Ideas Please - Pine Bedside Locker for Revamp

Hi Guys,

Today I'm looking for inspiration.  I just bought this orange-pine bedside locker for the bargain price of €20 and I am looking to you Funky-Junkers to help me decide what to do with it.

I'm thinking of painting it grey as the main colour but would love to hear some of your suggestions.  Should I add some découpage?  What can I do with the drawer pulls?  What do you guys think?

Don't be shy and give me a shout with your great ideas!

You can contact me in the usual way by sending me a message by filling in the short form on the right hand side of this page or by commenting at the bottom of this post.

Don't forget you can follow my projects and be first to get my posts by filling in your email address at the top left of this page.

Découpage Tutorial - Cream and Gold Plaquette with Hand Made Ribbon Rose

Hi Funky-Junkers
I've been a bit silent recently but haven't forgotten about you.  I've been a busy bee and this is one of the things I've been busy with.

This lovely plaquette was a gift for a work colleague and I wanted to share it with you and give you one of my top tips on découpage.

First, I'll run through how I did the découpage on this one.....

You'll need a board - wood or mdf (not too thick)
Some nice paper or a napkin
Some mod podge or découpage glue and a small flat glue brush
Fine grit sandpaper
Varnish
Chalkpaint and paintbrush to suit size of project

Paint up your board in a colour that you like.  When dry and you are happy with the finish, take your napkin and pull away all but the top layer so that you are left with a much thinner napkin. Cut out the part of it that you want to use and position it on the board  - or you may wish to use the entire napkin.  Using your découpage glue, apply it to the napkin brushing outward from the centre until you have covered the entire piece and the board.  Be careful not to use too much glue.  Leave to dry.  Apply a second coat.  When dry sand lightly.  Apply several coats of varnish letting each coat dry thoroughly until the napkin looks like it is part of the board and not raised.  Sand lightly in between coats.

And you're done, you've just découpaged!

Today's Découpage Top Tip:  For a better look, if using an entire napkin, paint the board in the same colour as the napkin background. i.e. if the background is white on the napkin, don't paint the board dark blue as the napkin is thin and very transparent and the colour of the paint with show through.

Thanks for dropping by and don't forget you can ask any questions by commenting below or by sending me an email through the contact form on the right hand side of this page, I'm always happy to help.

Bye for now

Cardboard Box to Jewellery Box Transformation

Hi Folks, it's Gwen here from Funky-Junk, I hope you're all feeling good now that Summer is finally here and that you're ready for some more découpage.  Back in October, some of you will remember I posted about how to make a pretty jewellery box from old bracelet and watch boxes. You can see the post here .  Today, I am going to show you how to make another beautiful travel sized jewellery box from a plain cardboard one using some chalk paint and a napkin. These little boxes work great as travel jewellery boxes for when you're going on holidays.  Below is the most recent addition to my collection and if you scroll down you will also see the original box before decoration:

To do this you will need the following items:

A box
Découpage paper/napkin
Découpage glue
Découpage varnish
Chalk Paint
Wax Paper
An iron

First, paint the box in a colour of your choice using chalk paint (2 coats).  When dry, paint on a layer of découpage glue and let dry.

Place your découpage paper in the position that you want it on the box and cover with wax paper.  Iron over the wax paper with no steam setting on low heat.  Remove the wax paper.

Give the box two coats of découpage glue letting each coat dry before the next is applied.  When fully dry, give it a coat of varnish (or two).  That's it!  Now you have a cute little travel jewellery box.  As you can see from my photos, I choose to paint the interior of my box in a different colour to give contrast, you can paint yours in a colour of your choice or you can découpage the base in a paper that matches the exterior of the box.

Pretty and easy!  Thanks for stopping by, don't forget, as usual, if you have any questions you can contact me using the email form on this page or by leaving a comment below, it's always great to get your feedback.

Bye for now

Easter Egg Decoration

I can't believe its that time of year again, it came around so fast!  I love the spring and this year I decided to add to the cheer by decorating some eggs and making my own Easter wall-hanging decoration.

The eggs were part of an Easter art gift set to my son last year which he never got around to completing so I felt obliged not to leave them there another year undone.

There was already drawings printed on the eggs and for two of them, as you can see, I just painted the eggs and coloured in the drawing using some felt tip pens.

For the second two however, I covered over the drawings with some chalk paint and decorated them using ribbon and some fancy silver sticky tape.  I added some coloured ribbon for hanging and then made the Happy Easter plaquette.  I added some hooks for hanging the eggs and a chick which I painted yellow.  I'm really pleased with the way it all turned out and this little decoration can be used year after year!

Thanks for dropping by, I hope you try some of your own - its easy!

Bye for now

Jewellery Box - Painted & Découpaged

Those of you who follow Funky-Junk on Facebook or Instagram will already have seen the transformation of this little jewellery box but of course I want to make sure that all my blog followers get to see it, so here you go.

As you can see from the pics below (scroll down), it was just plain wood to start and needed a little life added.  I started by painting the exterior all over in beige, two coats of chalk paint did the job and it was ready for découpage. Inside the box I first used a pink paint as a base and then went ahead and découpaged over it with a lovely pink floral napkin by Carolyn Donnelly.

I knew I didn't want the exterior of the box the same as the interior but wasn't sure what look I wanted.  I dug down deep into my stash of napkins (I have hundreds!) and found a lovely one that I had been given as a gift.  As you can see it has a vintage oriental look which really suits the box (I had already used one of these on a plaquette in an earlier post - see it here).  Once I had decided that this was the one, I mixed some green paint to match the colour of the bamboo in the design and used it to paint the sides and the borders.  I didn't think the borders looked good in green so changed them to gold and I'm so happy that I did as I think it really sets off the look.  The flowers on the sides were cut from the napkin and then découpaged on.  I finished it off by sealing it with wax and giving it a good buffing.

I hope you enjoyed this post. If you have any questions I can be emailed using the form on the right hand side of this page or you can comment below by clicking on the Comment link.

Vintage Roses Photo Hanging Plaquette

My new design Vintage Roses Photo Hanging Plaquette went down a treat with it's new owner and resulted in an abundance of requests for the same style so I will be a busy bee for the next while making sure I get all my orders completed in time while at the same time keeping up with the furniture upstyling taking place in my small studio!!  I can barely fit myself in at the moment due to the amount of work going on - I need to think about a bigger space soon!

Here's some pics of the Vintage Roses Plaquette which can be used for hanging a favourite photo using the mini peg which is attached to the ribbon within the frame.  This time, I went for a vertical design and included the person's name inside the frame as an added touch.  She loved it and I am happy to say there will be more similar to this in the near future.  Thanks for dropping by, don't forget to call again soon to see what's happening at Funky-Junk. Orders can be made by filling in the form at the right hand side of this blog page or on the Funky-Junk Facebook page by clicking the tab at the top of this page.

Vintage Roses Photo Hanging Plaquette

Old Pine Mirror

I've had this basic old pine mirror for years, it usually hangs in the hall over my washstand table which is also pine and made from reclaimed wood.  There's nothing to the mirror, it just has a simple frame so I thought it was time to funk it up......some chalk paint and perhaps a little découpage will do the trick to make it unusual and unique.  Here it is with step one completed...

 

Come back soon to see what I do next.

Kitchen Accessories - A Complete New Look

Sometimes it's not just about saving money - getting the perfect match is just as good a reason to renew some of our old household items.  When I got my house repainted recently I found that I was having trouble finding kitchen necessities to match the new decor  Everything I had was tuned into the old colour scheme and didn't match the new.  It takes me time to shop around and eventually I do find what I'm looking for but what to do in the meantime?  Put up with looking at the miss-matches?................I don't think so!  Paint them? .............well why not?

This is what I did with a tattered wooden kitchen towel holder and a purple liquid soap dispenser:

I made up some chalk paint with my plaster of paris and some emulsion (recipe on this blog) painted on a couple of coats and then sprayed with sealant.  Now I have an exact match to my new look decor!

Pine Bedside Lockers - Revamp Completed

I'm delighted to finally post pics of the finished bedside lockers.  I decided on a deep red for the drawer fronts and couldn't find the right red.  Eventually, I mixed a deep plum with some fire engine red and came up with this colour which is exactly what I had in mind.

I thought long and hard about what to do with the drawer knobs, I thought about découpaging them like I did for the Chest of Drawers revamp which really turned out great but in the end I decided to do something different  and hand paint a design onto them - a very steady hand was needed for this and let me tell you, I don't have one!!   To say the least, it was quite a challenge, so they're not perfect but I think that just adds to their overall finish rather thank taking away from it.  I used a pencil to outline the design and then filled it in with a very small paintbrush.  I suppose I could have used a marker but it would have felt too much like cheating.

For the finish I used a dark French antique wax.

If you would like a piece of furniture finished in this style, please contact me by email.  The details can be found on the Contacts tab on this Blog.  Please scroll down to see all of the photos.

 

Bedside Lockers - Distressing & Drawer Lining

You learn a lesson from every piece of furniture you remodel, no matter how much experience you have.  I have been restoring and revamping furniture for many years and I'm still learning today.

I didn't use a base colour before I painted these lockers beige and because they were a natural pine, which was very close in colour to the paint I used on them, when I distressed them, the effect was quite subtle. In this case, this is what I wanted however, if you did want a more pronounced distressing it would be best to darken up the furniture by painting a quick coat of a darker colour before you paint on the intended colour so that when you sand it there is a contrast.  I'll use a dark wax to finish these and that will intensify the distressing some more but I want these finished with a lighter distressing than ususal.

You'll need to click on the photo to see an enlarged version.

I painted the insides of the drawers using the same paint but without adding the Plaster of Paris as I didn't want to seal the interiors with wax as these lockers will be used for clothing and a more 'satin' finish suited best for this.  I also lined the drawers as you can see below with this great vintage fabric that I picked up.  I bought a metre and have some left over (for another project) as the drawers are quite small.

Bedside Lockers - Painted

I've painted them! I had to mix up four different beiges/creams to make up enough to cover both pieces as I didn't have enough in any one colour and when I am in the mood to paint I need to do it right there and then and not wait around for paint to be bought.  Again, I added my usual mix of Plaster of Paris to make up a nice chalk paint.  I've left the drawer fronts as I'm doing them in another colour like I did with the Chest of Drawers.  I think they look better already!

Let me know what you think below or go to my Facebook page here to 'like' or leave a comment.

Red Mirror - Painted & Distressed

A quick and easy job to this old mirror gave it a new look and saved me a few dollars on buying a new one.  It looks great in my little boy's room against a navy wall.

I used red chalk paint that I made myself and then distressed and waxed it for the finish you see below.  I have posted the 'before' picture below for anyone who missed my previous post.

Thanks for looking, make sure to drop back soon for my next project.

Red Mirror

I always like a little change in between finishing one piece of furniture and moving on to the next and since I've just finished the Chest of Drawers I'm going to do just that.

I love working on small projects too and have plenty to choose from (there's a queue of stuff in my work area).  Right now though, I'm in need of a red mirror for my son's bedroom and can't find one in the shops that doesn't cost a week's wages so this little baby is my next victim.....

It's a horrid old 'mahogony' mirror that's been lying around the house for years - well, now it's getting a makeover and when completed will be looking a lot more funky to suit a little boy's room.

Chest of Drawers Makeover - Découpage

My chest of drawers revamp is going well and since my last post I have distressed the drawer edges which has made a difference but I haven't been entirely happy with the drawer pulls. I went shopping to check out if there was anything nice out there that would suit the style but came upon nothing.  I checked online and wasn't happy with anything there either so I decided to try a little découpage on the originals to see if I could make them look a bit more unusual - time to take out my box of paper scraps and get cutting.  This is what I came up with...

Drawer Découpaged with Roses

I decided not to do all four drawers the same and choose this 'lace' cut out for two of them.

Drawer Découpaged with 'Lace'

All four together...

They've still got to be waxed to 'dirty' them up a bit and to seal them but they're almost done and I'm pretty happy with the result.   I Hope you enjoyed looking at my work, don't forget that anything you see on my blog can be commissioned, I can revamp a piece you already own or you can let me know what you want and I can provide it finished to your specification or finish it similar to what you have seen on Funky-Junk.  Your feedback is always welcome so please leave any comments below.

Easter Eggs - Découpaged & Painted

Easter is not Easter without a few painted eggs and this year is no exception.  I went the extra mile with these ones adding 3D paint, découpage, bows, and finally glitter sealant.  I think they'll look pretty as a centrepiece on my table or sideboard to celebrate the coming of the Easter Bunny!

All eggs can be purchased for €5 each - click Here for more details.

Here's what I used if you want to make your own:
Foam eggs
Chalk paint (homemade)
Acrylic paint
3D paint
Découpage cut outs
Mod Podge
Ribbon/bows
Paint brushes (one small, one very small)
Acrylic spray
Straight Pins
Empty cleaned out small yoghurt container

First, take two pins and insert them into the egg on each end so that you have two 'handles'. Believe me, this is an important step and will make decorating your egg much easier as they are light and roll around a lot.

Paint your egg in whatever colour you like - I used neutrals.  To dry, balance them across the top of the yoghurt containers using the pins.  Once completely dry, take your pencil and outline your design around the edge of the egg and then paint over it using the very small paint brush with a colour of your choice in either acrylic, chalk or 3D paint. Again, place back onto the yoghurt container to dry.  Next choose your découpage cut outs and very carefully, using the mod podge and the bigger brush, paste them onto the egg on each side.  Back to the yoghurt container to dry again for a while and then another coat of mod podge (or two).  Last but not least when fully dry, spray with acrylic spray (mine had sparkle).  Alternatively, coat with gloss finish mod podge.

Happy Easter!