Friday 26 October 2012

Distressed side table in Annie Sloan Duck Egg Blue

       Here it is, finally, my first painted distressed furniture that i put the chalk paint to test to. It was a lot of hard work i have to say. Maybe its just me, but after working on it over a weekend, i ended up with a bad flu. Plus, i felt like i ran a marathon- my arms and legs were aching. Must by my exponentially declining fitness level. :p After painting it with Annie Sloan chalk paint in 'Old White' and 'Duck Egg Blue', i clear waxed it, distressed it, clear waxed again, dark waxed it, and finally, buffed it. Phew, now i know why distressed furniture costs more-ironic i know! U can call me crazy, but do that behind my back. Please ;p


In the living room, in daylight


Nightview in warm light

Close up of the drawer

I couldnt decide if it looked better in the living room or as a bedside table

Maybe i still prefer it as a side table in the living room





 
 
       I do intend to have an Etsy shop and create a listing for this side table, or maybe an Ebay shop, but this cant be the only item i have in store so do look out for more upcoming projects :) In the meantime this will be up for sale in other ads online. Do contact me if you are interested. Have great weekend everyone!

Friday 19 October 2012

Annie Sloan paint and floral motif decoupage trial


       Its been such a lazy weekend so far, but i shouldnt be hoping for too much. I finally did some painting, but its not complete yet. I was also hoping i could sew myself another tablecloth because i simply cannot stand the chocolate milk, curry sauce and mushroom soup stains on the current one that's on the table. Neither do i want to take that off to wash because i couldnt bear the thought of exposing my favourite piece of furniture to more 'leftovers' of our 'happy-family-let-the-kids-do-their-thing' meals :p

       Well i did, however, manage to take some pictures of my last weekend trial of the annie sloan chalk paint i received. I experimented on a small wooden box i bought from Daiso- i painted it, applied clear wax, distressed it and then followed by the dark wax. All the reviews online were true, the final product felt buttery smooth and it was heavenly easy to sand off at all the appropriate edges.


A close-up of the edge of the box

 
      

       I buffed it to a sheen and i liked the outcome, but somehow, my itchy hands wanted to do something more. I wanted to try my hands on decoupaging some floral motifs, so i digged out my country magazines and searched for floral pictures. Instead of using a pen knife (which i dont have) to carefully cut out the picture, the impatient me used a big utility scissors and hurriedly cut it out while making an effort to console my then crying 2 yr old. I went ahead with it, and though it looked very choppy (well, i am an amatuer after all heh..), i continued putting on four layers of 'mod podge' alike glue, waiting for it to dry completely before applying each layer.

Choppily cut out motif :p
 
 
   

         I have to say i might not have the patience for the art of decoupaging, but i wont be giving up yet... ;)

Friday 12 October 2012

Dining chair slipcover from Miss Mustard Seed tutorial

       I have been a fan of the infamous blogger, Miss Mustard Seed for about year and have been reading her tutorials over and over again. I think i have probably watched the video for making a wingchair slipcover made from dropcloth tutorial, for example, about 4 times. And though i probably even remember the next word she's going to say in the video, i have yet to muster up enough courage to tackle such a big project. So i decided that for such a novice seamstress like me, i shall put my virgin sewing machine to test by trying out the dining chair slipcover instead.

        Marian, my 'idol' made it look so easy, and although i would say it aint that difficult, it was tough work for me because i only have nights and weekends to work on it. It was like one night cutting out the fabric, the night after next hemming up the sides, it went on. So what would have taken probably a day, i took about 3 weeks, ok 4 weeks including the last part which was attaching the ribbon. But the result was quite adorable, just dont stare at it for too long because it's not anywhere near perfect. Here it is.

The side view (i know! its time for me to buy a camera.. my pics are so blur..)


I added piping which was not part of the tutorial but it was from another one. I purposely incorporated it into this one so i could practice.

i love the back view the most

      
        This week has been such a rollercoaster ride for me, its like good news, followed by sad news and then followed by another good news... As im writing this, im just praying hard for the best of my loved ones. A good reminder that challenges are meant to test those whom He loves. Anyway, one of the good news is that, my much raved about Annie Sloan chalk paint has arrived! I really cant wait to try it out! ;)

ASCP in duck egg blue and old white

Saturday 6 October 2012

A Starchy Affair

       When i was still staying at my mom's place, i wanted to makeover my dark and totally uninviting room but didnt want to do anything major or something that is permanent because it aint my place after all. So i googled a bit here and there and found out that a lot of house renters out there (probably not in singapore though) do something which is called fabric wallpaper. Technically, it shouldnt be called wallpaper because its not even paper. Its the act of pasting fabric on the walls, such that it replicates the look of a wallpaper without the cost and commitment. I was about to say labour but decided not to, because i did in fact, sweat out a bit while doing it. But it was fun! :) Here are the products of my 'labour' :p

My kitchen was supposed to be cath kidston inspired so i was so glad i managed to find a fabric which was similar to one of their designs but at a much cheaper price.
My feature wall in the living room

 I have to say i splurged on my bedroom.. i gave in because i was so in love with this heligan floral fabric by Laura Ashley.
 The kids wardrobe was actually my 'guinea pig'. I 'wallpapered' it way back before Nilou was even around. I was still at my mom's place then. I added the resin applique for that shabby chic look which I bought from a few online shops. This is one of them, you can check it out-Do It Yourself Chic

 
 
      A few asked me how i made the adhesive paste. There were a number of 'recipes' online but i just tried to make do with what was easily found. I experimented and i guess it works just fine. The fabric at my mom's place still sticks like magic. And its been slightly more than 2 years. Here is how i made the paste:
 
1. one part corn starch flour/tapioca flour (i tried both and it works the same) mixed with one part water at room temperature.
 
2. boil 4 parts water separately, and turn off the heat upon boiling
 
3. add in the flour/water mixture and stir.
 
 
       What you should get is a thick gooey mixture. Most of the sites will recommend adding in glycerin which apparently they could easily buy from pharmacy (so many things they could get easily trust me) but really, i couldnt find any in Singapore. Im not sure but i assume its to keep the mixture stay that way longer before it goes 'bad'. So in my case since i didnt add it in, i made sure the mixture is made just before i embark on a 'project'. I will also make it in small quantities because i know my project would normally last for only a while before i have to stop and work on it again another day. It cant be used again say next 2 days because if i leave the mixture around, i do notice the consistency becomes runny and it doesnt really work well as an adhesive paste, especially not on the thicker fabric.
 
       Im so in love with starch now because of the fact that it can make fabric stick so strongly yet it can be removed so easily-just wet/soak it and the fabric can be used for other purposes. Most importantly, you can work on even the cheapest form of fabric and the look can still be pretty. Recently, i saw some abandoned lace from my mom's pile of remnant fabric and came up with an idea of decorating my Billy bookcase from Ikea. The lace was beautifully 'vintage' looking as it was already stained over age. I made some starch mixture and pasted it along the shelves. I think it really made a difference to the boring bookcase. So sweet! :)



 Here's a sneak peak of my upcoming project- giving this $20 rocking chair i bought from Craigslist a new look. I thought of doing a slipcover and painting it duck-egg blue. In case you're wondering why i keep using this white striped fabric, its supposed to be another one of my wallpaper plan which was not approved by my dearest hubby. He said i was going overboard-and i agreed! :p  He also said it pained him to see me doing all the hard work (this one i wasnt convinced).
Slipcover making in the process


        And before i go, here are some gorgeous photos of spaces that made me a bit dizzy-they are so lovely! Its from a book, 'The Feminine Home' by decorative Artist Jo-Anne Coletti, and founder of Vintage Rose Collections. Im saving up for this book i hope its still around when i finally save up. :)