Martinborough and some furniture re vamps

Good morning all,

The second Martinborough Fair seems such a world away now.  It was another good fair day, although a bit of a slow start due to rain.  My husband and I met some fantastic people and everyone was very supportive when they knew we were from Christchurch.  It was actually a little weird leaving the city and our children (with my sister in Blenheim) and a little emotional as well.  In the end it was good to have a wee break away, do some shopping in Wellington with my cousins (who are fab people by the way!) and just enjoy good food and a few beveridges.  But it is nice to be home again and have some sense of normailty.  The children have really enjoyed being back at school and all their activites.  We are very lucky on this side of town to be able to return to 'normal'

I decided before Martinborough that becasue the last 6 months had been so hectic with all that had gone on, that I would take a break from sewing and concentrate on a few things around the house.  so with that in mind and the pressure off, I set to work on a couple of sets of drawers.

The first was a queen anne style that I purchased for my daughter.  This turned out to be a bit of a mission.  I purchased some varnish remover and set to.  What I then got was a sticky sticky mess and not much varnish coming off.  So I washed it down with soapy soapy water and left it overnight.  Now it looks like this.......

Unfortunately it was still very sticky is some places and I could not sand it down as the sandpaper was getting stuck to the sticky mess.  Frustration was creeping in and I nearly gave up at this point.  I decided to put a coat of paint on and then try to sand it  (once it was dry of course!!!)  this did help a little and one very tired arm later I had managed to sand it down.  It did actually look very cool at this point and my daughter liked the heavy distressed look but we decided it might not look right in the bedroom.  So moving onwards and 2 coats of paint and some decoupaging later. Now it looks like this....it just needs some knobs........

Looking pretty amazing if I do say so myself.  My daughter love it.  Thank goodness.  I had to do some major distressing on it because of the sticky mess I had in the beginning but in the end it worked out.  YAY!


Next piece was a chest of drawers that my husband and I bought before we were married.

 It had been sitting in the garage for some time.  I got a bit of inspiration from Kristine at The Painted Hive one of my new favourite blogs.  This one was easier to get the varnish off but still a little sticky.  I then mixed up walnut and charcoal stain.  But when I put it on the first drawer I did not like it.  A bit too poo brown (can I say that!).  So I sanded it back!  I was not sure what to do stain wise and so I diluted what I had mixed up with some meths and then added a bit more charcoal stain.  I tried it on the back of the drawer until I got something I liked.  Trial and error were definitely visiting our house that day!!!  I wiped the stain on, left it for a while and then wiped off with a damp rag.  I did remember to use gloves thank goodness.  I then put on 3 coats of gloss polyurethane ( no mean feat in the back hall at night).
Now it looks like this........

don't you think that looks fab.  Such a great bedside table.  It has even made our bedroom less cluttered by giving us some more storage space.  Fantastic.

I have also been stripping the purple paint off the trim in our house.  this is a horrendous job as there are 2 coats of purple, one coat of peach and one of cream.  It is taking forever.  Here is a bit of progress. 

It is amazing how much brighter it looks already.  The bathroom ceiling has had one coat of paint and the wallpaper has arrived from the UK.  We have decided on flooring and are hoping to get it all finished by next week.  I can't wait to show it off.

My next job, which I have also started is getting my showroom up and running.  I have one coat on the walls and am heading back there now to put the next one on and sand my treasures I bought.  You can read about those here

Best I get my little self moving or I won't get a thing done today.
Bye for now


Cheers
Kate