbo

this is the link to the ESP melamine primer, thanks to needmoney...

rosieben

nimbo wrote: »

... i couldn find corks being sold (i saw bags of 100) but i only need about 10, so i will just have to become more of a 'nice' wine drinker to ensure that i get real corks!!!! also think that i may need just a few more champagne corks, which should be fun... ...

I checked with the ebay seller I used and they only have demijohn sizes for sale, but they do have proper corks, not plastic.

Still worth keeping an eye in places like Wilkinsons (I bought some from there a few months ago) and £1 shops, and I think Lidl have a brewing sale every so often I think?

I use my corks to make my own stamps for crafting, can I ask what you use yours for?

icandream

ellieweb wrote: »

Ice cream you really should go into business. That is an amazing transformation. You clever thing you!:T :T

Ellieweb: what a lovely thing to say (if this was directed at me). I read it at a time I was feeling totally miserable and it really cheered me up. Thank you!

Sootypea: I love your transformations. Well done!

Emptypurse: FAB - great decision, and lots more positive. I would start small, and work up to the sofa! Also, have you joined the new shabbychic forum. The lovely giantess on there is basically talking me thru making a Roman blind, which I have never done before. If you're fast, you could catch up and make one alongside us. You just need the fabric and lining to start with! Unless you want to make a roller blind. I got two books from the library, but they had different instructions, and if you've never done it before, it's really confusing. I find it far easier to be hand-held thru.

nimbo

i just wanted enough to cut in half to cover up a cheap cork board... i now have enough to cover the baord up as my cheeky sister (running out the door on the way to the pub for the chelsea game) gave me my late birthday prezzie of a load of corks they purloined from a wine warehouse in France...

although that particular project is on hold while i decided on colour schemes for each of the rooms in my fictitious new house...(i have put off buying until the 'credit crunch has stopped freaking me out...) i just want to have nice furniture ready for when i move in so all i have to do is decorate the rooms...

nimbo

where is this amazing sounding forum that all of the regulars keep talking about????

it's sounding like narnia to me..., but while i am babysitting at my sisters i may as well abuse the internet connection...

rosieben

nimbo wrote: »

where is this amazing sounding forum that all of the regulars keep talking about????

it's sounding like narnia to me..., but while i am babysitting at my sisters i may as well abuse the internet connection...

Here you go Shabby Chic


..

nimbo

rosieben you rock!!!!

rosieben

You're welcome!