Secret vintage wallpaper...

I finished the chest of drawers late last night. I hate it. I have to do it again today. It's slightly depressing. As if it weren't bad enough, having to have ALL of ones summer clothing out alongside the winter clothing because it's so cold, I have nowhere to put ANYTHING! There are piles all over the upstairs and my husband and daughter are getting fed up with me.

I'm getting fed up with me too.

So, on a different subject, I bought an old picture frame from a charity shop. I thought it would be nice if my six year old painted me a picture for my future gallery wall. The frame I found was a few quid from Oxfam. It's been painted in the past and that's fine. The glass has little air bubbles in it so it's very old.

On the back someone had stuck some old wallpaper. I guess to keep thunder bugs out. That excited me!. So I took it home and carefully steamed it off, ignoring my husband saying, ''What are you DOING? It's RUBBISH! Who would want that?''

Here's where it got exciting. Under that wallpaper was another wallpaper.

 

And underneath that, was another wallpaper...

 

And under that wallpaper was another one. Probably the nicest one of all but sadly, very brittle and hard to get a big piece.

It felt a bit like pass the parcel. I like to think of someone changing their picture every now and then and re-wallpapering the back every time with leftovers of whatever was in fashion at the time. Make do and mend, indeed!

The two largest pieces are being saved for the wallpaper wall.

Right! Enough fannying around. There's work to be done...

Crates for charity...

An email came round from the PTA asking if anyone had a basket to use for a hamper for the school summer fair. Our class are to put together a gardening hamper.
I explained that I painted old crates to look like, erm, old crates and they were far too polite to refuse.

As luck would have it I had a large crate just sitting in the garage, thoroughly wood worm treated and ready to go.
Fancy that.

The colour was really quite uninspiring.

 

So I stained it darker...

 and gave it a colourwash for that 'trendy' grey weathered wood look... ta daa!

I also had a go at making a vintage sign with an old chopping board that was far too big to be practical and also split.

 

the darker one

We live opposite the rose field of Harkness Roses. We'd have a fabulous view of all the rose bushes if it weren't for a tall hedgerow that surrounds them.

According to the neighbours, our house also stands on land that was owned by Harkness Roses. (Another neighbour claims the land was a pig farm. Slightly less romantic. I choose not to believe in that one.)

Another neighbour, (ex S.A.S.) claims that everyone round here used to wait until dark and break through the hedge to get their roses in the sixties. I like to imagine him doing that with his balaclava on. 

So I thought I'd try to make a sign that looked old, perhaps something I might be lucky enough to find at the flea market. A genuine old sign that was meaningful because of our location.

I don't like how it turned out at all. I wasn't going to show you because it's not something I'm proud of but here goes...

You win some, you lose some...

I'm hard at work on my massive chest of drawers. There are piles of clothes EVERYWHERE and drawers being painted all over the landing. What my poor husband has to put up with eh?

My bedroom...

I've been a bit quiet lately. Have I been wallpapering in a patchwork fashion?
No, but I think I have chosen a wall! And it's a different wall to the one I was thinking of. Which means I can have one gallery wall and one patchwork wall. I just hope it doesn't make the room feel smaller!

Here's the new wall I 'found'.

It has a door in it and is half obliterated by a huge mirror and a double chest of drawers so the impact of the patchwork wallpaper will be broken up I think. (And of course my dressing table is ALWAYS as tidy as this. I certainly haven't just shifted piles of crapola onto the floor!)

Sadly I can't start anything as this wall needs to be chased for the upstairs rewiring which hasn't yet begun. So for now, inspired by a picture on Pinterest...

...this will have to do.

But it will leave this wall...

...free for the pictures.

Speaking of pictures, I got another one!

From eBay

I love white flowers. My favourite picture is this one by Van Gogh...

Currently in the living room

Sadly I'm not a millionaire so this is a print in an old car boot sale frame. But I LOVE it.  And the new one reminded me of this one.
I had an old frame which almost fits, I just need to saw the edge off the picture. I like how it looks. Slightly grand and slightly knackered with it's missing corner.

The bedroom is very much a work in progress.

Missing door handle

  I bought this huge chest of drawers when we moved in.

 

It fits that wall perfectly. It's an old 1950's fake french number which had a dated, cracked and peeling paint job. 

 

So I've stripped the top, which appears to be solid mahogany, stained it and lightened it with a paint wash before sealing it.

 

Then I started priming the drawers. I didn't want to sand them in case the paint has lead in it so I used my beloved Zinsser primer.

Er, then I got a bit distracted and started something else. That happens a lot around here. 

But it is NOT going to be white.

And here's a close up of the mirror...

This was a gold plastic frame with a cardboard picture of a ship in it when I bought it from a charity shop for £2 long, long ago. 

 Here it is painted white in my last house...

  We're having important guests to stay in September and they will have this room so I do need to get it finished by then. Even the orange skirting boards! I wish I had a photo of this room when we moved in. Every surface was papered in 1060's abstract textured wallpaper and most of it was orange. Even the door. I can't even remember what was on the floor. I reckon I'm halfway there.

Thank you for all your ideas on my last post. The film poster is going to live on the stairs.

One last pic for today. 

Fat Freddy

A permanent fixture on my bed! 

Making decisions...

Here's the thing...
The stairs, lovely as they are, need something.

 

There's also a plain empty wall in my bedroom...

I have some ideas but I don't know what to do where. Perhaps you can help me out?

Idea 1. I'd like to create a gallery wall as I have a lovely collection of paintings that have lived in the loft for the past four and a half years. (All from charity shops/boot sales etc)

Husband HATES these religious ones. He says if I use them I will remind him of his mother. If he was cleverer he could win all arguments with this statement.

Idea 2. I have been collecting rolls of vintage wallpaper and I'd like to create a patchwork wallpaper wall. (I'm also concerned about this: some are wild and funky, some are pale and pretty. Can I use them altogether d'you think? Or do I have to spend another 5 years collecting and do either a 'pretty vintage' wall OR a 'funky vintage' wall?)

But the biggest decision I have to make is what goes where. I'm leaning towards wallpaper in the bedroom and pictures on the back wall of the stairs.

The bedroom has a neutral colour scheme so that would work. Would it be insane to have pictures ON TOP of a patchwork wallpaper wall? Too frantic? I don't want to give myself a migraine.

Because I also have this huge original 1963 film poster (family heirloom as my grandmother wrote the film) that needs re homing and I'm running out of walls. This could go on the back wall of the stairs? I'm also thinking of 'adding' to the painted stairs and the more neutral that wall is, the better it will look...

I'm getting nowhere fast. Your input would be very much appreciated. Who else can I ask? Certainly not the husband! My dad? I think not. C'mon ladies! You vintage loving, sheet collecting, chazzing, creative and clever ladies 'get this' more than anyone else in my life.

Happy day...

 Thank you to the very lovely and funny Katie from Hook, Line and Sink Her for nominating me for a Versatile Blogger Award!  I have to tell you 7 facts about me and nominate 15 other bloggers who are worthy of this prestigeous honour.

So here are my facts...


1. I don't mind mice, rats, snakes and most spiders but I'm frightened of woodlice.

2. I was up the top of the World Trade Centre one year and one day before it came down.

3. I  hate having to wear glasses. Really. But not enough to want my eyeballs scorched with lasers.

4. I struggle with maths. Once I thought my daughters maths homework was a trick question which couldn't be answered. It wasn't and she was 5 at the time.

5. I think the best TV show that ever was, was 'Change that'. I dilligently recorded it every day to watch after work. I sooo wish they'd bring it back.

6. Fast forward to modern times and I really enjoy 'Made In Chelsea.' My favourite is Francis. They seem to have reinvented him since the first series.
I don't watch anything else really. I have the telly on with the sound off. I find it reassuring that it's there, like a window on the world, but the noise drives me mad.

Well, hello...

7. I bite my nails and have rough hands like an elderly Norwegian fisherman. And it doesn't bother me. I can tell if a jumper is wool or acrylic by the way it snags on my hands or not. A very useful skill in second hand shopping if you don't like acrylic.

My actual hands
(Kidding! Obviously mine have paint on them.)

 

And my nominees are...

1. Curtise at The Secondhand Years
Smart, stylish and sometimes saucy

2. Loo from Jumbles and Pompoms
Creative and a vintage lover

3. Kat at  Shoestring Lifestyle
Her and her partner are fixing up their home with vintage finds

4. Caroline at Mrs M's Meanderings
The car boot queen

5. Jenni from G'day at the Gables
An Aussie in Hertfordshire

6. Marie from Marie Debell
A fellow furniture painter

7. Kate at Just Pirouette and Carry On
A little bit of everything

8. Jane at Plain Jane
Crafty and flower loving

9. Sarah from People don't eat enough fudge
Leaving mayhem in her wake

10. Dee Dee at Vintage Retro Delights
This lady lives and breathes vintage!

11. Natalie at Sophistcated Yellow
She has very good taste!

12. Betsy from Betsy Speerts Blog
My new best friend ;)

13. First time buyer (sorry I don't know your name!) at Victorian Terrace Refurb
Nothing scares this lady! Inspirational!

14. Mary at Vintage Style at home
Pretty interiors and painting

15. Scarlet from The Finished Article
Likes similar things to me. What's not to love?

Ladies, if you want to play along, go ahead! 

Coffee table turned bedroom bench...

I mentioned before, this  car boot sale table...

 ...was begging to be transformed into a bedroom bench. I even found an image of a spookily similar bedroom bench.

Sometimes I can see how I can beautify something so I have to buy it.

Do we need a bedroom bench? No.
Do we even have space for a bedroom bench? No.
But when my creative juices flow I do not let practicality get in the way.
(For heavens sake, I've just painted my stairs white, with two muddy pawed cats and a 6 year old.)

So that I don't end up on one of those hoarding shows, and to save my marriage, this bench was going to have to be sold. In order to appeal to the largest possible market it had be be pale and neutral.
(I'm really just excusing yet another beige and cream offering...)

I had to countersink and fill all the nasty screws that stood proud of the timber.

Before...

After...

 

 I sanded, primed and painted the woodwork next.
I got a big sheet of 3'' foam from Dunelm Mill. It was £20 inc delivery and I cut it to size with an electric carving knife. It worked so well! I stuck it to the table with spray adhesive. Then I put wadding over that.

(I approached our local curtain shop as I saw they sold foam cut to size but they wanted £90!)

I used some upholstery fabric that was a boot sale find to cover it. I always pick up upholstery fabrics when I see them as they are very expensive and you never know when you might have an upholstery emergency.

So here it is!

Some pretty stylin'...

...and keeping it real...

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Upholstery is a lot harder than it looks! Those corners were very tricky. But I like how it's turned out. And everyone needs a place to fling their clothes at night don't they?