Clever me!

It looks as if I have finally worked out how to get a picture to appear within my post.....woo hoo!!!! Now I just have to work on the quality of my pictures.  Anyway, this is a picture of the shabby chic table I recently finished, along with a little stool I painted at the same time.  I used a green as a base coat then painted it over with Antique White USA and rubbed the white back to reveal the green underneath. This is my first attempt so I am very pleased with the result and encouraged to do more. Next up is the marble topped wash stand I have had for years, much to my husband's disgust as he is of the school that if it is natural wood you don't mess with it!

I have not posted here for a while as I have been busy with chemo, which leaves me feeling exhausted and drained. However, it is working so I can put up  with the side effects. At least I get to keep my hair. As I lost my hair twice, years ago, I think I deserve a break in this area!

Had a lovely surprise today......my son, who lives interstate (Queensland) came to South Australia for a visit. We haven't seen him for about 12 months so this is great for me.

As you probably know, Google is changing soon and not being very tech savvy I fear loosing all of the blogs I was following via RSS Feed. So, in order to keep ahead of Google I have stopped all of the RSS Feeds coming in to my computer and will keep up to date with all of you the old fashioned way - I have added all the blogs to my favourites and will just check in every couple of days and see what everyone is doing. I am still learning about all of these tricky bits and pieces and hopefully I will be able to reinstate the RSS Feeds when Google sorts itself out.

The Shabby Chic Table Is Finished

At last I have put the final coat of Estapol on the half round table I was Shabby Chicing and it is in place in my living room. Photo to come. I am very pleased with the look and now just have to dress the wall behind it a bit more as it looks a tad bland.

After reading a lot of blogs I have been all fired up about collecting roadside finds to reuse but realised our local hard rubbish collection was not until August - a long wait! But I was driving down my street just a couple of days ago and spotted one lone piece of "rubbish" begging for a new home.  It was just what I wanted - a box to put in my laundry to hold shoes and my handbag. So, as I am new to this, I very sneakily looked around to see if I was being observed (dreading the thought that someone would come out of the house and challenge me), then quickly got out of the car and whipped the box into the boot and drove away!   It will need a fair bit of work on it but it fits  in the available space and I am quite sure I can make it look good - if I am not in jail that is!

Project Progress

Since my last post about my first project I have finished with the painting of the desk/table and am now up to applying the protective coating.  The paint lady at the hardware shop suggested Estapol Satin (water based). So being a complete novice I took her at her word and bought the stuff.  Today I had enough energy to actually apply it. My energy levels are low due to the fact that I am going through chemotherapy at present so have to take frequent rests.  This means that often the day is over by the time I have done the necessary things around the house and I don't get to work on my project at all.  So......now I have the first coat of Estapol applied - this is not as easy as I expected as you can't see where you have applied it! Hopefully tomorrow I will sand the first coat and apply the second, final coat.  Stay tuned.

My First Project

Am sitting in my recliner resting my poor aching back before I get to putting the final coat of paint on my first project. So thought I would take this opportunity of writing something in the hopes that this blog will start to take some direction.

About 12 months ago I spotted a cute little half round hall table while browsing in a local Vinnnie's store. After a bit of bargaining I got the price down to $70 - I was thrilled.  I had just the spot for it: in my living room beneath a large, gilt framed mirror (a roadside find), once it had been Shabby Chic'd.  Now, Shabby Chic, while a passion of mine, is a complete mystery to me. So off I went to Pinterest for tutorials and came up with what seemed liked some good ideas. I especially liked "I NEVER sand back old furniture". So I went to the local hardware and spoke to the paint lady (who just happened to share my Shabby Chic passion) and she agreed - no need to sand back.  Just use this primer/undercoat (a Shellac based sealer that stops the damaged original surface from bleeding through), slap on 2 coats of my choice of "under" colour, then 2 coats of Antique White USA (Dulux). So, I chose a lovely mid mint green to go on first, then when the white was dry I intended to sand back some of the edges to allow the green to show through.

The end is nigh! All that remains to be done is the final light sand and then the final white coat. So far it is looking devine.  While I have been painting the table, I have also been painting a little wooden stool (another of my passions) and that too is turning out lovely.  I will attempt photos when I am finished.

I have been looking at several blogs around the net and some of you are so clever with your design - I aspire to your greatness!  But being a total idiot when it comes to technical details I have to learn as I go along. I am sure eventually I will pick up enough ideas and tips from all of you clever people, but I think it will be a slow process.

Being an ex quilter, I have a decent stash of fabric left over from that hobby, so my next project will be to breathe some life into a table lamp we have had for years but never actually used.  I read the hilarious instructions for making any lamp cordless (I hate cords) on Kelly's blog "A View Along The Way" and although it had me doubled up with laughter I won't be going that far!!! I will be spray painting the base (colour to be decided) and covering the bland beige shade with some of my beautiful fabric. Today I will start to sort through the fabric and drape a piece over the lamp and live with it for a day. I will do this every day with a different piece of fabric until I have a "Ah ha" moment and that will be The One!  Just a thought......the shade has a "dent" in it and I am thinking that holding it over a steaming kettle might remove the dent?  Any suggestions welcome here.

Now, enough resting, I had better get to the sanding block and table.  Work to be done!

An Evil Suggestion

This morning, sitting in my handkerchief sized dining room eating my cereal, I had a light bulb moment.  I frightened my husband awake by suggesting that we consolidate our activities around our home and move the computer desk into a corner of the dining room. It is currently located in what is virtually an added on sleep out at the back of the house. This room gets very hot in summer and freezes in winter. And as we no longer need a "home office", being retired, it seems daft to waste an entire room on my husbands idea of a work space (junk room). My thinking was that if we did away with our huge PC and just had a desk in the dining room (more of a shelf really), we could use our laptops there whenever we wanted. Why do we need a large bulky PC plus a laptop? I can't come up with any earthly reason why we do need this set up.

My husband is a man. As such, he has a built in resistance to change, and cannot see a plan without it being drawn on paper (no imagination I'm afraid).  I have left him to ponder this dramatic upheaval, which would mean he would have to keep his desk TIDY! Shock horror.

When I learn how to post photographs, and if this plan goes ahead, I will post progress pictures here.

Hello World

Hi, I am Susan and I live in South Australia. I am totally new to blogging and don't really know at this stage what I am going to write about, but I figure I have to start somewhere, so here I am. I have a leaning at the moment to repurposing and refinishing old furniture, so this is most likely what I will write about. That is if some new interest doesn't zoom into my head and grip my typing fingers!

I am going to try and write a bit on most days in the hope that this blog will evolve into an interesting and lively read - but this remains to be seen. One can but try.