Rocking chair

I saw this Rocking Chair and had to buy it. I got it for a bargain price but renovating it has seen me cursing my purchasing decision quite a few times.

The seat padding was glued into place and it was a huge effort to remove them. I ended up with cuts and bruises. The old varnish was cracking and took a lot of effort to hand sand off. All those loops make using an electric sander impossible. It took me hours to prepare the surface. I then did 3 coats of primer, 3 coats of the top coat and then a couple of coats of clear varnish.

It is nearly finished, all that is left is to actually attach the padding. At the moment it is just sitting there so I can take the photo. I couldn't resist showing it off now. It looks so clean and fresh now and worth the dramas that went with it.  But I think I am bored with this fabric and paint combination. I need to find a contrasting fabric print now to use in the lounge room. 

Update: It is finished now. Surprisingly it is very comfortable.

Boy's Bedroom update

Mr Gameboy and Red share a bedroom by choice. Though I sometimes wonder if it was a wise move when I hear them chatting away long after the lights have been turned off at bedtime. I had been meaning to update their bedding for a while but Red made the decision for me. I was looking at something online and Red walked past, saw a photo of bed linen, and announced "I would like that, please" and then he walked off again. Ok fair enough Red.

This was before

Now with a clean up and the new linen.

 

I had a little blue spray paint left which matched the blue on the doonas. I gave the lids of these jars a quick spray and now they have a place for marbles, shells and those annoying Nintendo DS pens that I find all over the house.

I would love to stencil dinosaur foot prints on the wall but unfortunately I only rent this house. But I will tackle that ugly lamp beside their bed. They love the lamp as it is a touch lamp but it needs a makeover. 

My Milk Urn

I feel in love with this Milk Urn the moment I saw it but it had a lot of rust in places. In fact I think in this photo it must be showing its good side. It actually looks nicer in the photo than the rusty mess it was.

Actually I am so determined to show you how bad it was that I am off to search for a better photo......    Ok I am back. Now check this out.

Can you see all that rust now?

I used paint stripper on this and please stop me if I ever suggest using it again. It is nasty horrible stuff and I had to be so careful that the children didn't come near it. I even placed it inside a child's play pen while I was doing it. Next I sanded the surface and prepared the tin for painting. I painted it white as I thought it would be a nice colour for a milk urn.  I thought that white would be a nice traditional colour.

After painting it, I discovered that I hated it white. The urn seemed to lose its charm and personality. It just seemed washed out. I then decided to forget traditional and go for bold. I really couldn't decide then what colour to paint it. In the end I decided to use a spare tin of paint I had sitting in the shed. If I don't end up liking it then I can sand it back and repaint it again.

I think the colour is more aqua than the blue showing in the photo but for now I am happy with the results. I have plans to insert driftwood sticks and hang some decorations on them. I am not paying for decorative sticks, I am being thrifty after all, so next time we go to the beach we will search for something suitable.

Carver chair

I bought this chair to use as a practice before I start doing a make over of my dinning suite. The black paint and red fabric seemed too dated for my taste. And I am sure everyone knows by now that I like colour and lots of it.

Mum stripped the fabric off for me and found 3 layers of different fabric, no wonder there were lumps and bumps. Mum took lots of photos so that we would know how to upholster it again when the painting was finished.

 I chose a blue paint and I got lots of help from Superman and Red.

My little helpers aren't the smoothest painters and I really needed to do a lot of sanding between coats to remove the lumps and bumps.

Eventually we did enough coats and it was shipped off to Mum's house for padding and fabric to be put on. I am really happy with the finished product. It looks so clean and fresh compared to the black and red.

Mum's guest room update

Mum decided to update her upstairs guest room. It had a little boy's theme but Mum wanted to bring the Nautical theme into this room as well. 
In these before photos we see lots of trains and toys.

 All the toys went into toy boxes in the rumpus room and the room got a fresh coat of paint. The ship's wheel is an original boat wheel that has seen years of use.

Found on the internet - Vases as Planters

There are so many photos on Pinterest and posts on blogs about using vases as planters. I decided I would try my hand at making some too. The decision was based on the fact that I had 2 empty glass vases sitting in the cupboard that I never used. It is highly unlikely that I will be given flowers any time soon so I figured I was safe to convert them. I also had some pebbles and soil in the shed so all I had to outlay was the price of 2 little plants.

I don't think mine look as nice as the ones I have seen in photos but I am happy with them. The tall vase might have looked better with less soil to lower it further in the vase. (I was going to include links to the ones on Pinterest but now I cant find any of them... go figure)  The ones online have prettier layering but my attempt at doing it shows it is very tricky and I kept breaking leaves off the plants.

Mum's Patio Renovation Part 2

My Mum is on a roll with her Nautical themed patio make over. She has just performed her magic on a couple of chairs and an old table. I have seen better furniture thrown away at the rubbish dump but Mum was determined to bring new live to the items and save them from becoming landfill. Let us start with the ugly old chairs.

Mum removed the chair pads and recovered them in a nice clean fabric.

Next out came the paint brushes and suddenly they look worthy to sit on.

With the chairs finished it was time to tackle a very old metal table.

Mum sanded back the frame and got busy with her paint brushes again.

 TA DA!!!!!!  Now for a different angle.