Refunk yer Junk

I just used the cheapest handles on my wee unit until I come across the right ones! Its a much nicer colour in real. I wallpapered the drawers using anaglypta wallpaper I sprayed all of it with gold spray paint. I then antiqued with some dark grey wall paint and I highlighted with some brighter gold acrylic paint 🙂 This was the pound store gold spray paint...it only took 1 can which was £2.99.




 

Aww im so happy the way this is turning out! JDs done a smashing job of building it. Ive took out the internals and moved them around a wee bit, stained and waxed them with some dark tan boot polish. Hes making a hinged lid for me from hardboard and I will stain it and put an insert in it like the old vintage writers desks...I think anyway.



I cant remember who gave me this Joiners toolbox but I do remember a wee bit of the story behind it. The man who owned it passed away and it was his first toolbox he made for himself he used it right up until he retired. It was filled with beautiful vintage tools that I also got!! Anyway meet my new computer desk. I actually love it like this now I hope I can find the right legs!




This one had been in the shed for a while it took a good bit of scraping and sanding ...Its now a medicine cabinet in the bathroom and I finally got to use the Schumacher Citrus Garden wallpaper image I fell in love with (I downloaded, printed on to matte photo paper and stuck it on with white glue, varnished over)...I added some pegs at the base and some handles..everything I had in the shed so it didnt cost a thing..




Ive been sanding this wee box down this morning and I kind of like the base all chippy style or am I just being lazy?
Will I just sand it all off back to the wood?
I stained the top slightly darker ....its an oak piece I think
Its just a wee table with storage for the Studio room.



I was chatting to my friend today about my fruit bowl overflowing! she said to me get tiered one!! fab idea..I went into the garden and stole this wee plant shelf gave it a clean, a coat of homemade chalk paint and now I have tons of space for ma fruit!!!!



Look what I found in the shed...this was a vintage BBC radio cupboard. Its paint and decoupage has withered being in the shed for this last few years...I love it all tatty!!!
Now it houses all my bottles of oil and condiments.


I thought I would take a photo of my paraffin heater upcycle.
I use it as a solar lamp plant stand now :)
Ive tried to take a night time picture to get the full effect of the lamp but it just wasnt happening.




Having a day off from work after a few months of exhausting non stop sewing :)..

My garden is starting to look really boring with no colour..
Everything faded and worn and rusty from the winter...
I just mixed some leftover paint and acrylic floor varnish that I found in the shed...
Gave this old chiminea a wipe down and a wee coat of paint...
Dont know how long it will last....
The paint is still wet lol...






I loved this litte thing as soon as I set eyes on it.
It was £8.00 from the local antique shop...Bargain!!!
Perfect for holding my laptop in bed :)



I got this Glass cabinet from the auction house for about £8.00.
I needed more storage but not on display storage..
I used some leftover wallpaper to hide the glass fronts so I was able to store all my bits n bobs.




Piano stool saved from the skip :)



Singer sewing Machine saved from the crusher :)


Engineers toolbox saved from the skip.


1920s Paraffin Valor Heaters saved from the crusher...


Unwanted crates saved from the skip...
Decoupaged and a few handles put on..
Perfect storage for my sewing room :)





































In an earlier blog I had repurposed an old singer sewing drawer.
I had talked about the other repurposed drawers I was using..
Thought I would post up a pic of the one in the Kitchen..
I Love this drawer with its curvy front..
It used to belong to a half moon console table.
It now houses my lovely Cath Kidston finds...







One of my treadle tables I acquired was badly damaged.
Once I fixed as much as I could,  I was left with a spare drawer..
Ooh what to do with this lovely little thing..
Solidly built, chunky wood...


I ask myself what are my storage needs...
Tea and coffee holder for the Kitchen...
no, I have another repurposed console table drawer doing that.
Soaps for the bathroom....
no, another repurposed drawer from an old tool box doing that...
I decided on a key box..I am so sick of looking for lost keys.





Antique Desk Tidy I think?
Got this for £10 at my local Antique shop in Selkirk...


A wee bit of African Mud Cloth Decoupage... 
and quite a heavy sand once dry...





I have finally finished my Louvre door project...
I sit here typing with hands covered in decorators caulk...
Im not sure these turned out the way I pictured...
I wanted a more blended hand painted..polishy..hungarian folky feel..
Im not sure I captured that....

This is the before Louvre Door 







I was just saying the other day (to myself)
how I need to have more gratitude for the things I have in my life.
The next day I found an old praying pew in the skip
was this a sign I ask myself lol
It was so battered but still worth saving.

All it needed was a bit of tightening up.I stapled the straps back in place .


Stapled in the foam and used a gorgeous piece of fabric I bought from the antique store a few months ago.  I haven't decided on the finish yet I was thinking maybe some upholstery studs.

I just adore my201k Singer Sewing Machine, Its one of the best machines I have ever used.
I sew all my products with this machine..
Anyways....I acquired another... This one came in a mock crocodile skin huge wooden case.
There was quite a lot of water damage to the case so I decided on a full revamp..
This is what it looked like..
The inside...


Here it is now....I love it...


The BUSH DAC90A Radio was introduced in 1950 and was made until about 1957
It is one of the most collectable post-war radios.

Ive never been keen on the brown marbled look of Bakelite...So I painted it lol...




I found a mahogany wall plate display at a car booty in Lindean last year..
It cost me £5.00
Heres a pic of one similar..

I bought some steel welded chain 3mm thick.
Some anchor hooks for the ceiling.
4 large screw in heavy duty eye hooks.

A coat of paint and hang.



Cut the lavender fresh from the Garden ...perfect hanging place to dry out.. :)




I have never been a keen Gardener...
The few weeks ago a neighbour kindly gave me some broken slabs....
I started playing around with them and Since then Ive had the Gardening bug..
OMG I love it...
Up-cycled 1920s Paraffin Heater
Heres some of my broken slabs placed and painted...
I added some solar fairy lights inside the heater.
Singer legs as potting table
Ive used some sleepers as the top. 
I found them outside a derelict farmhouse last year. 


Tyre Planters 

I haven't finished this project yet..
I have a few more tyres..
I need to paint them in different colours and stack them in a pyramid with lots of flowers dangling out...



Im not sure what im going to use this little cabinet for.
craft storage?
kitchen cutlery?
jewellery?
Have to give it a revamp first...its not in very good condition...

 I decided on using it to store my Art things...paintbrushes and what not...


Oh look what I found in a skip today a 1920s valor paraffin heater full of rust..
there is a definite moroccan feel to this little beauty...the front door has a traditional moroccan design on it, but the heater was made in England a london company.
I was thinking going white with some retro scandi folk art print...but once I got a feel for it I changed my mind...and went modern moroccan with it...
A wee before pic...


Now its still a work in progress but heres were im at so far...Although I want to use a modern Moroccan design I want it to look like its really old ...not like below.


So Ive completely distressed it before I start the next phase...


I don't want to add the tile design all over..just enough to make it look like the pattern has disappeared over time...once its dry I will take the sandpaper over it again...


The Lights...The Lights...
 


And this is how it ended up looking lol...


Mersman made millions of them...  they churned out more than 30 million table in the 1920s, the company bragged that one out of 10 tables in American homes was a Mersman.
It is also called a Lyre/harp end table..
And what it looks like today...
I love this mock tile pattern..
You can buy this for £20.00 a meter..
or just do what I do and save the image from Cyber space then print it out...




So here it is in all its glory...Oh I do like it, think I done a pretty good job on this little fella...
To protect the decoupage top I used some Perspex from some old picture frames I had bought from ikea many moons ago...


I got this wee blanket box from the skip a couple of days ago...


dont know if I am that keen on the decoupaged top,


 maybe I should have just painted the whole lot grey...
 but that would be to boring for me :)





I do love the old suitcases..
I am rather nuts for them..
or should I say
Im a nut case hahaha


Thought it was time to put good use to one of my old suitcases.
I took some legs off an old piano stool and attached them to the bottom of the case
I just screwed right through the inside base into the leg.
I was/am thinking about painting the full case
but theres just that something I quite like about it as is.

I decided on painting my suitcases...not sure I made the right decision but here they are....


Picked this fire surround up from Gumtree for £40. It was in quite a mess all the wood had come loose, and It was covered in dead spiders and little mites that made me itchy for days lol!!!
I could see the potential though :)



I had to chip away some of the old fireplace to make the surround fit..
I had to add sides and a top onto the main fire surround ..
Mouldings made out of plaster of paris...I buy a resin or wood mould then make a copy using liquid latex and make a plaster mother mould of that....
So here it is all finished...



Here is a pic of the other lamp base I found in the skip the other day. It was antique bronze in colour. Ive given it a plain white undercoat and im now thinking on hand painting it in a colourful Aztec design. turquoise, reds, yellows and all the colours of the rainbow lol...forgot to take a before and after pic...



My elderly neighbour gave me some dining chairs yesterday. They had belonged to her Grandmother and had been lying up in her attic for years. I mixed up some of my handmade pure white chalk paint and made a patchwork cover for the seat.



Kitchen Display Cabinet






Set of Bathroom Draws




I found these singer table legs a few months back in the skip....they are now my kitchen table legs!!!

Recycled from an armchair £6.00 free p&p



The ever changing mirror frame

I spent a lot of money on this frame about 8 years ago it was just a plain rough sawn jacobean oak frame... thats long before I was aware that I could have made it myself. I t cost me around £200 ....OMG I would never spend that on anything for the house anymore what was I thinking...anyways...its been through a few changes since then...
First it was decoupaged in a floral fabric by Cath Kidston a duvet cover I found in a charity shop.


Then it was decoupaged in some magazine pages.







Decoupage Letter rack




Decoupage Dressmakers Dummy


Decoupage an Old Necklace



Turned some old ladders into a nice display stand



Re-Funked wall cabinet with Vinyl mini bunting.



So im trying to move away from white....OMG im finding it so hard, I just want to paint everything white I have just always loved the look. First was a frame I had found in the hawick Charity shop months ago. I wanted a more weathered look rather than Shabby chic. I layered a few colours before sanding back roughly.



De-coupage Dress makers Dummy


What a find...I love it...saved from the recycling unit in Galashiels...A vintage HMV 1960s/1970s portable record player...
Here it is in all its glory....
 After with a wee bit of lace decoupage and some white paint
Lampshade Re-cover

Not so frugal moment...Impulse buy....didnt like it a few hours after I bought it...It has been four different colours in the past three days..White, Red, Blue and Mustard (well as close as I could get). I had a doily thing going on with the lampshade at first, I tore them off...Used some wallpaper instead..Im quite pleased with the outcome...I like things that are different from the norm...I am eccentric after all !!!  


Patchwork Chair In Progress


Im still working on my patchwork chair its going to take a while lol.




Shelf Frame

Got this frame for £8.00 in a selkirk charity shop

Before


After


You can find the tutorial here..http://jigglemawiggle.blogspot.co.uk/


Fire Surround made from old wood from the garden

 

Fabric flower Mirror...takes pride of place...




This was a basic wooden framed mirror


I found this beautiful duvet set in a charity shop so I used it for some decoupage on the mirror frame it really suited the shabby chic vibe I had going on in my property in Edinburgh.


When I moved to the borders I decoupaged it with some magazines to fit in with my more eclectic look.

Found this bedside table on the street, what a find!!!!



And once again it fitted in well with my shabby chic vibe in Edinburgh.



Turned it into an undersink unit in my bathroom in The Scottish Borders.



Got this little thing in a corstorpine thrift shop for £8.00 thought it was a bit overpriced to be honest!!!



after...A cath kidston duvet that A friend got for me from a thrift shop.



Console table £20.00 from the dalry thrift shop.



After

My mum gave me these ladders over 10 years ago when I was decorating my Edinburgh property. They belonged to my late grandad and my mum told me never to get rid of them because of the sentimental value ...so I decided to re-funk them for my new house!!!



A wee bit of T.LC and some tongue oil......




Been absolutely desperate for a rocking chair for years.
Picked this one up second hand for next to nothing. It was so huge !!!. It reminded me of the Mad Hatters Tea Party.
I just had to go a watch Alice In Wonderland (for ideas :)



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