Saturday 9 March 2013

{kitchened out}

Initially choosing a kitchen was super exciting but now its just becoming a pain!!  To get to the stage for a quote the amount of time and faffing with some kitchen companies is painful.  I have found it pretty frustrating to be honest as I know exactly what I want.  I have had another appointment today which went very well and am now confident I will be using this company for my kitchen.  I love their matt white glass units :-)

This is a model of what I want although the positioning of the furniture is not quite right.  But the kitchen layout is pretty close.




The sort of style of kitchen is ultra modern like these:



I love these handles I have seen and also would have the white matt glass cupboards on the full wall and the dark grey for the island cupboards.  The designer white Corian would go on the kitchen island.

Sleek handles which give a minimal streamlined look

Matt white glass door (amazing), grey door and Corian worktop

Very excited to get cracking.  Have started a spreadsheet to track all the things I need to buy and choices which need to be made :-) I'm in my element!!!

Thursday 7 March 2013

{period delights}

I mentioned in one of my previous blogs that I would share with you some of the period featured which made me fall in love with my current house....










{Upcycling}

Upcycling - the process of converting waste materials or useless products into new materials or products of better quality...

I have a few plans at the moment for upcycling / revamping.  I have completed one little project which is a table I bought from the Heart Foundation charity shop for £15.

Here is a photo of the table as it was when I bought it.  It's not great quality nor is it a proper antique or anything but I liked the spindle legs and it was a perfect size for the turn of the stairs in my hallway.


£15 table from charity shop
I bought it with the plan to paint it so would never have kept it as is.  So firstly I sanded the table down to get a good surface for my undercoat.

I did the sanding by hand and carried it out as best I could on the legs but it was a bit tricky.
Next I painted a grey undercoat.  This went on very well and was easy to apply to the whole table.

Table with undercoat
Next I started with the layers of paint.  I painted the top with a dark grey gloss paint and the legs with a matt bright yellow.  The yellow on the legs was a complete pain and took about 6 coats.  All in all I'm quite happy with how it looks but if you examine it closely its not perfect.  I think if I tried this again I would test out a spray paint.  Of course the hall still need decorated so the muddy green carpet and delightful textured magnolia (grim) wallpaper don't really go with my snazzy upcycled table!!!

Finished table
Next mini project will be making and covering a new headboard for the bed in my guest bedroom.  Have been getting some inspiration via pinterest.