Kitchen makeover

I have been missing again but this time it is because we decided to give the kitchen a makeover

 and boy, did it need doing!

I'll let the pictures do the talking...

The picture quality isn't great, the light was rubbish 

but I really didn't want to wait for a sunny day 

as knowing the UK weather that could be months away! 

 

See the cabinet in the corner....it looks lovely now, so pleased with the result.

  I love my new kitchen, it is so fresh!

All that's missing is for the rugs to go back under the table, 

you can't actually see them in any of the pictures here 

but they are great quality as my mum wove them and washable without shrinking.

Paint 'n Glue

From drab to fab

   This display cabinet was inherited from my hubbys aunt

although it is a well made cabinet I found it a bit drab and very old fashioned 

and thus relegated it to the landing, out of my immediate sight,

 b

but I just knew it would look lovely painted. 

It took a long time for Mr B to come around to my way of thinking 

but whilst painting the kitchen and all the cupboards he finally  saw what I saw 

and it was painted and moved to a nice spot in the kitchen where it holds our fine china.

I would love to take credit but the truth is 

Mr B painted this and a nice job he did too.

I'm very pleased with it and in the last picture here you get a sneak peek at the kitchen re-do...

the full reveal will be in a few days so stay tuned.

Odd Socks

Odd socks are a prominent feature in our house. 

They tend to be left in little piles on the landing, 

waiting for a partner that may not show up for weeks!

I found some inspiration on
Tatertots and Jello

and
My Uncommon Slice of Suburbia

My take on the whole thing is a bit more elegant (if I say so myself) because I have no laundry room so it is on display on the landing where anyone can see it.
It came together like this..

Postbox

This was a plain letter rack in a dark brown stain.

All I did was spray it red, painted chipboard letters white an glued them on.

An instant "postbox" by the front door for outgoing post.

Spice rack

The spice rack was looking decidedly tired and grubby so

I decided it desperately needed a make over

 Out came the white paint and in no time at all it looked this nice and fresh!

 But the jars...oh, so mismatched ....

It's all Tesco's fault you know, they bloomin' keep changing their jars! 

How am I to ever get a matching set when they do that?

Well, I managed to get 12 of the same (yeah, OK, I admit I went out and bought 

two more with spices I know we'll use, to make up the set)

Then I created some labels, only using MS Word and clipart, 

I did a test print to make sure I got the size right

 Then I painstakingly cut the labels out and glued them on the jars

an this my friends is where I didn't think things through properly!

The labels stain!

Doh, it's only plain paper.

 I should have covered them with sticky-back plastic

 (in true Blue Peter spirit!) 

leaving an extra rim around to hold them in place

But I didn't...... 

See that jar....

the third from the left....

yep, it's already stained

 But, overall I am really pleased and for now those labels will stay

Maybe one day I will remove them and try again

or maybe I'll just buy pretty spice jars like these

 

The cream coloured one in the first picture is my favourite.

Naughty Alice

 I really like the advert for Naughty Alice by Vivienne Westwood 

and wanted to make it into a nice piece of "art" for my downstairs bathroom

As I was unable to find a cheap ornate frame to go

 with my vision of what I wanted to create 

I decided to make my own

I tried to "stiffen" a crocheted doily with wallpaper paste 

but that didn't work at all 

So I painted it with a few coats of black gloss to make it go hard 

and blend in with the frame 

 Then I  measured up what size pieces I needed 

and tried to get the pattern the same on both pieces that I was going to use

 I then hot glued the pieces to the corners

 To make it look like this

 The edges of the advert were a bit rough after me tearing it out of the magazine.....

yeah yeah, I know I should have cut it out but I acted on impulse!

anyway, I bought some ribbon the same colour as the printed border and hot glued it on all the way around but not until I had glued the advert to a pretty sheet of paper 

 After assembling it all this is the result!

I'm rather pleased with it.

Now just to get time and energy to coincide 

and I will paint those walls a nice red.

A post in which I go dotty

So I got my hands on a large noticeboard for a mere £1

It wasn't pretty

And it had paint stains on the frame

So I de-constructed it and painted the frame 

Got some cheap blue fabric that I liked

Stretched it over and stapled it on at the back

Then I swiftly reassembled it with the help of  a little No More Nails

I say de-constructed and reassembled, the truth is more ripped it apart with

 hubby's help and a lot of swearing  sweating as well as a few tools 

and it actually took me ages to getting around to putting it back together.

Other than that it was a piece of cake! 

I hung it on the back of the kitchen door with eyes screwed in to the top and hooks on the door.

Bigger and better suited for all the bits of paper passing through here 

it replaced the small one that I adapted for the boys room.

I look at it now and think it would have been better with ribbons across like this, 

but I'll be darned if I take it apart again as I don't really fancy a fight with 

No More Nails that I suspect I'd lose.

A post where your imagination plays a part.

HERE 

is where I'd like you to imagine below corner unit in a state of unpainted as I yet again have not taken a before photo! 

I don't plan to do things, 

they seem to just happen and suddenly before I know it I am and halfway through a project and I think "Amazing how different this thing looks painted, if there only was a before photo I could share it on the blog."

This time the project looked like this when the thought occurred.

I had painted the untreated wood twice with grey undercoat. 

Why grey you ask, well it had to be grey or white as that was all I had at home and when I decide to paint I want to paint NOW not go shopping for paint or materials. 

Told you I don't plan to do things.

 and here is the finished result, carefully painted. 

I had to do three of four coats to cover properly but the finished result looks great.

This little beauty is now in the downstairs bathroom.

I also painted a very tired looking loo roll holder which now is more pleasing to look at.

 Again, no before photo so you'll just have to imagine the flaky rusty bits....

If I ever get around to finishing that room it will look great and I might show you more than the grimy bits lurking along the wall in this photo.