Hi Guys,

I am very excited to share my latest furniture upcycle project with you. This time I revamped an old coffee table that I bought online a while back.  It was in a sorry state when I got it but after some TLC including cleaning, sanding, priming painting and varnishing. it now looks a million dollars.  Here are some pics of it before I got started...

Moroccan Style Coffee Table - Before 1

Moroccan Style Coffee Table Before 2

Cleaning

This isn't the first coffee table that I’ve finished and I more or less stuck to the same process as usual for the renewing.  I started with the cleaning which entailed wiping it down with soapy water and a sponge, careful not to soak it too much and when dry giving it a good going-over with sugar soap and finally another wipe down, this time with white spirit.  When this is done you can be sure your items is spotless and ready for the next step.

Sanding

I used a detail palm sander for the top and to get into the nooks and crannies, a dremel and some plain old hand sanding.  This is my least favourite part but if you want a nice finish it’s best not to leave it out.  Another wash down with white spirit and it was ready for priming.

Priming

I always use ZinsserBulls Eye 123 primer, it’s a great product and it also seals - I painted on two coats of this stuff letting the first coat dry before applying the second.  Now I know it's possible to paint directly over almost any surface with chalk paint but I don't, I like a primer to give the paint a good grounding.  However, if you feel this is overkill, and you have a good quality paint, go ahead and and leave this step out.

Painting
Once the primer has dried it's time for the exciting bit - the painting.  I used a light taupe colour chalk paint as a base and applied two coats letting the first coat dry thoroughly before applying the second.

Stenciling
Right from the start I had a half-plan in the back of my head for this table, I knew I wanted to do a Moroccan style finish and as I had creative licence, the stencil had already been put aside for the job. The colour was more or less predefined by the owner's sitting room colour scheme as that's where it would eventually be placed.  For the stenciling I used two different shades of blue paint one a chalk paint and the other an acrylic and I also added some black acrylic for depth,  I used gold acrylic paint for the trim which I think finished the table off nicely.

I placed the stencil and slowly worked across the entire table top.  When I had finished I felt the table was a little unbalanced or top heavy so I used the same stencil to add more of the same Moroccan design across the bar at the lower end of the table and this worked a treat giving it the balance that was missing.

Moroccan Style Coffee Table

Varnishing
Three coats of water based varnish sealed the table and when dry I waxed it over with a little clear wax.  This is it finished.

Moroccan Style Coffee Table - Top View

Moroccan Style Coffee Table - /Close-up

Moroccan Style Coffee Table - Front View

Bye for now

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.

DIY Vintage Style Jewellery Box

If you're anything like me, you have a wardrobe or cupboard somewhere in the house that's full of empty jewellery boxes - you know - the ones that came with your birthday and Christmas presents over the years?  The little watch and bracelet boxes with the manufacturers name on top?  Yes, those ones! I have never been able to throw them away as I always felt it would be a 'shame', well, some of them anyway.....namely the hinged ones.  I knew that one day I would get around to transforming them into something pretty and I was right, that day finally came.

I started by painting the box with a few coats of chalk paint leaving it to dry thoroughly between coats.  I used a duck egg colour but you can use any colour you like.  Next, I découpaged it with a pretty floral napkin and then added several coats of matt varnish letting each coat dry before the next was applied.  For the final finish I applied some dark wax to age the box a little and the result is below.........a pretty vintage style box - ideal for carryng your jewellery in when going on holidays!  I just love this box, what do you think?  Let me know by commenting below or emailing me by filling in the contact form on the right hand side of this page.

DIY Vintage Style Jewellery Box

Thanks for looking.

Bye for now

Turquoise Painted and Découpaged Coffee Table

Do you remember my post at the end of September when I showed you the old table that I had pulled from my shed.  You can click here for a few reminder photos Coffee Table .  Well, I finally got it finished and it's looking great.  I think it would be especially good in a conservatory or a sun room or great in a shabby chic style home.  I used a pale turquoise colour chalk paint after I had primed it (two coats).  It probably didn't need the primer but I wanted to make sure that the paint stuck.  I had also given it a wash down with some sugar soap and a light sanding as I mentioned in my earlier post. I chose this particular colour because of the napkins that I wanted to use for the découpage.  It's funny how you make decisions - all because of a napkin!! But, I had bought some lovely ones with the same colour turquoise background and lots of red flowers that I was just crazy about and had to use.

I've used these same napkins for one of my latest plaquettes, it's so pretty.....you can see it here.  I'll have to stop now though, I can't keep using them for every job!!  After the table was painted, découpaged and aged a little, I gave it two coats of matt varnish.  Normally I wouldn't do this, I would just use wax but as it's a coffee table it needed to be well sealed.  I then clear waxed and dark waxed it to darken it up a bit.  In the first pic below I have photographed it with a white sheet of paper on top.  This is because a few people thought that it looked white in the photos so this might help to show up the colour more.  Here she is.................and not half as ugly.  Scroll to the end to see the before pics.

 



Love Is In The Air graphic by Freepik from Flaticon is licensed under CC BY 3.0. Made with Logo Maker

Furniture Collection

It came to my notice that quite a collection of furniture had gradually been building up in the shed/attic/all over the house, stuff that I had bought with the intention of painting that I never got around to, so this evening I made a decision to go through it determined to find time in the coming days to get started on doing some work on at least one piece.  I made my way to the shed as it needed tidying anyway and buried under a pile of paint and tools, there was a couple of coffee tables that I had picked up some time ago. I pulled out one of them and dragged it into the house - this girl means business!

It's a really unattractive table so it's going to need a lot of TLC but it is the ideal candidate for a TOTAL revamp and brand new look. This is the kind of table that may still be ugly after the makeover but I'm going to do my best to get it looking good.  I'll just have to do something fancy with that undershelf.... but first it needs a good cleaning and I'll start with some sugar soap and I'll give it a light sanding so that the paint will have something to grip on to.   As I will only be working on it evenings after work and on weekends, you'll have to bear with me as it's probably going to take a while.  For starters here are some pics of it as it stands.  Not a pretty picture. Wish me good luck and don't forget to stay tuned here on www.funkyjunkjunkie.blogspot.ie to see the finished job.

Table Top

Table End

Table Undershelf

Undershelf

Table Top

Table Top

Light Shade Upgrade

Once I have a paintbrush in my hand and my mind is in 'creative' mode there's no telling what will get a new coat.  This time though, it was the bathroom light shade.  I was giving the bathroom a freshen up by adding some new orange plaquettes that I made (more on this later) and by adding some new orange accessories, but when it came to changing the old black shade I just couldn't part with it, but as it didn't match the new look, and I couldn't find anything as nice, it just had to be painted!  It's a black metal shade with a cut-out design and I really love its ethnic look.

Revamped Shade

Before

The bathroom has a beige base i.e. it's tiled floor to ceiling which means anytime I want to add a new colour I just change the accessories.  Simple.  I went from black to orange - towels, pictures, candles, ornaments, floors - oh I forgot to mention the black floor tiles got painted too (but that's for another post). Everything that was black got changed to orange (except the tiles, they got changed to beige).

The light shade got painted with some chalk paint that I mixed up myself and I had planned on distressing it slightly to let some of the black show through but changed my mind at the last minute and instead I dry-brushed it here and there with some olive green chalk paint and ended up with a really great look that I'm super happy with.  I added a coat of polyeurethane varnish to seal it and that's it, a lovely new look shade as you can see in the pics above.

I hope you enjoyed reading about my light shade upgrade, I'll be posting more on my bathroom makeover soon so don't forget to drop by.

Mirror - Old Pine to Vintage Chic

It's a great feeling when you've put your heart into something and you finally see the end result and you're smiling.  After a week of working every night on the old pine mirror that I painted recently and spoke about in my last post, it's finally finished and looks great.  Some slight distressing was done first to create an 'old' look and then I découpaged it using a variety of vintage style materials which I overlapped in some places.  After sealing and sanding several times (that's the boring part) I then used a wax for the final finishing.  I'm super happy with it and hope you like it although I don't think the photos do it justice - it's not easy to photograph a mirror!  Don't forget to leave a comment here or on my Facebook page as I'm always interested to hear what you think.  Thanks for coming by.

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.

Wardrobe Makeover

Remember my post back in November on my wardrobe makeover?  If you missed it, click Here to see it.

Well, I finally got around to finishing the project over Christmas as I had lots of time off from work.  It took 3 coats of chalk paint in Sand to cover it perfectly.  I still have some final touches to do like distressing it, putting on some new door knobs and sealing it but in the meantime here's a before and after photo.  You can click on the photo to see a bigger version

Wardrobe Makeover

The wardrobes in my home, although in good condition, had become dated and needed refreshing. As I was also totally fed up looking at them I decided to paint them and while I was checking them out to see what way I could proceed with the job, I noticed that the 'laminate' had lifted slightly from one of the doors.  I pulled at it and to my surprise it started to come away - all of it - in one piece as can be seen the the first photo below.  It took me less than 5 minutes per door to remove everything, each piece lifting off easily and you can see the entire sheet just after it was removed in Photo 2 below. Underneath, the doors were MDF with a white finish.  They would have been fine left white but it wasn't the look I wanted  so I made up some sand coloured chalk paint using the recipe on this blog and painted a coat of it onto one of the doors.  The MDF was a perfect base for painting although it will need another coat or two and of course the surround will have to be painted too for completion.

I am really happy with my discovery and the fact that I will have totally new look wardrobes for the cost of some paint.  I will post again on this when the job is finished so keep watching.

Lamp Revamp

I gave up searching for a new lampshade for my standard lamp as I just couldn't find one that would match my newly painted dining room.  I was all set to re-cover the existing one but again didn't see any fabric that caught my eye that would do justice to the room.  While tidying my crafts cupboard I came across these lovely napkins (below) and I decided to try découpaging the lampshade but was unsure if it would work as the original shade (below) was covered in a purple fabric and I didn't think the napkins would stick well to it.  It was a little difficult to get them to adhere to the lamp but in the end perseverance paid off.  Now at least I have a lamp that matches my room - a perfect temporary fix until I find a new shade or some suitable fabric and it cost me nothing in the process.