January jobs
I wrote in a previous post that I would post separately about home DIY projects that I finished in the holidays. Then I figured it wasn't that exciting and my before and after photos are not pinterest-worthy, but, to be a woman of my word, I'm going to post them anyway. So, first up in the list, I had these two stools from the green shed, which is a shop that sells stuff that goes to the tip here. For starters this nice little children's stool (I like old stools with straight legs like this).
I didn't mind the green, but it had this sweet teddy painted on top, which was cute and probably somebody's pride and joy in their craftsmanship once, but had no use for a stool with a teddy.
Then I had this beautiful glossy black one, which I grabbed as it matches the stool I painted last year for my "library". I don't understand people who paint furniture gloss black, and when I started to sand it underneath it was an iridescent frog green (you can see hints in the photo). But 'gothic-teenager's-room' is not my look either, so the gloss black had to go.
I painted both stools and seven picture frames in a warmish white, on my kitchen floor. This is why I do these things in time off, because I don't think I could cope with such chaos, and stepping over and around everything to get through, during the week.
Ta da for the stools! They are probably both destined to hold up pot plants, but we shall see.
Next was the two biggest jobs. It's a poor-quality phone picture from last year, but I have had this dark old china cabinet ever since I bought it from an op-shop when I lived in Kensington in Sydney years ago for $30. But it has always been quite dinged up, and especially the surface on the top. Then the removalists who brought me to Canberra put sticky tape across the doors so it even had tape marks in the lacquer. Last year I thought I struck gold when I found the old cupboard next to it at the green shed for $20, which is the exact same height and vintage, and I use it to store cookbooks and napkins etc (things that didn't fit in the kitchen cupboards). Oh and by the way, ignore those photo frames on the shelf. The aim is for them all to be filled with nice black and white photos of the nearest and dearest, but I haven't quite got there yet.
I like old furniture, most especially in a ramshackle old farmhouse, but they were too dark and dreary for my unit, and didn't match any other woodwork (and I have a bit of a thing for not having different-coloured woods all in the same room), so I painted them in this pale blue-grey. I was super happy with this colour, because I wanted a blue-grey not a beige-grey, and if I showed you my kitchen you would see how close this colour is (I was so pleased when I bought my place that I got the pale blue-grey kitchen, rather than the apricot version many of the other units have). The china cupboard in particular was a big job. I had the contents all over the dining table for days while I did two coats all inside and out of the the cupboard and then the shelves and then both sides of the door and then had to wax it all and let that dry etc. But I am so happy with the results. They look so fresh and bright, and a little more modern, now and the whole room looks bigger. (And when I just get those photo frames sorted it will be good!)
When I wasn't painting (there were actually days when it was too hot to use the chalk paint), I was removing the shellac from an old bedside cupboard. You know that horrible reddish shiny finish that was once a craze on old furniture around 1920. It actually dissolves if you use methylated spirits. First it turns into an horrendous sticky red mess but if you keep at it you can literally wipe it off, so a bottle of metho and a roll of paper towel later that is mostly clean. I haven't quite finished that yet. It needs a light sand and then I might just use bees wax on it as it's nice wood.
And that was mostly it. I also cleaned out the garage and cleared the pile of old fence palings out of my back courtyard and the like, as well as helping my sister sort and clean her house for moving and minding the kids. Not the summer vacation of your dreams, but it was good to have the time to be able to do these things. Next time I'm going to the beach!