Thursday, August 13, 2015

Feeling Blue

Good afternoon dear friends & readers,
It really all started with this "little article" below . . .


A gift from a friend earlier in the year . . . she thought it "looked like a bit of me" ??
Now even though I love the colour blue, for some reason I have no blue in my house except for a ruffle curtain at my bathroom window.
So the "little article" got put in the bathroom & everytime I looked at it I thought to myself  "I really do love that shade of blue"




Off I trot to my local hardware store, "little article" in hand. 
Now the men in there are well used to me by now with my grand schemes & my budgets of zero ... usually, they hide from me.
However, there is a new man working there - a lovely young man who took the time to go through the colour charts with me & attempt to mix me a testpot
Resene "Escape" we thought might be the right shade of blue ... Yes I liked the sound of that !!!!


Backing up a bit from this story now . . . my friend Joyce works in the Church Op Shop in my little town.
This shop is only open 2 mornings a week & is not large, but I would definately consider it the cheapest Oppie in our town.
When I went in a couple of weeks back to deliver some books & clothing articles, Joyce asked me if I was interested in the two tables below ... $5 each


As you can see I had begun to sand one down here already

Although they certainly weren't shouting out to me to buy them, come home with me they did.
Joyce's boss Raewyn asked me what I did with the wooden bits ... I explained how I paint them up & revamp them.
She came out with an assortment of oddities that I could have, that she said "they couldn't even sell for 50c"
These items below were in the assortment ...

AFTER a good scrub - they weren't quite this clean to begin with

Sometimes when I get given things, they eventually DO end up on my burning heap - some things are just beyond repair or revamping.
I wasn't too sure about the fate of this little wooden bowl below

Firstly, I decided to have a go with the two breadboards using my new pot of Escape
The blue is Escape & the Green is Amulet

Three coats of paint per board later & I was really pleased with how they turned out.  I decided not to sand the edges & just stay with the colour ... I added a simple teatowel wound around each board as I thought this might make an attractive gift.
Many years ago I used to make artificial bread twists & varnish with a thick lacquer - I found a bagful in my cupboard & added one to each string tie - purely as embellishment.

The bowl was destined for the burning heap but then I had an idea (an epiphany as my son would say)  ... I painted the bowl with my Escape & then lightly sanded the edges.  I also drilled 4 holes in each little scallop edge



With the addition of a small silver charm tied to each hole, I thought this might make a sweet little trinket dish 



perhaps the ideal gift for a young girl for her jewellery ??

One of the tables also got the Escape treatment . . .

I actually undercoated both little tables with my cream wall paint twice to give a coating to the dark wood underneath.  This makes it easier to apply any colour & gives a good base for the paint to adhere to.


Though my original intention was to leave the tables plain like the bread boards, I ended up just ever so lightly sanding the edges.  I liked the way it gave a slightly time-worn appeal to the whole look of the table - don't take off too much, just a very light rub is best.



On any given day the scene above is what my dining room looks like - it can be pouring down outdoors but I can still manage my small paint projects by the fire ... occasionally I have to pick the odd cat hair out of the end result !!!
You can see by the picture that I undercoat the darker articles first with my cream wall paint.



These two dark cane baskets were in an Op Shop bargain bin quite some time ago.  I didn't especially like the dark colour so gave each one a fresh coat of coloured paint ... Escape & Amulet - the gorgeous green I am eternally indebted to dear Catherine for recommending to me.



The green one I lined with my treasured Tilda fabric & the blue one got a base made from some vintage sheeting fabric .... a nice fresh look to a dated old cane basket I thought.

You will be pleased to read dear friends that Miss Pippi is definately over the worst of her surgery now . . .



.  .  .  even if somedays she needs a little rest whilst climbing out of her bed !!!!

With a few more projects needing my attention, I am off to Escape some more
Thank you so much for popping by today - your visits most certainly make my day
Be kind to yourselves & to each other,
with love & friendship,
Julie, Blackie & Pippi x0x0x

23 comments:

  1. Wow! You are the coolest re-vamper we know! Hmm.... yes, re-vamper did challenge the word predictive text!!!!! Love the baskets painted up and especially the tables. Escape is a great colour! Your dining room made me smile - when my hubby comes home and sees things like that he nearly has a heart attack! hee....hee.... Love the little shelves at the beginning too - did you mod lodge on some scrapbooking paper on the drawer? - it looks so pretty.

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  2. A fabulous job Julie. I love it all! Such pretty colours and I adore your inspiration shelves. Glad your wee kitty is on the mend x

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  3. HeHe! Strange...I get that when l walk into a shop..
    Especially the supermarket...The staff all run and
    hide! Wonder why! :).

    I do like the idea with the breadboards...They do look
    nice...look rather nice in pink...Hung up in my downstairs
    loo! mmmmM! have to think on that, got a few spaces left,
    couple of those...'in pink' would look good!

    When l got down to the baskets..I thought..there a bit small
    for Pippi.. But further down there she is...Bless! Certainly
    loves that basket...Pleased to hear she's getting better...!x

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  4. An Escape sounds great! Can I come too? Nice change from the creamy white you usually paint unwanted items. What fabulous transformations! Nice to see Pippi doing well and making herself comfy! Amulent must have been the colour you painted the shelf I bought from you a couple of years ago, it's nice.

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  5. I always love it when you have been painting and those colours you have used are beautifully old fashioned. Love those shades. I have quite a stash of things to paint, so look out when the good weather arrives!! The cane baskets look so good with their make over, and you can always score cane baskets, every op shop is full to the roof with them. Sweet Ms Pippi, very much enjoying her bed isn't she.

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  6. g'day
    haven't been here for ages & just caught up, glad to hear pippi is recovering again! hope she makes a speedy recovery too!
    loving all your 're-vamps' some gorgeous items there, esp loved what you did with the chair in earlier post.
    you are so clever & creative!
    thanx for sharing

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    1. Hello Selina, thanks for stopping by. Yes Miss Pippi is much improved thank GOODNESS !!! She has loads of energy now & her mother wishes she felt the same !!! The chair turned out beautifully didn;t it - I was so happy with the end result.
      Thanks for your lovely comment Selina x x

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  7. You make me want to salvage and reclaim items that I decided to donate. Well, they'll go to better hands than mine. Love the blue and Pippi continues to make me smile. Those cute paws.

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  8. I'm so happy to hear that adorable little Pippi is doing well.

    'Escape' is a gorgeous blue. I painted my kitchen cupboards a grey/blue shade, called 'Stormy Sky' which inspired my Winter Moon logo.

    I love your projects, you're extremely inspirational ♥

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    1. Thanks Yvonne, I am really in love with that blue shade - I shall have to make sure I dont start painting everything Escape. Your kitchen cupboard colour sounds beautiful - sometimes I think I tend to fall in love with the actual names of the colours as much as the shade.

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  9. You certainly got some mileage out of that paint! I like the green tilda basket, and that's a delightful picture of pippi

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  10. You make it look so easy... and I know it's not. Love the 'pierced' bowl.xx

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    1. Thanks E.E, I am so pleased as that little bowl came very, very close to landing on my burning heap. I loved the shape of it but felt it was too big for a pincushion. The idea to "pierce" it came about 2 am one morning !!! As you do !!!

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  11. Hi Julie, everything looks great, have you thought to try chalk paint, there are recipes to make your own, rather than buying the expensive stuff, and it goes along way, and then you just wax it after. Love your idea for the breadboards. Chris xoxo

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    1. Hi Chris, Thanks for your lovely comment. I did see the chalk paint when I was in the Hardware store. No I have not tried it yet - it is quite expensive over here but I shall have a look on the internet at making my own & having a practise as I have seen some items done with it & I love the finished effect. Thanks again Chris x x

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  12. Hi Julie what an inspiring and fun blog you have,love everything here that you have revamped,well done and I hope you have a lovely day xx

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  13. I love the hue blue AND this particular shade is gorgeous!! What a difference a lick of paint has made to those tables. They are fabulous, Julie! As ever, this post is filled to the rafters with beautiful 'pretties'. Those "odd" pieces of wood and the inspired trinket box look tremendous with the magic you have performed on them and those baskets are so sweet......love, love, love that Tilda fabric. Your Miss Pippi is the most relaxed cat....ever!! I always love seeing what inspirational creativity you have been up to each week and the wonderful transformations you perform with those rather ho hum op shop finds.

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  14. I see you have been busy working your magic again Julie - wonderful items, also the Haybarn chair from the previous post! I do admire your vision :-) Love that blue you have chosen, I can see myself falling in love with that too. So pleased to hear that Pippi is doing well, she's looking extra cute in her basket .

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  15. You are very talented and I love the cat pic.

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  16. Hello Julie dear. I was scrolling through & thinking..."My goodness, only Julie could transform these rather homely items quite like this" when a flash of green caught my eye..nice colour! Oh yes it's it's Amulet! Must get it out again & find something else to paint. I've jotted down Escape too. What a delightful colour, indeed. Now I'm wondering...do you just use a brush when you paint the baskets? As I recall a cheap bush is a good idea as the bristles get pretty roughed up in the process. Does that sound about right? I am hoping to paint my cane trundler quite soon. Now which colour do I chose? By the way, I'll be looking forward to the make your own chalk paint tutorial ;) Much more relaxed Pippi. Excellent. Love & friendship, Catherine x0x0x

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  17. I love seeing the treasures you find and then how you transform them!! I adore the colour you chose
    for the tables, yummy! lol Glad to hear Miss Pippi is recovering from surgey. the pic is way to cute.
    Cheers, Anita.

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  18. Hi Julie, that is such a gorgeous photo of little Pippi, it sounds like she has had a difficult time! You are so clever they way you give these old items a make-over, they look really beautiful now! Wendy xx

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  19. Clever stick ain't ya! :-D I understand through Sue that there is a lesson waiting to be had!! So excited.....I could crush a grape....now what to choose....mmmmmmm :D

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Hello, & thank you for taking the time to comment on my posts - I read and appreciate each and every one of your comments :-)
I always prefer to reply to your comments by email unless you are a no-reply-blogger in which case I will reply to your comments in this section here. Thanks so much for stopping by to read & comment on my blog x0x